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Now let's get into today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig. Paul helps us. He fills in the blanks. He says, by one man, Adam, sin entered the world, and death through sin, and death spread to all, for all have sinned.
So by one man Adam sin entered. But he goes on to say that what What Adam Yeah. Small Jesus has undid. He has undone. Fixing it.
And that will be realized in our future, not in our present. He came to deal with sin, first of all, and he'll come to bring in the kingdom second at his second coming.
So Here's something to think about. Adam was a special creation of God. He was made directly by God a direct creation. No other human being has ever had that. Everyone after that was born naturally.
and in pain of childbirth. There was only one other person introduced into the human race. Who was also made by special creation, and that is the virgin-born Son of God. Where God moved by his Holy Spirit upon a woman named Mary, a young woman, and Jesus Christ was born naturally, but supernaturally, having the nature of man, but also the nature of God. He's called, incidentally, the second Adam or the last Adam.
What Adam ruined, Jesus came to unruin.
So whether it was Adam or Eve. It wasn't that If Adam and Eve would have done it, somebody else would have done it later on. The idea is They had a choice. They blew the choice. If they wouldn't have, presumably mankind would have continued in that paradise.
They did. God knew it. Jesus was planned to come from the foundation of the earth, and our future is secure because of that. We have another question that came to us on Facebook. We have all these different outlets that come in.
Some are texted, some are on Cyberline, some have been Facebook, some have been put in the agape box by hand. This is about Cain's mark in chapter 4. And the question is simply. What was Cain's mark? And the text is Genesis chapter 4.
Now, you remember the story. I don't have to go over it all, but Cain. killed Abel. Cain was banished. From fellowship with God and interaction, I would say, also with his family, he was bound to be a fugitive, a wanderer on the face of the earth.
And God put a mark on him. This is Genesis chapter 4, verse 14. Surely He says, he's speaking, Cain is speaking. Surely you have driven me out this day. From the face of the ground, I shall be hidden from your face.
I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth. And it will happen that anyone who finds me will kill me. And the Lord said to him, Therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark on Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him.
So the question, what was that mark? Anybody know?
Well, I'm glad nobody said I know because that would be the wrong answer. Because it's not told us. What that mark was, right? We can't make something up that isn't there. We're not given that information.
God didn't think it was important that we know what that mark was. We do know it was some. visible identifiable sign.
Some say it was a birthmark.
Some say it was a tattoo. There are, I read 10 different explanations. Don't know. We're not told.
Some identifiable mark. to show two things. Number one, that he was under divine protection. Isn't that interesting? He's afraid that he's going to die.
God says, I'll put a mark on you. That'll be a warning to people they won't kill you. Why would God do that? 'Cause he's merciful. Because God is merciful.
And God was protecting Cain and dealing with his worst fear because he thinks, I'm going to go out and I'm going to die. God says, not going to happen. I'm going to put a mark on you and I'm going to protect you. and it was a sign of that mercy. But number two, wearing that sign would also announce his guilt.
This lifelong shame. of God's judgment of being banished forever. Could have been a physical mark.
Some say it was a pledge. Yeah. For your interest, whoever asked the question. Do you know that this is not the only time a mark is put on people? And I'm not talking about the mark of the beast.
A different time. There are two instances in the Bible where marks are put on people. for something good, in order to preserve or protect them. Like with this one. Yeah.
Number one is in Revelation chapter seven. Where there are 144,000 Jews, 12,000 from each tribe, who are sealed. And God says, before you enact this certain kind of judgment in the tribulation period, you will seal in the forehead 144,000. They'll be protected specially by God during the tribulation period. Yeah.
The second case is Ezekiel, I believe, chapter 9. In Ezekiel 9, God is going to judge the city of Jerusalem because his people have backslidden. sin horribly against God. Yeah. Before the judgment takes place, God calls for a special messenger with a writer's inkhorn to mark the foreheads of those who in Jerusalem.
Sigh and cry over all the abominations that are taking place in their city and in their country. There's evil in their country and they cry over it. They hate the evil. Not only are they not a part of it, they're so opposed to it, they weep over it. God says, Mark them, I'm going to spare them.
