HOW IS IT WHAT BE--PART III: ONE MORE DAY AND MAN, OH MAN!

In the morning, as he [Jesus] was returning to the city [Jerusalem], he became hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once.

When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?” Matthew (21:18-19)

We began previous chapters by quoting how Jesus calmed the storm while crossing the Sea of Galilee with terrified disciples and how Jesus fed the 5,000 men plus women and children at the end of a day of preaching. The fig tree withered immediately.

When did the storm calm? Immediately.

How was the food provided to feed the multitude? Immediately.

Why do some, then, insist that it took thousands or millions of year for God to create the heavens and the Earth?

God creates immediately!

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. (Genesis 2:1)

I didn’t always, but now I accept that heavens and earth were created in six 24-hour days [I’ll explain how I came to this conclusion in a future chapter.] They weren’t one thousand years each either, as some like to claim this length of time by quoting 2 Peter 8: “But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”

Peter was not addressing Creation. He was answering the scoffers making mock of Jesus’ Second Coming. He is showing how patient and merciful God is. 

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. (2 Peter 9-10)

Now Jesus warns us about how rapidly the Lord will return and destroy the old Heavens and Earth. Instantly, like a thief in the night. This sudden coming of the Day of Lord and the end of the old creation was spoken of as he and His disciples pondered the withering of the fig tree.

“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers  of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

“From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” (Matthew 24:29-35)

Notice when the sun and moon no longer give light; and when the stars fall that all this happens right after the Great Tribulation — Immediately!  The end will come as swiftly as the beginning. It will not take millions of years.

And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. (Genesis 2:1-3)

After six days of creating, God rested. He made the seventh day to be a day of rest for humans as well; in fact, for the entire earth. This would gradually be twisted by mankind, until the rulers and religious leaders made it not a day of rest, but a time of burden. Then Jesus came along reminding these people of the real purpose of the Sabbath that He was its master and  it was made for mankind. 

At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.”

He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.” Matthew 12:1-8) Also in Luke 6:1-5)

On a Sabbath, while he was going through the grain fields, his disciples plucked and ate some heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands. But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?” And Jesus answered them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those with him?”

And he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.” (Luke 6:1-5)

And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath. (Mark 2:27-28)

God rested on the seventh day and commanded his people to do likewise.

But what day of the week was that?

God did not name the days; He didn’t say, “Oh, the weekend is here, it is Saturday time to rest.” In the Bible they spoke of the first day, the second day and so on.

Where did our names for the days of the week come from?

We have a calendar and we start the first day of each week on what we call Sunday, then Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, so Saturday is considered the last day of the week, the seventh day. So Sunday begins the week and Saturday ends it. But this is not the case according to the ISO (International Organization for Standardization), an organization backed by 163 countries to establish standards for everything. The ISO says Monday is the official first day of the week; however, the United States, Canada and Australia and a few others disagree and stick with Sunday as the first day of the week. I’m sure Israel is one that disagree as well. The Muslim countries disagree, too, but they have Saturday as the first day of the week and Friday as the seventh.

The names weren’t always the same either. On the Roman Calendar the days were named for celestial bodies, whom the Romans considered gods: Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Our English calendar retained three of these named for Roman Gods: Saturday (Saturn), Sunday (obvious) and Monday (the Moon). The other days were renamed for Norse and Germanic gods.

We Christians then, still follow the lead of the Jews, and have come to consider Saturday as the seventh day of the week and the Sabbath, because we count from Sunday. 

If this is the case, why do Christians worship on Sunday and not Saturday?

Is it really because the early church fathers decided since Christ rose on Sunday that should be “The Lord’s Day” and this basically replaced the Jewish Sabbath on Saturday?  But this was not the full story.

The first Christians continued worshipping on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, trying to look like they were part of the Jewish faith because Rome allowed the Jews to worship as they always had. The Way (Christians) did this until Christianity became an illegal religion as did Judaism under Roman emperors after the sacking of Jerusalem. Now it became risky to be Christian or Jew, but Christians still tried to blend in by looking like Romans. They began observing a different day for the Sabbath, and since Sunday was a day of rest for the Romans, many Christians began using it as their day of worship hoping to pass.

