Exact Month of Jesus' Birth Predicted by Stars and Scripture--and What Happened on December 25

People tend to scoff at the Biblical record of the star of Bethlehem, saying “this star is doing things a star cannot do.” They’re  questioning Matthew 2:9:

When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was.

“How does a star “stand over,”or stop, people say. So they assume this story is a fable. Well, science has a surprising answer to that question. Of course,if we can "prove" it, they would ask “Why do you think you can introduce some new facts now, when we haven’t heard anything convincing in all of history?” Modern science has a reason for that too.

A little background: The author of the CD I'm summarizing is Professor Larson--a lawyer, not a reputed scientist. But he has been a lifelong fan of astronomy—movements of stars and planets and constellations. (Not the same as astrology, which supposedly is predictive, telling you how to run your life--and is thus fakery and abusive). Scripture praises astronomy: it insists the stars tell us things from God. Note Job 9:9:

He (God) made the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, And the chambers of the south.

And note Psalm 19:1-2:

The heavens declare the glory of God…2 Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge.

Thus, the stars communicate. God wants us to study the heavens to see what He might announce or tell us. Prof. Larson found Biblical proof that will surprise you (see also his website, bethlehemstar.net)  Now you’ll surely ask, “Why isn’t this data supported by reputable scientists?” Well, why do most of our scientific minds believe in evolution instead of creationism? And what happens to scientists who believe in creationism?  The fact is: To the world, their basic “truths” are anti-God. Hey, If those in power, are rational, why did they kill Jesus?

Final background: Johannes Kepler in 1619 discovered the math behind the movements of the solar system. With hundreds of hours of effort, he could map how the sky appeared on any date, past or future, since all movements of everything in the sky are predictable--forward OR BACKWARD. But the effort required was ponderous for math and science geniuses of his generation. Now we have the advent of computers; so these movements have been incorporated into software programs. How the sky will appear from any location on the planet for any given date can now be found in seconds—in fact, the computer can even animate and show their movements through a period of time. So we are only now able to answer the big question: “Which of them is the star of Bethlehem—if any?” There are, it is estimated, 100 billion galaxies, and 100 billion stars in each—how can you find the Bethlehem star in such a crowd?

Here is the relevant Bible passage, Matthew 2:1-9, from which we will draw necessary characteristics for the Bethlehem star:

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.” 3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. 5 So they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet: 6 ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, Are not the least among the rulers of Judah; For out of you shall come a Ruler Who will shepherd My people Israel.’” 7 Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also.” 9 When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was.

From these verses, the Star of Bethlehem, to be God's purpose for astronomy, has to fulfill 9 qualifications:

a. The star has to indicate birth (2:2)

b. It has to indicate Kingship ( 2:2)

c. Has to point to Jewish Scripture (2:1)

d. Rising in east (2:2)

e. Appears at an exact time

f. Herod didn’t know when it appeared ( 2:3)

g. Endured over a considerable period of time (2:2, 9)

h. Went ahead of magi as they traveled south to Bethlehem ( 2:9)

i. The star has to Stop! Over Bethlehem ( 2:9).  This is the strange one.

So here is what Larson concluded:  It couldn’t be a meteor, which doesn’t rise in the east, and it isn’t long-lasting. It couldn’t be a comet because comet omens are perceived as foretelling doom--but Jesus’ birth is good news. Also, there were no comets in 3-2 BC (those were the conception/ birthdate, see below). It couldn’t be a nova—a spectacular exploding star--Herod wouldn’t ask “when,” because his scientific advisors (also astronomers, though I suspect not as smart as the magi) would’ve told him—along with their “interpretation.” Also, there were no novas for 3-2BC,the estimated time of Jesus' birth.

Based on what we just excluded, and from (f) above, the “right star” wasn’t spectacular—but it must have been moderately bright. It so happens, a conjunction of planets, or planet/star, would fulfill that. Larson decided, why not look at Jupiter, the King Planet (as it is so-called—it is the largest in the planet system). If Jupiter is involved, it would help us meet requirement (b) above as well. As it so happens, Jupiter, the King planet, was conjoined to Regulus (the King Star, how “coincidental”) in September of 3 BC. Since a magus had likely seen this 2-3 times before (this conjunction happens every 12 years), that by itself is not a big enough deal to get the Magi excited enough to pack up their camels and travel to see what's happening. Nor is it a big enough deal for Herod to hear from his scientific advisors (fulfilling (f) above).  But later, as we shall see, that is the date of the conception of Jesus by the Holy Spirit into Mary.

A scientific note here: planets sometimes reverse (“retrograde”) motion (like passing a car slowly on the freeway, it seems to move backward, so when earth swings past a planet, that planet seems to move backward). It so happens, Jupiter is in retrograde in 3-2BC in a very peculiar path—it passes Regulus, then reverses course, passes again, then reverses course, passes a 3rd time! This would have been exciting by itself, but additionally, if you draw this movement, it forms a halo above Regulus. Thus we have a triple-proof coronation of a king! (King planet, king star, and halo). Item “b” above is definitely solved, and we have a base "star" for further study.