So God sets a mark two other places for good in preservation. Whatever the mark of Cain was, Let me tell you what it's not. And I think this is important because historically, the Mormon church. has taught that the mark of Cain That Cain's curse was preserved in the lineage that eventually went on the ark. through one of the sons of Noah, Ham, And they historically had explained that.
That curse that found its way through the lineage of Ham on the ark was Cain's curse. And the evidence of the curse was blackened skin, so that anybody that has a blackened or negroid skin, as they called it, was cursed by God. That is not the curse. It is a blatantly racist doctrine. It has nothing to do with any tenet whatsoever biblically, and that is not what it was.
So whatever it was. That wasn't it.
Now we have another question, and I'm just looking at the time and waiting for any other text that might come up. We know that dinosaurs existed. This is The question, we know that dinosaurs existed. Yeah. But did they exist?
at the same time as man According to the Bible, everything was made in six days, but science says they existed at different times. How do you explain this?
Well, let me just first say. That Science says a lot of things about a lot of things. And not all scientists agree on what scientists say. There's not a monolithic belief among scientists. And the idea, and in every natural history museum, this is like the favorite thing to say: a gazillion, billion, quadrillion, familiar years ago.
We know Because we weren't there. That these creatures existed, and then mankind was separated by so many millions of years. I would contest that on. Archaeological evidence. One of the places isn't far from us.
Down in Texas. in the Paluxi Riverbed. About an hour south of Fort Worth. In limestone have been discovered. The fossilized footprints of dinosaurs.
Next to them, sometimes in them, as if sandwiched on top of them. The footprints of man. From the same era, maybe a race was going on and the dinosaur caught up with the dude. But there you have a place. fossil evidence of man and dinosaur existing together.
Now there are no dinosaurs. They didn't survive the flood. Too big to put on an ark. And even if he put little ones on the ark, they could have died out. There are thousands and thousands of names that we know today of different dinosaurs, but only about 50 families of dinosaurs.
Now, Noah was told to put two. animals of every kind. Every kind, not every species. Every kind. And in some cases, seven.
For the sake of sacrifice.
So, We would naturally presume by the fossil evidence, not the one I just pointed to, but we have large dinosaur bones encased in several horizontal strata layer that would designate a period of time but something volatile. Pressed them. into that place Uh and you see dinosaur fossils Vertically encased in horizontal strata, as if put there by some great cataclysmic flood. Gee, that fits the biblical scenario quite well. A biblical worldwide flood.
And there's plenty of evidence for that as we covered so far. Here's a question that goes along with that. The text question: Do you think the flood was localized or global? I think it was global. I think it covered The mountaintops, because you can go to the highest mountaintops in the world and find seashells.
Somebody didn't take them up there and put them there. A flood brought them there. It also fits the description of the biblical description of the flood and of. The Ark resting upon Mount Ararat. There has been some discussion and possible even identification of a large ship that's up on Mount Ararat.
I'm just going to answer that quickly by saying we went into that in depth when we were going through the Genesis 6, 7, and 8 account, and I would just commend you to. Those tapes, tapes, that's a dated word. The MP3s and MP4s. Yeah, we have eight tracks available as well afterwards. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig.
Before we return to Skip's teaching, what would your life look like if God's fingerprints were all over it? In God Print, The Life of Abraham, Pastor Skip takes you through seven powerful messages on the faith journey of one man who learned to trust God through crisis, fear, and uncertainty. Abraham's life was shaped by God, and so can yours be. The God Print 7 Message Series is our thank you for your gift of $50 or more today to support the worldwide ministry of Connect with Skip-Heitzig. Your support helps reach more people with verse-by-verse teaching of the Bible so they can connect with God's timeless truth.
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Now let's get back to today's teaching with Pastor Skip. Here's another question that came to us. Thanks for that text, by the way. In view of the growing interest in extraterrestrials, and life on other planets. How can believers best help non-believers understand the truth?
How can we best try to explain this using the book of Genesis or what Jesus said about the book of Genesis.
Well, I think you can simply point out the contradictory notions that many people have about extraterrestrials. Again, it's not monolithic. Several people have several different ideas and belief systems about them. Not all of them are homogenous. Not all of them agree.
and point out the blatant Lack of evidence that we have for such extraterrestrial beings, then I would suggest you take them off guard. You take them off guard by telling them that God, your God, is an extraterrestrial. Right. He's an extraterrestrial. He's not earthly.
