“Black Lives Matter” protester, Source https://www.flickr.com/photos/becker271/50267630671/ , Author Becker1999, Grove City, OH (CC Attribution 2.0 Generic)
The following post is excerpted from a warning directed at India. However, the warning applies equally well to the United States. The full post can be found at: https://insightful.co.in/2026/06/11/fresh-face-infestation-is-india-ready-for-the-onslaught/ . Headings have been added here for the reader’s convenience.
“…The ‘Fresh Face Doctrine’ refers to young people who are sincere, idealistic, and eager to do something meaningful for their country. They are often intelligent, outspoken, and full of energy. These qualities make them attractive to activists, political operators, foreign agencies, and other groups that want to influence public opinion. Their weakness is not ignorance in the ordinary sense; it is trust, passion, and a strong desire to belong to something bigger than themselves.
This vulnerability becomes more dangerous in the age of the internet and social media. In the past, radicalization was slower and more local. Today, ideas can spread instantly, and emotional messages can be amplified at scale. Artificial intelligence has made this even more powerful by allowing manipulation to be highly targeted, highly personalized, and difficult to detect…
Youth who are still forming their worldview can be shaped very easily. A person who genuinely wants justice or reform can be pushed into becoming a tool for someone else’s agenda without fully realizing it.
The Intermediaries
The transition from an idealistic young person to an exploited participant usually does not happen through force. It happens through trusted intermediaries. These are the people who stand between the handler and the target: professors, NGO leaders, artists, celebrities, student organizers, and social media influencers. They do not need to act openly like recruiters. Instead, they create trust, emotional attachment, and the feeling that the Fresh Face is part of a special moral mission.
[A. Universities]
Universities are one of the easiest places to begin. Students are taught to respect expertise, so professors often have enormous influence. That influence can be exercised subtly through reading lists, grading patterns, classroom norms, and the silent reward of ideological conformity. A student may think they are simply learning, when in reality they are being shaped toward a fixed political view.
[B. Personal Attention/Grooming]
Personal attention is another powerful tool. When a leader or mentor gives praise, invites a student into a private circle, or offers the feeling of belonging, it creates a sense of obligation. Later, when that same person asks for risky political action — attending a protest, spreading a message, or helping organize a campus cell — refusal feels like betrayal. The Fresh Face does not want to disappoint someone they admire, so they comply.
[C. Isolation and Peer Pressure]
This process becomes more effective when the target is isolated from older stabilizing influences such as family or independent mentors. Specialized seminars, activist circles, and tightly controlled peer groups create a closed environment where one message dominates. Once everyone around a student seems to agree, doubt begins to feel abnormal. What looks like consensus is often only engineered repetition.
[D. Influencers]
Celebrities, writers, and artists add another layer. Their role is not to argue a case, but to make a cause feel emotionally attractive. A moving speech, a dramatic poem, a powerful song, or a viral post can make a movement seem fashionable, righteous, and morally urgent. The Fresh Face may not study the long-term consequences of the movement. They may simply feel that joining it is the right, modern, and socially approved thing to do. In that sense, celebrity endorsement works much like brand marketing: it packages a complex political cause into a lifestyle identity.
[Hidden Agenda]
Behind this polished surface is the financial machinery of the civil society sector. Many NGOs do real and necessary work, but some become dependent on constant funding from domestic or foreign sources. Once an organization depends on outside money, it must often align itself with the priorities of its donors. That means student energy, moral language, and public concern can all be redirected toward the agenda of whoever controls the funding.
The most dangerous result is when all these forces combine to create a fixed moral divide. The movement defines itself as righteous ‘us’ fighting corrupt ‘them.’ Once a student accepts that framework, they stop asking hard questions. Any criticism of funding sources, foreign influence, or political manipulation is dismissed as propaganda. At that point, the Fresh Face is no longer thinking independently. They are being guided by a story built for them.
The Providers
A campaign of this kind cannot survive without money. To keep influence networks running while avoiding scrutiny, hostile actors use several channels to move funds and resources….
Shell charities, front organizations, and seemingly harmless educational trusts can absorb money meant for social spending. Corporations may believe they are funding legitimate development or welfare work, while the money is quietly redirected toward politicized campaigns, recruitment drives, or influence operations…
The newest tool is cryptocurrency. Privacy-focused digital assets, mixers, and decentralized wallets can move money quickly and across borders with limited visibility. This creates a borderless funding stream that can support digital propaganda, local organizers, and politically aligned field activity in near real time. Shell companies can be used to disguise the real origin of the money. By the time the funds emerge in the local system, they look clean enough to support long-term activism and agitation…
The Game Plan
The manipulation of the Fresh Face usually follows a clear psychological sequence. It begins with basic human shortcuts that are useful in daily life but dangerous when exploited.
