Notes of a Preacher
Taras Banshchikov


Theologians of past centuries were unable to explain many of the miracles described in the Bible, attributing them instead to the sovereign will of God. As a result, many peopleboth within and outside the churchhave come to perceive the Bible (the Old and New Testaments) as a collection of legends, fairy tales, or ancient folklore.

However, thanks to the scientific and technological advancements of the last century, the ancient texts of the Bible are revealing secrets recorded by eyewitnesses to the events described in these age-old Scriptures. In my book, I examine these ancient accounts through the lens of modern science. I explore the story of Joshuas "sun-standing" event, offer my own perspective on the fall of the walls of Jericho, address whyaccording to the creation narrativeplants appeared on the third day while the sun and moon emerged on the fourth, and much more. Happy reading!





Taras Banshchikov

Notes of a Preacher





Introduction


This book is offered to everyone who desires to learn more about God, the Bible, and the Christian life. It touches on certain areas of science and their relationship to the biblical texts. The authors purpose was to show the reader that there is no contradiction between the Bible and the scientific disciplines, but rather evidence of their agreement and consistency with one another. This book does not deal with religiosity, church doctrines, or denominational differences. Those who study the Bible in preparation for the ministry of preaching will also find much that is useful concerning common errors in the interpretation of Holy Scripture. The Bible does not need to be interpreted according to human speculation; it explains itself very well. The Bible must be studied carefully and understood deeply. All Scripture quotations are taken from the Russian Synodal Translation of the Bible.

The Bible is not a fairy tale, nor is it a collection of legends and fantastic stories. The Bible is a historical book written by witnesses to the events described within its pages. Its testimony is confirmed by discoveries in archaeology and astronomy, and it records historical events in which God intervened in the lives of individuals, nations, and civilizations.

This book can be a meaningful gift both to Christians and to those who are seeking God, the Savior of their souls, and eternity with Him. I wish you an enjoyable and rewarding reading!

When reading the Bible, there are several rules to keep in mind. First, the Bible was written from the testimony of witnesses to the events described in it. Second, in order to study any subject or event described in the Bible, one must find at least two or more passages of Scripture concerning that subject in order to gain a full understanding of what is written. One should not reason from a single passage of the Bible or draw conclusions based on that passage alone. The Bible explains itself. Fourth, the Bible speaks about three central themes: God, man, and the relationship between God and man.




Preface


Thanks to discoveries in physics, chemistry, astronomy, materials science, and medicine, the quality of our lives continues to improve. Science and men and women of science, with their inquisitive minds, seek to understand the world that God created in six days, and that is a wonderful thing. But envy, pride, and arrogance can make every achievement uselessvain. Faith in God is intended to transform mans sinful nature and lead him to become an upright, righteous person. Faith in the God of the Bible is not meant to hinder the progress of science; it is meant to bring a person into a state of gentleness, responsibility, self-control, compassion, mercy, and so on... Faith in the God of the Bible does not contradict scientific inquiry. On the contrary, modern scientific discoveries confirm what was written in the ancient texts of the Bible. The Bible is an ancient historical document that speaks not only about humanitys past, but also about its future. The Bible also concerns matters of sociology and civil law, addressing the relationship between God and man, relationships among people, and the relationship of people to the state.

"Religion must be logical, and science must be ethical."

Imagine this: you want to pass on to future generations a message of great importanceone that could still be understood a hundred years from now, or even ten thousand years from now. In what style would you write your message? What images would you use? What scenes from your world would remain unchanged even after thousands of years? 1Light and darkness, day and night. 2The picture of the starry sky, apart from the seven stars or planets nearest to the Earth. All the other stars remain relatively constant in the night sky. 3The basic human needs required to sustain life: the need for food, the need for shelter, and the need for clothing.

And this is the kind of language in which the Bible is written. Over the course of four thousand years, out of approximately seventy languages, only two have come down to our time without change. These are Hebrew and Mandarin Chinese, while all other languages have changed in one way or another over the centuries. And under such changing conditions, imagine that you want to tell future generations how everything began.

At the very beginning of my Christian journey, I encountered contradictions in biblical interpretations. I began reading books written by Christian authors and discovered that there seemed to be as many opinions about biblical texts as there were authors, while their conclusions simply contradicted one another. I could not help asking myself: Where, then, is the opinion of the Author of the Bible? The One who composed the biblical textsthe 39 books of the Old Testament and the 27 books of the New Testamentdid He really write them in such an ambiguous way?

When we take the Bible into our hands, no one requires us to become critics of what is written. The Author of these texts possesses limitless age and experience in every discipline of every science that has existed in the past, exists in the present, or will exist in the future. A critic measures a work according to his own knowledge and understanding within a particular field of science or culture. But how can you, as a critic, evaluate the Author of the Bible, who created the very things you are studying? I mean the universe, with all its forces governing the interaction of matter and all its physical lawsand you, the critic, as well.

To begin with, as a reader of the biblical texts, you need to determine your own attitude toward the Author of the Bible. Who is He to you? An Author whom you weigh on the scales of your own perception and understanding, or a Teacher who knows and understands far more than anyone who has ever lived or is now living on planet Earth? If you are a critic, then the Bible is no more to you than a literary and historical bookthe writings of ancient authors. But if the Author is your Teacher, then the Bible becomes your textbooknot to be confused with the Talmud. Your attitude toward the Author of the Bible will ultimately change your entire life and your perception of the world in which you live, whatever that world may be. Yet no one has ever remained indifferent to the biblical texts.