Now, what about Jewishness--(c) above? A little Scriptural background will get us toward the answer: Gen 49:9 says, in summary, (1) out of tribe of Judah would come a King of all kings. (2) Judah is compared to a lion. Well, why not look and see if anything is happening in the constellation Leo the Lion? (By the way, good astronomers in those days knew many faiths' Scriptures. The magi were not Jewish, but came out of the east.)  

Now let's talk about Jesus' birth.  Is it also confirmed by the stars?  Begin with Revelation 12:1-5, a prophecy of Jesus' birth.  A “great sign appeared in heaven;” a woman “clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet,” who was pregnant and due to bear a child “to rule all nations with a rod of iron.” She is threatened by a dragon wanting to kill her child. This has long been interpreted to be about Jesus and the Virgin Mary—and opposed by a dragon--Satan working through Herod at that time. Compare these verses with how the stars told us all about it:  It So Happens that as Jupiter begins to crown Regulus, an interesting event happens in the constellation Leo—and behind Leo is—guess what—the constellation Virgo (Virgin). Virgo is rising, clothed in the sun. The moon at the time (within September, 3 BC, see below) is new, so it was under her (Virgo’s) feet! Note the Scriptures above.  An amazing prophecy come true in many "coincidental" points! You must see the DVD to appreciate this amazing point!

As it turns out, the stars tie together the Conception of Jesus by the Holy Spirit and the Birth. How do we know? Because 9 months after the event in the last paragraph, Jupiter is finished crowning Regulus; and has moved to conjoin with Venus, making the brightest conjunction in the world (planetariums love to show this conjunction). This was the only time in those magi’s lifetime for this conjunction. If the magi were thinking about all the activity just noted from September, this bright combo practically screamed out, “Mount Up!  Check this out.”

The bright planet conjunction happened in June, 2 BC.  Thus, Jesus was born in June, 2 BC.Yes, it "should" have been 0 BC/AD. Medieval dating experts were good, but not that good.

And the magi began planning a trip.

The next several months after June 2 BC are speculative, as opposed to the Keplerian rock-hard scientific facts above. Let’s assume the magi were, within a few months, starting their trip. We’re assuming the magi, from the East, were located at Babylon, a home base for the best astronomers of those days (and, unfortunately, some astrologers as well). After a couple more months, they would arrive at Jerusalem asking “where?” They tell Herod the details about September, 3 BC and June, 2 BC, then get sent south to Bethlehem—only 5 miles away, please note that.

It So Happens that in December of 2 BC (thus allowing 6 months from Christ’s birth to their arrival at Jerusalem), Jupiter is in the sky south of them from Jerusalem-- thus it continues leading them toward Bethlehem.

This means 8 of 9 requirements above are fulfilled:

a.The first conjunction signified birth by its association with Virgo “birthing” the new moon at her feet (in the tradition of the day, a woman typically gave birth downward).

b.The King Planet's halo-coronation of the Star of Kings signified kingship.

c.The triple conjunction began with the Jewish New Year and took place within Leo the Lion, showing a connection with the Jewish tribe of Judah (and prophecies of the Jewish Messiah).

d.Jupiter rises in the east.

e.The conjunctions appeared at precise, identifiable times.

f.Herod was unaware of these things; they were astronomical events which had significance only when explained by experts.

g.The planet/star events took place over a span of time sufficient for the Magi to see them both from the East and upon their arrival in Jerusalem.

h.Jupiter was ahead of the Magi as they traveled south from Jerusalem to Bethlehem

But Jupiter somehow stopped, since it stayed over Bethlehem for the time they traveled there. (This is what brings the scoffers out). There is a simple explanation for the scoffers.  As it so happens, when a planet (or star) goes to the end of an arc and begins to retrograde, it has to “stop” briefly. (Picture an elliptical arc, say the outline of the line leading to the end of an egg.  Say the egg is standing up—as you draw the edge of the egg in your mind, from the left, the arc, or egg outline, is moving down. At the right side of the egg, it moves upward. But for a brief period, at the bottom, it isn’t moving up or moving down—so it seems to stop). It So Happens that Jupiter was “at the bottom”—just before retrograde, it “stopped,” or so it appeared—and that day was December 25, BC 2! That must’ve been the date of their arrival to the toddler Jesus, in the house. Thus, Dec. 25th is a Significant date—not for the birth (by which we mistakenly celebrate it), but for the celebration of worship and presenting gifts to Our Lord.

Thank You, God, that your planets, stars, and constellations speak of Your great Immanuel! With perfect prediction. Jews knew the night sky well (they had no light pollution, no real air pollution, they slept on their roofs a lot—knew the constellations). 

