The Apostle's Commission: To Tighten The Yoke Tighter

Apostle Malm has stated the purpose of his commission and ministry:

Isaiah 58:1

 ¹ “Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
   Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion
   and to the descendants of Jacob their sins.

Now that he has established that, he wants your money!  Like all good harlot daughters of the mother church, he is begging for money to support his vital (in his eyes only) ministry.  He is shouting the same blubbering nonsense that the other 600 some harlot daughters have been preaching for decades.  Not a single one of them has ever accomplished anything or told the truth.

This full post has also been put up at the news site, as I work to use the news to also present the Gospel.  As time passes and things unfold I intend to use the keen interest in the news that events will bring to really reach out and fulfill Is 58:1.

This is only the earliest beginnings of that plan. I am preparing to begin advertising in earnest over the next few weeks and content [on the news site] will become more scriptural.  Please consider supporting this effort to provide a message of warning and hope to the world.
This is a tremendous opportunity to really preach the Gospel of warning. repentance and hope; which is being overlooked by the major COG groups: who are asleep at the switch!

Anyway, back to the Apostle’s bible quote.  Like a good harlot daughter he only quotes ONE verse from the Isaiah 58 - verse 1.

He conveniently ignores verse 4:

⁴ Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
   and in striking each other with wicked fists.

In his arrogant pride he is just another false prophet in a long line of Armstrongites who have ripped the church apart with strife and quarreling.  His way is the only true way and all who disagree with him are rebellious sinners.  Lot's of love in that belief!

Then on to verses 6 and 7:

 ⁶ “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
   and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
   and break every yoke?
⁷ Is it not to share your food with the hungry
   and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
   and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

The Apostle has been telling his acolytes to fast that God's will be done.  Nothing of the sort has happened.  Apostle Malm, like the rest of the harlot daughters of Armstrongism have tightened the chains of oppression
and injustice and made the yoke even tighter and heavier.  Myriads of laws, rules and regulations are laid out (i.e. the women's hat stupidity) to burden believers down more and more.

Armstrongites don't share their food with the hungry, or provide the homeless with shelter, or clothe them.  They have been taught by Herbert himself that we are not of this world and should not worry about the world around us.  Christ is coming at some point in the future and will take care of it all then.  So, at this point in time it is more important to give that money you should have used to care for others, to the Church of God for it's so called work.  Only UCG (whom Apostle Malm despises with derision) comes the closest to this with Victor Kubik's ministry LifeNets  Apostle Malm certainly is doing no such work in the world.  He is not caring for the sick, the homeless, or the oppressed!  Instead he has turned into the oppressor!

“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
   with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
¹⁰ and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
   and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
   and your night will become like the noonday.

When we see the Apostle Malm doing these things then he might, just MIGHT be considered worthy of being listened to. Instead he is proud, boastful, arrogant, and dismissive.  He is nothing more than a liar and a false prophet of Armstrongism.

Shocker: Satan is a Woman and Was Married To God!

Armstrongism never is dull!  So many are willing to believe anything after being spoon fed for decades by HWA, GTA, Meredith and others.  So it is an easy thing for them to jump ship into crazier things.  Many left the COG and went into Messianic belief systems. However, I doubt many joined up with this kind of silliness.  Words fail me......

Satan--Was She Married to God?

The article Was Satan/Helel/Venus "Married" to Yahweh? by Rabbi Edward "Levi" Nydle writes about a very controversial topic which he had in his mind for some time.

Not only do we discover Satan is a SHE-a woman, but in fact was a bride adorned to God. But not content with being the bride of the King, she wanted to RULE over the King. Very far fetched some would say. Others would immediately believe this is apostasy of the utmost--if not, blasphemy!

On Isaiah 14:12, Rabbi Nydle writes:

"Satan –Lucifer or in the Hebrew Hillyl which comes from the Hebrew root of Halal. Halal is #1984 in the Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary and means: to be clear, to shine, to boast, to celebrate, glory, give light, to give in marriage, praise, rage, renowned, shine. Did you notice the bold words on marriage? In the Lexicon in Veteris Testament Libros, by Koehler and Baumgartner, page 235: Halal means: a beautiful woman, a wife who is praised by her husband, a woman whose works praise her. The New Wilson’s Old Testament Word Studies, page 506, shows it to mean to be given in marriage, worthy to be praised."