I will cite only three passages from the Biblethere are many morein which God speaks concerning His Book.

...and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one. (Galatians 3:1920)

God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets. (Hebrews 1:1)

...knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:2021)

On the basis of these passages, I see that God is one, while we human beings are many; and that the prophets wrote their books under Gods direction, books that were later included in the collection of canonical writings. The Bible is also called Holy Scripture or the Word of God, which is exactly what it is. Approximately forty prophets and writers, living in different periods of history, took part in writing the Bible. Holy Scripture was written over a period of about 1,500 years, or perhaps even longerfrom approximately 1800 BC to AD 350. The Old and New Testaments. The Bible is not the wisdom of elders, nor is it philosophical speculation; it is the Word of God. Seen in this light, the Bible is not merely a collection of prophetic books, but one unified Book written by one Author.

Attitude Toward the Biblical Texts

How did Jesus regard the Holy Scriptures? For us as Christians, Jesus is the example and the standard of what it means to walk with God and before God. Here are several statements of Jesus recorded in the New Testament.

If He called them gods, to whom the word of God cameand the Scripture cannot be broken (John 10:35). For Jesus, the biblical texts were and remain indisputablean axiom: The Scripture cannot be broken.

Jesus answered and said to them, You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God... (Matthew 22:29). Jesus also taught that the biblical texts and their Author are inseparably connected.

And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself (Luke 24:27). He taught His disciples that He, Jesus, is the fulfillment of all the prophecies recorded in the biblical texts.

The Bible, the sacred texts, Scriptureall of these refer to the same Bookspeaks of three fundamental truths: 1) God, 2) man, and 3) the relationship between God and man.

Everything written in the Bible concerns either God, human nature, or the relationship between the Creator and His creation.

Jesus regarded the Holy Scriptures as the infallible, unbreakable Word from God. Holy Scripture presents, in historical terms, the acts of God on Earth among mankind. And all Scripture points to one PersonJesus the Messiah, the descendant of King David and of Abraham, the patriarch of the entire people of Israel, for whom the Law, the Writings, and the Prophets were given.

In the Law of Moses there is this commandment:

One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established (Deuteronomy 19:15). Likewise: ...by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established (2 Corinthians 13:1).

Let us take this as a foundation for understanding and studying the biblical texts. What does this mean? In order to reason about any subject found in the Bible, we should base our conclusions on no fewer than two or three passages of Scripture that relate to the subject being studied. No conclusions should be drawn on the basis of a single passage of the Bible.

Religion must be logical, and science must be ethical.

All the texts in this book grew out of my sermons about God and from my own study of the biblical texts. If something here agrees with the writings of other authors, it simply means that we are reading and studying the same source of our knowledgethe Bible, Holy Scripture. I also considered it important to share Craig F. Pittss revelation expressed in the poem The Ink of Eternity.

I offer you my spiritual treasures, which I myself received from my Creator and Keeper.







Chapter 1


The Beginning of Creation and Astronomy

The account in the first chapter of Genesis is presented not from an overall view of the entire protoplanetary system, but from the place where the Earth was being formed.

The Book of Genesis, chapter one:

1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

What is written in these lines of the Bible appears as though the author were standing at the very place where the Earth was to be. The description that follows of the creation of the Solar System proceeds from this same perspectivenot from somewhere outside, where the entire Solar System together with our star could be seen, but from the point where our planet was coming into existence. The conclusion is that God, through visions or dreams, showed Adam how He created the Earth and everything upon it. The first chapter of Genesis was written neither by Moses nor even by Noah, who survived the worldwide Flood. The account of the creation of the Earth was written by the first man on EarthAdam.

This raises a question: Why did the Sun and the stars appear only on the fourth day, when plants were created on the third day of creation, even though vegetation cannot grow without light?

The creation of our Solar System did not occur spontaneously. It was created by our Creator for the third planet from its star. From the very beginning, the Creator calibrated our star so that it would be suitable for life on Earth.

It was not made a red dwarf, with flares capable of destroying all life on the planet. An excerpt from a world encyclopedia states:

Because red dwarfs are relatively dim, an effective Earth-like orbit would have to lie close to the star. But a planet located too close to its star becomes permanently turned toward it with the same side. This phenomenon is known as tidal locking. It can cause extreme temperature differences between the two hemispheresthe night side and the day sidebecause the day side remains constantly warm and may become extremely hot, while temperatures on the night side may approach absolute zero. A dense atmosphere, however, could provide some transfer of heat to the dark hemisphere, but this, in turn, could produce powerful hurricanes along the boundary between the illuminated and unilluminated sides.

In Genesis chapter 1, verse 4, it is written: ...and God saw the light, that it was good. The meaning of these words is not that God had been dwelling in darkness, saw the light of a star for the first time, and felt pleased by it. The meaning is that when the Creator ignited our star, He gave it the proper amount and composition of matterfrom hydrogen to iron, 26 elementsso that it would be good for life on Earth. Hallelujah to Him for this! He calibrated the Sun for His own design.

