Evolution is the god of the academic world.  If you are a parent, evolution answers all of your child’s questions, for example, the ever-popular “where did I come from?”  The god of the world’s most educated responds, “There was a big bang out of nothing—just an accident!—and everything just evolved!  Your first cousin was a mushroom, your second a banana, and your father was a monkey.”  Or how about question 2: “Why am I here?”  Evolution answers by claiming you have no overarching purpose but to live and enjoy yourself as much as possible, and also make babies.  And then there is the big one: “When I die, where do I go?”  Evolution gives a very reassuring answer to that question: “When you die, you don’t go anywhere; you simply turn into dirt again.” That is the evolution god for you. 

The God of the Bible answers these three questions differently:

1. Where did I come from? You were made in the glorious image and likeness of God, and your father was not a monkey, and fungi and fruit were not part of your family tree.

2. Why am I here? Your overarching purpose is to be reconciled through the blood of Jesus Christ unto God, becoming a son or daughter of God through the BORN AGAIN experience, and to then work in your Father’s business, which is the redemption of lost souls—a work whose results will last forever.    

3. When I die, where do I go? When you die as a Christian, you will immediately enter into glorious eternal life and become one with the Father through Jesus Christ.  Here, you will live forever in God’s new heaven and new earth, where there is no sickness, no sorrow, no fear, no pain, no suffering, and no death.  Jesus said of the BORN AGAIN that it is impossible to die and that you will be equal to the angels.  For those who reject Christ, their eternity is spent in a place called the Lake of Fire.  Eternity never ends.  Quite a contrast, wouldn’t you say?  Evolution’s nothing to God’s everything.

Dear visitor, have you yet to be BORN AGAIN—born a literal second time, but this time of the Spirit of God?  Jesus puts it like this in John 3:3:

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Today, you must make a choice.  In just a few moments, I will invite you to follow me in a simple prompt, and if you follow from your heart, everything changes for you today—EVERYTHING!  Today, all your sin and shame will be washed away by Christ’s cleansing blood.  You will be a new creature.  Today, all of Satan’s bondages in your life will be broken, every single one.  Today, you will be BORN AGAIN.  Here is the prompt I promised: Click onto Further with Jesus for childlike instructions and immediate entry into the Kingdom of God.  NOW FOR TODAY’S SUBJECT.

GOD SAID, Genesis 9:25:

And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.

GOD SAID, Genesis 16:11-12:

11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.

12 And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man''s hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.

GOD SAID, Hebrews 12:16:

Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.

MAN SAID: So… where are the God-inspired truths of Genesis? 

Now THE RECORD: Welcome to GodSaidManSaid feature 1263 that will once again contend for the faith.  All of these Word-centric features are archived here in text and streaming audio for your edification and to be used for bait for the fishers of men.  Every Thursday eve, God willing, they grow by one. 

Thank you for visiting.  Power and strength be multiplied unto you and your house. 

You have arrived at the GodSaidManSaid “Genesis Series;” this is Part 43.  Each of these features begins with the following information from the first feature:

According to a 2006 issue of Discover magazine concerning the deceased Carl Sagan: “Sagan approaches religion like any phenomenon.  He isn’t on a quest for life’s meaning, for a comforting philosophy, or even a guide to how we should treat the neighbors.  Sagan seeks truth of a demonstrable kind.  As a puckish example, he wonders why the book of Genesis didn’t include God-inspired truths…” [End of quote]

I recently reviewed an advertisement from a magazine called Free Inquiry that also has a problem with the God of Creation and the first book of the Bible, called Genesis.  Under the heading “Is God Big Enough for the Universe,” Free Inquiry writes:

The authors of Genesis proclaim that God made the heavens and earth in less than a week.  This feat must have amazed these Bronze Age authors, even though they thought the heavens extended only so far as the sky above them.  Of course, they did not know what stars, planets, or galaxies were.  We now know that the universe is so much bigger and so much more complex. [End of quote]

The BORN AGAIN scratch their heads in bewilderment.  Did these folks actually read the book of Genesis? I suppose they did, but God’s revelation is only revealed to the humbled hearts of the children of faith.  This GodSaidManSaid series will be called “The Genesis Series.”  It is our intention to travel through the entire book of Genesis and publish one major God-inspired truth after another.  We will be pulling from previous GodSaidManSaid features and adding the latest information as we go.