Rabbi Nydle points out that Satan originally created to be the bride of Yahweh--her intent was to be given in marriage.

Satan Was She Married To God? 

Bin Laden, Adolf Hitler and Beltane

Can Armstrongism get any wackier?  The lengths people go to find some kind of conspiracy and work of satan is amazing! Church of God and Messianic News

Tuesday, 21 June 2011

Bin Laden, Adolf Hitler and Beltane

Few will realise that Osama Bin Laden's death was announced on the 1st May, 2011, which is the occult holiday, Beltane. Yet, even more surprising was that Adolf Hitler died on the 30 April, 1945 but his death was also announced on the 1st May, some 66 years earlier.

From the Time.com:

"On May 1, 1945, Germany announced that Adolf Hitler was dead, leading to the end of the allied campaign in Europe during World War II. That same date 66 years later, President Obama announced the death of the al-Qaeda leader and international terrorist."

The 1st May is the occult holiday known as Beltane. The day has immense occult significance, marking the midpoint of the Sun, between the summer and spring equinox celebrated by bon fires, fertility rites and maypole dancing.

The Bible warns us not to have anything to do with the occult. Those who engage in these activities put themselves at risk of being possessed by evil spirits which will ultimately destroy them. If you are under occult bondage, burn all your occult items, and pray to Jesus Christ for deliverance, asking the Holy Spirt to help and guide you!

The rest of the site is filled with Rothschild< Jesuit and Zionist conspiracies,  more drivel on the Koran as a support to the Bible, numerology, tassels, 613 laws, mezuzahs, and more!

Dennis On: Choose Your Beliefs or Someone Else Will Choose Them For You

Choose your Beliefs or Someone Else Will Choose Them For You

"Be sure to choose what you believe and know why you believe it, because if you don't choose your beliefs, you may be certain that some belief, and probably not a very creditable one, will choose you." Robertson Davies,'The Deptford Trilogy ' (p477).

Early in life, people believe what they have been told and taught to believe by those who have been also so taught before them. For better or worse, most humans on the planet still believe what others have taught them from the beginning as if, by chance, they just happened to luck out and end up being born into a family that absolutely had the final truth on most topics already understood. Of course we know this is not really likely.

But humans are mostly content not to look out and wonder if what they have been told is really true. Most humans, it seems, are not so much interested in truths as they are with comfortable beliefs. Comfortable beliefs don't really have to be true, but they are satisfying as long as one does not think too deeply about them or question the facts or their presentation.

Truth on the other hand can be very uncomfortable and yet while true, pushes the person away from that set of beliefs they were given at birth and expected to abide by. This causes no end of drama, as those who are content with beliefs, do all they can to punish and coerce those who opt for truth over belief.

They may over talk to them about how wrong they are, or not speak to them again to punish them for straying outside the tribal beliefs. In some pathetic cultures, they simply kill you and solve the problem of you're influencing others to rethink their own beliefs, given by the tribe. It is not nice to fool Mother Nature, but it is even worse to buck the tribal beliefs and wonder if maybe you have not been told everything.

Today we see that discomfort over beliefs vs. truths in the rancorous debates over evolution vs. creationism. While the facts of evolution are generally true, details to follow, creationism is falling quickly out of favor as the explanation of how life and mostly humans came to be on this planet. The people who defend creationism do so to defend their belief on how God did or didn't do something. Their belief is based on an ancient text. It is also based on the absolute need to defend the inerrancy of the text and reality of God as we have been taught "him" to be in Sunday School.

Science defends evolution based on evidence that there might be more to life than what is contained in ancient texts. They don't claim to understand it, but are willing to step outside a box that creationists aren't, because there is so much evidence that contradicts the Biblical account.
Now creationists are endeavoring to defend the text as being good science, but it simply can't be done anymore. Showing animals in Old Testament stories spotted and stripped poles before birthing so that they produce spotted or stripped offspring is something even they will have to admit is not how it works. That's really bad science on the part of the Bible, but made perfect sense to them three thousand years ago. Modern genetics really is the answer to really bad biblical "science."