Now let us turn to the answer to the question. On the fourth day of creation, the accretion diskthe cloud and dust surrounding the starhad dispersed enough for the Sun, the Moon, and the other stars to become visible. Light had been present from the first day of creation, but because of the density of the accretion disk around the star during the first three days, the light was not direct but diffused. For plants, what matters is that there is light, whether direct or diffused. In the formation of a new star, the cloud of gas usually rotates as well, eventually taking the shape of a disk. The young star forms at the center, while the disk surrounding it becomes the basis for the formation of planets. The disk undergoes a number of dramatic changes: much of it is blown out into space by radiation from the young star, but often a certain amount of gas and dust remains to form a planetary system. This is how our Solar System came into being. During the formation of our Solar System, there was a great deal of water vapor.

...and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters (Genesis 1:2).

The apostle Peter, who had no telescopes with which to observe the stars, writes in his epistle in 2 Peter 3:5 that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water.

The light from the star had been present from the first day of creation. Whether it was direct or diffused was not the main issue; what mattered was that the light was there.

Red dwarfs are many times more active than the Sun, while the stellar wind of such stars is not much weaker than that of our own Sun. Extremely powerful stellar flares in a red-dwarf system can be destructive to any possible life on a planet.

A planets magnetic field could partly solve this problem by acting as a barrier against radiation, but tidally locked planets, in most cases, may not have such a field, because the absence of planetary rotation also means the absence of rotation within the core.

At the same time, the star must not be too large, so that its brightness and stellar wind do not blow away and burn off the atmosphere.

Peter was an ordinary fisherman from a small village. Yet he understood the formation of planetary systems because every Sabbath he went to the synagogue and heard the Book of Genesis read aloud. Peter was a follower of Christ, with an open heart, led by the Holy Spiritsomething I also wish for todays scientists. Astronomical observations and discoveries do not in any way refute what is written in the Bible. On the contrary, they confirm and establish the truth of the sacred texts.

In December 2020, 400 astronomers and astrophysicists from around the world gathered in Paris to discuss the remarkable results of studies of the universe carried out by the infrared telescope ISO. It had been launched by the European Space Agency in 1995.

The telescope showed that approximately half of all stars have planets, and that throughout spacein every part of itthere is a great deal of water vapor. The universe is literally bathing in water, one participant at the Paris conference observed with amazement.

It is commonly believed that at the beginning of its formation, the Earth resembled a smoking sphere covered with numerous volcanoes, while streams of glowing molten lava flowed everywhere. But this is not a complete picture of what was taking place in those distant days.











Many objects have been discovered in our Solar Systemasteroids, moons of other planets, and even planets themselvesthat consist partly or almost entirely of water. This indicates that the accretion disk from which our future Solar System formed contained a large amount of water vapor. During its formation, the Earth resembled a huge ball of mud covered with water. Heavier elements and compounds moved toward the center, forming the planets core. Under the forces of gravity and pressure, the core began to heat up, and the increasing pressure pushed the denser portions of the mud upward through the water, forming dry land. In this way, a great number of cavities formed within our planet and were filled with the same water. During the Flood, it was this water that covered the entire surface of the Earth, destroying all the flora and fauna upon it.

Then God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. [And it was so.] Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament. And it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. [And God saw that it was good.] So the evening and the morning were the second day.

Then God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear. And it was so. [And the waters under the heavens were gathered together into their places, and the dry land appeared.] And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed [according to its kind and likeness], and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth. And it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind [and likeness], and the [fruit] tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind [on the earth]. And God saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the third day (Genesis 1:613).

The water was beneath the atmospherethe oceanand above the atmosphere, beyond the Krmn line, more than one hundred kilometers above the Earth, creating a greenhouse effect. Therefore, the temperature was essentially the same across the entire planet, with only slight differences at the poles and on mountain peaks. The variation was approximately 15 degrees. The high level of moisture on the ground and in the air created ideal conditions for all the plant life that had been created.

Amber is the fossilized resin of trees. Besides small insects, amber also contains bubbles of gas. This is the atmosphere of those times. Its composition contained from 25% to 40% oxygen. And it is no wonder that under such greenhouse conditions vegetation was extremely abundant, much like that of the equatorial regions today. And there is something else: when God first created the animals, they were not carnivorous. All of them fed on vegetationthe lion as well as the dinosaurs (dragons). All this vegetation had to be continually renewed.

And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven [to give light upon the earth, and] to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth. And it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night, and the stars. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creatures that have life, and let birds fly above the earth across the firmament of heaven. [And it was so.] And God created great fish and every living creature that moves, which the waters brought forth according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its 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 birds multiply on the earth. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle, creeping things, and beasts of the earth according to their kinds. And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds, cattle according to their kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, [and] according to Our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, [and over the beasts,] and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea [and over the beasts], and over the birds of the air, [and over every living thing, and over all the earth,] and over every living creature that moves on the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to every [creeping thing] that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food. And it was so. And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day (Genesis 1:1431).

An amazing fact: when God created the animals, He spokeHe gave instructions as to how they were to be made. But when He created man, nowhere in Scripture does it say that He spoke. He was occupied with creating His own reflection. God fashioned His own image and likeness with His own hands. Like an Artist, He saw Himself and shaped what He saw. Every person ever born on Earth is His unique creation. (Psalm 139:13)

...and every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground (Genesis 2:56).