This was the case until Emperor Constantine came to power in 313 A.D. He legalized Christianity again and on March 7, 321 issued the Sunday Enforcement Law.

“On the venerable Day of the Sun let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed.” 

This law was officially confirmed and adopted by the Pope at the Council of Laodicea in 364 A.D. and Christians have recognized Sunday as their day of worship ever since. Most Christian Churches thus celebrate Sunday as the day of worship because of a Pagan sun-worshipper and the Catholic Popes of Ancient Rome.

We now resume our Creation story and discover many critics claim we have two different accounts of Creation; the first being described in Genesis 1 and a different version in Chapter 2.

Balderdash!

Chapter 1 of Genesis is the overall view, while Chapter 2 gets more detailed as to what happened. One is the macro view and the other is the micro view, but they are the same story.

The opening verse of Genesis 2 makes an interesting statement.

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. (Genesis 2:1)

This, of course, leads to the question, “When did God create the angels?”

Why? Because of the term, “all the host of them”. Who is them? The word host in scripture usually refers to the Heavenly Creatures, especially Angels, so when God created the heavens and the earth he apparently created the Angels, which at the time included one named Lucifer.

It says when “the heavens and earth were finished, and all the host of them”. Does that imply God created the Heavenly Host last?

Not really.

In Exodus 20:11 it says this: “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”

It certainly sounds as if God did create all and everything during those six days, which included the Angels and any other Celestial beings. Look at what Paul said in Colossians 1:16:

For by him [Meaning Christ] all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.

So it would be just that, all things created in those six days. We know Angels and such were there very early on because Satan was there to temp Eve and the cherubim were there to guard the Garden of Eden and the Tree of Life after the fall (Genesis 3:24).

We also know that God had meetings with his Angels and that Satan sometimes came to those gatherings from Job 1:6: “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.”

But just when during the six days did he create them? We may have a clue in Job that tells us they were created on the first day just before he formed the Earth. In Job 38: 4-7 God is speaking to Job:

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.

Who determined its measurements—surely you know!

Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

Certainly sounds like God created the Angels first.

These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.

When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the  land, and there was no man to work the ground, and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground, then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

Some critics claim because here God created man and then God planted the Garden that he did this before the other parts of Creation spoke of in Genesis 1. It doesn’t say that at all. God planted the garden on the already existing land and man as well. Plants as food already existed in the world, but now God made special food for Man, the fruit trees and the Tree of Life.

And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God  made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.( Genesis 2:4-9)

Let’s consider the location of the Garden of Eden. Genesis 2:10-14 talks plainly about where it is located and people have arguing where this was ever since. 

A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. (Genesis 2:10-14)

There have been three popular spots speculated for the Garden. One is in upper Saudi Arabia along the Red Sea. I think that is

unlikely. The next most popular site is at the upper end of the Persian Gulf, mainly because the Tigris and Euphrates  Rivers empty into the gulf. But I go along with what is generally the popular choice of many and that is to the Eastern side of Turkey along the Armenia border. If you look at the map to the right, you will see an area between Hurrian and Assyria that might be the likely area. Mt. Ararat is near here and that is where Noah landed, and why wouldn’t the Ark have been directed back near the original place of mankind. Nimrod was a grand son of Noah. His father was Cush. Nimrod was considered a mighty warrior and a city builder. He built the city of Nimrod along the Tigris. This was in Assyria. (Genesis  10:8-10)

Nimrod continued south along the Tigris building cities where he entered what is modern day Iraq. There he stopped at what would become Babylon. Here he oversaw the building of the Tower of Babel. Archeologists have uncovered an ancient site full of ziggurats. (Ziggurats were pyramid-shaped  towers, usually a type of temple, with a flat top.)  It the midst of several small towers was the base and lower half of a large one known as the Great Ziggurat of Babylon (right). It

was never finished. This city sat on the Euprates and if we follow this river further south we will come to Ur. (Genesis 11:1-9)

Now Ur was a city of the Chaldees, a nation in lower Iraq which  had been  unable to conquer Babylon and was eventually assimilated into Babylonia.