Other beliefs, based on biblical texts are falling out of favor due to overwhelming evidence that contradicts them. Most honest pastors and theologians know that the birth stories of Jesus are not literally true. Most know, the story of Jesus is not all that unique in human history and the archetype of a dying God/man, persecuted, crucified, dead three days and risen again is not a once told story of Jesus.

Most recognize that the Old Testament did not spring out of vacuum, but rather out of the pagan cultures and Egyptian influences that preceded it. Most who take the time, realize the concept of God evolves even in the Old Testament right on through the New. The simple Christian, "loving father God" of today is not how it all began. Today we have a difficult time thinking an all knowing, all caring, all forgiving, all everything God would define himself as a "jealous God" who punishes generations of people for the sins of their great great grandfathers. Although literalist christians are very comfortable with that because, "God says, I believe it, that settles it for me." Whatever is not comfortable to even a literalist is dismissed as your not really understanding the text, or that God, while jealous, is all the other good stuff too. I think if I hear, "for the wisdom of man is foolishness with God", "My ways are not your ways", or "God does not see as a man sees", one more time as a way to bale the literalist out of a pinch, I shall scream :)

With just a bit of time today researching a favorite topic on the internet, one can find that there is much much more to the story, the facts and the implications of a topic than what they simply had passed on to them from mom and dad who got it from their mom and dad, who got it from ....

Many today are coming to realize that the entire drama played out in the New Testament as the literalized story of Jesus was first played out in the heavens and still is today as the earth rotates around it's axis and around the sun. The rising and setting of the Sun of God in the heavens, which is literally the "light of the world" and literally as the sun, delivers us from darkness, and "in which is no variableness nor shadow of turning" is a type that literalists christians will someday have to come to terms with. It is no coincidence that when Jesus is said to have been born of a virgin on December 25th, at the end of the three darkest days of the year, Virgo, the Virgin precedes the sun rise and thus literally "the Virgin brings forth the Sun."

It is no coincidence that the Lamb is crossified in April when the Sun is in Aries,the Lamb, at the junction of the celestial equator and the sun's path across the heavens at the spring equinox (equal night). Humans have seen this story acted out for thousands of years. The entire circle of the zodiac, and the path the Sun/Son takes through it, tells the identical story of the life and death of Jesus and every other God/man in all cultures. The names have been changed to protect the innocent when it comes right down to it.

It has only been since the corporate and literalist church and church fathers demanded the allegory be believed as literal history upon pain of death that all the conflict and heartache of religion began. Taking an allegory and making it literally true is why the Bible seems to have so many problems and is not the harmonious piece of work that the Church would have one to believe. Many of them know it is not, but won't tell you because it does not keep the system alive if people think for themselves.

It is not to a literalist church's advantage for you to realize that a real God does not require you to go through anyone and certainly does not need you to show up at a specific building at a specific time where you learn specific and contradictory truths from the one true minister, and lose about ten percent of your annual income to boot. That's religion.

True spirituality is an inside job. What we see today in literalized Christianity is crowd control and a demand that people stay put in the box and reject any contrary facts in the name of Faith. Faith is what is demanded when the facts start to scare the powers that be. In truth, Paganism = truth when one understands Christian origins. The Christians met the pagans, and inspite of appearances, the pagans won.

So, back to original point.

Most of us had our truths preselected for us and we simply were expected to carry on the traditions. But we live in a world where information is much more available to show that most likely we have not all been told the truth of many things. Frankly, most won't even bother to look outside their given truths. I know that. Some will look and in horror at being wrong, will retreat back to where it is safe and comfy. Some will be intimidated for a time to not look, though they want to.

Some ministers today are forced to warn their parishioners NOT to go on the internet and research the real background of their church, religion or sacred story. Whatever you do, don't use the search words "jesus mythology", or "pagan Christian origins", or "Astrotheology", "Errancy", "contradictions Bible" or a host of other words combined in such a way as to open your mind and infuriate everyone else who does not want you to learn one bit more than the guy, and it's mostly guys, who is the provider of his truth to you.

But go for it anyway, and remember...

