Bible Study: Foundations, 323 Winspear Avenue, Buffalo, NY (2025)

10/17/2024

God Bless Elder Lawrence Williams, now the Pastor of the new Faith Temple, C.O.G.I.C. Conway, South Carolina. Last week I complained about my Bible Study group and how they responded to my attempt to direct the night’s study. I correctly compared them to groups I taught while at Teen Challenge. Back to Elder Willaims, one of his signature sayings was, “when the Lord comes in, He comes in with ten thousand blessings, in one hand”. The Lord came in at this week’s Bible Study and everybody got blessed.
I refer you to last week’s post for a recap, I’ll just point out the blessing we received this week. If you are a serious student of the Bible, you know this. “…Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts. 10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: Isaiah 28:9-10
This means that the truth of scripture is revealed in its internal consistency, or scripture defines scripture. My argument is that the world wasn’t created in one day because there is no sun until the fourth day.
“…And 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: 15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. 16 And 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. 17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 18 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. 19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.” Genesis 1:14-19
I gave Peter’s teaching about a day with the lord for clarification, but I had to give clarification on that as well. “…But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 2 Peter 3:8 (a day with the Lord)
Peter tells us about one of three days mentioned in scripture, a day of indefinite length. The Apostle John tells us of another day, a day when he heard the voice of the Lord. “…I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. 10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, Revelation 1:9-10 (The Lord’s Day)
I explained to my brothers that day is the Christians Sabbath or day of rest, in which we observe the rest we receive in Christ. The third day mentioned is spoken softly for it strikes terror in everyone not in Christ. The Prophet Isaiah is first to mention it. “…The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day. 12 For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low: Isaiah 2:11-12 (the Day of the Lord)
The Bible says that God Created the Heaven and Earth in Genesis 1:1, but that statement must be looked at in light of Isaiah 45:5-7, where it says, “…I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: 6 That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else. 7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.” Isaiah 45:5-7
From that statement it should be clear that God is proclaiming his exclusivity and his ability to create and to form. He creates Ex-Nehilo or out of nothing and he speaks light into being (Enlightenment or Understanding) by the power of his word. (let there be)
“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.” Genesis 1:1-5
The light mentioned on the first day was the light of the Son. (No Misprint) The Son of God, he was formed by the power and will of God and so was Adam. The Apostle Paul refers to Christ as the last Adam. “…There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. 45 And so it is written, the first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit (life giving).” 1 Corinthians 15:44-45
The Bible confirms the words of the Apostle Paul in the book of Revelation, where the light of the Son continues to shine. “…And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. 23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. Revelation 21:22-23
This passage from the book of Revelation came to this week’s Bible Study as an A-Ha moment from one of the brothers. As God spoke to him, he spoke to us, confirming what God gave to me.

10/13/2024

I'm sending this post Neil DeGrasse Tyson and a friend of mine, who lack a proper understanding of Bible, like many of us.
Neil DeGrasse Tyson is my favorite atheist because, though he doesn’t believe in God, he expresses no animosity to people who do, unlike Richard Dawkins, who when speaking at Liberty University, said he believed earth was seeded by aliens in its distant past.
Both men lack the benefit of an understanding of Biblical Hermeneutics, or the tools needed to properly understand the teaching of the Bible. Tyson, the country’s most prominent astrophysicist, heads the Hayden Planetarium at the Rose Center for Earth and Space in New York City. The center is part of the American Museum of Natural History, where he founded the Department of Astrophysics in 1997. Tyson was born and bred in America, in 1958, eleven years after me, so I know he was affected by the State of Tennessee Butler Act, which made it illegal for teachers to teach human evolution in any state-funded school. The Act began a movement which eventually spread thru-out the country, making the teaching of the Bible prohibited in Public Schools at the Pre-College level. When coupled with the fact that people who were qualified to teach the Bible properly were far and few between anyway, this made a proper Christian education almost impossible to obtain outside a Seminary.
Compounding the difficulty in getting a proper understanding of the Bible was followed by a misunderstanding of a Supreme Court ruling in Engel v. Vitale. The court held, “state officials may not compose an official state prayer and require that it be recited in the public schools of the state at the beginning of each school day — even if the prayer is denominationally neutral and pupils who wish to do so may remain silent or be excused from the room.”
On June 26,1962, the day after the Court announced its ruling, the Chicago Tribune came out with a headline which said, “Supreme Court Bans School Prayer.” They were among the many newspapers around the country who got the ruling wrong. To this day many school districts operate under the misunderstanding school prayer violates the separation between church and state. Tyson, when speaking to Bill Moyers, on his Television Show, “Moyers and Company,” said he didn’t think kids should be taught the world was created in seven days according to the Bible. The Bible doesn’t teach the world was created in seven days. A day is the amount of time it takes the earth to complete a rotation on its axis, an orbit around the sun is completed in a year. In the book of Genesis, chapter one, there is no sun until the fourth day. “…And 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: 15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. 16 And 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. 17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 18 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. 19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.” Genesis 1:14-19
The Bible says that God Created the Heaven and Earth in Genesis 1:1, but that statement must be looked at in light of Isaiah 45:7, where it says, “…I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: 6 That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else. 7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.” Isaiah 45:5-7