A man named Terah, son of Nahor, lived in Ur. They were descendants of Noah’s son Shem. They began a journey toward the land of Canaan, led by Terah, which included his grandson Lot, his own son Abram and Abram’s wife Sarai. For some reason they traveled up the Euphrates going north. They got as far as Haran and settle there. (Genesis 11:28-32)

But God told Abram, whose name he would eventually change to Abraham, to get out of his father’s house with his kindred and go where God would show him (which would be Canaan).(Genesis 12:1)

See, so far for the most part every thing has flowed south with the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. But there were four rivers mentioned:

A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it

divided and became four rivers. The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the  whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is the Gihon.(Genesis 2:10-13)

People keep looking for one place with four rivers in it, but that is not what Scripture says. It says a river flowed from Eden and out of the Garden it divided and became four rivers. We can see on maps that a river flows from the area of Turkey where we speculate the Garden was and then it splits into the Tigris and Euphrates, but no one really knows today where the Pishon and Gihon were. I tend to agree with those who believe the Piston flowed from the top of the Persian Gulf across Arabia into the Red Sea. They also believe the Gihon began above the Red Sea, flowed south and then traveled down into Africa, maybe clear into Ethiopia. 

As a side note, after God expelled Adam and Eve, the Mormons believe he moved the Garden of Eden to Jackson County, Missouri. (Right) Personally, I have never been to Jackson County, MO, so I can’t don’t know what a paradise it may be.

It is likely the Garden of Eden will return when God creates the new heaven and earth and is the place described in Revelation 22:1-2. (I want to speak of those verses later.)

The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. (Genesis 2:15)

Right from the beginning man was given a job. I don’t know how hard this task was, but I am sure it was enough to keep Adam busy so he wouldn’t get bored. Work is good, although we sometimes grumble about it.

God probably wasn’t a difficult boss to please. After all, Adam had all the fruit he could eat, a great climate, friendly animals. God only demanded one rule.

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17)

Come on, how hard can that be. He was surrounded by all kinds of delicious fruit, surely he could resist that one.

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a help meet fit for him. (Help meet also means succor, which is someone who gives assistance and support in times of hardship and distress. Well, hardship and distress hadn’t hit Adam yet, but it would.) So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said,

Famous last words:

“This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh;

she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” (Genesis 2:18-23)

Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. (Genesis 2:24-25)

Now if my “Famous last words” remark wasn’t enough to get me in trouble, God made a Man and a Woman. They were supposed to become one flesh, because that is how God made them. The word translated generally as “helpmate” could have been translated “component, which is defined as a constituent that forms composes or makes up a unit or whole. We can see how that is the case. A man and a woman make up a whole, they are built to fit together.

Jesus said: But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. (Mark 10:6-9)

For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband. (Ephesians 5:33-34)

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. (Genesis 1:27-28)

HOW IS IT WHAT BE--PART II: ANIMALS AND FIG WASPS AGAIN

     In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was  God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the

world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-14)

As we have been and will continue looking at Creation, we need to remember that when God said “Let there be” this was the Word of God. The Word of God created all things and the Word was Christ. The Old Testament is as much about Jesus as is the New Testament. There is no Old Testament God nor New Testament God. There is but one God in three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him. (1 Corinthians 8:6)

Jesus, The Word, is the alpha and omega, there in the beginning and there at the end of this world as we in Revelation 21:11-13: 

He was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. (Revelation 21:11-12)

We left off in the last chapter on Day Four of Creation, when God made the sun and moon. On Day One God said “Let there be light”, but there was no sun until day four. How could that be? It be because God is the light. God will eventually do away with the sun and moon and the stars when He creates the new earth and heavens. Even though in the new creation there will not be any sun, there will be light and there will never be darkness.

And the city [Jerusalem] had no need of the sun, neither of the

moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the  light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. (Revelation 21:23-25)

Let us now move on to Day 5 of Creation, but reflect on the logic so far.

Day One the planet and light so it could be seen, and the rotation so we had 24 hour days going forward.

Day Two climate.

Day Three, the appearance of dry land separated from the seas. Then covering the dry land with vegetation. Now you had the appearance of food for what would soon be coming.

Day Four the creation of the Sun and moon to create time for humans, but also photosynthesis that provides food for the plants, carbon dioxide and water.