[A. Reciprocation]
The first shortcut is reciprocation. If a campus group offers free food, workshops, mentorship, or emotional support, it feels generous. But it also creates a subtle sense of debt. Later, when the same group asks for a favor, the student feels pressured to say yes.
[B. Commitment and Consistency]
The second shortcut is commitment and consistency. Once a young person signs a petition, posts a slogan, or attends a minor protest, they have already identified themselves publicly. After that, it becomes harder to step back. Saying no to the next request would feel like admitting that the first one was a mistake.
[C. Social Confirmation]
The third shortcut is social proof. Students often look at the behavior of their peers to decide what is normal. If everyone in their circle is marching, posting, chanting, or repeating the same message, the individual begins to assume that the cause must be right. Doubt weakens under the pressure of collective energy…
A charming peer can lower resistance faster than an aggressive recruiter, and a respected professor or activist can make a view seem intellectually superior. Young people often assume that the people with status must know something they do not. That assumption is exactly what handlers use.
[D. Urgency]
Scarcity adds urgency. If a movement is framed as a once-in-history moment, people feel that hesitation will cause disaster. ‘Act now or lose everything’ is a powerful message because it bypasses patience and reflection. It pushes the Fresh Face toward immediate emotional action.
[E. Unity/Belonging]
In the end, unity becomes the strongest tool of all. A person who feels part of a heroic moral mission will often stop checking facts carefully. Once the movement becomes part of their identity, criticism feels like betrayal. The result is a closed mental loop where group loyalty replaces independent judgment…
Building the Story
Manipulators rarely rely on one universal message. They adapt their narratives to local fears, regional identities, and historical grievances. In one place, they may use language and cultural pride. In another, they may use religion, caste, or ethnic tension. The goal is always the same: turn real social anxieties into political fuel…
Student movements are especially useful because campuses bring together energy, idealism, and a sense of moral urgency. When student unrest is linked to larger political goals, it can become a launchpad for agitation far beyond the campus. The student no longer sees themselves as simply protesting. They begin to see themselves as part of a historic struggle.
Religious division is even more explosive. When Hindus, Muslims, Christians, or Sikhs are framed as existential threats to one another, the emotional temperature rises quickly. Once fear takes over, rational debate becomes much harder. In that environment, handlers can play both sides and guide people toward confrontation, violence, and long-term distrust…
The Fresh Face is more likely to believe the story that feels urgent than the data that feels dry. That is why false narratives can survive even when they are objectively weak.
Technology and Propaganda
Old propaganda used posters, speeches, newspapers, and rallies. Modern propaganda uses algorithms, automation, and artificial intelligence. This is what makes it so dangerous. It does not just broadcast a message; it studies each person and attacks the part of the mind most likely to respond.
Deepfakes and synthetic voice systems can imitate trusted leaders, making lies look real. Machine learning can identify what a person fears, envies, or admires, and then serve content that triggers those emotions. Social platforms can amplify outrage, create echo chambers, and keep users trapped inside a loop of reinforcing narratives.
This is not just about persuading people to accept one false version of events. In many cases, the goal is to destroy the idea of objective truth itself. If everyone is confused, exhausted, and angry, then no one knows what to believe. That condition is useful for political actors who want to weaken institutions and control the direction of public debate…
The Social Result
When people are constantly exposed to confusion, outrage, and contradiction, they begin to lose faith in institutions. They stop trusting media, government, schools, and even facts themselves. That creates a vacuum that mass movements are eager to fill.
…Frustrated individuals stop seeing themselves as isolated and powerless. They seek belonging in a movement that offers certainty, purpose, and identity. The movement does not need to solve their problems completely. It only needs to give them a place to stand.
