In continuing our quest
for multiple heavens, we now find that we start to examine the originally unplanned territory of this paper and make a stunning
discovery off-piste (if you pardon my very appropriate French!).
Going back to Genesis,
in Verse 26 God gives mankind dominion over the flying creatures ‘of the heavens’ which, for some reason, now
appear to have lost the term ‘face of the firmament’ compared with verse 20. Is this now referring to all the
flying creatures in all the heavens and therefore the first intimation that eventually man will have dominion over the angels
in the symbolic meaning?
26 And God went on to say: “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness, and let them have
in subjection the fish of the sea and the flying creatures of the heavens and the domestic animals and all the earth and every
moving animal that is moving upon the earth.” (Genesis 1)
The second chapter
of Genesis continues where the first chapter left off in referring to the heavens without a ‘firmament’. It also
refers to all the host therein albeit literally rather than symbolically:
1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host
of them. (Genesis 2)
God created a mist to water the ground to enable the plants to grow. This mist presumably represented the
first clouds which brought the first rain water. Since this is described separately from the ‘waters’ of Chapter
1, it would seem reasonable to understand that this ‘water’ of Chapter 2 was different from the waters above the firmament. The mist rose from the earth and was therefore presumably derived from
the waters, below the firmament, which had been brought together to form the seas. This would seem to follow the pattern and
nature of rainfall as we would understand it today. It would appear that Job 36 confirms this interpretation in that the same
Hebrew word for mist or vapour is used in both these scriptures:
5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and
every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man
to till the ground.
6 But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the
whole face of the ground. (Genesis 2)
27 For he maketh small the drops of water: they pour down rain
according to the vapour thereof:
28 Which the clouds do drop and distil upon man abundantly. (Job
36)
On this basis the waters
above the firmament still need further explanation. Where did the flood waters of Genesis 6 come from? Was this from another
unmentioned mist from the lower waters or was this supplied from the waters above the ‘firmament’?
17 And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the
earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall
die. (Genesis 6)
The next two verses
from Genesis 7 suggest that the waters of the flood came from above the firmament since there is no mention of a mist arising
from the earth prior to the great flood. Also this verse refers to floodgates being opened in the heavens presumably releasing
the waters above the firmament. For the waters to cover ‘all the high hills’, this would have required the watery
deep to be returned to the earth’s surface in full measure. Hence we have the need to return the waters above to their
original resting place on earth’s surface to reform the watery deep since it was the removal of this that enabled the
earth’s dry land and seas to be uncovered and shaped:
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month,
on this day all the springs of the vast watery deep were broken open and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. (Genesis
7)
19 And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all
the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. (Genesis 7)
So what conclusions
can we arrive at here? If we review what we have learned so far we could consider
creation being structured in three-dimensional layers around concentric spheres if you will. Apologies for the atheists among
you, who have probably left this web-site by now (if indeed their browsers inadvertently caused them to land here out of mere
idle curiosity in the first place!) but you will notice that earth represents the centre of the known physical universe in
this model. This is not intended to represent anything like the astrophysical
build of our universe since the earth is clearly not the centre of the known universe never mind where it sits in the whole
scheme of physical and spiritual realms. No, this is merely a schematic construct
to enable us to visualise the key components of the Genesis account of the creation of the universe, each layer in model existing
above the preceding layer in this numbered list:
1. The earth is at
the centre of the model;
2. The lower waters
are upon and below the surface of the Earth in the form of its seas;
3. The outer surface
of the sky (i.e. the outer edge of Earth’s atmosphere) being above the lower waters which were contained within Earth’s
atmosphere either as clouds in the sky or on and below the Earth’s surface as the seas;
4. The heavenly bodies
(stars, sun and moon) contained within the visible universe of outer space (the
firmament) being above the outer surface of the Earth’s atmosphere;
5. The upper waters
being above the visible universe. On this basis we must reach the inescapable conclusion that the upper waters were (and perhaps
still are!) contained within the invisible heavens of God’s domain or are, at any rate, somewhere beyond the stars at
the very edge of the physical universe (wherever that is!).
