Conversion: Sudden Experience or Lifelong Process?

The Plain Truth, April 1977

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At times I have expressed the idea I think many millions have come to believe and on which they are staking their eternity. It is this: You are on a journey on a railway train. It is your life’s journey, whether long or short. At the end of the line, because of Adam’s sin, the switch is automatically thrown to send you directly down to hell, where you will be burned alive — constantly burning, yet never burning up because you are an immortal soul that can’t die. Or, as millions also believe, it will shoot you directly to “purgatory.”

But, if at any point in your life during the journey you “accept Christ as your Savior,” then at the instant of that sudden experience, in whatever manner such experience takes place, the switch at the end of the line is suddenly thrown to shoot you immediately up to heaven. And there you shall live FOREVER in idleness and ease, in glorious surroundings of splendor, with nothing to do — no responsibilities anymore — nothing but to be enraptured with the delight of gazing continually on the face of Christ your Savior. A man once said to me: “Let me see if I can define your belief as contrasted to what you claim many millions of others believe.” Then he explained the belief of the many approximately as I have stated it just above.

“But you believe,” he continued, “that after one is initially converted, accepting Christ, he must then live a life of obedience to God’s way, struggling against himself to overcome all wrong ways and growing spiritually in Christ’s knowledge and in grace — thus training himself and qualifying to carry an important responsibility in the next life. You believe that when he dies, he is dead, will not go to heaven or hell, but will come to life again by a resurrection from the dead, and he will be here on earth. Then he will have immortality, and he will be rewarded according to what his works were in this life — the biggest reward being to have conferred on him the heaviest and most important responsibility. Is that what you believe?”

“Well, not exactly,” I replied, “but you are not too far off.”

Is Intelligent Design Really Intelligent?

Why is it so difficult to get one answer to the question, how did human life begin on Earth? Think about it. Our prosperous and well-educated Western societies, founded on Judeo-Christian principles cannot come to a satisfying conclusion as to whether human life originated as a planned, purposeful act of a supreme, all-powerful being, or as the result of a random, gradual process called evolution. There can only be one answer to this question. Yet examining the beliefs people embrace on the subject is massively confusing.

1. What is termed “old-earth creationism,” is the acceptance scientific evidence that the universe is billions of years old but nevertheless that God created all there is by separate acts of miracles.
2. What might be called “young-earth creationism” is the arguement that the universe, earth, and all life were created in just six days about 10,000 years ago.
3. Most scientists say that science cannot prove the existence of God, and believe in a Theory of Evolution – the sequence of events involved in the evolutionary development of a species or taxonomic group of organisms.
4. The Intelligent-Design Theory states that creation is the work of an intelligent designer (though he is not specifically named), and that the Earth is billions of years old, not the thousands of years that most “biblical creationists” believe through their “literal” reading of the Bible.

In truth, true religion says the Bible account in Genesis actually describes a re-creation of the Earth. Therefore man was created 6000 years ago, but the earth is also millions of years old.

Gen. 1:2 is not actually the initial condition of the earth. Without form and void is not a regular sequence of events, but means  tohu (Strong’s # 8414 – waste & desolation) and bohu (Strong’s # 922 – to be empty, ruin).

Looking at this a little more in depth through the scriptures, we can see there is something wrong with this condition. Isaiah 45:18 says God did not create the earth in vain – same word tohu (waste and desolation). Is there a contradiction?

No, we simply understand that something happened between verse 1 and 2. The word “was” is Strong’s # 1961 [hayah], which is better translated as “became.” So the earth “became” without form and void. Something happened to cause it to become waste and desolate. It was not created like this by God.

Albert Barnes’Notes On The Bible further states:

“On the second day Gen. 1:6-7 a new disposition of the air and the water is described by the verbs “be” and “make.” These indicate a modification of what already existed. On the third day (Gen. 1:9, 11) no verb is directly applied to the act of divine power. This agency is thus understood, while the natural changes following are expressly noticed.”

In other words, the air and water was already in place before a great destruction came about, and then re-made by God. The grass, herbs and fruit are new creations, (though modifications of existing materials in place), not having been necessary in the time of dinosaurs. These were now necessary for the nourishment and existence of man to come.

In the fourth day (Gen. 1:14, Gen. 1:16-17)  the words “be,” “make,” and “give” occur, where the matter in hand is the manifestation of the heavenly bodies (two great lights) and their adaptation to the use of man. In these cases it is evident that the word “create” would have been improperly or indirectly applicable to the action of God. It does not prove the universe was created a couple of days before man. The Hebrew words in Genesis 1 indicate the universe already existed then.