This is how the Fresh Face is fully absorbed. They no longer join because they have carefully studied the issue. They join because they want unity, purpose, and moral clarity. The movement gives them a sense of self, and in return they surrender their ability to question it…
Ultimately, the strongest defense lies in psychological immunity, requiring educational institutions to introduce cognitive security and media literacy into their core student orientation frameworks. The supply chain of the ‘Fresh Face’ is unlimited. Before they are exposed to curated ideological environments, they must be trained to recognize how their natural desire for unity, validation, and purpose can be weaponized against them by funded handlers or charismatic influencers…”
READERS CAN FIND MY VIEWS ON ABUSE AND ABUSE-RELATED ISSUES AT A Voice Reclaimed, Surviving Child Abuse and More
https://avoicereclaimed.com
PD by ZStardust
“Open my eyes, that I may see Wondrous things from Your law” (Ps. 119: 18).
The human body is amazing. It is a wonder of engineering, which points toward a Creator for all those willing to acknowledge Him.
A smartphone with the following features would be considered extremely advanced:
- A panoramic field of view;
- 210 degrees of horizontal view;
- 4K facial recognition technology with the ability to identify a friend in a crowded room [1];
- “God-level” dynamic range (the range of brightness a camera can capture) from cave darkness to glare;
- 20 “stops” of light, i.e. measurements of exposure doubling or halving the amount of light reaching the sensor (the light sensitive component), allowing precise control over image brightness;
- Hyperfocused 576 megapixel mode which maximize depth of field, so that everything is acceptably sharp [2];
- Better than 4K 20/20 ultra-detailed stitching of images into video; and
- 60 frames/second smooth motion with Artificial Intelligence (AI) prediction and “fill in memory” recall.
Yet the human eye has all these features without the need for AI [3].
The eye of the brown bear, in addition, has a membrane called the tapetum lucidum behind the retina which reflects light back into the eye [12]. This gives the bear excellent night vision.
“To suppose that the eye…could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree.”
–Charles Darwin [4A]
To be fair, Charles Darwin continued by saying that evolution of the eye could be possible, if science found multiple connected gradations from simple to complex in the fossil record [4B].
But revolutionary developments in biology are providing stronger evidence than ever of a purposeful Creator [5][6][7][8].
Darwin viewed evolution as the result of blind chance, random and wholly undirected. That cannot, however, explain the frequently observed phenomenon of convergence where the same structures exist in organisms which are not closely related, for instance, wings in insects, bats, and birds, or the eye of the octopus, the bear, and man [9][10].
This is now being attributed to “evolved purposiveness”. In other words, there must at a minimum exist structuralist laws in nature which science does not understand. In fact, there are strong indications all life forms – even single celled organisms – have some degree of agency. They impact their environment while their environment impacts them. That challenges the materialist and reductionist views prevalent in the scientific world.
Teleonomy is the study of the apparent goal-directedness in living systems without reference to a Creator [11]. To recognize God’s hand at work in creation, we must have spiritual perception, spiritual eyes as it were. Yet the wonder of His creation is all around us, if we will only choose to see.
—
[1] Wikipedia, “4K resolution”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4K_resolution.
[2] Nine Meters, “The Highest Resolution the Eye Can See: Limits of Human Vision” by Jonathan Kao, 3/26/24, https://9meters.com/technology/highest-resolution-the-eye-can-see.
[3] Creation Today, “Scientific Facts in the Bible – Through David’s Eyes” with Eric and Chad Hovind, https://creationtoday.org/on-demand-classes/scientific-facts-in-the-bible-through-the-eyes-of-david-creation-today-show-469/.
[4A and 4B] All About Science, “Darwin and the Evolution of the Eye”, https://www.allaboutscience.org/darwin-and-evolution-of-the-eye-faq.htm.
[5] Beyond Evolution by Sye Garte PhD, published by Tyndale Refresh (8/19/25).
[6] Evolution “On Purpose”: Teleonomy in Living Systems, edited by Peter Corning et al, published by MIT Press (2023).
[7] MIT Press Direct, “Evolution ‘On Purpose’: Teleonomy in Living Systems”, edited by Peter Corning et al, https://direct.mit.edu/books/oa-edited-volume/5634/Evolution-On-Purpose-Teleonomy-in-Living-Systems.
[8] YouTube, “Epic Exchange: Sy Garte Stands His Ground with James Tour on #evolution”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqfPJQg8m5U.
[9] Wikipedia, “Cephalopod eye”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cephalopod_eye.
[10] Wikipedia, “Convergent evolution”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convergent_evolution.
[11] Wikipedia, “Teleonomy”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teleonomy.
[12] Wild Life Faq, “Can Bears See in the Dark, Like Night Vision?”, https://www.wildlifefaq.com/can-bears-see-in-the-dark-like-nightvision/.