The entire foundation of this life is established in the book of Genesis, and those who hold this holy account in disregard should know that even the very end of the world is put in motion in this very first book.

I must note here that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), and all most assuredly includes you and me, but redemption is found in the Christ of Calvary unto all who will call upon His name.  Many in these particular groups we will discuss have turned to Christ, and many more will as the day approaches.  They, as all of God’s redeemed, are exempted from the curse of the fallen and not subject to God’s negative judgments.  Be of good cheer. 

Ecclesiastes 4:12: …and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.  There are three very specific groups of Biblically disenfranchised who have one thing in common that draws them together under one single banner—the banner under which they will lead the charge at the battle of Armageddon where the world as we know it dies. The three cords in this story will be three men, Canaan, Ishmael, and Esau, whom each have a serious axe to grind with the children of Israel.

1. Canaan: the first cord.Genesis 9:22-25:

22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.

23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father''s nakedness.

24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.

25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.

Canaan is the father of the Canaanites who once possessed Canaan land.  They were disposed by the Hebrew people and this land became Israel.  The children of Canaan served false gods and walked in lewd wickedness before God, who evicted them from His land.  The Canaanites lost fields, houses, cities, flocks, herds, and infrastructure, and many lost their lives.  This was the judgment of God.  Because of the deeds of his father Ham, Canaan and his offspring suffered the curse. According to the historic record of Hogden’s Early Anthropology in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, all the offspring of Ham followed in the evil spirit of their father. Author William Cooper in his book, After The Flood, quotes Hogden in this following excerpt:

’Yt is observed that Cham, and his famely, were the only far Travellers, and Straglers into diverse unknowne countries, searching, exploring and sitting downe in the same; as also yt is said of his famely that what country soever the Children of Cham happened to possesse, there beganne both the Ignoraunce of true godliness . . . and that no inhabited countryes cast forth greater multytudes, to raunge and stray into diverse remote Regions.’

William Strachey added to these words in 1612 the following damning indictment, accusing Ham’s posterity of instigating:

’. . . the Ignoraunce of the true worship of God . . . the inventions of Heathenisme, and [the] adoration of falce godes and the Devill . . .’

The Canaanite has a big axe to grind with the children of Israel. 

2. Ishmael, the second cord.  Abraham’s (Abram) wife Sarah (Sarai) could not conceive, so she gave her Egyptian handmaid, Hagar, to Abraham that she might have children of Hagar.  This situation began to sour from the start.  Genesis 16:4:

And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.

The conflict had begun.  The son born of Hagar was named Ishmael, and the following prophecy was spoken of him in Genesis 16:12:

And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man''s hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.

The conflict thickens when Abraham and Sarah are promised a child in their old age—the child of promise who would be named Isaac.  By Isaac would come the twelve tribes of Israel, through his son Jacob.  From one of those twelve tribes, the tribe of Judah, the Messiah would come, as foretold in Genesis 17:17-21:

17 Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?

18 And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!

19 And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.   

20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.

21 But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.

The conflict peaks, bubbles over, and results in the spiritual and physical separation described in Genesis 21:7-20:

7 And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck? for I have born him a son in his old age.

8 And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned.

9 And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking.

10 Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.

11 And the thing was very grievous in Abraham''s sight because of his son.

12 And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.

13 And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed.

14 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.

15 And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs.

16 And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bowshot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against him, and lift up her voice, and wept.

17 And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is.

18 Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation.

