An Old Tactic, but it Works
“Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” (Genesis 3:1)
Here is the story of the fall of man. The devil tempted Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, she and Adam gave in, and the rest is history. The Bible says he was “subtil.” That means “cunning”, usually in a negative way. He didn’t tempt her first to eat the fruit. He tempted her first to doubt God’s Word: “Yea, hath God said,…”
The “Yea, hath God said…?” temptation to doubt and ultimately dismiss God’s Word still works today.
Take evolution theory. It denies God’s Word and the creation account. Its advocates may claim that evolutionary theory is “science”, while the Bible is “religion,” as if the two are mutually exclusive. Yet neither creation nor evolution can be proven scientifically because earth’s origin cannot be repeated. Yet the Bible is very pro-science. God’s Word encourages knowledge, which is what science is about: “A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength.” (Proverbs 24:5) The more you know about any subject, the stronger you are in it.
Luke the gospel author was a doctor–“Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas, greet you.” (Colossians 4:14)–so apparently he studied medicine and associated sciences like biology and chemistry. Jesus Himself spoke of doctors: “They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.” (Matthew 9:12) The prophet Daniel was educated in science. When King Nebuchadnezzar took Jews captive, he wanted to train certain Jews in the ways of Babylon, the “best and the brightest,” people who were “…skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, AND UNDERSTANDING SCIENCE,” (Daniel 1:4, capitals added).
The apostle Paul also warned Timothy to avoid “…oppositions of science falsely so called:” (1 Timothy 6:20) “Science falsely so called” is something that’s called science but isn’t. Evolution is not science. Biology, physics, and chemistry are all sciences. They can be proven. Evolution can’t be proven.
Still, many people may think evolution is scientific and not take the Bible seriously. If they go to church at all, they may go to a place where the Bible is not honored as God’s Word, so they’ve been conditioned to think Bible stories are religious fiction. Again, the temptation of “Yea, hath God said…?”
Yet Jesus said we were created: “But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.” (Mark 10:6) So either we were created or Jesus lied. It has to be one or the other. If we evolved, then Jesus lied. He was not God the Son, His death on the cross meant nothing, He didn’t rise again, and the Bible can’t be trusted. Yet 1 Corinthians 15:6 says, “…he [Jesus] was seen of above five hundred brethren at once [after He arose];” His resurrection is one proof that He is God the Son and told the truth.
The endgame of “Yea, hath God said…?” is the destruction of souls. The devil wants us to disbelieve God’s Word. After all, if we can’t trust the Bible for the truth about creation, why should we trust it for the truth about how we’re sinners separated from God and how Jesus Christ died and rose again to save us from hell?
In February 2014, evolutionist Bill Nye “the Science Guy” debated with creationist Ken Ham about origins. Most of us can’t argue science on their level, but Ham’s creation evidence was just as credible and intelligent as Nye’s evolution evidence. We can trust the Bible for the truth about creation, and about how to have our sins forgiven for eternity. Do you know for sure you’ll be in heaven for eternity? If not, please go to www.clevelandbaptist.org
Brian Miller 2/22/2021
Cleveland Baptist Church 4431 Tiedeman Road, Brooklyn, Ohio 44144 216-671-2822