Just in case it was
not obvious from this analysis, scripture confirms the notion that the heavens are above the earth which is therefore below
the heavens. It is a matter of normal convention that the heavens that we can see, i.e. the earth’s atmosphere and space
are above the Earth’s surface, space being above the atmosphere. We are therefore left wondering where God’s home
is in relation to these. Well the bible makes clear in Genesis 11, through God’s going down to sort out mankind’s
Tower of Babel, that the Earth is below all the heavens, although where His home is in relation to the universe is not stated
explicitly:
4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose
top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which
the children of men builded. (Genesis 11)
(As an aside and later
in Genesis 11, God decided to confound the works of men by giving them a variety of languages to slow down their progress,
knowing mankind to be a determined and, in a purely secular sense, a successful species being in His image. It would seem
that God’s plan was for mankind not to destroy themselves totally until our current times. In those days, it appears
that they had a one world government speaking with one tongue. With what we read in today’s news it seems that we are
headed once again for this State of a New World Order (NWO). This time around the NWO will be destroyed by Christ.)
If we take the
structure of creation one small step further, Exodus 20:4 references the heavens above the Earth’s surface which in
turn is above the waters of the sea below. Whilst this is fully compatible with the notions expressed above, the added ingredients
are the heavenly images referred to in this verse which could be angels or stars or birds depending on which heaven one is
referencing:
4 “You must not make for yourself a carved image or a form like anything that is in the heavens above
or that is on the earth underneath or that is in the waters under the earth. (Exodus 20)
OK, Who
Mentioned Wormholes?
From our earlier
paper on the Dark Stuff (A Brief History of Darkness) we arrived at a possible scenario being that Heaven was a separate co-existent universe to our
own. If we continue along this theme we must consider the possibility that the upper waters therefore exist(ed) in a universe
other than our own. Whilst the flood waters coming from an extra-universal source is on a much larger scale, is this really
any more stunning a possibility than the miracle of the loaves and fishes which were conjured up from somewhere? If we are
therefore contemplating the transportation of baryonic matter, e.g. water molecules, between universes, there is only one
theoretically possible mechanism that comes to mind for inter-universal travel. Yes, you guessed it: wormholes. The reader may find the following web-site helpful in getting to grips with the fundamental concepts of
wormholes:
http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/W/wormhole.html
Once the Flood Waters
ceased falling what caused the waters to subside? Did the wind merely evaporate the water into the atmosphere? Not likely
given the volume involved. Since the flood was only around 4.4 K years ago, the basic topology of the earth would have been
largely unaltered compared with today’s earth. I can only think that the ‘wind’ that took the water level
back down to pre-flood levels took the waters back to whence they came, i.e. back up to heaven via a wormhole or two.
Many bibles translate the OT Hebrew word 'shoob' in Genesis 8:3 below as 'recede' which, in the context, sounds like
a plausible translation. However a more precise translation is 'returned' as per the KJV translation below. The use of
the word 'return' would much more clearly support the current thesis:
1 And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the
cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters asswaged;
2 The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were
stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained;
3 And the waters returned from off the earth continually:
and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated. (Genesis 8)
In the following two
verses of Deuteronomy, it is interesting that heaven was shut up to prevent the rain and opened for the production of rain.
Comparing this to the Great Flood waters, these latter specifically needed the ‘floodgates’ or ‘fountains’
or ‘windows’ of heaven to open and then be shut up thus suggesting that the nature of the flood waters was somewhat
different than that of normal rainfall which apparently did not specifically need gates or fountains or windows:
17 and Jehovah’s anger does blaze against YOU, and he does shut up the heavens so that no rain will occur
and the ground will not give its produce and YOU have to perish speedily from off the good land that Jehovah is giving YOU.
