From The Beginning

By James A. Madison

For many, it appears that things in this world have changed, and these changes, primarily technological, tend to make life better for all of us.

From the Beginning offers a perspective that challenges the change that most individuals consider progress. Certainly compared to our history, technology gives the impression that progress is being made, but to what end?

The revelations received to write this book are backed up by scripture--scripture that shows that God created this universe and it is folly for man to believe he can control and/or change the purpose for which God established in the beginning.

Moreover, the first step--in fact, the only step--that man/woman could do to effect change in this world in a meaningful way is to eliminate death as we know it.

There's a hymn titled "We've a Story to Tell to the Nation." The first stanza and refrain read thusly,

We've a story to tell to the nation,

that shall turn their hearts to the right,

a story of truth and mercy,

a story of peace and light,

a story of peace and light.

For the darkness shall turn to the dawning,

and the dawning to noonday bright,

and God's great kingdom shall come to earth,

the kingdom of love and light.

This book is my story to the nation.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Oct 12, 2022
• ISBN: 9798885402095

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From The Beginning

James A. Madison

ISBN 979-8-88540-208-8 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-88685-976-8 (hardcover)

ISBN 979-8-88540-209-5 (digital)

Copyright © 2022 by James A. Madison

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

In the Beginning

In the Image of God

What Is Death?

Be Fruitful and Multiply

Men's and Women's Original Purpose on Earth

The Chosen People

Descendants of Cain and Seth

Egypt and the Children of Israel

Let My People Go…

The Ten Commandments

Vows, Offerings, and Sacrifices

Judges

The Kings

Priests

Prophets

False Prophets and Priests

Atonement

Consequences

Faith and Science

For the Record

The Church

Why So Many Denomination

Saved by Grace

For God So Loved the World…

Worship

Prayer

Our Struggle with the Devil

The World Is Too Much with Us

The Inevitability of Death

A Price to Pay

About the Author

Chapter 1

In the Beginning

According to the Bible: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 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. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

—Genesis 1:1

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

² The same was in the beginning with God.

³ All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.

—John 1: 1–3

Science: The universe came into being approximately 13.8 billion years ago from a single primordial atom, or singularity. But what is a singularity? A singularity defies the laws of physics.

To wit: Consider this, in mathematics, a line in a plane, which is an abstraction, consists of a set of points and for every point on the line there is a corresponding number, 1, 2, 3… Although a line consists of an infinite set of points, between any two points, referred to as a segment of a line, there is a finite set of points. For example, if we label our two points, 10 and 0, and suppose we wish to name every points between 10 and 0. Of course, if we only considered whole numbers, the smallest number before we reach 0 would be the number 1. However, we know, that using numbers to name our points, the number 1 would not be the smallest number before we reach 0 because we can take ½ of 1 and obtain a smaller number, then we could take ½ of ½ and get an even smaller number. And this could continue, yielding smaller and smaller results, but we cannot specifically name the smallest number before 0 but we know it exist because we reach the number 0.

In football if the team on defense commits an infraction resulting in a penalty within the twenty-yard line, they are penalized half the distance to the goal line rather than the normal penalty imposed for a similar infraction. And, regardless how many times the team is penalized, a touchdown can never result from the half the distance penalty. Because, no matter how small, there will always be some point short of the end zone that the team on offense has to traverse to score a touchdown.

This is the dilemma we discover when trying to prove a singularity.

Likewise, we find the same conundrum when trying to name the largest number. For every number thought to be the largest, we simply add the number 1, and we get a larger number. Nonetheless, infinity is referred to as the largest number. But just like singularity, infinity is also abstract and cannot be proven.

How small is small and how big is big. Our universe seems to present this conundrum over and over again.

Let's look at another example: The slope of a line is very important in the study of mathematics. And since it requires two points to determine the slope of a line, mathematicians and scientists, for a long time, battled with the question of how to determine the slope of a line when only one point is known, such as a line tangent to a circle. By definition, a tangent line is a line that intercepts a curve in only one point, unlike a secant, which intercepts the curve in two points.