READERS CAN FIND MY VIEWS ON ABUSE AND ABUSE-RELATED ISSUES AT A Voice Reclaimed, Surviving Child Abuse and More
https://avoicereclaimed.com
Christian Nationalist Demonstration, Author Wolfman5678, (CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication)
“Christian nationalism…accurately describes American nationalists who believe American identity is inextricable from Christianity.”
–Prof. Paul Miller, Georgetown University [1A]
There is no clear definition of Christian Nationalism [2]. However, religious scholars and sociologists tend to agree that its tenets are, as follows:
- That the government should preserve the nation’s Christian roots and identity.
- That the government should foster Christian values, passing laws and enacting policies which reflect those values.
- That “separation of church and state” should not apply to Christianity.
- That citizens should adhere to a particular understanding of Christianity.
- That God’s plan for the United States is that the nation should be successful based on Christian ideals [1B][5A].
Christian Nationalism is not synonymous with any particular Christian denomination or with Evangelical Christianity, in general. Though it does attract Christians, Christian Nationalism is a political philosophy, fueled by the polarization of our day [3A].
Commentators often frame Christian Nationalism as focusing on populist victimhood, white identity politics, hierarchy, and authoritarian control [4]. There is some truth in that. What draws many to Christian Nationalism, however, is not so much racism. It is a combined sense of loss, fear, and powerlessness in the face of an increasingly pluralistic, secular society.
This nation was founded on Judeo-Christian principles. That reality has been obscured by certain revisionist historians, though the Declaration of Independence and US Constitution attest to it.
Nonetheless, we cannot turn the clock back to what may seem to some a “Golden Age” or a more innocent time. Christian values cannot be enforced by fiat…let alone violence. In fact, the First Amendment was crafted with the very purpose of protecting religion against governmental intrusion.
Nor should patriotism be confused with religious fervor. The two must not be conflated. Christian Nationalism is not the will of God. Politics does not save souls [5B]. There is no divine mandate for Christians to dominate society [3B]. The fusion of faith and nationalism distorts the teachings of Christianity, leading to a dangerous ideology that can incite hostility and aggression [5C].
Certainly, Christians can be patriots. Certainly, Christians – like any other group – have the right to lobby and campaign against moral relativism, neo-Marxism, and other concerns. But for these goals to be accomplished, we must change minds and hearts. To do that, we must remain a voice for peace and justice [5C].
Our true citizenship, after all, is in heaven (Phil. 3: 20).
—
[1A and 1B] Freedom Forum, “What Is Christian Nationalism? The Complete Guide” by Scott Leadingham, 3/4/24, https://www.freedomforum.org/what-is-christian-nationalism/.
[2] Wikipedia, “Christian nationalism”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_nationalism.
[3A and 3B] True Riches Academy, “Debunking the Myths: Christian Nationalism and Violence” by Jerry Robinson, https://truerichesacademy.com/debunking-the-myths-christian-nationalism-and-violence/.
[4] Factually, “What are the core tenets of Christian Nationalism?”, 10/1/25, https://factually.co/fact-checks/politics/christian-nationalism-core-tenets-32e49c.
[5A, 5B, and 5C] Berean Research, “Christian Nationalism”, https://bereanresearch.org/christian-nationalism/.
READERS CAN FIND MY VIEWS ON ABUSE AND ABUSE-RELATED ISSUES AT A Voice Reclaimed, Surviving Child Abuse and More
https://avoicereclaimed.com
Enki, detail from Akkadian cylinder seal known as Adda Seal (c. 2300 BC), Source British Museum, (Public Domain)
There is new deception making the rounds on the internet. It is, in fact, a very old deception recast for a new audience. Satan successfully uses the same few ploys on mankind, over and over again. But many are too blind to recognize that.
Enki and Enlil
Enki and Enlil were important deities in ancient Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian religion and mythology [1A]. Of course, Christians know that the gods pagans worshiped were merely demons. But many today do not realize this.
Enki – a key member of the Anunnaki pantheon – was the god of creation, fertility, healing, fresh water, crafts, wisdom, and magic [1B][2][3]. Associated with trickery, he is said to have used his intelligence to aid and enlighten mankind [4][5].
Enlil – another member of the Anunnaki – was the god of the air, wind, storms, and earth, considered the chief deity who shaped the cosmos and human destiny [1C][6].
Enki was compassionate, providing secret knowledge to save humans, while Enlil could be destructive [1D].