Day Five God called for birds of the air and the sea life in the seas.

And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.  And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.

And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. Genesis 1:20-23

And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.

And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing Darwinthat creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. (Genesis 1:24-25

On Day Six He made the land animals, including the creeping things such as bugs, and even those teeny tiny microscopic cells we can’t see with the naked eye, such as germs, and the great beasts, such as dinosaurs and all the animals in between, all after their  kind. 

Such as dinosaurs?

Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox. Lo now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly. He moveth his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his stones are wrapped together. His bones are as strong pieces of brass; his bones are like bars of iron. (Job 40:15-18)

And what determines their kind? Is it evolution as a random selection? Or is it an intelligent design coded into each thing, something we now call DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid)?

Darwinism says it was random chance.

In the 1850s, Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace

developed what would be published as On The Origins of Species in 1859. Darwin followed this publication with The Descent of Man. His theories became pretty universally accepted and thus we ended up with the nonsense that human beings evolved from apes.

I was taught in public school that all the creatures came from one sea animal, which at some point crawled onto the land, developed legs and turned into an amphibian, such as a salamander that became a gecko, which turned into a dog or something.

Even as a young person I had problems with evolution. I had fished as a boy and I knew what happened when you pulled a Sunfish out of the water and put it on land. It flip-flopped about a bit and died. It wasn’t going to survives the thousands of years the evolutionists required for it to grow legs and lungs.

I have read that Evolutionists are in trouble today and they need a deep rethink of the theory. Why? Because Darwin and Wallace knew knowing of genes, let alone DNA. So, don’t be shocked when I tell you I believe in evolution. I do because I understand the mechanics required for evolution as put forth by todays scientists, and these mechanics are still going on and don’t take millions of years to do what they do.

1. Mutation.  I have blue eyes. Blue eyes are a mutation, at least according to scientists. At one time everybody had brown eyes.
   
   Somewhere one of my ancestors had a mutant in their gene that caused blue eyes. Again according to scientists, everybody who has blue eyes are related to one single person somewhere in history, the  one who got that mutant gene. Blue eyes proved to be dominant, so that ancestor gave birth to a child or children and they carried the mutant gene and they had blue eyes. Both my parents had blue eyes, as did their parents, thus both my wife and I have blue eyes. Guess what color eyes my three kids have? Blue, they had no choice; and blue eyes became more common in the population once they first appear as a mutation.

2. Migration: If you suddenly have a population of long-horned
   
   beetles integrated into a  population of short-horned beetles, it would make genes for long-horns more prevalent in the short-horn population than before. Scientists don’t really know how long-horned beetles came about. I would guess either a mutant gene or they have just always been here. 

3. Genetic Drift: Suppose on a prairie there are a herd of Buffalo
   
   and a herd of  Cattle. Both herds are of equal number. The Cattle have several calves that survive, but Wild Bill Cody rides through and kills a lot of the buffalo. (By the way, Cody got the metal of Honor for killing the buffalo.) The next generation of these animals would have more cattle than Buffalo. This is genetic Drift. 
5. Natural Selection.  Polar Bears came from mutant genes in the Irish Brown  Bear. Because of mutation and migration a large number of Polar Bears developed in the group. Probably a
   
   bunch of Brown Bears traveled north and adapted to both the snowy environment and the available food source, seals. Hunters came and the Brown Bears were more visual against the snowy background that the White Bears and the hunters killed a lot more of the brown bears. Now there survived many more white bears in the region, which further adapted to the climate, and got called Polar Bears. This is Natural Selection.

Remember when Scripture said God created the plants and then the animals it   always said after their kind. These creations did not evolve into some new species not created by God, they simply changed through the mechanics, also created by God. Genes, thus genetics played a large part in this, or how the wolf became all the dogs in the world today. Whether wolf or Jojo, the Dachshund, they are still in the family Canine.

God had developed the rules of Genetic when he created the living things of His world. These were little understood in the past.  Darwin did not know about genes or DNA, nor did Jacob when he made a bargain with his Father-in-law Laban in Genesis 30 and 31. Jacob made a deal that he would take all the speckled, spotted and discolored of Laban’s flocks as his wages and when Jacob departed he left with the majority of the flocks.