(Deuteronomy 11)
12 Jehovah will open up to you his good storehouse, the heavens, to give the rain on your land in its season
and to bless every deed of your hand; and you will certainly lend to many nations, while you yourself will not borrow. (Deuteronomy
28)
The following verse
from Malachi could potentially be used against this argument in that the use of the word ‘floodgates’ here could
be taken to be referring to normal rainfall. However, I think the study of the context would determine that some special blessing
beyond the normal physical ability of the Earth to supply is intended here:
10 Bring all the tenth parts into the storehouse, that there may come to be food in my house; and test me out,
please, in this respect,” Jehovah of armies has said, “whether I shall not open to YOU people the floodgates of
the heavens and actually empty out upon YOU a blessing until there is no more want.” (Malachi 3)
Proverbs also intimates
that God not only split the waters apart but identifies the lower waters, residing as clouds in the sky, with light rain
perhaps to draw the comparison with the rather heavier version experienced during the flood.
20 By his knowledge the watery deeps themselves were split apart, and the cloudy skies keep dripping down light
rain. (Proverbs 3)
Whilst I would
have to confess that the book of Ezekiel is thus far well beyond even the Lords’ Witnesses’ ability to fully comprehend
either literally or symbolically, the following verse of that prophet’s writings looks rather interesting in the context
of our current thesis. It seems as if the waters above are perhaps being described as ‘awesome ice’. What a tantalising
description that would be for a body of water that was put in place for a particularly cataclysmic purpose by our God:
22
And over the heads of the living creatures there was the likeness of an expanse like the sparkle of awesome ice, stretched
out over their heads up above. (Ezekiel 1)
It is interesting that
the doors of heaven opened to rain down manna as food for the Israelites wandering in the wilderness. This manna is described
as angel’s food so I think it seems highly likely that manna was akin to the flood waters in terms of where it came
from and how it was transported to earth. This further confirms the unusual nature of the flood waters in comparison to our
normal experience of rainfall:
23 Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and opened
the doors of heaven,
24 And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them
of the corn of heaven.
25 Man did eat angels' food: he sent them meat to the full. (Psalms
78)
If manna from heaven
is indeed another wormhole manifestation, then it would seem that this can be directed with some accuracy to a particular
physical location on earth in the case of baryonic matter transfer. This clearly compares with the Flood which did not require
significant accuracy except to somewhere on the Earth’s surface as far as we can ascertain. We know already that the
spiritual matrix can execute spiritual transfers to and from an individual soul, so this latter type of wormhole can certainly
exhibit a very precise form of transfer in accurately pinpointing both ends of the wormhole:
4 Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from
heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will
walk in my law, or no. (Exodus 16)
The nature of the raining
down of brimstone and fire also requires some explanation. Is this a different form of wormhole flood from heaven perhaps
or merely a common or garden volcano since no floodgates appear to be mentioned in this case? Having done a little research
on the matter, it seems that there are many theories abounding on this subject so I will leave this one as a topic for a future
paper to ensure that I do not get side-tracked from this current project:
24 Then the LORD rained (Heb. ‘mawtar’) upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; (Genesis 19)
Clearly I perceive
that the source of the floodwaters is other than regular rain that we are used to seeing fall from a cloudy sky today. Whilst
the OT Hebrew noun for rain ‘geshem’ appears in Genesis 8:2 for example
and the OT Hebrew verb ‘mawtar’ (to rain) appears elsewhere in the
Genesis Flood account, both words are used in the OT not just to describe regular rain but also in the ‘raining’
down of ‘fire and brimstone’ and the like. Given this I would still consider my current hypothesis remains
intact notwithstanding the use of these common or garden words for precipitation in the Genesis account. The key point here is the references to floodgates and the like in the relevant scriptures
But before I become
unduly defensive in my presentation perhaps I should direct the reader to the slam dunk that I think quite clearly confirms
these thoughts. Now while ‘waters’ likely refers to God’s heavenly hosts in the symbolic meaning, which
literal waters do you think are being referred to in Psalms 148?
4 Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above
the heavens. (Psalms 148)
The other thought that
suggests my theories are correct is that, as far as I can tell, no other church has come to any thinking remotely close to
those above regarding the nature of the flood waters. Experience of the insight that is the hallmark of the Lords’ Witnesses
doctrine and scriptural understandings is that they are correct for that very reason as well as being supportable by a very
close reading of the Word of God. This is an apparently arrogant notion perhaps but is one that should not be surprising if
the Lords’ Witnesses truly are the Fourth and Last True Christian Church as I fervently believe.