"Be sure to choose what you believe and know why you believe it, because if you don't choose your beliefs, you may be certain that some belief, and probably not a very creditable one, will choose you."

Dennis C. Diehl

DenniscDiehl@aol.com

Men's Hair Lengths and Women's Veils: "Duplicitous" COG Teaching

Is it? Or, isn't it?

The circle dancing continues with the Apostle regarding hair.  The Apostles claims almost all who have read his postings concerning women's hair coverings agree with him (over 2,000).  A few have disagreed and that has gotten under his skin and he has become very defensive.

Today he has this blurb about men who have long hair.  It's not as bad as you think, Godly men can wear long hair.  Herb and Spanky must love that! " It it was good enough for Sampson, it's good enough for us."

.   This was the custom of that time:  If we reject that custom for today; we must also reject the concept that men must have short hair and ladies long hair because these were also the customs of that time in that area.

When Paul says that nature teaches that it is a shame for men to have long hair, he is appealing to the natural or cultural norms of the day and area.  In terms of the natural order, it would be unnatural to cut that which nature grows.  And the prohibition against hair cutting in certain vows of service to God clearly demonstrates that God is not against long hair in men.  It was indeed the custom for men to cut their hair and the prohibition against the cutting was among other things a sign of being set apart to God.

The biblical injunction was against effeminacy which could most definitely include hair length and style;  that doe not give the COGs the right to legislate specific hair length as being over the collar etc.

One cannot reject one part of the issue and then accept and demand another part be required.  Either it is correct for men to have short hair and women to wear veils or it is not; they go hand in hand as cultural norms of that time and place.  The church has been very self righteous about setting Corinthian cultural norms for men’s hair lengths and yet has not abided by Corinthian cultural norms in female head coverings.  This is duplicitous.

You rebellious Jezebel's aren't off the hook either.  The Apostle claims you are upset about hair coverings because you are not humble!

Covering the head by women is not a specific command of God, neither is it condemned.  Yet it is thought to be humbling by some, or they would not protest so much.   It is burdensome; it is too much trouble, etc!  Personally I put on a hat every time I go out into the rain [which is a lot on the west [wet] coast, and I do not find it burdensome at all!

The Apostle, like all Armstrongite legalistic apologists cannot seem to make up his mind. Hair coverings are not required, yet he encourages you to do it.  It's the same dance that all the harlot splinter cult leaders trot out when they claim to be new covenent' followers, but that the law is to be kept also.  You can't have it both ways.  Apostle Malm can't have it both ways and will soon resort to making it a requirement for all women in his cult just as all the splinter cults require the law today.

So this is how the Apostle dances around it all:

Of course I write in generalities, there are some very whole hearted and true brethren out there!  God bless you all!

Translation:  The TRUE called out believers will get what I am saying, the degenerates will not and will be rebellious.....

Take a Hit of Jehovahjuana

It's no wonder Christians are looked upon with so much derision by so many when there are these kinds of people out there.

 John Crowder claims he met Jesus while on an acid trip and now travels the world getting people quite literally high on God. He and his disciples 'drink', 'inject' and 'smoke' Jesus and spend much of their time seemingly wasted and posting bizarre sermon videos on YouTube.

Those Immodest Church of God Women

 

Looking at the above picture you see a group of happy people who have reached a milestone in their lives.

However, according to the grumpy far right nutjobs in the Church of God this is a group of immodest, inconsiderate, ignorant wanna-be fake Christians (i.e the women only).

These are the recent graduates of the UCG Ambassador Bible Center.  Regardless of what I think about the 'biblical' education they have received, they have accomplished something important in their lives. 

Maybe with the new direction UCG is headed these might be the movers and shakers that actually make a difference in the Church. However, that is another post.

