Hi Friend,

The Bible begins with a fundamental truth about how the world began.  We weren’t there so we would not know how it all started without this revelation from God to mankind.  In the very first verse He tells us, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”  (Gen. 1:1)  The Amplified Bible uses the terms “prepared, formed and fashioned” to describe God’s work.

The next verse says, “The earth was without form” which begs the question, what happened between verses 1 and 2.  The earth was “formed” by God in verse 1 but it is without form in verse 2.  There is no indication of how much time passed between the two verses.

The Hebrew words in the second verse are “tohu” and “bohu” meaning chaotic and empty.  Some scholars read this sentence as, “the world ‘became’ chaotic and confused.”  They reason that God has never made anything in a state of chaos.  The human body is a prime example. From the time you emerged from the womb your body functioned in an orderly fashion—breathing, digesting food, sending messages to your brain through a complex system of nerves, and a variety of single purpose organs existing in a symbiotic relationship capable of supporting your life.

So why would we assume that God made the world as an empty mass of chaos?

Even Paul uses the structured creation concept when he urges order in the Church of God.  Some congregations had members who spoke a variety of languages often talking excitedly at the same time.  It created a confused environment that was counterproductive to the goals of Christianity.   So Paul writes to the church with a logical question:  when uninformed or non-believers visit your church service and witness the confusion, “will they not say that you are out of your mind?”  (1 Cor. 14:22)

Paul continues his admonition concluding his statements by saying, “God is not the author of confusion….”  (verse 33)

Paul appeals to evidence from creation that it doesn’t fit that God is the author of a world of tohu and bohu.  If He made the earth that way, how was the planetary orbit around the sun maintained?  There is simply too much evidence of design in the universe to conclude that God created a universe of chaos.

If the world were created perfect, what happened between the first and second sentences of Genesis 1?  Apparently there was an adversary who, bent on destruction, corrupted something that originated in peace and beauty.

That isn’t hard to understand.  Take a look at a baby who is the epitome of innocence and purity.  Then look at a human being who has been caught up in drugs or other vices.  The girl walking the streets as a prostitute was born an innocent child.  Did she not have a mother who loved her, cuddled her, picked her up and held her next to her heart?  Was that homeless man who eats from a trash dumpster not once a baby who was loved by his mother?   What happened? The human begins in purity and descends into a world corrupted by the adversary.

Years ago Sam Rayburn was the Speaker of the House of Representatives in the State of Texas.  Among his oft quoted witticisms was one that says, “It takes a master carpenter to build a barn door, but any jackass can kick it down.”  It may not be scriptural, but the thought is biblical.   In other words, God created a perfect world, but it was corrupted by the Destroyer.  Thus has the world been since the first man Adam.

There is a spirit that wants to destroy.  Darwin’s delusional theory of evolution envisions a world returning to chaos so man can evolve to a higher level.  Marx’s theory of socialism espoused the elimination of individual rights to be replaced with dependence on government.  This is accomplished by eliminating God and family.  His disciple, Margaret Meade, advocated giant kindergartens run by social workers to replace the traditional family unit.

Americans are witnesses to the evolution of socialism in large cities across our country as we watch the destruction of civilized communities.  Will a better restaurant evolve from the burned-out mass of rubble on the ground?  After the destroyers have finished their work where will they find their food, clothing and shelter?  They will get the necessities for maintaining their lives from the master carpenters who build barn doors.  Such destroyers always depend on civilized people to supply their food and clothes.

May God protect His people from the Destroyer.

Until next time,

Jim O’Brien