Adam's Family, The Blood, The Crown & The Birthright

By Monte B. Burke

God shook the earth, destroying its cities, killing all flesh, ending the first earth age. The rebellion angered God. The second earth age, given to turmoil and disorder, is the battlefield for the souls of men, the spirits; the spoils of war.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Mar 16, 2014
• ISBN: 9781483527994

Book preview

war.

Introduction

1. A New Beginning

2. The Sixth Day

3. Noah the tenth generation of Adam

4. Abraham

5. Esau and Jacob: The Troubled Twins

6. The Twelve Sons of Jacob

7. Manasseh and Ephraim

8. Joshua

9. David

10. Jeremiah

11. Herod

12. Birth of Christ

13. The Birthright & the Crown

14. The Division of Israel

15. Following the lost tribes of Israel

16. The Rapture

17. The Thousand-Year Reign of Christ

18. A Word to Teachers & Students

19. Elect or Chosen

20. Persecution of the Church

21. The Abomination of Easter

22. Tongues, The New Passover, Baptism, Why a Savior?

False Teachers, Peter's Vision, Hell, Science, Darwin, Archeological Discoveries, Prayer

Epilogue

Introduction

I have always been suspicious of televangelist. As a teenager, I said to my brother if these men were doing God's work they wouldn't need to beg for money. I watched these silk-suited carneys plead for us to buy an ounce of holy water. It will heal you and help us stay on the air, they said. I did not like their phony sales pitch then nor do not like it now. I found their behavior quite nauseating. If this is how the world views Christianity, I understand why some think Die Religion... ist das Opium des Volkes... Religion is the opiate of the masses.

I have always believed in God. My mother and father were believers but not churchgoers and I possessed little knowledge of the Bible. Still I believed that I could talk with God. I never heard an audible voice speaking back but I felt it. When I was nine years old, I turned the corner into the hallway leading to our backdoor when suddenly I stopped, my eyesight darkened and I felt a voice tell me that I would never father a child. I was not afraid. I accepted the message and went outside to play. I'm now in my mid-fifties and I have no children. Of course, the girls I dated in high school and college didn't believe me when I said I couldn't have children. Apparently, they hear that a lot.

For my ninth birthday, my aunt and uncle gave me a book, Good News for Modern Man. It's an easy to read version of the New Testament. I did not understand why Mark repeated

Matthew, but I soon learned it was just two of the four Gospels. I did not understand much of it but I did understand enough to serve me well later in life.

When I was thirteen my mom gave me the book The Sensuous Man. It is a detailed book of how to please a woman. It too served me well later in life. Thanks Mom! She wanted her boys to be happy and thought being an attentive husband would be a good start. Of course, I read that book sixty to seventy times. Nevertheless, the New Testament made a lasting impression.

One particular verse of the New Testament stayed with me. Matthew 7:7. Ask and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock and I will open the door.

I asked God for a baby brother. I was the youngest and I knew I would never have a son. Nine months later and two months premature, my brother Dallas was born. Immediately we learned that he and my mother might not survive. My sister and I blew kisses to our mother from the hospital parking lot. Standing near the third floor window, Mom tearfully blew kisses back to the children she may never see again.

Thankfully, my mother and brother survived and came home a month later. God gave me the son I would never have. I cherished every moment we spent together. The girls in my life had to share my attention with him or they were gone. There were plenty of girls but I had only one little brother. He now lives near Dallas Texas with his wife and two wonderful daughters. Without question, my first experience with prayer was a good one.

Although I never doubted God's existence, I questioned why God allowed human suffering. Believing in a God who allowed murder, rape, war and disease was troublesome. What God allowed storms to wash villages out to sea and children to die? When I did attend church, I learned that I would burn in hell if I did not receive Christ as my savior. Was God a God of love? I could not understand why God would create us and then punish us for behaving naturally. In my mind, only a cruel God would do such a thing.