Here is another fact the Bible describes concerning the beginning of creation: ...but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground. The word translated as mist refers to a thick, dense water mist that appeared before sunrise. Everything on the surface of the Earth became covered with moisture.

Because of the water that existed above the atmosphere, a greenhouse effect was created on Earth. As a result, there were no drastic temperature changes and therefore no seasonal change from summer to winter. The atmosphere was warmed evenly, and because of the greenhouse effect, excess moisture did not gather into clouds; therefore, there was no rain. There was more than enough moisture in the ground and in the atmosphere for the abundant growth of every kind of plant. The changing of the seasons began after the Flood.

...while the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, [and] day and night shall not cease (Genesis 8:22).

On the island of Greenland, which today is covered by many meters of ice and snow, fossilized redwood stumps are found in areas where the ground has become exposed. This indicates that the climate throughout the Earth was mild, like late spring. There were no changing seasons on Earth, nor were there deserts, whether sandy or icy, and the level of the oceans was much lower. Today we live among the ruins of what was once Gods beautiful creationthe planet Earth. Conditions were so favorable that before the Flood, human beings lived for more than nine hundred years. Animals were not divided into carnivores and herbivores; all of them were herbivores. This was Paradise. The land could be cultivated throughout the entire year. All that green vegetation, growing so rapidly, had to be continually renewed, and therefore every creature ate plants. No one died before the fall of man, and death for mankind was not part of Gods plan. For us, death is not a natural process. Large animals ate large plants, while smaller animals ate smaller plants. The enormous teeth of dinosaurs were designed for chewing wood. Have you ever seen the teeth of the shredding machines at a paper mill? The panda bear has powerful jaws, fangs, and teeth just like its relativesthe other species of bears. Yet it feeds exclusively on vegetationbamboo.

fossilized resin with insects inside




vegetarian panda







Chapter 2


The First People on Earth

In the Bible, God tells us that He first created the starthe Sunthen a planet out of water and by water, suitable for life. He caused dry land to appear and brought forth plants, animals, fish, and birds upon it. And at the very end of His creation, He created man in His own image and likeness. Man may outwardly resemble certain animals, but man does not belong to any class or species of animals. Man is a being distinct from the rest of the animal world. No animal has ever built an altar or a structure for the worship of someone or something. This reveals a human need for the spiritual realm. No species or family in the animal kingdom has such a need.

The Bible reveals to us that man is not only a physical and soulish being, but also a spiritual one. We are able to function in the spiritual realm. The third chapter of Genesis describes events that cannot be explained in scientific terms: a conversation with God, and two trees that did not differ from one another in outward appearance, yet one carried a curse while the other gave eternal life. Neither tree was poisonous, and their fruit did not poison the body. The difference between them was spiritual. No animal was made in the image and likeness of the Creator of our world. What distinguishes human beings from all animals, fish, and birds is that, in addition to body and mind, we also possess a spiritsomething animals do not have. In a general sense, the world in which we live can be divided into three basic components that interact with one another. The spiritual worldaccording to the biblical view, the beginning of everything; the soulish realmour awareness of ourselves as persons and our communication with other persons; and the physical world, which we perceive and interact with through our senses: sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch.

I will try to describe these interactions as briefly as possible. Man, like his God and Creator, interacts within all three aspects of our worldwe are spiritual persons in bodies. God, as the cause and source of everyone and everything, governs all things from the spiritual realm. We human beings, through Adam, were deprived of that privilege, and therefore we live on Earth deprived of the glory and power of God. In the biblical understanding, angels interact only within the spiritual and soulish realmsthey are spiritual persons without physical bodies. There are angels faithful to God, and there are also angels who rebelled against Gods ruledemonsyet even they can do nothing apart from Gods will. Animals, birds, and creeping creatures interact within the physical and soulish realms. This is why we can see animals and sometimes understand them, while we do not see angels and cannot perceive them through our physical senses. We may encounter them only through dreams, and not according to our own will. Plants have only a physical body in the physical world.

Eve spoke with the serpent. Before the Fall, human beings spoke with animals and could hear their answers because they had not yet been deprived of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). After sin entered the Garden of Eden, man ceased to understand the animals. The human spirit died in relation to fellowship with God. Man voluntarily surrendered authority over himself to the one who stood behind the Serpentthe fallen angel Lucifer. There is no such thing as being without a master on Earth: either you are a slave of sin and will answer for your own transgressions, or you are a servant of God through Jesus Christ, unto eternal life with Him.

...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).

For there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin (Ecclesiastes 7:20).

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23).

He who has the Son [of God] has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life (1 John 5:12).




Chapter 3


Faith in God

Faith in God does not arise in anyone by itself. The same is true of animals. No animal in the sea, on the land, or in the sky has ever built a place in which to worship God. God says through the prophet Isaiah: I was sought by those who did not ask for Me; I was found by those who did not seek Me (Isaiah 65:1).

Why do I believe the Bible? Because I have seen that the Bible tells the truth about the past, the present, and the future.

The very beginning of mans faith in God goes back to the Garden of Eden. Every day before the fall of man, God spoke with him. He told man how He had created our earthly home. The faith of Adam and Eve grew out of their relationship with their Creator. Living in Paradise, the first people did not understand what good and evil meant. Every single animal ate vegetation, while mankind was given as food the seeds of grasses, shrubs, and trees. There was no competition and no need to fear being eaten or killed by another creature. The weather was ideal: a warm, humid climate covered the entire Earth. There was no changing of the seasons. In a word, it was Paradise.