He's not of this time domain, space domain. That God revealed Himself to us from outside our time-space continuum and then eventually came to this earth from heaven in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the only true extraterrestrial that we have on record. He himself said, I am from above, you are of this earth. Point that out to them.
They'll be fascinated. At least you'll get their attention for a few minutes. Then I would further Dialogue with them. About the uniqueness of the Bible. In all of the speculation, pure speculation about extraterrestrial beings, well, so-and-so saw this.
And if you go on YouTube, and there's a lot of things that can be seen. Show them the veracity of the scripture, the uniqueness of this text, why it can be believed. We have. Several tapes and C D s on that very subject. But I think without that, I think you do a good job of just pointing out the uniqueness of the Bible, the fulfillment of prophecy, et cetera.
It's a pretty solid case that you can build for what we believe when it comes to the scripture. Another question. It said in Genesis 9. Verse 27. May God enlarge Japheth.
May he dwell in the tents of Shim. And may Canaan be his servant. This statement, says the questioner, contextually has to do with Israel. the only nation with a god. If this is true, We are not a nation under God.
We can't be a nation under God until after Christ's return. Question mark: Is this true? I'd beg to differ with you that. That that's the context. I don't think that is the context of that promise that is shared in Genesis chapter 9.
The context is that spiritual blessings will come to Jay Fair Fights Or the descendants of Japheth through the God of Shem. And You may or not remember, but we pointed out that this became the theological justification for Israel to invade the land of Canaan once they were in Egypt. And to make Canaan subservient to Shem or Israel, the sons of Shem. Because God gave The Canaanites years and years time to repent of their sins, and they didn't. He announced that back at the beginning part of Genesis.
And he gave them over 400 years to change their ways, and they didn't. And so the theological justification is that God was using his people to invade Canaan, make Canaan subservient. To Israel of the sons of Shem. And that's the idea. That's really the context.
It has nothing to do with the exclusive rights of any one nation being the true nation of God. Yes. Israel had One true God. But all of the other nations that lived around them or that they invaded. Also, they had a belief system in gods.
They weren't right. Yeah. But Though Israel was God's chosen people. They never lived up to it. Did you know that?
They never fulfilled it. God sent them prophet after prophet after prophet. And remember what Stephen said in Acts chapter 7? He said, Which one of the prophets did not your fathers kill? All the representatives God sent throughout your history, they've killed God's representatives, and now you've killed the Messiah.
Israel went into two captivities, the Assyrian and then the Babylonian.
So, though God called them as his nation, they never yet lived up. to the ideal that God had for that nation.
So I just see a text that came in. Oh, it came in through the agape box. But, well, let's throw it up and take a stab at it. In Egypt, The evidence of the pharaohs' Egyptian culture and their gods are preserved for us in the Biblical record, as well as stone images. Are there any known images referring to Joseph since he had such a significant role in Egypt?
And that's from Dave. Yeah. Um Some see in the hieroglyphics of Egypt who've studied it, and I have a friend who's actually studied it pretty carefully. Um illusions to The reign of of um Joseph. Here's what you have to remember though.
Joseph was during that volatile period we talked about. Remember, we talked about the Hiskos kings? These shepherd kings And they took over Egypt, and that some believe that. Even the Pharaoh himself, the Pharaoh That let Israel go was part of the shepherd king dynasty, the last of that dynasty. There's a little dispute about that.
Yeah. But that afterwards, when the true Egyptian dynasties recaptured Egypt and those pharaohs and those rulers were banished, they wanted to erase that period of their history where they were. Subservient to shepherds, because after all, we read in the text of Genesis: shepherds are an abomination to the Egyptians.
So that's a short form. Dave, some think that there are. There's a dispute about that. There's no real solid evidence that you see Joseph, but there are allusions to it in the hieroglyphic text.
Okay, we have just uh time for um One more question. And I'm trying to think which one I should take. I got one. I'll do this one. Yeah.
Um It was a question that I was asked by somebody in the church when I announced we're going to do a QA and said, Would you mind tackling this? What about The ten lost tribes of Israel. And specifically under the banner of British Israelism or Anglo-Israelism. I don't know if any of you have heard that term before, but if you have ever heard of a church called the Worldwide Church of God under Herbert W. Armstrong, he espoused this at one time very, very vehemently.