My other concern was the biblical record disagreed with science. I did not believe the earth was seven thousand years old. Even saying the words aloud sounded uninformed and idealistic. Wanting to counter the scientific claims of the earth's origin with evidence to the contrary, I asked bible teachers. You must rely upon faith, they said. That answer was not good enough for me. I wanted some facts to support my faith.

No one could answer my questions. Therefore, I decided to do my own biblical research. I had no other option. I wanted the truth and the only way I was going to get it was to research the Bible myself. To that end, I made an early decision to include the Bible, World History, Earth Science, and the study of Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek languages. The scope of my inquiry excluded any of man's past or present interpretations. The works of well-respected biblical commentators were out. I would not allow their opinions to influence my own logical process.

I was the independent one in school. I often questioned the absolutes of my studies. I continuously asked questions testing the instructor's patience and the curriculum's accuracy. Sometimes I did it just to shorten lectures and entertain my classmates. Mr. Snodgrass, my eighth grade history teacher, was not only my favorite teacher; he was a scholar, eager to debate any subject. He called me Mr. President because I enjoyed reading political science books. He was the first teacher to look upon my inquisitions as opportunities to do that which he loved; teach. Mr. Snodgrass was also the first to applaud my imaginative curiosity. He first fed the beast of inquiry with the red meat of logic and deductive reasoning. I recently called him at his home in Waco Texas. I read these words and expressed my gratitude for his positive influence in my life. Among many lessons in rhetorical persuasion, Mr. Snodgrass taught the dangers of confirmation bias. Confirmation bias is the tendency of people to favor information that confirms their beliefs or hypotheses. This was another reason for excluding the biblical interpretations of my predecessors. I wanted clarity and painstakingly refused to allow present-day theological doctrine to interfere with my own analysis. I was determined to discover if God created man, or man created God.

My first priority was the Bible's authenticity as history. *The commissioning of the King James Bible (*story Behind King James Bible... Ken Curtis, Ph.D ) took place in 1604 at the Hampton Court Conference outside of London. The first edition appeared in 1611. The King James version remains one of the greatest landmarks in the English tongue. It has decidedly affected our language and thought categories, and although produced in England for English churches, it played a unique role in the historical development of America.

There are 14,000 manuscripts and fragments found throughout the Middle East and Europe. The Septuagint version of the Old Testament and The Dead Sea Scrolls also lend reliable evidence of the ancient text translated in the King James Bible.

Evidence of the New Testament's authenticity is impressive, with over 5,000 copies and fragments in the original Greek dating back to the second century.

After careful examination of ancient stone inscriptions, the Dead Sea Scrolls and verifiable world history, I concluded the Bible was as reliable as any other ancient historic book. However, reliable does not necessarily mean accurately transcribed or translated, but it was a beginning.

The beginning

Early into my research, two obvious points jumped-off the pages. I realized that the Bible is not the story of all human history, but the story of Adam's family. This explains why not all human races are included in the text. The Bible includes relevant details and nothing else. This changed everything for me. It explained the Bible's literary exclusion of pre-historic animals, Peoples and billions of years of verifiable earth science. In addition, I discovered one mistranslated word within the first two sentences of Genesis Chapter One. I bet I read these sentences a thousand times. Undoubtedly, the Hebrew tells of the earth's creation, alludes to its destruction, and then describes its transformation to a second earth age.

It was difficult reading each word in its original language but essential for conversion to English translation. In time, the biblical puzzle came together with clarity and purpose. It was then, that I realized man's interpretation of the Bible was not entirely accurate.

I am a Christian and this work is an argument in defense of my faith. Although I disagree with modern biblical scholarship, we agree that the Bible is the word of God.

No human enjoys a perfect understanding of the Bible. I certainly do not claim to have all of the right answers.

Nevertheless, in the following chapters, I will offer my opinion of what I believe is both right and wrong with the beliefs of the twenty-first century church.