Corrupting the DNA Happened in Noah's Time, Will Happen Again. An End-Times Sign

Let’s start with Genesis 6:1-4:

Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, ² that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.3 And the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”  ⁴ There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown

It says the “sons of God” and daughters of men bore giants, mighty men of renown.  Curiosity compels asking this question: Who are the “sons of God?”  Modern commentators say they were the descendants of Seth, the third son of Adam and Eve, the godly son from whom Jesus came after many generations.  The phrase “daughters of men,” they also say, refers to the descendants of Cain, the wicked son of Adam who killed Abel.  So, plugging in these definitions, what are they saying?  That the marriages of godly men and ungodly women produced giants. A strange idea. There is not one verse of Scripture backing this theory. No Scripture anywhere refers to the descendants of Seth as “sons of God.”  Why are godly men and ungodly women singled out?  Why not the reverse?  And why would their sexual union produce giants?  Their theory is too odd. This wild idea proves that you can’t always follow the commentators. 

As it turns out, the phrase “sons of God” does appear elsewhere in Scripture.  We find it in Job 38, where God is chastising Job for not seeing the big picture of His sovereignty.  He is speaking here of the creation of the earth. Here is God talking to Job:

“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. ⁵ Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? ⁶ To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy?

I remind you, this is at the time of the creation of the earth. Notice how the "sons of God" were present. But as you read the order of events in the first chapter of Genesis, man was not created at this time; that was later. Thus, the only ones who were there with God were the angels.  They have to be the "sons of God.” For further proof, in Job 1 and 2, when Satan appears in heaven to accuse Job, angels are in attendance and are again called by that name, “sons of God." For my third and final proof, one translation of the Bible, the Septuagint, was so reliable that its Old Testament was used by the early apostles, such as Paul and Peter. It simply translates the Hebrew word in Genesis 6, instead of “sons of God,” they straightforward call them angels. Thus, with these three proofs, the "sons of God" in Genesis 6 were, by all reasonable accounts, angels.

Why is it so hard for modern commentators to accept this? Because it is followed by a strange supernatural event. Other Scriptures show that these Genesis 6 angels earlier rebelled against God and were thus called fallen angels.  That Satan himself was their chief (as Isa 14:12 and following show). So Genesis 6 is saying, these fallen angels, who were immortal, lusted after earth women. They had sex with them; they had babies, called Nephilim, that were giants. 

I will further speculate that their aberrant children were not only giants, but violent. In any event, further in Genesis 6 show that God was so sick of the situation that He brought about a flood under Noah that wiped the entire population away, except Noah’s family; which I presume had the only DNA that were unpolluted.

Now, to answer an objection some of you knowledgeable folk might raise, it’s true that Jesus said in Matthew 22 that heavenly angels are unmarried, but these in Genesis are rule-breakers, and not heavenly--their ultimate destination is hell.  Anyway, they took human form--as men. This is not unusual; it happens many times in Scripture, such as Genesis 19.  So, back to Genesis 6, the fallen angels entered earth with a physical body, to have sex and to marry.  But this broke God’s rule.  What rule, you ask? The one hinted at in another Scripture, which again will back our theory up. In the Book of Jude, some angels are accused of the sin of “not keeping their proper domain,” and leaving “their own abode.” Their proper domain was originally heaven. But they broke that rule; we can presume they broke it by becoming humans on earth.  God punished them by placing them in “chains under darkness.”  Note what Jude says:

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; ⁷as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

Note the “similar manners” tying these angels to Sodom. But it is easy to tie the Jude angels to the Genesis 6 angels.  There were two characteristics both possessed: first, in Sodom, they had "given themselves over to sexual immorality."  The same is true of Genesis angels: They lusted and wanted to have sex with these desirable women so much that they were willing to leave their domain, heaven, though they knew they would be punished severely for it. Secondly, note the reference in Jude to their going after "strange flesh." That's true in the Genesis 6 angels simply because angels are immortal and earth women are mortal. So angelic "flesh" is not human flesh. It's strange flesh. Thus, the reference in Jude has to be the same angels that are spoken about in Genesis 6.

This is confirmed, and proven again, by II Peter 2.  Note the “chains of darkness” again.  Just that phrase ties Jude and II Peter together.  I’ll read II Peter now:

For....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 ⁵ and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; 

Note another connection; this time to Noah.  This ties II Peter back to Genesis 6, where Noah was introduced. Thus, all three verses—Genesis, Jude, and II Peter-- speak of the same angels, lusting after earth women in Genesis 6.

I remind you that those angels were rebellious and fallen.  The angels that stayed in heaven who were NOT disobedient; these are the ones that protect us now, including fighting with "rulers of the darkness of this age," making warnings and happy announcements to humans, and worshiping God in heaven.