After man was tempted and fell into sin, the first thing he lost was fellowship with God. All the physical hardships that came upon Adam and Eve could not compare with this loss. But God explained how fellowship with Him could be restored for a time. A one-year-old lamb, without spot or blemish, was placed upon the altar as a burnt offering for the forgiveness of sins, and the way into fellowship with Him was temporarily opened. Adam and Eve had children, and their father explained to them why every seventh day he offered burnt offerings. He also told them about the fellowship he had enjoyed with God before sin entered the world. In the final verse of Genesis chapter 4, it is written: ...then men began to call on the name of the Lord. Many passages of Scripture speak of calling on the name of the Lord (Genesis 12:8; Genesis 13:4; Genesis 21:33; Genesis 26:25; Genesis 33:20). What does this mean? When clean animals were sacrificed, the entire family gathered together, and sacrifices were offered for everyone. They sang songs of praise to God, and in almost every case this was accompanied by dancing. Such celebrations were held regularly until the children of Israel departed from Egypt.

Before the Flood there were also two family lines descending from Adam and Eve: the line of Seththe worshipers of Godand the line of Cainthe godless. Thanks to the line of Seth, we can now form a general picture of how God created Heaven and Earth, and we also know what happened to civilization before the worldwide Flood. Only eight people survived the FloodNoah, his three sons, and their wives.

An amazing fact is that Noah had three sons, and today three major groups of people live on Earth: Africans, the peoples of the East, and Caucasians. The differences are only outward; together, all of us belong to the human race descended from one ancestorAdam. This indicates that before the worldwide Flood there was a highly developed civilization that produced lasting changes in the human genome, resulting in people so beautiful and so different in outward appearance. The Bible says: Noah begot three sons. As we know, no man on Earth can give birth. Every man has a helper for the bearing of childrenhis wife. She is the one who gives birth to children for her husband. Therefore, when the Bible says that a man begot a son, it speaks of raising a child within the family. Whether the child was born into that family or received into it from elsewhere does not matter; the man is responsible for the children in his household. My view concerning Noah is this: until he was five hundred years old, he had no children. This does not mean that Noah had no wife or companion in life.

This also tells us that Noah remained faithful to his wife for many centuries, even though they were unable to have children of their own. We read in the Bible that all three of Noahs sons appeared in the same year, when he was five hundred years old. In my opinion, they were adopted children. The Bible tells us that in Noahs time human society drank sin like water, and the children Noah received into his family were being rescued from the fate for which those genetically altered infants had been born. To Noah, these children were neither slaves nor ornaments; he treated them as a loving father treats his own children. For this reason, God described Noah as righteous in his generationfaithful to his wife and accepting other peoples altered children as his own. Noah found the values of such a highly developed civilization repulsive: a society in which unfaithfulness to ones wife was not considered sin, and artificially created human beings were treated as slaves or as decorations for the home. Jesus said, But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be (Matthew 24:37). And our civilization is slowly but steadily approaching the standards of that highly developed, sinful society before the Flooda society that, because of its sins, was washed away by the waters of the Flood like filth flushed from a latrine, despite all its scientific achievements in every field and discipline. God is the Judge and Lawgiver, as well as the Owner of the Solar System in which our planet exists. And He is not indifferent to what we, as a society, do on Earth.

After the Flood, each of Noahs sons chose a direction and went his way. Japheth went east, and from him came all the eastern peoples. Ham went south. From him came all the peoples of Africa, as well as those who inhabit the islands of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Shem remained with Noah, and from him came all the peoples of the Middle East, Europe, and India. North and South America were later populated by the sons of Japheth, and all of Asia from the China Sea to the shores of the Arctic Ocean also belongs to the descendants of Japheth. Among all peoples, a tradition has been preserved concerning a worldwide Flood and an ark on which one family was saved. The belief in one God was also passed down. It was handed from generation to generation, but over time it became surrounded by philosophies and human speculation. Thus, in India, with its enormous population, there is roughly one god for every three peopleone for every family. In Korea and Japan, people deify virtually everything they encounter in life. But why is the Hebrew faith different from all the others?

In Deuteronomy chapter 4, God Himself answers the question of why the Hebrews and the Jewish faith stand above all other beliefs and philosophies.

For ask now concerning the former days, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether any great thing like this has happened, or anything like it has been heard. Did any people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and live? Or did any god ever try to go and take for himself a nation from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord Himself is God; there is none other besides Him. Out of heaven He let you hear His voice, that He might instruct you; on earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words out of the midst of the fire. And because He loved your fathers, therefore He chose their descendants after them; and He brought you out of Egypt with His Presence, with His mighty power (Deuteronomy 4:3237).