Gnosticism
The connection to the later Gnostic belief in a good God and a lesser, evil God (Demiurgos) through whom the material world came into being is fairly obvious [7].
Gnostics, it should be noted, do not have a biblical understanding either of the true nature of God, the true nature of Christ, or the true nature of the world [8][9]. The religion calling itself “Gnostic Christianity” is NOT Christianity at all.
Satan Redefined
In the latest version of this deception, events surrounding the fall of man in the Garden of Eden are reshaped. Satan is redefined as Enki, the benefactor of mankind, sharing the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, while God is pictured as Enlil – harsh, punitive, and restrictive. Enki seeks to enhance human freedom; Enlil seeks to curtail it [10].
Christianity, in other words, gets it wrong. Satan is the good guy. This is the crux of the lie.
UFOs and Aliens
To further confuse the issue, this deception by Satan is often linked to the current interest in Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) and aliens [11]. Depending on who is spinning the tale, the Anunnaki may be described as superior alien beings from a distant galaxy, who seeded earth with the genetically modified homo sapiens Adam and Eve.
Supposed “proof” of this is circulating in the form of photos of alien spacecraft and alien bodies (presumably AI generated or fabricated by other means). It is worth pointing out that there have been countless monsters created by Hollywood for horror and science fiction films. But we were not so gullible in the past as to believe them real.
Testing the Spirits
“Then many false prophets will rise and deceive many” (Matt. 24: 11).
The Bible warns that in the last days deception will be widespread, with false prophets, false teachers, and demonic spirits leading many astray by means of great signs and wonders (Matt. 24: 4-5, 24).
It is vital that we test the spirits (1 John 4: 1), so as to discern deception rather than becoming victims of it [12].
—
[1A and 1B] History Cooperative, “Enki and Enlil: The Two Most Important Mesopotamian Gods” by Rittika Dhar, 3/11/24, https://historycooperative.org/enki-and-enlil/.
[2] Wikipedia, “Enki”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enki.
[3] Wikipedia, “Anunnaki”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anunnaki.
[4] World History Encyclopedia, “Enki”, https://www.worldhistory.org/Enki/.
[5] World History Edu, “Ancient Sumerian God Enki: Origin Story, Worship, Powers & Significance”, 12/12/24, https://worldhistoryedu.com/ancient-sumerian-god-enki-origin-story-worship-powers-significance/.
[6] Encyclopedia Britannica, “Enlil”, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Enlil.
[7] The Gnosis Archive, “The Gnostic World View: A Brief Summary of Gnosticism”, http://www.gnosis.org/gnintro.htm#:~:text=Humannaturemirrorsthedualityfoundintheworld:inpartitwasmadebythefalsecreatorGodandinpartitconsistsofthelightoftheTrue.
[8] Gnosticism Explained, “Jesus Christ in Gnosticism”, https://gnosticismexplained.org/jesus-christ-in-gnosticism/.
[9] Got Questions, “What Is Christian Gnosticism?”, https://www.gotquestions.org/Christian-gnosticism.html.
[10] YouTube, “Ancient History of Enki and Enlil Fully Exposed” by Billy Carson, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HEb1i9a02s.
[11] People Magazine, “An Aspiring Rapper Claimed He Was a Prophet on Social Media. Then People Started Going Missing” by Liam Quinn, 7/14/26, https://people.com/rashad-jamal-university-cosmic-intelligence-missing-people-12005016.
[12] Bible Study for You, “30 Powerful Verses about Deception in the Last Days (with Commentary)”, https://biblestudyforyou.com/bible-verses-about-deception-in-the-last-days/.
READERS CAN FIND MY VIEWS ON ABUSE AND ABUSE-RELATED ISSUES AT A Voice Reclaimed, Surviving Child Abuse and More
https://avoicereclaimed.com
“Tree of Life” at Holdman Studios, Lehi, UT, Author Rojochampion, (CC-SA 4.0 International)
The following post is excerpted from the website Walking the Path https://donwhiteblog.com/2026/05/19/why-greek/. The full text can be found there.
“God so loved the world that he gave humanity free will. Humanity used that freedom to choose the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, the desire to independently decide right from wrong. In response, God gave scripture: first, the Old Testament in Hebrew; then, at the appointed time, the New Testament in Greek. These two testaments are as different from each other as the two trees in the Garden.