To get around this dilemma, during the seventeenth century, European mathematicians Isaac Barrow, René Descartes, Pierre de Fermat, Blaise Pascal, John Wallis, and others discussed the idea of a derivative. Isaac Newton would later write that his own early ideas about calculus came directly from Fermat's way of drawing tangents.

First, you start with a secant line (with two known points that intersects the curve. As the two points get closer and closer together, eventually, the secant line becomes a tangent line, touching the curve in exactly one point. In mathematics, each point in the Cartesian coordinate system is described using x and y coordinates, where x is the independent variable and y the dependent variable.

What calculus teaches as it relates to the slope of the tangent line is this: As x approaches zero or any other constant (number) both from the left and the right and ∆x or the change in the values of x become smaller and smaller, the function of x, f(x) or y approaches a definite limit. We don't exactly know what that limit is in any particular situation, but we know it exist. So we can say, the slope of the tangent line is the limit of the slope of the secant line for each specific case; stated mathematically,

In calculus there is something called the derivative. Over time, mathematicians have devised a set of rules to transform or derive linear equations from nonlinear equations. Thus, for any given curve, to find the slope of a line tangent to any point on that curve, a linear equation is derived from the higher degree equation that describe that particular nonlinear object. This particular linear equation is then used to find the slope of the tangent line for any given point on that particular curve.

Years ago we discovered, supposedly, everything in the universe is made up of small particles (atoms). The problem is, every time scientists believe they have found the fundamental building blocks of all matter, another scientist or research group finds an even smaller particle which is just as elusive as trying to find that smallest of numbers before we reach 0 on the number line. Given these examples it is even more daunting to envision a singularity.

The question then is, If we can't prove how the universe came into existence scientifically, wouldn't the biblical account be even less creditable?

The answer is no. Science relies on proof whereas, the biblical account relies on faith.

Hebrews 11: 1, 3 says,

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

³ Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

Throughout the ages, mathematics has been used to solve all types of problems, making advancement in artificial intelligence, self-driving cars, exploration in space, advancement in medicine, all with increasing complexities. But regardless of the progress we make, our universe can be portrayed as one giant calculus problem. As we proceed technologically forward with all form of technology, moving closer and closer to uncovering the mysteries of the universe, there is always a limit.

In contract, let's review the complete Genesis account according to the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible:

¹In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

²And 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.

³And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

⁴And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

⁵And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

⁶And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

⁷And 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.

⁸And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

⁹And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

¹⁰And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.

¹¹And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

¹²And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

¹³And the evening and the morning were the third day.

¹⁴And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

¹⁵And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.

¹⁶And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

¹⁷And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,

¹⁸And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.

¹⁹And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

We once thought the earth was flat, and later, we found that this was not true. In fact, we discovered that the earth is spherical. Is there anything in this portion of the Genesis account that described the earth as being flat, no. So our discovery of the actual shape of the earth was simply that, a discovery of the true shape of the earth. Likewise, we are now exploring outer space and it appears that the universe has no bounds. Again, is there anything in the Genesis account that disputes this, no.

Earlier in our discussion, we noted that in mathematics, a number line, which is an abstraction, consists of an infinite set of points; however, if the line forms a perfect circle, there would be a finite set of points. A line has no beginning nor an end, whereas for the circle, the beginning and the end are the same.

So consider this: I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty (Revelations 1:8).

Let's continue:

²⁰And 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.

²¹And 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.

²²And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.

²³And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

²⁴And 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.

²⁵And 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.

²⁶And 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.

²⁷So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

²⁸And 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.

²⁹And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

³⁰And 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.

³¹And 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

The theory of evolution contends that man/woman evolved from a single-cell organism but cannot determine the origin of the single cell. Sound familiar, big bang, singularity…

For the sake of argument, let's say this is the way it happened, a single cell mutated to a two-cell organism and so forth and so on until man/woman evolved. This concept makes sense scientifically, but it can't be proven.