The evil result was that the babies turned out to be giants. Why giants?  Now I get to my very important point for the rest of this paper: The story is the DNA.  Angel DNA is not human; but mixed with human DNA of the women, that sex act with "strange flesh" produced aberrant children who grew to be giants. Now here’s another point in the theory: When the children grew up, their activities were at the same time as a vast increase in violence and evil, as we shall see in Scripture.  The question is, were the appearance of the giants and increase in evil cause and effect?  The key is the word “then.”  Note how fast the connection of the giants and violence are told.  Reading further in Genesis 6:

Those (the giants) were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. ⁵ Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. ⁶ And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. ⁷ So the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth…¹² So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

Tying the giants to violence is easy; the giants were loved by the people for their sinful ability to conquer and kill the enemy--and in those days, anyone not of your tribe could be your enemy.  Thus, if a tribe has a giant, they'll attack other tribes to conquer them for booty, slaves, and women. This heightens the killing, the blood shed.  It seems reasonable to then suspect that the giants, the greatest of warrior-heroes who ever lived, were often worshiped as demigods.  After all, they had one parent mortal, the other parent immortal—there would have been a fascination with them just because of that. (It would also explain the stories of powerful giants like Atlas and Hercules, and others in world literature of the day.) They were called “men of renown”—the public knew them. They were rock stars in that day. They were incredibly strong.  Based on Galileo's estimates of size and weight, they could easily have weighed over 3000 pounds! They also had superior intellect and could make weapons of war (see Genesis 4 and 11).  I suspect Satan passed along a lot of information to them. So, I see men falling into idolatry by worshiping these creatures.  And idolatry will ruin any godliness you had faster than anything.  I’m sure they were happy for the attention, and it boosted their ego—egged them on to perform outrageous feats for entertainment.  How many men could a giant kill?  Can we capture more men, make them slaves, take advantage of their wives, loot their houses, with this giant as our leader? Let’s find out!

To further prove my speculation on this detail, there is the word “corrupt” in Gen. 6:12, which I read above.  In Hebrew, the word means “marred, spoiled, perverted,” and “injured.” So their corruptness was not just moral, as perverted says, but the words marred and injured guide us to something physical.  I speculate that the mixed DNA of the angel and the women perverted and physically injured, the DNA genes of their descendants.  Because of that injury, they became an aberration, the giants. The giants and their parents then probably spread these corrupted genes around.  We can assume they, with their giant egos, had casual sex. Women would certainly be attracted.  Their female "casual sex" partners probably had sex with others.  Those babies’ DNA would be corrupted, and on down it would go with their partners passing it on to others ,until it perverts a great number of people's DNA (think about the rapid spread of sexual diseases; then think about the Delta variant; don't all of these spread rapidly from a small starting point?).  The thing to keep in mind is the extended life span they had to spread their corrupted DNA. We're talking a lifespan of over 800 years, on average. Now also keep in mind: If you pervert the gene pool, you can’t go back and make it right again. I also believe (and this is speculation) that a person who is not really human, with aberrant DNA, cannot experience salvation from hell; cannot repent to be godly or deserve heaven. That’s because God's plan of salvation was strictly for humans.  We humans are the people in His image.  These giants, their genes, were NOT humans, but an aberrant hybrid.  They were not in His image.  Look how Noah was considered a preacher of righteousness in II Peter 2--yet, in 120 years that he worked on the ark and explained to everyone its purpose, he couldn't save one person outside his immediate family!  That's unusual failure. That failure has to have been caused by preaching to a group of people that were completely unreceptive. The simplest explanation is, they couldn't be turned to righteousness, because they were not human. So if we ever wonder about why God killed everyone except 8 people, perhaps He had a legitimate reason; maybe they were tainted and unsaveable. Perhaps we could also understand why God would  want to start over, at least with humans, those whose DNA had not been corrupted. They would have a chance at salvation.  He loves to see people saved.

Lest you think this story is just too strange to be true, I have several more Bible quotes to consider.  And do not throw away this idea because you've never heard it before.  Modern commentators often have a flaw they learned in seminary; they shy away from the supernatural as an explanation for strange events. And they also shy away from showing God's anger in judgment. They want to sell more books.  Actually, though, supernatural events are what God is all about.  Think about Mary, Jesus’ mother.  If I had a daughter who got pregnant, what would people say when I told them, “she is still a virgin—she has never known a man.  The child’s father is God.”  Would I be believed?  No.  But was it true nevertheless?  Yes. Likewise, the Resurrection is hard to believe, but it happened--nothing is impossible with God.  And also consider the anthropologists’ argument that, when many societies have a legend that speak of basically the same thing, it more than likely really happened. I'm thinking of the demigod giants. I’m also thinking of this:  Don't we have huge structures and detailed perfection in weighty materials, that archaeologists and architects say could not have been engineered by humans? Perhaps the simple explanation is, they were built by these giants in that day.

So, God wanted to start over with Noah’s immediate family, perhaps the only ones left who had pure DNA. What happened to the Nephilim, the giants? Physically, they died with the Flood.  But their evil spirits lived on, since they were immortal. Satan was not done with corrupting men, so the angels were at it again, later, taking human form. Scripture shows some more of these giants, on a lesser scale, were still being born, after the Flood.  (Trace the word “Nephilim” or "Rephaim" in Scripture, using the NIV Bible, and don’t forget Goliath.  And don't forget Og of Bashan).

I’d like to take a little rabbit path below. I realize I am dipping into speculation now for awhile, but it’s interesting stuff.