Now get a look at what one woman in the COG thinks about these women above.  She was responding to Malm's asinine hat post yesterday:

Custom or no, it is quite clear to anyone who attends any of the COG’s that there is rampant immodesty in dress exemplified at services, so one can imagine what is worn at other times. I am amazed at the number of strapless dresses, mini-hemlines, plunging necklines, and sprayed-on applicator dresses that are worn for purposes of worship. A quick glance around at services and at the 2011 Ambassador graduating class picture (posted proudly online for all to see) speaks volumes. When was the last time we all heard a genuine sermon at ANY of the COG’s about appropriate dress and its impact on cultivating modesty (or not)? At every single church event that involves swimming or beach/pool access (like at the Feast, etc), a reminder announcement to wear modest swimsuits apparel has to be written. How sad is it that God’s own people have to be constantly reminded to dress with a modicum of humility? Shouldn’t this be a moot point by now? Is it that we really still don’t know how to dress ourselves properly after all these years or is it that we just don’t give a flip? Do we fear offending some by taking a stance on the issue publicly, from the podium? If so, then this begs yet another question–what is the attitude behind the silence?

I can only imagine what this woman dresses like.  Probably still in a long skirt to her ankles like COG women had to wear in the 50's/60's, no make up, her hair up in a tight bun like this:

or 1960's Ambassador hair like this:

Today's Society is Evil Because It No Longer Wears Hats

It's too bad the bogeyman satan didn't totally take down Apostle Malm's blog yesterday in order to stop the asinine silliness in legalistic bullshit he has been coming up with lately.

His constant harping about hats for women and men is getting ridiculous.  As long as he wants to continue in this legalistic BS, I will continue to point out his silliness.

Hats for men are symbols of power and authority, hats for women are a sign you are chaste and under authority of a man (and men in general) and that you know your place in the food chain.

In a similar manner the custom in Israel of covering the heads of women was used by the apostle Paul as an allegory of spiritual things.  We cannot understand the meaning of 1 Cor 11 unless we understand something of this custom in Israel.
COURTESY, MANNERS AND CUSTOM

Until very recently it was the custom for men to wear hats while outside.  When the entered a home or business they removed their hats out of respect for the household or establishment and it was considered an insult for a man not to remove his hat on entering.  It was also common courtesy for a gentleman to tip or lift his hat upon meeting ladies, this was also good manners and common courtesy.  Gentlemen ALWAYS removed their hats while praying or in the presence of god or that considered Holy.  This was done as a show of RESPECT to God and the Holy.

Ladies especially married ladies usually wore hats which would be worn both inside and outside.  This was a token that they were chaste and faithful to their husbands, a token of the power [authority] of their husbands and their faithful submission to their husbands. To be properly dressed would include a modest garment including some type of hat or head covering.

These customs of proper modest dress including head wear were almost universal in the western world until about WW1 when national mores began to loosen and change.  it is now at the point that such considerations have been long forgotten.  I recently entered a restaurant only to see several men eating with their hats on.  This is an incredably rude and uncouth, mannerless thing to do; yet these folks were quite probably just ignorant of the basics of good manners and courtesy.

Today we are living in the most wicked period in human history and we are so enured to it and the evils are so commonplace that we go about blissfully unaware of the overspreading of our abominations. 

If the Apostle Malm wants to talk about abominations in the world he needs to start with the Churches of God and the evil that exists in it first!  Oh wait, he is, that's why hats for men and women are a first step in obedience.

(Malm's interpretation is in black, scriptures in red)

 Women should cover their heads in front of their men as a sign of submission because you are less than.

 In Israel a woman who uncovers her head symbolically removes herself from the authority of her husband and is as an adulteress.  For that reason a woman accused of adultery is to uncover her head at her trial of loyalty.

In Israel married women specifically covered their heads to prevent men other than their husbands from lusting after their beauty revealed in  the glory of their hair. A married woman who went out with her head uncovered was considered promiscuous.

⁵But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven. If a woman has her head uncovered she is considered promiscuous by the custom of Israel.  For having her head uncovered is a dishonour to her husband and is the same as broadcasting that she refuses the authority of her own husband; which means that she also refuses the authority of his head, even Christ and the Father.

⁶For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered. If a woman refuses to cover her head, then let her head be shaved or her hair cropped close.  This cannot mean that the hair is the covering since if she had hair and it were the covering spoken of; why would Paul command that the hair be shaved off?

In Malm's world and in all legalistic fundamentalist cults, sects, and religions, women are relegated to the dung heap as unworthy, less than, potential wanton hussies, all the while they are bombarded by the fact that that the men are created in the glorious, majestic, powerful image of God.