That difference is bigger than vocabulary. Hebrew and Greek don’t merely use different words. They operate on entirely different ways of thinking about reality. When the New Testament writers expressed Torah ideas in Greek, they weren’t simply translating. From a Jewish legal standpoint, they were fundamentally redirecting those ideas. And that was intentional…
By the time Jesus walked the earth, many Jews could read and write Greek before they could read and write Hebrew. This was no accident. The New Testament was never meant for one people or one nation. It was written for the entire world.
Four Example Words
1. Worship — proskuneō
The Greek word the New Testament uses to describe how people responded to Jesus was the same word Greeks and Romans used for bowing before a god or submitting to Caesar. Hebrew has no equivalent. The Torah strictly forbids that kind of prostrate worship directed at anyone other than God. So, from a strict Jewish legal perspective, the New Testament described people doing to Jesus precisely what was owed only to God. Jewish leaders who rejected Jesus as God’s Son called this idolatry, but that was the point.
2. Sabbath — melakhah
The Hebrew word for what is prohibited on Shabbat, melakhah, is a precise legal term. It doesn’t mean “work” in the ordinary sense. It refers to specific categories of creative activity, organized around distinctions of public and private space and exact time (sundown to sundown). Greek has no equivalent word or concept…
3. Peace — shalom vs. eirēnē
Shalom is not the absence of conflict. It is rooted in bitachon, trust, security, and confidence within a relationship. When a Jewish host says Shabbat Shalom and welcomes guests into his home, that is shalom: the safety of being received under someone’s protection, within a covenantal bond.
The Greek word eirēnē and the Roman concept of pax behind it meant something closer to: ‘the war is over, submit to the stronger power.’ After World War II, Britain and the United States proclaimed peace, but at first, Germany only felt defeat. Unlike armies, Jesus offers peace to all of mankind.
4. Love — ahavah vs. agape
In Hebrew, love (ahavah) is rooted in action and commitment, not feeling. Its root, hav (הָב), means “to give.” The word used in the Shema, the prayer recited twice daily, is v’ahavta, a term grounded in legal obligation. The rabbis taught that to love God is to keep his commandments. Love, in Hebrew, is something you do.
The Greek word agape describes something different: selfless, unconditional devotion, giving oneself entirely without expecting anything in return. The difference is like that between marriage (a legal covenant) and love (a devotion or feeling). One defines responsibilities. The other describes the heart behind them. God wants agape from us and calls us to offer it to one another.
The Big Picture
The Old Testament, written in Hebrew, reads like a contract, packed with rules, promises, and defined responsibilities. It is the legal agreement between God and those who chose to live by the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil: knowing good and evil independently, and being held accountable accordingly.
The New Testament, written in Greek, takes that same relationship and reframes it. The New Testament writers heard from Jesus, the apostles, and the first followers of Jesus…In Greek, the legal weight gives way to something warmer: a Father who loves his children not because they earned it, but simply because love is who he is. The shift from Hebrew to Greek is the shift from law to grace, not because the law was wrong, but because God, not man, now handles all legal matters himself. There is the beginning of the shift from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil to the Tree of Life.
Those who dismiss the Jews or ignore the Old Testament will struggle to understand either the Father or the New Testament. Both trees were placed in the Garden by God. Both testaments reflect God’s single, unfolding plan. The New Testament writers stopped living as men of the world and began imitating the Son of God, the one sent to bring them, and us, back to the Father, who is the author of our love story.”
READERS CAN FIND MY VIEWS ON ABUSE AND ABUSE-RELATED ISSUES AT A Voice Reclaimed, Surviving Child Abuse and More
https://avoicereclaimed.com
“The Conquistadors Pray Before Entering Tenochtitlan”, Source “Romance of History” p. 171 (PD)
Spain was the first nation to exploit the New World on a grand scale. Tons of gold and silver were extracted by slave labor [1][2A]. In addition to gold and silver, natural resources from Spain’s colonies in the Americas included cacao, tobacco, sugar, spices, timber, and animal hides [2B].
This did not go unnoticed by other nations. England, in particular, licensed privateers (state-sponsored pirates) to attack and capture Spanish vessels and the treasure they contained.
Religion v. Greed
While some Spanish intellectuals argued that it was appropriate to use war to bring the Native Americans to Christianity, the abusive treatment by Spain of Native Americans was a legitimate cause for concern [4A].
However, the motivation for that treatment was far more economic than religious [3A][4B]. Individual conquistadors, who were perhaps landless in Spain, could make their fortunes in the New World [4C]. Meanwhile, Spain became the wealthiest and most powerful nation of its day.