Jesus said the end times would be like the days of Noah, in Matthew 24:36-38. Here is part of His teaching:

“But of that day and hour (that is, end times) no one knows….but My Father only.³⁷ But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.³⁸ 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,

Everybody focuses on the feasting and marriages, and the lesson they get is that people are not thinking of God, and no one is aware that judgment is coming. But the simple truth is, men weren’t thinking about God or a second coming much in any time period, so why did God pick Noah’s day as the particular comparison for judgment? Well, what’s starting to happen today?  Have you ever heard the term “editing DNA,” or “recombinant DNA?” Or, have you ever heard the word "transhumanism?"  An interesting article in Wired magazine’s August 2015, issue, gives the good side of altering DNA. To quote: “Using the three-year-old technique, researchers have already reversed mutations that cause blindness, stopped cancer cells from multiplying, and made cells impervious to the virus that causes AIDS. Agronomists have rendered wheat invulnerable to killer fungi like powdery mildew, hinting at engineered staple crops that can feed a population of 9 billion on an ever-warmer planet. Bioengineers have used Crispr--that's the name of the technique--to alter the DNA of yeast so that it consumes plant matter and excretes ethanol.  This promises an end to reliance on petrochemicals.”

All good results, right?  But the article also shows a little of the questionable side of it. I quote Wired again:  “designer babies, invasive mutants, species-specific bioweapons, and a dozen other apocalyptic sci-fi tropes. It brings with it all-new rules for the practice of research in the life sciences. But no one knows what the rules are—or who will be the first to break them.” At least, successfully.  It’s all done in the quiet.

Bioweapons.  Invasive mutants. I don't know what that is, but "mutants" catches my eye. Reading further on transhumanism, these DNA mixing are creating what they call a chimera. That word’s meaning’s meaning: "In medicine, a person composed of two genetically distinct types of cells." By mixing man's DNA with creatures' DNA, they can mix in the creature's superiority in some trait. What if soldiers had the benefits of the eyes and ears of the bat, so they could see and hear better in the semi-darkness? They would have a great advantage if they attacked terrorists at dusk or just before sunrise.

But there is a problem. We can't predict side effects.  Did Satan know that the mixed-DNA babies of angels and women would be giants?  Not until it happened.  There’s also a rumor, with some support, that the giants had six fingers and six toes.  Despite the risks, I'm sure that won't stop the military; they would love to develop mixing in these creatures into soldiers' DNA.  They could breed super-soldiers, the kind that could kill more people, hear and see them better, maybe mixing in ant DNA so they could comfortably carry more weight, making them more efficient and durable.  And I'll bet they could also psychologically engineer them to not feel remorse.  Those countries who have this technology would use it to attack other nations who don’t have the money or the scientific capability to develop it.  This would kick off a scramble of many wars of oppression and land-grabbing again, on a scale like it hasn’t been for centuries.  That’s the military’s dream scenario--assuming, they figure, we could win such wars.  As for the other purposes of editing DNA--most everybody would like perfect babies.  With that, we could say good-by to the flaws of natural birth and natural genes.  Does that sound great too?  But what if only some parents could afford it, others couldn't? Then we'd be talking about who gets the designer genes, who doesn't.  Separate schools would have to be built for the mutant intelligence. This is starting to sound like X-Men. Then we're back to the Superior Race stuff again, a replay of Nazism, and that didn't turn out good. Every one of these results has an immoral end-play. More wars, more killing, more oppression, slavery, superior races, no remorse. Man creates bad with far more devastation than his creation of good.

So here we are, messing with DNA again, looking at the possibility of unpredictable sinful results again.  There are no rules, so I guarantee some scientists are on a quest to expand DNA editing, no matter the results.  The Wired article’s headline says, “Easy DNA editing will remake the world.”  What’s really spooky is the subheading: "The Genesis Engine"

Thus my final point in my theory:  If we corrupt DNA again, we again have superior "people," or really hybrid trans-humans, who are revered for their killing power and for their intelligence. Since they are a chimera of DNAs, and not in God’s image, and not human, they are again unsaveable. They would again be prone to ego, violence, and oppression. It also could lead to many wars and land-grabbing, and man oppressing man.  Now think about it: Does this not sound like a Scriptural description for the Beast, and for the wars predicted in the End Times? The Beast is a great warrior and general, with an ego to match. He loves being worshipped. And plenty of people are willing to be his lackeys. By the way, note that that term "beast" is an unusual description of a man. It could conceivably mean he is partly animal and partly human.  And note his extreme hatred of God and his extreme persecution of God's people in Revelation 13, where I quote:

And all the world marveled and followed the beast. 4 So they worshiped the dragon (or Satan) who gave authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?”5 And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months. 6 Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. 7 It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. 8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. 

If the Beast is a DNA-edited creature, along with lots of other warriors that are chimera produced by man, that may mean judgment day is coming again--the Last Days.  We're not far off from editing DNA, so we may not be far off from end times.  I have other blogs that say more about the chronological events of end times, and my Scripture-based belief that Scripture proves that Christians will have to live through this Great Tribulation from Matthew 24 and Revelation 6-13.  It will be a world of great danger.