31 And he [Laban]said, What shall I give thee? And Jacob said, Thou shalt not give me any thing: if thou wilt do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep thy flock. 

32 I will pass through all thy flock today, removing from thence all the speckled and spotted cattle, and all the brown cattle among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats: and of such shall be my hire.

33 So shall my righteousness answer for me in time to come, when it shall come for my hire before thy face: every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the sheep, that shall be counted stolen with me.

34 And Laban said, Behold, I would it might be according to thy word.

35 And he (Jacob) removed that day the he-goats that were ringstraked (had circular stripes) and spotted, and all the she-goats that were speckled and spotted, and every one that had some white in it, and all the brown among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons.

36 And he set three days' journey betwixt himself and Haven: and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks.

That was their agreement. Jacob would take all the marked of the flock. Rickstraked means circular stripes.Most likely when the deal was struck these spotted and discolored animals were the lesser of the flocks. It seemed fair to Laban because he believed he would get  the most when Jacob left. Neither man understood the nature of genes and mutation. 

We actually see that Jacob followed current superstition. Jacob

believed what the ewe’s looked at is what they would conceive. It is like the owner of the Elephant Man told the crowds as to why Joseph Merrick was so deformed which was that his pregnant mother had been frightened by an elephant. But real life doesn’t work this way.

37 And Jacob took him rods of green poplar, and of the hazel and chesnut tree; and pilled white strakes in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods.

38 And he set the rods which he had pilled before the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs when the flocks came to drink, that they should conceive when they came to drink.

39 And the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle ringstraked, speckled, and spotted.

40 And Jacob did separate the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the ringstraked, and all the brown in the flock of Laban; and he put his own flocks by themselves, and put them not unto Laban's cattle.

41 And it came to pass, whensoever the stronger cattle did conceive, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the cattle in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods.

42 But when the cattle were feeble, he put them not in: so the feebler were Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's.

43 And the man increased exceedingly, and had much cattle, and maidservants, and menservants, and camels, and asses.(Genesis 30:31-43)

Genesis 31 King James Version (KJV)

1 And he heard the words of Laban's sons, saying, Jacob hath taken away all that was our father's; and of that which was our father's hath he gotten all this glory.

2 And Jacob beheld the countenance of Laban, and, behold, it was not toward him as before.

3 And the Lord said unto Jacob, Return unto the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred; and I will be with thee.

4 And Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field unto his flock,

5 And said unto them, I see your father's countenance, that it is not toward me as before; but the God of my father hath been with me.

6 And ye know that with all my power I have served your father.

7 And your father hath deceived me, and changed my wages ten times; but God suffered him not to hurt me.

8 If he said thus, The speckled shall be thy wages; then all the cattle bare speckled: and if he said thus, The ringstraked shall be thy hire; then bare all the cattle ringstraked.

9 Thus God hath taken away the cattle of your father, and given them to me.

In this Jacob was correct. God had taken Laban’s flocks and given them to Jacob, but the outcome had nothing to do with Jacob’s shenanigans; it did have something to do with some husbandry by God.

10 And it came to pass at the time that the cattle conceived, that I [Jacob] lifted up mine eyes, and saw in a dream, and, behold, the rams which leaped upon the cattle were ringstraked, speckled, and grisled.

11 And the angel of God spake unto me in a dream, saying, Jacob: And I said, Here am I.

12 And he said, Lift up now thine eyes, and see, all the rams which leap upon the cattle are ringstraked, speckled, and grisled: for I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee.

13 I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow unto me: now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred. (Genesis 31:10-13)

God shows Jacob what he had directed to happen. Only the speckled and spotted and discolored rams impregnated the ewes and the mutated patterns of stripes, spots and colors in the genes did the trick. 

Let’s consider some supposed evolution. I’ll begin with the Fig Wasp, some of you may remember these from a year ago in the lesson, “Figs and Wasps & Foolish Genius”. We saw the necessary and symbiotic relationship between the fruit tree and the insect, neither could reproduce without the other. For these fig trees to reproduce they had to share pollen with another fig tree. There are fig trees with no male organs. These cannot produce the needed pollen, it must be brought into its fig to make the fruit fertile for reproduction. This is where the fig wasp comes into the picture. 