Human Rights Violations
The monk Bartolome de las Casas is widely known for his criticism of Spain’s colonial policies in the Americas [3B]. His works In Defense of the Indians and History of the Indies are considered landmarks in human rights activism.
“What we committed in the Indies stands out among the most unpardonable offenses against God and mankind and this trade [in Indian slaves] as one of the most unjust cruel and evil among them [5].”
-Bartolome de las Casas
Spanish Inquisition
In 1478 King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain founded the infamous Spanish Inquisition for the purpose of seeking out heresy, particularly among Jews and Muslims who had previously been forced to convert to Christianity [6A]. Read more…
The West Rose Window at Washington National Cathedral, (PD by Noclip)
We celebrate this Summer the 250th birthday of the nation, a nation dedicated to the proposition that all men were created equal, and endowed by their Creator with unalienable rights. There have been speeches, parades, fireworks and more – just as John Adams once predicted there would be.
In our capitol stands Washington National Cathedral, chartered by Congress and intended as a place of worship for all [1][2]. America, itself, has been called a “City on a Hill”, a moral example and beacon of hope to the world.
Many, however, have forgotten God entirely. Indeed, our nation is at a crossroads – tragically undecided whether to choose obedience to God or disobedience.
The West Rose has pride of place at the National Cathedral [3][4][5]. That circular window, nearly 30 feet in diameter, and depicting creation in abstract terms, was designed by renowned stained-glass artist Rowan LeCompte, and crafted by master artisan Dieter Goldkuhle.
More than 10,500 individual pieces of colored glass comprise the West Rose. We can readily imagine the people of this nation as unique pieces of sparkling glass in the work of art God created.
But is the masonry of the nation, in fact, crumbling? Read more…
We continue with John Lennox’s discussion of the Young Earth/Old Earth Controversy at Rice University.
“The thing to emphasize though is what these days [of creation] are telling you. And it’s vitally important. ‘And God said’ is repeated all the time.
THIS IS A WORD BASED UNIVERSE. THAT IS THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF A RANDOM, UNGUIDED, EVOLUTIONARY PROCESS. And it’s hugely important.
This is the Information Age. And [in] Genesis and John’s Gospel – which packs it together in the brilliant statement ‘In the beginning was the Word’ – the Word is primary. The material universe is derivative. ‘In the beginning was the Word.’ That is the Word already was.
The Word is God is eternal.
‘All things’ – now, unfortunately the translators have not been strict enough. ‘All things were made by Him.’ That is true. But it’s not what it says. ‘All things come to be through Him.’ It’s an existence statement…
The basic naturalism that we were being asked about earlier is the exact opposite of that. The material universe is primary. The life, mind, and the idea of God is derivative. There is no real God. It’s the opposite.
And what is so important is this. That [in] this Information Age, we’ve now come to the point where in science people recognize that information is an quantity irreducible to physics and chemistry. And that’s hugely important.
The Bible had seen it centuries ago. And that’s one of the evidences to me that although Scripture says very little about how God did it, it does enough to say it fits with everything we understand.”
Parts 1 and 2 in this series were posted 6/14 and 6/21/26, respectively.
READERS CAN FIND MY VIEWS ON ABUSE AND ABUSE-RELATED ISSUES AT A Voice Reclaimed, Surviving Child Abuse and More
https://avoicereclaimed.com
We continue with John Lennox’s discussion of the Young Earth/Old Earth Controversy at Rice University. Where subheadings have been inserted, they are provided for the reader’s convenience.
“But now let’s come to the days. I am amazed, frankly, that people don’t read this text.”
Day 1
“What’s the first day mentioned in Genesis 1? ‘And God called the light day and the darkness He called night.’ How long is that day? It certainly was not 24 hours. At the equator, how many hours is it? Yes, twelve.
So where does this insistence come from that every time the Bible uses the word ‘day’ it’s 24 hours, when the very first one isn’t?”
Day 2
“Now let’s look at the second one, if you will. ‘And there was evening and morning’ is the Hebrew way of saying a normal 24 hour day. So let it stand. That’s the second meaning of ‘day’.”
Day 7
“Now, we come to the third meaning of ‘day’. ‘And God rested on the seventh day.’ Have you noticed there’s no formula? Why is that?
Right from the early centuries of Christianity and Jewish interpreters understood that to mean that God is still resting from creating. When did God start creating again? He never did. So the Shabbath day, the seventh day, is still going on. That’s a pretty long day, isn’t it? And it’s in the text.