None of us know how the universe was formed or how we got here. Humans are the most intelligent of all creatures by our own observation and according to the previous biblical reference, "²⁶And 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."

We have mapped the human genome, and from our understanding of DNA, we have found cures for diseases, solved improbable crimes, and teetered on the brink of replicating ourselves.

We have this ability to figure things out and mimic some of the more beneficial aspects of our universe.

We were able to prove that the earth was not flat because it is not flat. We can explore outer space because we can, and our curiosity is piqued because of the objects that make up our universe.

So far, we have done quite a remarkable job figuring things out on earth and outer space. But what does that accomplish? We know that no matter what advances we make technologically, man/woman relationships remain the same: wars and rumor of wars, jealousy, murder, envy and adultery.

And according to the Genesis account, it all got started when Adam and Eve disobeyed God.

Recall that once man was formed upon earth, he was given instructions, as stated in Genesis 2:16–17: And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 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,'"

As the story continues, the woman is formed and brought to Adam, as stated in Genesis 2:23–25:

23 And Adam said:

"This is bone of my bones

And flesh of my flesh

She shall be called Woman

Because she was taken out of Man

24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and

Mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall

Become one flesh.

25 And they were both naked, the man and his

Wife, and were not ashamed.

In other words, Adam and Eve lived in what we would refer to today as paradise. It was all Good. They had the run of the Garden, dominion over all the animals, plenty to eat, they were both naked and not ashamed (just like animals today) and they were told by God to be fruitful and multiply. So for Adam and Eve, it was a great life.

What was it about that tree that was so enticing that Adam and Eve were willing to risk death just to have a taste? And how does it relate to us today.

Genesis 3:2–5 says,

2 And the woman said to the serpent, "We may

Eat the fruit of the trees of the garden;

3 "but of the fruit of the tree which is in the

midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.'"

4 Then the serpent said to the woman, "You

will not surely die.

5 "For God knows that in the day you eat of it

your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

Notice during Eve's discussion with the serpent, she did not specify the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil as was given to Adam; rather, she simply stated the tree in the midst of the garden. Recall that the tree of life was also in the midst of the garden. Notice also, that she said they were not to eat, nor touch it. When God gave the command to Adam, there was no mention of whether they could touch the fruit or not. Is this a mere technicality? Maybe.

Could it be that Adam did not clearly articulate to Eve the gravity and accuracy of the commandment he was given by God. And if not, does it really matter.

Let's say he did. And it went something like this:

Adam: We are not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Eve: Where is that tree?

Adam: In the middle of the garden?

Eve: Why can't we eat from that tree?

Adam: I don't know. All I know I was told we can eat of the trees of the garden but not that one.

Eve: You sure?

Adam: Yes! I'm sure. So stay away from it. Don't even touch it.

As you can see, as often is done, to place emphasis, parents, teachers, and authority figures in general sometimes include additional stipulations that are not part of the original command. Also note, Eve's reply to the serpent: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.' However, the serpent's response is telling: Then the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die.' Some say it is a matter of semantics, but the serpent's response sounds like a direct quote God gave to Adam, not lest you die, but You will surely die.

If we recall Genesis 3:1 again, it stated that the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. Even if Adam did not include the word touch, Eve could have inadvertently added it herself. Either way, it allowed the serpent to exploit her. Since it was not in the original command, whether it was prudent or not, we can deduce that there was nothing inherently wrong in touching the fruit. So after enticing her to touch the fruit and nothing happen, he gained her confidence. He had already challenged the creditability of God when he disputed Him in verse 4: Consequently, after she had eaten and still nothing happened, it made it easier for her to convince Adam to also eat of the fruit. After all it was not until she also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. (7) Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked.

What is interesting is their response when the Lord God sought them after they had eaten of the fruit of the forbidden tree. Genesis 3:9–11 states,

9 Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to

Him, Where are you?

10 So he said, "I heard Your voice in the garden,

and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid

myself."

11 And He said, "Who told you that you were

naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I

commanded you that you should not eat?"

Recall before Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, they were both naked and unashamed.