When the female fig wasp enters a fig tree containing both male and female parts, she is prevented by the length of the stylus from laying her eggs. All she can do is collect the pollen and fly off looking for a fig tree with only the female part and in here she can lay eggs within the figs. Getting into the fig and laying her eggs usually results in the female wasp dying from exhaustion, but she still delivers the pollen she carries.  After a while, her eggs hatch . The male wasps then tare tunnels out of the figs for the new born females and they fly off to begin the cycle again. 

Yes, the fertilized fig when it is harvested does contain one or more dead wasp carcasses, but never fear. A fig enzyme called ficin breaks down the dead wasp into protein, making it part of the ripened fruit perfectly safe for us to eat.

Evolutionists say it took millions of years for this system to evolve. I say if it took millions of years for this reproduction cycle to develop, we would have neither figs or fig wasps today.

When I was young and learning zoology for a Boy Scout Badge, the books said the giraffe got their long necks for survival reasons. You see, they said, the giraffes ate these particular tree leaves, but after awhile all the lower leaves were devoured and the giraffe grew longer necks to reach the higher leaves.

I thought this was silly. Again, evolving the longer necks took millions of years or at least many thousands.  If that was the case they would have all died of starvation from not being able to reach the higher leaves. That didn’t seem logical, besides wouldn’t the trees have grown back the lower leaves in the spring?

A number of years ago the scientists changed the story. The giraffes supposedly got their longer necks for necking, that is, sex. Not that the neck was used for sex, but for  fighting over the female. Two giraffes wanted the same mate they had a battle and giraffes fight by swinging there necks and heads into each other until one is battered into submission. Thus, over thousands or millions of years, the male giraffes grew longer and longer necks, because somehow size mattered. 

There are questions. If the giraffes once had small necks, why didn’t they fight by kicking or butting, afterall, they do have horns atop their heads? Also, why did the female giraffes evolve long necks when they didn’t engage in fighting. See they really don’t know why giraffes have these long necks. The latest idea is a combination.  The giraffes started out getting long necks to reach higher food, then after the necks were a certain height the males discovered they could be used for clubbing each other.

Actually, they don’t really know and they keep changing their theory about the giraffe’s long neck. You know what I think? I think God just made them this way.

One thing I have noticed when the experts tell how something has evolved, they always make it sound as if the creature made a conscious choice to do it. You know, “Hey if our necks were longer we’d have a better weapon, so let’s grow longer necks.”

So on that sixth day, “And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.”

Now there was air to breath and water to drink and land to live on. And there was food to eat, but it wasn’t meat, even though the King James translation uses that word. 

And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every  thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. (Genesis :30)

That’s right, in the beginning everything was a vegetarian. The word meat used in this verse is just the old English for food. So, all that green stuff was given by God as food to the animals (and to humans as well). There were no steaks, no fried baloney, no hot wings. There was kale. The idea that everything was Vegan, though, is bogus.

Abundance was represented by the term “milk and honey”. God promised to  take the Israelites to a land of milk and honey; And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large; unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. (Exodus 3:8)

After all, it is said in Proverbs 24:13 —“My son, eat thou honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste:

We will find, though, that God changed the diet after Adam and Eve fell and sin entered the world. We’ll touch on this later.

And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. (Genesis 1:25)

Take note that all was created after it’s kind. This did not mean there could not be changes in a kind, but that it would remain a kind and not evolve into something else. A cow through mutation, migration and breeding may become Angus, Holstein, Jersey, Guernsey, and dozen of other types, but never a new kind, each remains a cow, none becomes a horse.

Early on, before all these devisions and breeds it probably was an advantage to Noah when the animals boarded the ark. 

They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort.

And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life. (Genesis 6:14-15)

Then God decided to make one more thing:

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. 

And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.

And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. (Genesis 1:25-31)

A summary overview of Creation is given at the end of Genesis 1. Everything  God made had been declare good, and here it is pronounced very good.  It is a perfect world and there is not yet any sin within it.

So what happened?