In the Book of Genesis, after the account of the worldwide Flood and its consequences, we also find the story of Abram and his family. God enters into a covenant with Abram, promising to care for his descendants through the ages and choosing for Himself a future people descended from Sarai and Abram. He gives them new namesAbraham and Sarah: the father of a multitude and the mother of a great nation. When the Israelites came out of Egypt, at Mount Horebalso called SinaiGod Himself descended upon the mountain before the eyes of one and a half million people who had gathered there. He did this to establish and lay the foundations for understanding God and worshiping Him. None of the gods of the nations had ever done anything like this. They were all limited to philosophies. And at the appointed time, God sent His Son in human flesh to offer Himself as a sacrifice for Adams sin, so that He might give us not merely temporary fellowship with Him, but eternal redemption, restoring to us that fellowship with Him in Paradise which Adam had enjoyed before sin. And notice this: from the creation of the world to this very day, God has done everything on His own initiative. Without Him, no one can believe in Him.

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17).

Your response to His Word determines Gods further actions.

But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth (John 4:2324).

...those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled (John 17:12).

Seeing our response to His Word, God brings us to Jesus so that we may receive His sacrifice and His grace. Yet when this happens, and how it happens, we often do not even notice or see it. Faith arises in us only because we have heard the Word of God. The Word of God is like a seed: when it falls into our souls, it seeks to take root and grow. If the soilthe heartis good, the seed grows and becomes firmly rooted. If the soil has been packed hard like a roada hardened heartthe seed is rejected, and God waits for the next sowing season.

In Matthew chapter 13, Jesus explains this principle.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1).

When your mind is occupied with the Word of God, you naturally begin to expect God to move in your life. This is faith from God, born through His Word.







Chapter 4


God Speaks to Everyone in the Same Way

God is the Creator of everything we see and everything that surrounds us (Genesis 1:1). He is the Creator of angels, human beings, animals, and every plant on Earth, as well as the planets, stars, constellations, and the entire universe. Being the God of gods, the Lord of lords, the Ruler over all rulers, and having under His authority everything that can be called realms and territories on a universal scale, it was necessary for Him to establish laws governing EVERYTHING. We call them physical laws. There are also laws of the spiritual realm, but that is not our subject at the moment. The entire universe lives, moves, and exists according to these laws. Otherwise, nothing could exist or interact.

Therefore, being the Lawgiver, He Himself must abide by His own lawsthat is, He must be responsible, honest, sincere, and open before His creation.

For I have said, Mercy shall be built up forever; Your faithfulness You shall establish in the very heavens; because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse (Psalm 89:2; Romans 1:1920).

And judging by Gods actions in the past, He is not only responsible and sincere, but also loving and mercifulsomething of great importance to the entire assembly and society of angels and human beings. In this way, He sets an example for everyone to follow.

...take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls (Matthew 11:29).

Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them (Job 1:6; 2:1).

Gods adversary, who rebelled against Him, has access to Gods council and influences the destinies of people. Here is another passage of Scripture showing that God is honest and open with everyone, even with His enemies:

Then [Micaiah] said, Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing on His right hand and His left. And the Lord said, Who will persuade Ahab king of Israel to go up, that he may fall at Ramoth Gilead? So one spoke in this manner, and another spoke in that manner. Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord, and said, I will persuade him. The Lord said to him, In what way? So he said, I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And the Lord said, You shall persuade him and also prevail; go out and do so. Therefore look! The Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of these prophets of yours, and the Lord has declared disaster against you (2 Chronicles 18:1822).

The angels who serve the Lord will not lie or pretend. The lying spirit is an angel of Satans kingdom. In other words, Ahab chose prophets who told him what he wanted to hear. He deceived himself, and his ways ultimately led him to death.

With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful; with a blameless man You will show Yourself blameless; with the pure You will show Yourself pure; and with the devious You will show Yourself shrewd... (Psalm 18:2526).

Here is another passage of Scripture showing that God Most High takes the adversarys position into account in His plans:

And the Lord said, Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren (Luke 22:3132).

And from Holy Scripture we know what awaits, after judgment, the one who resists God and persists in lawlessness: Hell and the lake of fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.

He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while (Revelation 20:23).

How, specifically, does God speak to a person?

The Bible66 books: 39 books of the Old Testament and 27 books of the New Testament. The Bible is also called the Word of God or Holy Scripture, which is exactly what it isthe written Word from God (Galatians 3:19; Hebrews 2:2; 2 Peter 1:1921).

In the gathering of those who believe in the God of the Bible, when they speak about God and His Word (Psalm 89:5; Matthew 18:19; Luke 24:1416).

...and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator (Galatians 3:19).

For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward... (Hebrews 2:2).

And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:1921).

And the heavens will praise Your wonders, O Lord; Your faithfulness also in the assembly of the saints (Psalm 89:5).

Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them (Matthew 18:1920).




Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD. (Job 2:1)




Chapter 5


Gods Adversary and the Enemy of Human Souls

The one reason God loves you, my dear reader, is that you are made in His own image and likeness. This is also the reason Gods adversarythe devilhates you and hates your life. The adversary hates you because you bear the image and likeness of the Most High, and whenever he sees you, you remind him of God. Never underestimate Gods adversary. He is stronger than you in every way. The only thing you can set against him is to cry out in prayer to Jesus Christ for help. At your request, Jesus will send protection and help. There is no other way.

So who is this adversary? His name is the son of the Dawn, or the son of the Morning. The books of Ezekiel and Isaiah speak about him.