Are you ever fearful for the future, for yourself and your children?  Would you want them to live in a world where you have no answers for the things that are happening? Where you are always feeling unsafe?  You can receive help by falling into the arms of Jesus.  He has a claim on your obedience to His commands in Scripture--He loved you enough to die for you.

Acknowledgement:  David Bercot, CD, “Satan and the Demons,” Scroll Publishing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Narrow Gate

 

Here is another great sermon by Voddie Bauchan.  I will give a Cliff’s Notes rendition.  But I must confess: unlike the past, I have put many of my own theology in too. His sermon starts with Matthew 7:13-14, at the end of the precious, and important, Sermon on the Mount:

                   

 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. ¹⁴ Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

 

Jesus is saying, in effect, “since you have listened to this whole sermon (Sermon on the Mount, Matt. 5-7) you must make a choice about heaven or hell, life or destruction. There are two gate entrances; which will you take?” 

Many of them believed that as long as they are trying to follow the rituals laid forth by Moses, they’re already leading the “narrow-gate” life, they’re good for heaven.  But Jesus, in the Sermon, was trying to correct that assumption. He did that by focusing on the mind as the real cause of sin (see Matthew 5:21-48).  Many people, He knew, don’t engage in sinful behavior, but they still think sinful thoughts. They thought it was OK, if you don’t murder, to hate somebody.  Jesus said sinful thoughts are sinful too.

 

In case YOU have any false assumptions about gaining eternal life, let’s talk about that eternal life or death choice in Matthew 7:13-14.  You should know, first, we start out our lives on the evil, Broad path (Ephesians 2:3). It’s our Sin nature that put us there on day 1.  Further, we grow up and tend to choose that wrong way too—even with our reasonable minds. But our minds have been corrupted too (Rom. 3:10-12).

 

Secondly, God has given us a free choice between two Gates. As we said, we start out automatically on the broad path, through the Wide Gate. But that’s on the way to hell.  So everyone starts out destined for hell. But, to switch to the difficult path, through the Narrow Gate, you must enter into it intentionally.  People just don’t get on the right path by inheritance or by growing up in it, as the Jews often believed.  If you ask someone, “Are you a Christian?” some will answer “Of course—I go to church every week.” Well, let’s look at this.  I’m hoping they mean, “I’m a Christian AND I go to church,” or “I go to church every week BECAUSE I’m a Christian.” No, sadly, they are saying that that activity makes them a Christian. It doesn’t. Another bad response is, “I’m a Christian; I was raised in a Christian home.” Or, “I was baptized in infancy, so I’ve been a Christian all my life.” Actually, that last one is the worst response of all: It’s a theological impossibility, because it takes a reasoning person to intentionally seek God, which you can’t do as a small child.   If you really believe “I have been all my life,” you are probably not a Christian at all. Because you have not done the intentional move—which has to be entered into by Repentance and by Faith (see other blogs).  What does Jesus say in His first Gospel presentation?  Mark 1:14-15:

 

Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, ¹⁵ and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

You were not born repentant or believing.  It’s the opposite:  all of us are born into a sin nature. So we start out on the Broad road.  We are all headed for destruction.  Unfortunately, few people intentionally find their way to the narrow gate. We have a self-deception problem of our not seeing where we stand with God.  We should beg God to show us the narrow gate. The London Baptist Confession puts it this way:

  This saving repentance…whereby a person, being by the Holy Spirit made sensible of the manifold evils of his sin, doth, by faith in Christ, humble himself for it with godly sorrow, detestation of it, and self-abhorrency, praying for pardon and strength of grace, with a purpose and endeavor, by supplies of the Spirit, to walk before God unto all well-pleasing in all things.

The problem with this confession is, it was inked in 1689; few people today feel “self-abhorrent” or feel the necessary repentance, because few people think about how bad their sin is to God (Rom. 3:23). He doesn’t think like we assume.  They think God always forgives (Rom. 11:22).  In some cases, they believe that we don’t even have to ask God for forgiveness—or we can do that on our death-bed.  This kind of self-deception will send many to hell.  There is plenty of self-deception going around.  The fact is, from the time we knew right from wrong, we were in desperate need of a Savior.  We knew He is there, we knew what was right, and we deliberately transgressed. 

What is the “formula” for salvation?  Unfortunately there are many who proclaim the “Gospel,” but they make it sound easy. “It’s easy as ABC:  A, Acknowledge; B, Believe; C, Confess.  Just word your prayer of confession after me.”  They may make it sound easy, but Jesus Did Not. Jesus said that entrance into the Kingdom was not easy—the entrance gate is portrayed as Narrow, and it must be searched for.

Here’s what they preach today: “Believe.  Believe God loves you and has made you for a purpose.  Believe God has chosen you to have a relationship with Jesus, Who died on the Cross for you.  Believe that no matter what you’ve done, God wants to forgive you. Second, Receive.  Receive Jesus into your life as Lord and Savior.  Receive His forgiveness for your sin.  So I invite you to bow your head and quietly whisper the prayer that will change your eternity.  What’s that prayer?  “Jesus, I believe in You and I receive You.”  If you sincerely meant that prayer, Congratulations!  Welcome to the Family of God. (This is the actual Gospel presentation in The Purpose-Driven Life). Notice that you see no repentance, no sin, no wrath of God, no nothing.  Just believe—God loves you. And you’re on your way--so they say.