Now,

"⁷ And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. (Genesis 3:7)

In essence, not only did they disobey God, but in doing so, they allowed Satan, in the form of a serpent, to do so, choosing death over life, and Evil was exposed.

²² And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

²³ Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. (Genesis 3:22–23)

Note: It is unknown how long Adam and Eve resided in the garden of Eden, but it is interesting that although they were commanded to be "fruitful and multiply, they didn't birth a child until they departed the garden.

Chapter 2

In the Image of God

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

—Genesis 1:27

According to Darwin's theory of evolution, complex creatures evolve from more simplistic ancestors naturally over time. Simply put, as random genetic mutations occur within an organism's genetic code, the beneficial mutations are preserved because they aid survival—a process known as natural selection. These beneficial mutations are passed on to the next generation. Over time, beneficial mutations accumulate and the result is an entirely different organism (not just a variation of the original, but an entirely different creature).

Throughout our dissertation we have maintained that things are the way they are because that's the way they are supposed to be. Thus, men like Darwin and other scientists simply make observation of nature and draw various conclusions, none of which can be proven; therefore, it remains a theory.

However, Christian, through faith, believe God created the universe and all that is in it and did it the way it was presented in Genesis. We don't know exactly how he did it. But mankind is smart and intelligent. That's why they were put out of the garden of Eden. Once God's creation had eaten from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, they had to go. But their intelligence remained. The Towel of Babel is another good example to recall, as a group mankind would be even more dangerous, so many languages were established. So without a doubt, we can figure things out about the universe, but it still does not change the fact we believe God created the universe.

Even scientists contend that at the birth of the universe, there was a big bang that initially produced photons (particles of light).

Genesis 1:3 states, ³ And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

What came next, science agrees the stars and galaxies were formed.

"And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

⁷ And 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.

⁸ And God called the firmament Heaven…" (Genesis 1:6–8)

Then along came the planets.

"And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

¹⁰ And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas:…" (Genesis 1:9–10)

Once the earth was formed:

"God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

¹² And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind:…" (Genesis 1:11–12)

"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:… (Genesis 1:20–21)

"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.

²⁵ 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:…" (Genesis 24–25)

Finally, 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.

²⁷ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them." (Genesis 1:26–27)

As it relates to the creation of creatures in verses 20–25, maybe God started with a single-cell animal and continued adding cells until he decided to create man. And unlike the other animals, man was not a natural selection process evolving from apes but created in the image of God.

We all know what the word image means, but for those who need a refresher: an image is a representation of the external form of a person or thing; in other words, an exact likeness.

So we humans are made in the likeness (image) of God. Interesting, if men and women are made in the image of God, based on the definition of image, how could this be? Women are distinctly different from men, and then there are people of different colors, races, and nationalities.

So which race or nationality represents the true image of God? And although, according to scripture, the woman was formed from one of Adam's rib ("And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;

²² And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man" [Genesis 221–22]) again, the image of a woman is different from that of a man.

Maybe the following example will help our understanding: The book of Acts talks about the day of Pentecost. And here is what happened on the day of Pentecost:

And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

² And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

³ And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

⁴ And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

⁵ And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.

⁶ Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.

⁷ And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans?

⁸ And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? (Acts 2:1–8)

If we use this scripture as a reference, those persons who display Christ and Santa Clause from a racial prospective may have a point. Just as the people during the day of Pentecost heard in their own language from men who spoke another language, thus could be the image of God, if you are a white man, to you that is the image of God; if you are a black man, that is the image of God; if you are a woman, that is the image of God, and so on. So the next time you look in the mirror, whatever flaws you think you may have, just say to yourself, I am made in the image of God.

Chapter 3

What Is Death?

According to the Bible, Hebrews 9:27, ²⁷ And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

Genesis 2:15–17 states,

"¹⁵ And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

¹⁶ And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:

¹⁷ But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."

Let me get this straight: Adam would only die if he had eaten of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil? Does that mean otherwise he would have lived forever? So exactly what does it