19 And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink.

20 And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer.

21 And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.

According to Bishop Ussher, the disenfranchisement of Ishmael takes place when he is in his 18^th year.  In his book The Annals of the World, published in 1658 AD, Ussher reports on this event:

After Isaac was weaned, Abraham made a great feast, Sarah saw Ishmael, the son of Hagar the Egyptian, jesting with her son or rather mocking (as that word is translated later in Genesis) or even persecuting (as the apostle expounds it).  Ishmael, who was the older, claimed the right of inheritance to his father’s estate.  Sarah asked Abraham to cast out Ishmael, for the son of this handmaid shall not be heir with my son Isaac.  Though he took this very grievously at first, yet he did it, for God had said to him, in Isaac shall thy seed be called.  Hence, we observe that Isaac is called his only begotten son. 

The curse pronounced over Ishmael and his followers was a product of his and his mother’s deeds. Sarah was not the offender in this issue.

a)Sarah (Sarai) had given her Egyptian handmaid, Hagar, to her husband, Abraham, to wife because she, Sarah, was barren (Genesis 16:1-3).

b)Hagar conceived by Abraham, and when she saw she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress Sarah (Genesis 16:4).

c) God promised Isaac to Abraham and Sarah when they were 99 and 90, respectively, long after they had entertained hope of having a child together. Isaac was the child of promise (Genesis 17:1, 17).

d)It was God who said, "for in Isaac shall thy seed be called." Through Isaac would come the Messiah, Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world (Genesis 21:12).

e)Ishmael refused God’s plan of salvation and mocked Isaac. Consequently, he and his mother were separated from Israel (Genesis 21:2-9).

The Ishmaelites have a big axe to grind with the children of Israel.

3. Esau, the third cord. Isaac and Rebekah had two sons, Esau and Jacob, who were fraternal (non-identical) twins.  Esau was the first of the twins to be born, and therefore had the birthright of the firstborn, which he sold for a bowl of beans.  Genesis 25:29-34:

29 And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint:

30 And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom.

31 And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright.

32 And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?

33 And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob.

34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.

And thus the conflict between Esau and Jacob begins. Ussher writes of it:

Forty-four years before his death, Isaac had  grown old and blind.  He sent his oldest son Esau to hunt some venison for him.  Isaac planned to bless him when he returned.  However, Jacob his younger son, by the subtle advice of his mother, came disguised in Esau’s clothing, bringing Isaac’s favorite meat.  Thus he stole away the blessing, unknown to his father.  In time, the blessing seemed to have been forgotten, but God confirmed it to Jacob forever.  By so doing, Jacob incurred his brother’s hatred.  Jacob journeyed to Mesopotamia, to his uncle Laban, both to avoid his brother’s plan to kill him, and to find a wife from his own kindred.  Before he left, he asked for his father’s blessing on the trip.  [End of quote]

Esau has a big axe to grind with the children of Israel. 

The rift does not improve when Esau marries two Canaanite (Hittite) women before going on to marry Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael.  A very large percentage of the descendants of Canaan, Ishmael, and Esau—the epitome of the threefold cord—identify themselves as Muslims.  Muslims know themselves as Ishmaelites, and they will lead the charge to Armageddon. 

One last, but very large, point regarding Abraham, Isaac, and Armageddon is a place called Mount Moriah.  Genesis 22:2-18:

2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

3 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.

4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.

5 And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.

6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.

7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?

8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

9 And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.

10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

11 And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.

12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.

13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.

14 And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.

15 And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,

16 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:

17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;

18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

In the Encyclopedia of Bible Life, there is a picture of the rock atop Mount Moriah where Abraham built the altar and laid Isaac.  The picture caption reads:

The Rock Moriah, traditional site of Abraham’s offering of Isaac.  This sacred ceremonial rock was covered by Solomon’s and Herod’s Temples and today lies beneath the magnificent seventh-century Dome of the Rock, a Moslem masterpiece.  [End of quote]

Jewish sages claim that Mount Moriah, the temple mount in Jerusalem, contains the foundation stone of the world and its universe, which is also the very stone upon which Abraham lay Isaac upon to sacrifice.  It is central to the Holy of Holies in the temple.  Jewish writings declare it as the place of the binding of Isaac by Abraham.  King David purchased this land for the building of the first Jewish temple.  II Chronicles 3:1:

Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite. 