⁷For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: the husband is a type of Christ who will become the husband of the New Covenant. but the woman is the glory of the man. The woman is to cover her head as a symbol that she is under the power or authority of her husband and of his head, Christ and the Father.  For the man symbolizes Christ as the husband of spiritual Israel.

¹³Judge in yourselves: is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered? People of Israel; whose custom is that an uncovered woman is a promiscuous person and an unfaithful wife; is it right that a woman come before God with the attire of a rebellious wife?

Apostle Malm has discovered the root of ALL the problems in the Churches of God.  You rebellious fools who do not wear hats are the cause of ALL the problems in the Churches of God.

Look at the state of the church today!  Why are we in such a state?  Because we lack God’s spirit, and we lack God’s spirit because we do not obey him with zeal and a whole heart; instead every group leader is doing what is right in his own eyes.  Why do we not obey?  Because we lack that basic of love for God called

R E S P E C T.  We neither love him enough to fully obey him, nor do we respect him enough to obey his Word!

I had thought that this head covering was a small thing and after more study I find that is goes to the very basics of the problem in the COGs; Personal P R I D E and a lack of respect for God!

So a word of warning to all you ladies out there.  Unless you wear your hat to church for prayer and around your husband, you will turn into a wanton hussie like this:

Satan Attacks End Time Prophet/Apostle Malm's Blog

ANNONCEMENTS: Last evening the site was hacked and a Roman Catholic article in Polish was published and remained on this site for about one hour.  I thank those who brought this to my attention and as I was checking my email last evening this was caught and dealt with almost immediately.  Your prayers are needed and requested.  AS the message gets stronger and stronger, the ACCUSER will become more and more active.

 

The Genographic Project

For those interested in discovering your British Israel roots that determine you are an heir to the throne of England.........or to establish your legitimacy as an end-time prophet through your royal blood line from David.........

 

The Genographic Project 

Dennis On: Sanctified Ignorance

Sanctified Ignorance is Still Ignorant

We all have our stories of how we got here and who we are in the universe. Most stories told by every culture point out the unique origins of that culture, like as not, springing directly from that particular cave or mountain in distant and mysterious times in the past. When the National Geographic Genographic research team gently informed aboriginal Australians of their African origins, according to the DNA evidence, the Elders reacted with a simple "no, we originated here and maybe they came from us." Comforting and upholding of ancient aboriginal beliefs, but not scientifically true. You could feel the tension this new information brought into the cultural beliefs that for so long had encouraged and sustained them. I doubt they will change their understanding of themselves with this bit of scientific information.

A similar reaction occurred when the team informed the Navajo in the Americas of their DNA origins linking them to a still existent people in Siberia. The immediate reaction was understandably defensive for Navajo origin stories which had them always living in the Four Corners area of the now United States. In time, I believe they agreed that there was room for both the science and the tradition and, in this case, both maintained their truths on tribal origins. But the science was more literally correct. The uneasiness was palpable.

And now the Indigenous People's Council on Biocolonialism, the IPCB is raising even more concerns about the effect this knowledge will have on belief systems of indigenous peoples. For better or worse, "Indigenous peoples have consistently voiced their opposition to this type of research because it breaches cultural values, bioethical standards and human rights law. The IPCB believes the project is being undertaken at the expense of indigenous peoples. Debra Harry, the organization's executive director, writes on their website, "It is quite likely this project will advance new theories of our origins that may contradict our own knowledge of ourselves. There can be no claim as to which understanding is correct, and will result in a clash of knowledge systems. Moreover, there could be serious political implications that result from a so-called "scientific" assertion that indigenous peoples are not "indigenous" to their territories, but instead are recent migrants from some other place. This cuts at the heart of the rights of indigenous peoples, which are based upon our collective, inherent right of self-determination as peoples, under international human rights law." A standard ethical requirement in human research is that the benefits must equal the risk. The IPCB believes that in this type of research, there will be no benefit to indigenous peoples, yet the research creates substantial risk for the individuals and peoples affected."