...Thus says the Lord God: You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: the ruby, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, jasper, sapphire, turquoise, emerald, and gold. The workmanship of your settings and mountings was prepared for you on the day you were created. You were the anointed cherub who covers, and I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked among the fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, until iniquity was found in you. By the abundance of your trade you became filled within with violence, and you sinned; therefore I cast you as profane out of the mountain of God, and I destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the fiery stones. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I laid you before kings, that they might gaze at you. You defiled your sanctuaries by the multitude of your iniquities, by the unrighteousness of your trade; therefore I brought fire from your midst; it devoured you, and I turned you to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all who saw you. All who knew you among the peoples are astonished at you; you have become a terror, and shall be no more forever (Ezekiel 28:1219).

Hell from beneath is stirred up to meet you at your coming; it stirs up the dead for you, all the chief ones of the earth; it has raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. They all shall speak and say to you: Have you also become as weak as we? Have you become like us? Your pride is brought down to Sheol, and the sound of your harps; the maggot is spread under you, and worms cover you. How you are fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mountain of the congregation, on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High. Yet you shall be brought down to hell, to the depths of the pit. Those who see you will gaze at you and consider you, saying: Is this the one who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, who made the world as a wilderness and destroyed its cities, who did not open the house of his prisoners? All the kings of the nations, all of them, sleep in glory, each one in his own tomb; but you are cast out of your grave like an abominable branch, like the garment of those who are slain, thrust through with a sword, who go down to the stones of the pit, like a corpse trodden underfoot. You will not be joined with them in burial, because you have destroyed your land and slain your people. The offspring of evildoers shall never be named (Isaiah 14:920).

From these passages of Scripture we can see who he was, what he did, and what he became.

He was the covering cherub and the forerunner of God, just as John the Baptist was the forerunner of Jesus. He went before God and prepared the other angels to meet Him. When they saw this cherub, everyone understood that the Lord God Most High was about to come. He also helped the other angels carry out their work in an orderly and coordinated way, so that when the Most High appeared, everything would proceed smoothly and in proper order. He was also given authority to manage Gods resources. He was like Joseph under Pharaoh, who in his day administered all of Egypt while remaining Pharaohs servant. And here is another reason why he hates the Jews, the chosen people, and the Christians who have followed Christ: because we will take his place in the Kingdom of God and of the Lamb and will walk among the fiery stones. I am not presuming to claim these positions in the Kingdom of God, for Jesus Himself, the Son of God, said: Then the King will say to those on His right hand, Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world (Matthew 25:34).

Why did the former son of the Dawn become what he became? He conceived the thought: To take the Creators place. The very thought itself was sheer madnessit is like knocking away the support on which you are standingand he began devising a plan for how to accomplish it: a palace coup. But God does not merely give life or bring things to life; He Himself is Life.

Pride and arrogance destroyed the wisdom God had given the former cherub. Through deception and slander he drew a portion of the angels after himself, and on the day of his rebellion he and all his followers were cast into the depths of Hell (Revelation 12:4).

Jesus died on the cross of Calvary for our sins, and after His death He spent three days and three nights in the depths of Hellnot as a sinner, but as the Righteous Oneilluminating every corner of Hell and proclaiming that authority over that place belonged to Him. And on the third day He rose from the dead. Lift up your heads, O you gates! And be lifted up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O you gates! Lift up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory (Psalm 24:710).

...for Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison (1 Peter 3:1819).

Jesus is the only One who has defeated the entire kingdom of Satan, the adversary, and He is the only One who can help you. All power and might belong to Him: ...and you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in Himself (Colossians 2:1315). No one else is able to solve your problems. The only One who can and wants to help you is the Son of God, who died on the cross of Calvary and rose again on the third day.







Chapter 6


DestinyHow Much Is Contained in That Word!

Destiny is usually understood as something that cannot be avoideda combination of circumstances beyond our control. But is that really so? What does the Bible say about it? What part does God play in our lives?

The first passage of Scripture that comes to mind is this:

Now it shall come to pass, when you have crossed [the Jordan], if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God (Deuteronomy 28:12).

And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you heed the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them (Deuteronomy 28:13).

Here we read what God has promised to do depending on whether we fulfill the condition or fail to fulfill it. The entire twenty-eighth chapter of Deuteronomy speaks of Gods complete influence upon our lives, whether you believe in Him or not. Ignorance of the Law does not release anyone from responsibility.

Many people say, We are not under the Law; we are under grace, or, We do not need the Law; we have the teaching of Christ. Jesus said: Jesus answered them and said, My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority (John 7:1617).

Jesus said that His teaching is founded upon the Law of God the Father and that He was not saying anything new. Statements such as those mentioned above come from Christians who do not want to search deeply into the Word of God and who have listened to preachers and teachers who told them what they wanted to hear. I write about the relationship between the Law and grace in the chapter Law or Grace.

I am now in my sixties, and through my dealings with peopleChristians and non-Christians alikeI have seen that what is written in Deuteronomy chapter 28 works one hundred percent in the life of every person and in the activity of organizations, businesses, and nations. The principle is the same for everyone: if you keep the commandments, it will go well with you and you will prosper; if you do not, everything you put your hand to will eventually fall apart and will not stand. In other words, God takes a direct and complete part in our destinies.

Here are two more passages of Scripture:

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11).

Your eyes saw my unformed substance, and in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them (Psalm 139:16).