From that statement it should be clear that God is proclaiming his exclusivity and his ability to create or to form. He creates Ex-Nehilo or out of nothing and he speaks light into being (Enlightenment or Understanding) by the power of his word. (let there be)

“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.” Genesis 1:1-5

The light mentioned on the first day was the light of the Son, no misprint. The Son of God, he was formed by the power and will of God and so was Adam. The Apostle Paul refers to Christ as the last Adam. “…There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. 45 And so it is written, the first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit (life giving).” 1 Corinthians 15:44-45

The numbers three and seven are prominent and significant in understanding the Bible. God is a Trinitarian being, three in one, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and we are tripartite beings, one in three, Body, Soul, and Spirit, thus created in the image of God. With the body we are physically or earthly aware, and with the Soul we are spiritually aware, and with the Spirit we are God aware.

My second book is slated for publishing before the election, I hope it helps you make the right decision, not you Ronnie. I know you don't need any help with that decision.

10/09/2024

t last night’s Bible Study, I was charged with expounding on the subject of unanswered questions. I began with a few lines from my unreleased book, “Three Women and a Wildman, Book Two”.

· In the New Testament, Jude the brother of Jesus, shed light on this mysterious time in the history of the world. In book one, I challenged the erroneous notion that the giants were some sort of hybrid between angel and man. The truth is, they were merely men with superior knowledge because of their relationship to Satan and his fallen angels. That knowledge and its lack of wisdom brought about the flood and its accompanying devastation. “…And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. 7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. 8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. Genesis 6:5-8

My intent was to generate some discussion on the way I juxtaposed the words knowledge and wisdom in the passage, it seemed to go un-noticed. Next, I asked, how many of you believed the world was created in six days? It was unanimous, they all did. I then asked them to define the term, day. Is it the amount of time taken by the planet Earth to encircle the Sun? Sophia, my eight-year-old grand-daughter would have no trouble answering that question, but the Bible Study degenerated into speculation, claims they were being set-up by me to be tricked were made and at least one person took the opportunity to preach an off-topic sermon of his own choosing. I was reminded of the old days when I taught at Teen Challenge.

Before we concluded, I got to mention The Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925 which resulted in the abolition of the Biblical Creation Story being taught in public schools. Prayer was next to go and now we face the possibility of losing our Democratic-like system of government.

For the record, the world was not created in seven 24-hour days nor does the Bible say or teach that it does.

This is what the Bible Teaches.

1. “…I am the LORD, and there is none else.
7 I form the light, and create darkness:
I make peace, and create evil:
I the LORD do all these things”. Isaiah 45:6-7

Verse seven tells us that the first thing created was the darkness and the first thing formed was light. Adam was formed as well, not born. Paul refers to Christ as the last Adam.

2. “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”. Genesis 1:1-5

3. “…And 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: 15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. 16 And 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. 17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 18 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. 19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day”. Genesis 1:14-19

The light that shines on the first day is the light of the Son. The great light that shines in our solar system is the sun and the moon is the lessor light. The creation took place in six unspecified periods of time. “…beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day”. 2 Peter 3:8

Here is a piece from my archives on the Hermeneutics.

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