The Aftermath
of the Flood, Part 1 - Rainbows
Before we leave the
subject of the Flood no such dissertation would be complete without due consideration of the sign of the rainbow which marked
the end of the Flood for ever. The Flood was a one time event, so either the source of the water or its transport mechanism
was removed, or perhaps both, for all time in this system.
Genesis records two
major changes in the earth’s atmosphere. The first is that at some time before the flood, it did not rain on the earth.
Then the earth was watered by a mist that rose up from the ground, i.e. as already discussed above God caused it to start
raining as we know it today:
5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and
every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man
to till the ground.
6 But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the
whole face of the ground. (Genesis 2)
Some Creationist commentators
maintain that this was the mechanism by which the ground was watered until the rains came during Noah’s Flood. They
reach this view that normal rain was a new thing which caused the Flood since rain is not explicitly mentioned in Genesis
until the onset of the Flood. My view, clearly, is that Genesis 6:2 is
the description of the first rainfall prior to the Flood.
The second major change
in the atmosphere is the creation of rainbows. God set rainbows in the clouds, and told Noah that the rainbow was a sign of
God’s covenant with Noah, and with all mankind:
11 And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall
all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
12 And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make
between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token
of a covenant between me and the earth.
14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth,
that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
15 And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and
you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
16 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it,
that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.
17 And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which
I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth. (Genesis 9)
The Creationists go
on to maintain that this was a new phenomenon justified on the basis that both rain and rainbows were changes on the earth
at the time of the Flood. Clearly if it had not rained until after the Flood then rainbows "in the cloud," would be a new
phenomenon. Except that rainbows presumably could have existed while the Flood waters were still falling if they were
in fact normal rain as the Creationists would have it. Certainly it is true that rainbows could not have existed before the
Flood, if it had not rained, since rainbows are created by the refraction of light passing through suspended water (raindrops).
Other commentators say that the rainbow existed before the flood when it rained, albeit unmentioned in Genesis until Chapter
9, but that it was only here they were associated with the covenant. This would be like bread and wine existing before the
Passover of Christ but after the Passover these pre-existing emblems took on new meaning. Again, this latter represents my
own view on the matter.
The following two scriptures confirm
that clouds were formed in the early days of God's creation and the third scripture indicates I think that God did not create
clouds without intending that they produce rain from the outset:
8 And [who] barricaded the sea with doors, Which began to go forth as when it burst out from the womb;
9 When I put the cloud as its garment And thick gloom as its swaddling band,
10 And I proceeded to break up my regulation upon it And to set a bar and doors,
11 And I went on to say, ‘This far you may come, and no farther; And here your proud waves are limited’?
(Job 38)
27 When he prepared the heavens I was there; when he decreed a circle upon the face of the watery deep,
28 when he made firm the cloud masses above, when he caused the fountains of the watery deep to be strong,
29 when he set for the sea his decree that the waters themselves should not pass beyond his order, when
he decreed the foundations of the earth, (Proverbs 8)
14 As vaporous clouds and a wind without any downpour is a man boasting himself about a gift in falsehood. (Proverbs
25)
For the interested
and open-minded student of the Flood account the following web-sites should prove entertaining although many of the views
expressed therein are not subscribed to by this particular writer:
http://www.biblestudy.org/question/was-there-rain-on-the-earth-before-the-flood.html
http://www.accuracyingenesis.com/rain.html
The Aftermath
of the Flood, Part 2 – The Geological Record
Psalms 104 is used
by our Creationist friends to demonstrate that scripture states that the world’s mountains and valleys of today were
created at the time of the flood. Whilst I would acknowledge that this might be one valid meaning of this scripture, another
might be that they were created during the first three days of creation as described in Genesis 1. The key to the real meaning
here lies in verse 9 where the scripture talks about God’s setting of a boundary for the waters so they should not again
cover the earth. The first question here is what waters are being referred to: the waters below or the flood waters which
comprised the waters below plus those above? The second question is at what point in time did God set the boundary for the
seas: during creation or during the flood?