These two passages speak of Gods determination concerning what is to happen in our lives. In the Book of Destiny it is written what we are meant to do, but whether we actually do it or not depends entirely on us. The Book of Destiny is written by God as His plans for our livesplans for good works and not for evil, so that our future may be filled with hope for something better. And God will see to it.

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:10).

Besides the Book of Destiny (Psalm 139:16), there is also a Book of Remembrance:

Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord listened and heard them; so a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the Lord and who honor His name. They shall be Mine, says the Lord of hosts, on the day that I make them My treasured possession. And I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him. Then you shall again discern between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him (Malachi 3:1618).

In the Book of Remembrance are recorded the things we doour actions and our motives.

There is also the Book of Life: And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:15). Only the names of those who will enter Eternal Life are written in the Book of Life. Who enters eternal life depends upon the decision of Jesus Christ. God the Father has entrusted all judgment to His Son. Everyone who rejects the Son of God remains without salvation. There is no greater sin than rejecting the Savior. It was because of His love for you that Jesus died on the cross of Calvaryto save us from the lake of fire, and not only from that. On the cross of Calvary, Jesus died not only for our sins, but also for the consequences of the sins we committed. He took upon Himself our curses, sorrow, troubles, and failures. And now it does not matter what your life was like before you met Christwhether it was filled with disappointment and misery, or whether you were simply a respectable sinner. You do not need to become righteous first and then come to God; without Him, you cannot do it. Come as you are, live with Him, and He will make you righteous. This is what grace is: as you live with Christ and come to know Him and His Word, you begin to change. The closer you draw to Him and the more you know Him, the more He is able to accomplish works of righteousness through you. This is gracewhen it is not you, but He who works through you.

So God has purposed good for us, but whether you do good or not depends personally on you, and upon that depends what your future will beboth here on Earth and in Eternity.

Many will ask: What about the evil that happens apart from our willwar, sickness, murders in everyday life, accidents? Here is the answer from the Bible: Son of man, when a land sins against Me by persistent unfaithfulness, I will stretch out My hand against it; I will cut off its supply of bread, send famine on it, and cut off man and beast from it. Even if these three menNoah, Daniel, and Jobwere in it, they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness, says the Lord God (Ezekiel 14:1314). God will never abandon those who are faithful and devoted to Him. I write this not because I read it somewhere or because someone told me about it. This is my life with Him, confirmed by those who wrote the Bible and experienced the same thing in their own liveswith Him.

The conclusion is this: what you are doing now is either building your future life or destroying it.

Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth; walk in the ways of your heart, and in the sight of your eyes; but know that for all these God will bring you into judgment (Ecclesiastes 11:9).







Chapter 7


The Ink of Eternity

In 1996, a Christian conference was held in the city of Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, where Craig F. Pitts preached about Christ and shared a vision from God that he had received some time before and later put into verse.

Eternal Ink

I dreamed I was in Heaven

Where an angel kept Gods book.

He was writing so intently

I just had to take a look.

It was not, at first, his writing

That made me stop and think

But the fluid in the bottle

That was marked eternal ink.

This ink was most amazing,

Dark black upon his blotter

But as it touched the parchment

It became as clear as water.

The angel kept on writing,

But as quickly as a wink

The words were disappearing

With that strange eternal ink.

The angel took no notice,

But kept writing on and on.

He turned each page and filled it

Till all its space was gone.

I thought he wrote to no avail,

His efforts were so vain

For he wrote a thousand pages

That hed never read again.

And as I watched and wondered that

This awesome sight was mine,

I actually saw a word stay black

As it dried upon the line.

The angel wrote and I thought I saw

A look of satisfaction.

At last he had some print to show

For all his earnest action.

A line or two dried dark and stayed

As black as black can be,

But strangely the next paragraph

Became invisible to see.

The book was getting fuller,

The angels records true,

But most of it was blank, with

Just a few words coming through.

I knew there was some reason,

But as hard as I could think,

I couldnt grasp the significance

Of that eternal ink.

The mystery burned within me,

And I finally dared to ask

The angel to explain to me

Of his amazing task.

And what I heard was frightful

As the angel turned his head.

He looked directly at me,

And this is what he said . . .

I know you stand and wonder

At what my writings worth

But God has told me to record

The lives of those on Earth.

The book that I am filling

Is an accurate account

Of every word and action

And to what they do amount.

And since you have been watching

I must tell you what is true;

The details of my journal

Are the strict accounts of you.

The Lord asked me to watch you

As each day you worked and played.

I saw you as you went to church,

I saw you as you prayed.

But I was told to document

Your life through all the week.

I wrote when you were proud and bold,

I wrote when you were meek.

I recorded all your attitudes

Whether they were good or bad.

I was sorry that I had to write

The things that make God sad.

So now Ill tell the wonder

Of this eternal ink,

For the reason for its mystery

Should make you stop and think.

This ink that God created

To help me keep my journal

Will only keep a record of

Things that are eternal.

So much of life is wasted

On things that matter not

So instead of my erasing,

Smudging ink and ugly blot.

I just keep writing faithfully and

Let the ink do all the rest

For it is able to decide

Whats useless and whats best.

And God ordained that as I write

Of all you do and say

Your deeds that count for nothing

Will just disappear away.

When books are opened someday,

As sure as Heaven is true;

The Lords eternal ink will tell

What mattered most to you.

If you just lived to please yourself

The pages will be bare,

And God will issue no reward

For you when you get there.




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