1. “Create” means “bara” or to create a new condition or circumstance.
2. “Make” means “asap” which is creating or making something from existing materials. Moses used these 2 words deliberately and carefully.

In verse 1, God created from new, but in verse 16, they were “made.” Whatever happened in the destruction, God was making it right again. So verse 16 was not a new, fresh creation but God was working from materials that were already there at the beginning of the universe.

Looking at verse 21, we again see that the original language implies creation from new, when the sea creatures and birds of the air were made.

In Genesis 2:3, God rested from the work He created and made. A lot of parts of the universe were already there – from the earth and universe.

The Bible is an old book and if it wasn’t inspired by God, you would expect to find scientific inaccuracies, yet this is not so. Scientists are just coming to understand these truths. Satan will try to confuse religion and science about the truth of God. We should read and believe what the Bible says – that the earth is older than mankind. And we should give thanks directly to God for it all.

Will Aborted, Stillborn, or Miscarried Babies Be Resurrected?

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In this past century, the world has changed from abortion being unacceptable (with minor exceptions) to abortion being an accepted form of birth control.

But the fetus is indeed human, as evidence proves. By seven weeks, the unborn child has its own measurable brain waves. Brain waves are among the legal criteria to determine whether a person is dead, so also, brain life, or the point at which brain waves are first detected, should determine the viability of a fetus.

Since brain waves can now be detected at seven weeks, doctors are in fact aborting living humans. And of course the fetus is already alive before the seven weeks!

If one has any doubt when a human life begins, one should give the baby the benefit of the doubt. As U.S. President Ronald Reagan once wrote, “If you don’t know whether a body is alive or dead, you would never bury it.”

A matter of attitude

Consider this: A woman rushes to a hospital in labor. Within minutes she gives birth to a 22-week-old premature baby. Since the mother wants the child, the hospital will do everything within its power to save the life. Great sums of money in health care may be spent on the effort.

Now go down a corridor and into another room. There a woman has her 22-week-old fetus aborted. The mother didn’t want the baby. We are told that her 22-week aborted baby isn’t a viable human being! How can it be human in one room and a nonviable human in another?

The difference is the woman’s — and the doctor’s — attitude.

Proabortionists want to believe that the growing baby within the woman is nothing but “fetal tissue.” They either avoid or conceal the fact that the baby is actually a human and dies a painful death when aborted.

Science shows early life

Since 91 percent of abortions within the United States, for example, occur within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, let’s look at fetal development of the unborn:

• Within 18 days after conception the beating heart already pumps blood through its own bloodstream.

• By six weeks the nervous system begins to function. The kidneys and stomach begin working.

• At around seven weeks, the unborn embryo has its own brain waves. (Brain waves are among the legal criteria that determine whether a person is alive or not.)

• At nine and 10 weeks the thyroid and adrenal glands function. The embryo can squint, swallow and respond to noise.

• By 10 weeks the unborn basically has everything a newborn baby has.

What happens when an attempt is made to end this life? To kill the unborn 10-week embryo may require the D&E (dilation and evacuation) technique. The abortionist basically draws and quarters the embryo.

When the abortionist’s instrument first touches the uterine wall, the embryo immediately recoils and the heart rate increases. The unborn responds by attempting to escape the instrument. The abortionist grabs an arm or leg and rips it from the body. Blood begins oozing from the baby. Then the abortionist finds another arm or leg and tears it off. He continues until everything is severed.

Finally the dead, dismembered embryo has its skull crushed. The parts are then sucked out. It’s all over in about 15 minutes. To say this embryo perceives no pain is, at the least, not telling the entire story. Today’s society doesn’t tolerate convicted murderers to die this kind of death!

Prenatal research also reveals the unborn responds to pain, touch, cold, sound and light. The unborn gets hiccups, sucks a thumb, passes through waking and sleeping stages and respond to hearing their mother’s voice.

It seems that the womb is not the quiet place some thought it was.

Source: Plain Truth, 1985

Are the unborn resurrected?

It is God’s great master plan to make salvation and eternal life available to every human being who has ever lived or will live in the future. He will resurrect those who die without having had this opportunity.

We have seen that unborn babies are fully human at the earliest stages, and so it is no small leap of faith to say that the spirit in man (Job 32:8), which goes up to God upon death (Ecc. 3:21), enters at conception. So if after conception, the zygote (a fertilized egg cell) has the potential to produce a human life, we can logically conclude that babies who die before they are born will be raised in the second resurrection. There is of course no way to know with 100 percent certainty, but we do know with certainty that God is merciful and, with His infinite wisdom, will maintain His master plan.