It is this advancement of "new theories of our origins that may contradict our own knowlege of ourselves," that seems to be so difficult for humans to handle. Truth is still true though denied by all. In such defensiveness science always get's called "science so called" and even does in the Bible as "Science, falsely so called" (I Tim. 6:20). This phrase is always used when the science is really not false, but it is threatening to sincerely held beliefs. I don't like someone knocking the nose off my idols any more than the next guy, but that's progress, painful and ever moving forward. The Bible makes fun of learning at times in this nervousness over knowledge when it mocks those who are "ever learning, but never able to come the knowledge of the truth" (II Tim. 3:7), to which I say, at least they keep trying and even Jesus is reported to have said, "seek and ye shall find." Of course he meant spiritually but it's good advice in all endeavors too.

The moment you believe you have it, you've lost it.

We all have our origin stories that, in time, will probably prove to not be true, at least not literally. We live in an age where even most Christians realize that the origin stories of mankind in the Garden of Eden, through a first set of parents, Adam and Eve, are not literally true. The problem with believing that is that much of the doctrine in the New Testament requires the story of the first Adam and Eve to be literally true as they lead to such literally true doctrines as the role of women in the church, why women have babies painfully, Jesus being the "Second Adam" and the Doctrine of Original Sin. All of these beliefs and teachings are destroyed by the Genesis story not being literally true.  Scientific truth has implications for Biblical origin stories.

If there was no real Eve, or Adam whose fault this wasn't ;) who really caused all of mankind to fall into original sin, for which we all must repent etc, then there is no need of repenting of that which never happened or of needing a Savior in the way portrayed in the New Testament. Stories and ideas have implications to say the least. Many Christians think it is ok NOT to believe in things being literally true. But that has incredible implications for other things they think they believe but dont' realize the connection and contradictions their position causes theologically. Plainly, if there was no literal Genesis like creation of mankind and fall into sin, and it is shown to not be true by good science, the implications are staggering in how we will have to change our views. Frankly most won't but will, as always, attack the messenger and burn the message, or just burn both.

Actually, a simple cheek swab was all it took for me to find out my own amazing DNA trip out of Africa 70,000 years ago. Perhaps this is done for some reason somewhere, but for the Genome project, this fear is very unfounded. Our genetic history is easily taken from the inside of our mouths. Every cell contains the whole.
Simply speaking, it appears that ALL modern humans originated in and then spread out from Africa within the last 100,000 years or less. What a great story to read at Clan meetings! All the "differences" we see in humans are adaptations we made along the way in our trek from there to Europe, Asia and the Americas. Good science gives us good explanations, always subject to new information about this process.

Indeed, we do need to insure the privacy of the individual if they wish it and we need to be sensitive to the process that others go through when they are faced with the implications of such information and research. It takes time to accept change and as stated, many won't, but rather will just become angry and defensive. We see this all the time in the attacks Christian literalists launch into from their pulpits when new knowledge threatens old ideas.
It's funny, in my previous church affiliation there was a belief that always annoyed me scientifically. It was the belief, now long discredited, that the Lost Tribes of Israel turned up as the powerful nations of Europe, The British Empire and of course, America. I was Dutch, so that clearly put me in the Tribe of Zebulun, according to the theory. I never gave a sermon on this topic! However, my DNA shows I made no such trip through the middle east to become an Israelite and go on into Europe. Rather it shows a long trip through Iran, Iraq the various "Beckastans" on out onto the steppes of Asia and then one big swing into Europe as Cro-Magnon and then into France, Holland and England in much more recent times. That British-Israelism idea is bunk and DNA testing will show it to be so. That particular idea is racist if ever there was one.

The historical speculations of the Book of Mormon on race origins have been destroyed by DNA testing.  Native Americans are Siberian in origins for the most part and not Middle Eastern from the Levant.  Of course, this will not stop the spread of Mormonism but it does leave them with some difficult problems to explain. Don't worry, the truth of the matter won't stop that Church anymore than it has stopped others.  The book will no doubt become "spiritual truth" instead of literal truth at some point in the future and continue to deceive.

So good science is not "science, falsely so called" or "so called science." Yes, it has implications for theologians and Christians but believing something is true never makes it really true and we need to always have a love of discovery. Sorry to say, it is usually the reactions to new information by those most threatened by it that plunges our world into chaos.

Dennis C. Diehl

DenniscDiehl@aol.com