So Let me give you a scenario and then tell you what people think and how this doctrine came about. I'll do it quickly. Jacob had twelve sons. Yeah. Each of those 12 sons had a whole bunch of people.
Called a tribe.
So there are 12 tribes of Israel.
Okay. After King Solomon died, there was still a united Israel. After he died, his son Rehoboam was heavy-handed, taxed the people, and was even more brutal than his father, Solomon. This caused a split. In the unity, in the fabrical, the fabrical, in the, in the united fabric of Israel.
And there was another guy named Jeroboam, the son of Nabot. And he took ten tribes of Israel up north, while two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, stayed down south. The kingdom split. Afterwards, Judah referred to the southern kingdom, those two tribes, and Israel referred to the ten tribes up north. The ten northern tribes were taken into captivity in seven twenty two BC by the Assyrians.
After that. Their history becomes a little sketchy and much of their Legacy is shrouded in mystery. What some believe is that these ten tribes.
somehow migrated westward. into Western Europe. and more specifically into Britain.
So that Western European descendants and specifically British descendants. are the true 10 lost tribes of Israel. And that those who live as Jews in Israel to date. Our Faking it. They're not the real deal.
They're imposters. The real Israel is found in Western Europe and specifically in Britain, and some even say that. The royal house of England, the kings and queens in the royal house of England, are direct descendants to King David, the Davidic line. All of this based upon pure speculation, not a shred of biblical evidence, but there's linguistic evidence, they say. And I'll just give you one example.
There are several tribes, but one example: the tribe of Dan. Migrates From the Middle East, from Assyria, through Israel, across the Mediterranean, into Western Europe and England. And we see traces of his name all throughout, like Lundan, England. London, England, but the Dan was the original derivation. The Danube River.
From the tribe of Dan, Swede, Dan and the Swedish people.
Okay. Denmark and the Dan-ish people or Dan-ish people, ish is Hebrew for man, they point out.
So you have Dan's man, Danish. But then you also have Fool-ish. And that's what this whole thing is, absolutely foolishness. Not a shred of biblical evidence. Let me tell you what really happened.
Years later, Then 722 BC, in 586 BC, the Babylonians took the two remaining tribes captive.
So now you have Israelites, some remained in the land of Israel. Not all of them were taken captive in the north. A lot of them stayed, the poorest of the poor. Many of them were killed, tortured by the Assyrians, but you have Israelites up north in Assyria. You have the Babylonians who take over the world, including Assyria.
And then later on, you have the Medo-Persian Empire taking over Babylon and Assyria.
So When the Jews come back to rebuild the temple. Ezra Nehemiah Days. There are already a group of Israelites up north in the area of Samaria who want to help the Jews down south rebuild the temple. And some of the tribes in First Chronicles chapter nine. Or is it 25 verse 9?
Don't know but In that book, that talks about some of the reconfigurement of the tribes back in the land and. Included, it's not just Judah, not just Benjamin, but some of the tribes like Ephraim and Manasseh and others are mentioned.
So why is that? Though it became sketchy, The ten northern tribes were assumed into the other Jews because of the subsequent captivity of the bigger guns. The Babylonians took the Assyrians, the Medo-Persians took the Babylonians, and so all of those Jewish people. Could be together, and they were assumed in the people of Judah that came back to the land. Though a lot of them couldn't prove their genealogy, that's also on record.
They're all assumed in the captivity that came back from Babylon.
So that's British Israelism, and that's its refutation. And we're out of time. I hope this was helpful. Thanks for listening to Connect with Skip Heitzik. Before you go, don't forget to request this month's resource, GodPrint, The Life of Abraham.
This powerful seven-message study from Skip-Heitzig shows how God's presence shaped one man's life and how he can shape yours. It's our thanks for your generous gift of fifty dollars or more to support this ministry. Call 800-922-1888. That's 800-922-1888. Or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate.
And while you're there, sign up for Skip's weekly devotional email to grow deeper in your walk with Christ. Come back next time for more verse-by-verse teaching of God's Word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Make a connection, never fall. Of the crossing castle burden. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of connection communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.