So that’s three meanings for the word ‘day’.”
An Indefinite Period
“Now, we come to the fourth one. There are only 100 words in this text.
Chapter 2, verse 4 of Genesis says, ‘When God created the heavens and the earth…’ That’s what the English translation says. The Hebrew doesn’t. It says, ‘In the day God created.’ What day was that, Tuesday or Thursday? No. You know as well as I do.
You’ve heard people say, they often say today for some reason, ‘Back in the day.’ Do you know that expression here?…If I say to you, ‘In my young day at Cambridge you had to be back in your college at 10 o’clock at night’ you would never say, ‘What day was that?’. Because ‘my young day’ is an indefinite period of time in the past.
So there are four meanings for the same word in a text of 100 words. What does that tell me? Be very careful.”
Absence of Definite Article “The”
“But you need to be even more careful, because if you read most English translations they say, ‘The first day, the second day.’ Remember that? That’s not what the Hebrew says.
Hebrew has a definite article “ha-”, “ha-yom” [for] “the day”. It’s not used for the first five. Isn’t that interesting?…I’ve spoken to professors of Hebrew that never noticed that.
The definite article is used on Day 6 and Day 7. ‘The sixth day…the seventh day’. They’re special. The sixth day God created human beings. The seventh day He rested.
But actually what it says is, ‘Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5’ or ‘A first day, a second, a third, a fourth, a fifth’. Now, if you just had that text, what would you deduce logically?
Well, you could say those are the six days of an earth week. Are they necessarily? But suppose they were days of the sort that have evenings and mornings.
Day 1 God creates something. Day 2 God creates something more. When is Day 2? How long is Day 1? The text doesn’t say. It’s a creation day. Day 3?
So, you see, the text, itself, once you begin to think about it, opens up all kinds of possibilities. So I wouldn’t be dogmatic about it.”
This series will conclude next week with Part 3 – The Word.
READERS CAN FIND MY VIEWS ON ABUSE AND ABUSE-RELATED ISSUES AT A Voice Reclaimed, Surviving Child Abuse and More
https://avoicereclaimed.com
There are many who view Christians as ignorant, even willfully blind, for believing what is written in the Book of Genesis is true. Christians, in fact, argue among themselves over the question of how the Six Days of Creation described in Genesis can be reconciled with scientific findings as to the age of the universe.
This is the Young Earth/Old Earth Controversy.
Renowned Prof. Emeritus of Mathematics at Oxford, author, and Christian apologist, John Lennox, has addressed the subject at Socrates in the City (the lectures hosted by Eric Metaxas) and elsewhere.
The posts in this series are excerpts from a Question and Answer Session in which Lennox participated at Rice University (first aired by Jesus & Science Films on April 15, 2025).
“‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.’ And then you’ve a sequence of days. Remember that? Six days and a day of rest.
Now, here’s the interesting thing. In the Hebrew language the first statement ‘In the beginning were the heavens and the earth’ and the earth was this and that is made on one Hebrew past tense. The tense changes to another past tense for the description of the days. You can establish that…
And what does that mean? Well, Prof. Jack Collins who was a scientist and is now the chief translator for the English Standard Version of the Bible…says, I quote, ‘It means that the first statement occurred at an indefinite period before the second.’
What does the Bible say about the age of the universe and the earth? Absolutely nothing.
So why fight about it, folks? Why? I meet people…who have been put off the Gospel because they say there’s a flat contradiction. But there isn’t. There is only a contradiction between it and the dating given by cosmology these days on the basis of a certain interpretation of the Bible.
Now, I believe the Bible is the inspired word of God. I don’t believe that every interpretation of it is. And we’ve got to separate between those two things.
So linguistically it seems very clear that we cannot be dogmatic here.
Now, there’s a lot more to be said. But people say, ‘Look. The word “yom” means a day. A 24 hour day. And that’s the finish of it.’ But just a moment.
You see, what I’ve just told you is quite subtle. Because it means that no matter what you think the days are, the universe isn’t young because its creation occurred an indefinite period before the days. So the interpretation of the days is not affected by the question of the age.”
This series will continue next week with Part 2 – A 24 Hour Day or Something Else?
READERS CAN FIND MY VIEWS ON ABUSE AND ABUSE-RELATED ISSUES AT A Voice Reclaimed, Surviving Child Abuse and More
https://avoicereclaimed.com
A Lawyer's Prayers 