Driven by curiosity and dissatisfied with imprecise answers, I began a seven-year search for truth. Sunday school lessons left me holding a glass half-full. Points of interests were not adding up. One teacher said that I needed more faith. Well, maybe, or perhaps I should have used a smaller glass.

Chapter One

A New Beginning

Gen 1:1 in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void;

Post hoc ergo propter hoc) as became. (*the earliest extant Greek translation of the old Testament) Genesis 1:1 should, read; In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth became void and without form. The same Hebrew word mistranslated was, in Genesis 1:1 is correctly translated became in Genesis 19:26.

Think about it. If the earth had a previous age and became uninhabitable, it could be billions of years old. Science believes the earth is 4.5 billion years old and so do I. In this regard, science and the Bible agree. I taught the different earth ages for several years before I read the works of other researchers.

Then I discovered a work known as The Gap theory. The Gap Theory postulates that God created the heavens and the earth complete with dinosaurs and other prehistoric life. Then a cataclysmic event took place--perhaps a flood (indicated by the deep waters in verse 2) brought on by Lucifer's rebellion and fall from heaven to earth. As a result, the earth was ruined or destroyed reducing it to the formless and empty state of Genesis 1:2.In verse 3, God began the process of recreating the earth. Scottish theologian Thomas Chalmers first introduced The Gap Theory in 1814.

I had never heard of the theory! No preacher or teacher had ever mentioned The Gap Theory.

I had come to a similar conclusion a few years earlier than my discovery of the theory. Further, my studies confirmed what Chalmers believed was the reason God created the earth and then rendered it void. We find a clue in Jeremiah Chapter Four.

Jerimiah 4: 23 I looked at the earth, it was empty and formless. I looked at the heavens, and there was no light. 24 I looked at the mountains and they trembled and shook. 25 I looked, and all the people were dead. All the birds of the sky had flown away. 26 I looked, and the fertile fields had become a wilderness. The cities were broken down and no man survived, crushed by the Lord’s fierce anger. The cities were broken down and no man survived. I believe refers to the earth becoming void because of God's anger; anger triggered by Lucifer's rebellion. Thousands or billions of years could have existed between when God first created the earth and when He rendered it void. This may explain the differing scientific and biblical beliefs of earth's creation. After the rebellion, God destroyed that age and water covered the earth. It reads in Genesis 1 the earth was without shape and form, it was dark over the deep-sea, and God's wind swept over the waters. If God had not created the earth before how could there be a deep-sea? The Bible reads that God did not create the earth void and without form.

Isaiah 45:18 For thus saith the Lord that created the *heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; He hath established it, He created it not in vain, He formed it to be inhabited. (*note that heavens is plural)

Also in the book of Hebrews 12:26 Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.

27 And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.

One misinterpreted word may be responsible for some dismissively thinking the Bible a work of fiction. I don't blame them. Modern biblical scholarship must know there is a problem yet refuses to acknowledge it. Instead, they speak of bad science. They say Carbon dating is unreliable. They are wrong. I cannot prove that God created the universe with a huge explosion but neither can science disprove it. What is beyond question is the earth is older than Christians believe. Why did God create a second earth age? According to the Bible, the most beautiful angel God created, the anointed angel that covered or protected God's throne, was not content with his lofty position. Lucifer wanted to sit upon the throne of God. He said I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

Isaiah 14:12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the *stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Lucifer set his heart as the heart of God. He proclaimed he would ascend into heaven. He would exalt his throne above the angels and be equal to God. (*Angels)

Ezekiel 28:12 Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.13 Thou hast been in Eden the **garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in (**the serpent in the Garden was not a snake, it was Lucifer) thee in the day that thou wast created. 14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. 15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. 16 I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. 17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. 18; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. 19 All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.

According to Ezekiel 28: 18, Lucifer will turn to ashes and not exist. His demise causes me to wonder why the unbeliever will burn in hell forever.

Revelation 12:7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, 8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old *serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. (*the serpent in the Garden) In the