I can be saved just like that?  No. To God (and He is the Judge, not you), you are a wretched, sinful creature, who, as clearly pointed out in Scripture, deserves to die and go to hell. See Romans 1:32 and 9:22. Unless you repent of your sin. Unless you are aware of the fact that you deserve to be crushed under the weight of the majesty and holiness of God, you don’t “get it,” it’s not deep in your heart. “Believe in Jesus,” they say…well, which Jesus?  Today’s preachers usually don’t define Him—well, you ask, what about the Jesus of the New Age Movement?  Or, what if I know Jesus as “lowly Jesus, meek and mild, who wouldn’t hurt a fly?” Then can I be saved?  Unlikely, since both those ideas have the wrong view of Jesus.  That also means you haven’t truly read your Scripture. He will disappoint the image you made up of Him, and you will leave Jesus and the faith.

“It’s really easy,” the experts say.  Yes, initial salvation is easy: you go through the narrow gate with repentance and belief.  But you then must endure to the end (Matt. 24:13).  So it’s also a journey, a Path; that’s not easy.” The difficulty comes because our sinful lusts, still there after we make our emotional confession of belief, lead us to bend toward our own will.  We must appeal to the Holy Spirit for help (Gal. 5:24-25).  People don’t like to humble themselves and ask for help.  They want to keep God far away when they sin. Also, too many people still believe that “My sins aren’t bad.”  Especially if they’re rich; they’re convinced they deserve heaven.  What does “being saved” mean to you?  That you want to keep following your own path, and you just want God to bless it? You want Jesus to be an appendage on your self-centered life, not an eradication of it?  Wrong. That’s why it’s hard. 

Your “old sinful man” (Rom. 6:6) within you doesn’t want to let Christ put him to death; the old nature is willing to lie to you, to tell you, “Hey, don’t go to the narrow gate. On this broad road, there are lots of people who talk Jesus; they go to church, they don’t have that narrow theology.  That ‘narrow’ stuff….that’s negative; you don’t want to be narrow.”  People often tell me, when I preach, “That’s so narrow.”  Yes, that’s the Gospel.  God’s not a politician; He’s not running for God, so He can afford to be narrow. He sets the rules; our wishes about what we want of His personality have no impact.

The Christian life must be lived purposefully—that is, every day to every day, you desire more to be sanctified to His pleasure and glory. Sanctification, or fruits, are essential to keep salvation.  But modern preachers separate justification and sanctification in such a way that they actually believe that you can be saved, yet not have your life affected at all.  On the contrary, the requirement is, there’s not only a gate, there’s a path involved, a lifestyle. Of growing faith-relationship with God. I remember a church, and the whole sermon that day was on tithing.  They never mentioned Christ--then suddenly, at the end, pastor does a quick, manipulative, altar call to invite anyone to accept Christ and be saved.  I almost got whiplash.  People start walking toward the front—why, I asked?  He had said nothing about Christ’s expectations.  There’s been no layout of the Gospel. Nothing about sin, or why Christ died. They’re then led in the sinner’s prayer—a prayer, I remind you, that you will find nowhere in the Bible.  Then they’re told they are saved, sealed in the Lamb’s book of life.  But the truth is, I’ve met a whole lot of people who were led in somebody else’s prayer, and “meant it,” but their life says They Lied. Somebody put the pressure on them; they were uncomfortable, in many cases, and just wanted to agree to get outside and breathe again. The preacher might’ve said “You can die and go to hell, or you can pray this prayer.”  “Will you pray that and mean it?”  You’re uncertain, intimidated, maybe a little scared. You say “Sure! Absolutely.” That’ll do it, right?

Well, you can “mean it” and not know who Jesus is. You might do well to secure His expectations from Scripture, not the preacher—after all, He is the Judge in the end. Have you been brought to a place of conviction and brokenness over your sin? The Bible says, “Test yourselves, to see if you be in the faith.”  Remember, there’s not just an entrance, there’s a path. With ntention, get off the broad path, and onto the narrow path. 

There are, in Greek, two different meanings that could apply to our word “narrow.”  One meaning that we haven’t covered is “compressed, pressed in.” It has the meaning of “harassed.”  So we can think of it as “persecuted.”  Jesus is saying, “You can enter a way that is narrow, a life with persecution.”  The opposite gospel of our day says “you need Jesus so your life won’t be hard.”  Well, here’s the truth:  Paul says in II Tim. 3:12: …all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.”  And consider Matthew 5:10: Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  How are you blessed?  By suffering verbal attack, or even physical violence, God will reward you in heaven. You should be striving for that treasure of reward, not treasure on earth.  If we consistently withstand persecution, we feel assurance of salvation. Yours is the kingdom of heaven.  This is important enough that Jesus began and ended His famous sermon on the mount with this theme.  For proof, see the beginning of the Sermon, Matt. 5:44 (And you can add 10:22, too), on the last days:  “…You will be hated by all….the one who endures to the end will be saved.” Not the one who just parrots the “sinner’s prayer” and eventually gets tired of Jesus not making his life what he wants.