5 He has founded the earth upon its established places; It will not be made to totter to time indefinite,
or forever.
6 With a watery deep just like a garment you covered it. The waters
were standing above the very mountains.
7 At your rebuke they began to flee; At the sound of your thunder
they were sent running in panic—
8 Mountains proceeded to ascend, Valley plains proceeded to descend—
To the place that you have founded for them.
9 A boundary you set, beyond which they should not pass, That they
should not again cover the earth.
10 He is sending springs into the torrent valleys; Between the mountains they keep going on. (Psalm 104)
When God was asking
Job where he was when He, Jehovah, was creating the earth, He mentions the fact that He set the barriers for the seas during
those early days of creation, presumably during the third day of creation as part of making the waters below into the seas.
So this barrier was set during the first six days of creation, not after the flood, and would therefore have applied to the
waters below only since the dividing of the waters occurred on the second day of creation. So it would seem that the mountains
and valleys were also created somewhat earlier than the time of the flood since their formation would have physically set
the barrier. This also seems to confirm that the waters above returned to their place after the flood forever and therefore
‘evaporated’ completely out of Earth’s atmosphere if those barriers set by God are to remain in place to
‘not again cover the earth’:
4 Where did you happen to be when I founded the earth? Tell [me], if you do know understanding.
5 Who set its measurements, in case you know, Or who stretched out
upon it the measuring line?
6 Into what have its socket pedestals been sunk down, Or who laid
its cornerstone,
7 When the morning stars joyfully cried out together, And all the sons of God began shouting in applause?
8 And [who] barricaded the sea with doors, Which began to go forth
as when it burst out from the womb;
9 When I put the cloud as its garment And thick gloom as its swaddling
band,
10 And I proceeded to break up my regulation upon it And to set a bar and doors,
11 And I went on to say, ‘This far you may come, and no farther; And here your proud waves are limited’?
(Job 38)
Proverbs 8 and Jeremiah
5 further emphasise the theme of the setting of the bounds of the sea at the time of creation:
27 When he prepared the heavens I was there; when he decreed a circle upon the face of the watery deep,
28 when he made firm the cloud masses above, when he caused the fountains of the watery deep to be strong,
29 when he set for the sea his decree that the waters themselves should not pass beyond his order, when
he decreed the foundations of the earth,
30 then I came to be beside him as a master worker, and I came to be the one he was specially fond of
day by day, I being glad before him all the time, (Proverbs 8)
22 ‘Do YOU not fear even me,’ is the utterance of Jehovah, ‘or are YOU in no severe
pains even because of me, who have set the sand as the boundary for the sea, an indefinitely lasting regulation that it cannot
pass over? Although its waves toss themselves, still they cannot prevail; and [although] they do become boisterous, still
they cannot pass over it. (Jeremiah 5)
Whilst it seems as
if I am in total disagreement with the Creationist interpretations of the post-flood archeological record, I hope they will
not become too disgruntled by this. I needed their ideas on the relevant scriptures to arrive at my conclusions on all this;
my response to their theories seems to vindicate not only my thoughts on the flood events as they affected the physical earth
but also confirms my ideas on the upper waters being outside of our own universe. The Creationists provided a necessary stepping
stone to enable God’s work to be better understood by we mere mortals. They are clearly blessed by our loving God. The
Lords’ Witnesses have learned, through the hard toil needed to decode God’s word correctly, that He does not yield
up any of His true nature or secrets except to those He chooses and even then He will not provide any more information than
is necessary before its proper time for revelation.
Whilst the variety
of Creationists that specialise in the Flood Geology no doubt have our best interests at heart in treating the flood as responsible
for all manner of geological phenomena, I think the interested reader will find an appropriate alternative Christian view
at the following web-site:
http://lordibelieve.org/page15.html
I wonder if the web-master
would subscribe to my wormhole theory?