The following excerpts are from the GodSaidManSaid feature, “Watch Out, World, It’s Not Good News! Abraham Prepares to Speak:”

Abraham was preparing to sacrifice Isaac on Mount Moriah when God stepped in and stopped him.  God supplied a ram that was caught in the thicket for the sacrifice.  Mount Moriah is where the Jewish Temple Mount sits in Jerusalem.  Imagine this: It is also where the Muslims erected the Dome of the Rock over what is believed to be the very rock upon which Abraham placed his only begotten son, Isaac.  However, Muslims claim that it was not Isaac to be sacrificed, but rather his half-brother Ishmael whom Abraham took to Mount Moriah.  The Old and New Testaments are very clear that Abraham took Isaac to Mount Moriah.  The Old Testament account by Moses predates Mohammad and the Muslim faith by approximately 2,100 years, and the New Testament account just quoted in Hebrews by 600 years. 

This rock is a rock of offense, a rock of contention, even at this very moment. 

The Scriptures teach that the Old Testament is a teacher and a shadow of the Christ to come.  It was Christ’s purpose to fulfill the law. Matthew 5:17:

Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.    

Abraham is a shadow of God in the Old Testament, and Isaac shadows Jesus Christ.  Note the words used: Isaac is called Abraham’s only begotten son.  Isaac is spared and God supplies His own sacrifice.  That sacrifice was Jesus Christ the Righteous, who went to Calvary’s cross to purchase our salvation. John 3:16:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Jesus Christ is known as the rock of offense.  Romans 9:33:

As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

I Peter 2:6-8:

6 Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.

7 Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,

8 And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.

The Old Testament shadow of this Christ, who is called the rock of offense, is a rock that sits atop Mount Moriah, on the Jerusalem Temple Mount, under the shadow of the Muslim Dome of the Rock, a rock of contention, a rock of offense to this very day. The shadow will meet the fulfillment at the battle of Armageddon where Christ and His saints return to this earth to destroy the armies of Satan.  Here, Jesus Christ will settle the score.  After 4,000+ years, Abraham will speak.  The shadow is fulfilled and the center of contention will be a Rock!

Was there a Father Abraham, the father of faith, in whom all the nations of the earth are blessed as a result of his covenant with God?  Was there a Father Abraham born, according to Ussher, just two years after Noah’s death?  Do ancient historians say absolutely? Does mathematics and astronomy confirm it?  Are all the nations of the earth blessed as a result of Abraham and his seed, just as God promised?  Of course the answer is YES!  You can visit the cave of Machpelah in Hebron, where Father Abraham’s dust resides, or visit the Muslim Dome of the Rock where Abraham took Isaac.  Remember the shadow and John 3:16.

It’s almost over now and Abraham, Noah, and Isaac have something to say.[End of quotes]

The skeptics continue to attack, but to no avail.  The controversy of whose Word is true—which began in the Garden of Eden—will soon end for this world.  Be of good cheer, child of faith!  The conclusion will be God’s Word is true and righteous altogether, even every jot and every tittle. 

GOD SAID, Genesis 9:25:

And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.

GOD SAID, Genesis 16:11-12:

11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.

12 And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man''s hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.

GOD SAID, Hebrews 12:16:

Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.

MAN SAID: So… where are the God-inspired truths of Genesis? 

Now you have THE RECORD.

References:

Authorized King James Version

Blumner, R., Free Inquiry

GodSaidManSaid, “21 Signs (Update XLIV, Part 4) Adam to Armageddon” 

GodSaidManSaid, “The Triune Curse”

GodSaidManSaid, “Watch Out, World, It’s Not Good News!  Abraham Prepares to Speak”

Miller, M., and Miller J., Encyclopedia of Bible Life, Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1944

Ussher, The Annals of the World