The Apostle John says, “They went out from us, but they were not of us.”  Those who left the faith had the wrong expectations.  If they were of us, they would have remained.  Remaining is an evidence of salvation.  Staying on the Path.  Yes, believers can fall into sin—but only for a season.  But if you belong to Him, you will turn your behavior about—the Holy Spirit won’t leave you alone, you can’t stand it.  Think of Revelation 3:19: As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten^. Therefore be zealous and repent.  This is spoken to believers, remember.  Look at Matthew 24:9-13 for the last days, which we may be getting close to:

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. ¹⁰ And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. ¹¹ Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. ¹² And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. ¹³ But he who endures to the end shall be saved. 

Can you hack this kind of trouble? You may not feel it, but the Holy Spirit will embolden you.  The last days may be coming soon.  Read verse 13 again.  It’s how you keep salvation.

On to the last step. In this salvation exercise, we have the entrance, the path, and the crowd. Now let’s talk about that. The narrow entrance and the hard path are necessary for salvation.  The crowd problem (different than the parable) is this:  You entered the narrow gate, but you might note, while  walking the path, that BOTH “narrow” and “broad” people are around you. “Wheat” and “tares” are all there.  God knows who the “narrow” people are—those are the real church, those are in His kingdom. Broad people are living off their fleshly lusts—tempting though it is, we stay away from that world. We tend to find our way to other “narrow” folk, so we provide mutual strength and encouragement to one another. If church on Sunday were made up of all that folk, it would make life easier. But that’s not the way it is either.  One way we know who is who (assuming we’re a light and not hidden), is that those walking on the broad way despise us.  We give them conviction of their sins.  Just by our lives, we don’t have to broadcast it.  They don’t like the light when they live in darkness. They accuse us, “You’re so narrow-minded.” “Why, thank you very much,” we might respond slyly, “I’m really working on that.”  (But don’t forget this: The Gate is Narrow, but we don’t have to make it more narrow than it already is. It’s way too easy to fall into pride with this thinking. We don’t want to become the Pharisees). 

Most of the people on the Broad way believe that they are on the right road.  They believe the lie that says, “All roads lead to God; you just need to find the one that works for you.”  It says there are many roads, when in fact, there are only two:  There’s Christ and His kingdom—and there’s everybody else.  Most are on the Broad way because most people believe that Man is essentially good.  Where did they hear that?  Not from Scripture.  Look at Romans 3:11-18:

There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God.¹² They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one. ¹³ Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit; The poison of asps is under their lips; ¹⁴ Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. ¹⁵ Their feet are swift to shed blood; ¹⁶ Destruction and misery are in their ways; ¹⁷ And the way of peace they have not known. ¹⁸ There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

Most people record every good deed in their head, and forget the bad.  That’s the way we are.  They will lie and cheat, which is active rebellion against God (“no fear of God before their eyes”), but they still think they are “good enough for God.” We all “once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.” (Eph. 2:3). It’s hard to break from a whole life of ignoring God and from sin.  That’s why it’s hard to find the narrow gate. But there are still evangelists who make it harder.  They lie and tell us, all we have to do is just say a few programmed words, as long as you’re sincere—and you’re sealed in the Lamb’s book of Life! But for many who don’t work on sanctification, but think they’re still saved, they end up just sealed in their unbelief! To think about confession would expose them as hypocritical. Remember:  You can just say words, only words, and die and be separated from God. And don’t think of trying to match good deeds with bad deeds.  God’s not on a scale system.

Part of that Broad path crowd is a group of people who go to church on a regular basis, and know how to use very familiar Biblical language.  Crafty folk. The skin of truth surrounding the meat of a lie. Many of the innocents are unaware they’re on the Broad road—because somebody guaranteed them salvation.  If they see a glimpse of that hard, narrow path, they say, “Hey, they’re on a different path than us.”  The crafty one will say, “No, that’s just a different KIND of Christian path. They’re just really committed.”  Or, they’ll say, “they’re over-committed. Could we be wrong, with hundreds of people coming in to our church, getting saved every week? God is blessing our work!” So, it seems….

Finally, the Christian life must be completed faithfully: “Those who endure to the end are saved.”  A warning, though: if you endure, you still don’t get to share credit with Jesus for your salvation.  You never “earn,” or “joint-earn” heaven. Read Phil. 1:6:  I’m sure about this: the one who started a good work in you will stay with you to complete the job by the day of Christ Jesus.  He is the One who works in you to will and to do of His good pleasure. (Phil. 2:13). He is our Lord, so we respond in obedience—if we are truly saved. All our greatest and correct thoughts on doctrine come from God and His Word.  Study it!

May God help us to “test ourselves,” to see if we are truly in the faith.  Do we have the necessary fruits?  John 15:5-6 has a warning: he who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned..

Continue having a faithful relationship with Christ, and His Word, and you’ll abide. The result—heaven!