"But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith." Galatians 3:23-24

Contents: Introduction Chapter 1 - The Circle of the Earth Chapter 2 - The Ends of the Earth Chapter 3 - The Four Corners of the Earth Chapter 4 - The Earth is My Footstool Chapter 5 - The Pillars of the Earth Chapter 6 - Does the Bible Teach Geocentricism? Chapter 7 - The Hebrew & Greek Scam Chapter 8 - The Poster Boy of "Biblical" Cosmology Chapter 9 - My Thoughts and Experiences

 


I am thankful that, around the time I wrote this book (i.e. 2023), we are living in a time where many people have lost trust in governing institutions, which is due their blatant money laundering, lack of transparency, and flat-out lies. The executive branch under former Vice President Joe Biden (who cheated to win an election) made a hilarious attempt to start a Department of Misinformation, which is an Orwellian "Ministry of Truth" that would do nothing but produce lies, and it was shut down very quickly as soon as the public learned of it. In the United States, we have a government made BY the People, FOR the People, and therefore, it is healthy to question those in authority over us, most especially when they tax us, making us pay to rule over us.

It is for these reasons that it is completely understandable why there are a rising number of flat-earthers, since all governing institutions, from the CIA to the NSA to the FDA to NASA, all deserve strict scrutiny, and they are all long-overdue for audits. It is this author's opinion that such institutions should not exist in the first place, and in the case of needed functions within those intitutions, we would be much better off with privately-owned, third-party businesses contracted to oversee those features.

However, within the flat-earthers exist a large quantity of people who claim to be Christians, and preach that the Bible teaches a flat earth. Although I am open to discussion on many subjects, after many years in study of the Bible, I can say without a doubt that the claim that flat earth is taught in Scripture is heresy.

heresy (n): a fundamental error in religion, or an error of opinion respecting some fundamental doctrine of religion; an opinion is deemed heresy when it differs from that of the church; the Scriptures being the standard of faith, any opinion that is repugnant to its doctrines, is heresy
(See 'heresy', American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster, 1828, retrieved May 12, 2023, [webstersdictionary1828.com])

A heresy is anything that departs from established religious tenets. For example, I am a heretic according to the Catholic Church, and I am pleased to be a heretic against their antichrist religion because they are all heretics against the Holy Scriptures, and they have no part or fellowship with the church of Jesus Christ. Although flat-earthers who read this may be highly offended, I will be reasoning from the Scriptures that the flat earth cult is heresy against the Christian God of the Bible.
(Read Corruptions of Christianity: Catholicism here at creationliberty.com for more details.)

I started my ministry in 2009, and for many years of preaching, I had no intention to ever produce a teaching (let alone write an entire book) on this subject, and the reason is because I do not care about this topic. Whether the earth is a sphere, or flat, or shaped like a donut, it does not concern me. It does not affect my day-to-day living in any way, nor does it affect my work for the Lord Jesus Christ, nor are the beliefs of the shape of the earth any requirement to be saved in Christ, so why should I care?

It is perfectly fine for anyone to have interest in that topic, so please do not misunderstand my meaning. I am simply saying that I have no personal vested interest in this subject, which leaves me with less bias than some other authors. I am not completely unbiased, as all authors, researchers, and scientists have bias that affect their analysis, but because I have no dog in this fight, I can look at the facts with a clearer vantage point.

Though I have had a few requests to do an exposé on this topic over the years, I considered writing on this subject to be a waste of my time, when I could be using my time more efficiently to cover many other important Biblical topics. However, this was before I realized there was a growing movement of flat-earthers who also claim to be dedicated Christians, and over time, as I have had some of them send me letters, join our website forum, and even infiltrate our church (causing confusion and contention among us in the process), I began to care more about this subject and have had to take a strong stance against this flat-earth garbage because it has become dangerous for Christ's church as a whole.

Some readers will criticize me (as often happens when I write about these topics) that by calling the beliefs of flat-earthers "garbage," and their movement a "cult," that I am not being "loving," or apt to teach. Some think that I should treat this matter more gently, pat their heads, and tell them that they are friends who are loved, as I am sure you will find from many other authors and content creators. However, I love these people enough to tell them the truth, and the truth is that, by the time you are done reading this book, you will see more clearly that you have to make a choice between following the Word of God, or following the flat-earth movement because, after thorough research on this topic, I am fully persuaded that you cannot do both, or in other words, flat-earth doctrine will lead you AWAY from the truth of Scripture, and I hope that if you have read this far, you are willing to hear me out.

Do not misunderstand my meaning when I say there are simply two choices because I am NOT arguing that a newly saved, born-again Christian cannot get fooled into the flat-earth principles. I am convinced that all those who have been newly saved, and have been drawn into false doctrines unawares, will have the Holy Spirit guide them, and bring them out from among those corrupt organizations in due time. What I am arguing is that there are many churchgoers who remain in the flat-earth cult long enough that they will grow to war against Christians, and even the Bible itself, using the name of Christ for pretense while they hold up a Bible for show, all for the purpose of protecting their preconceived ideological narrative.

There may be many people who do not like that I take this bold approach, and to them, I would respond that you are free to take any approach that you want when you speak to these people. However, part of my job in evangelism is not just to preach the Gospel to the lost, but also to protect young/new Christians from being deceived, and as I will demonstrate in this book, the flat-earth cult is teaching a dangerous religious ideology that leads unsuspecting believers to become apostates against the foundation of Christ's Gospel.

apostate (n): one who has forsaken the church, sect or profession to which he before adhered
(See 'apostate', American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster, 1828, retrieved Mar 14, 2023, [webstersdictionary1828.com])

Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And of some have compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
-Jude 1:21-23

To be fully transparent, my personal opinion is that the earth is a globe (i.e. spherical in shape), but my opinion will not matter for the purpose of this book, and as I have already stated, whether the earth is a globe or not, I have NO interest. If, for some reason, real evidence came forward tomorrow that the earth was proven to be flat, I would say to myself, "Oh, that's interesting," and then I would move on and get back to work doing what I normally do day-to-day, preaching the truth of the Gospel for the lost (because salvation in Christ is our focus as Christians, not cosmology), but as we will learn in this book, for the flat-earthers, they have turned their worldview into an idol that must be worshiped to pass a "test of faith."

In this exposé, you will discover that, for dedicated flat-earth cultists, the concept of flat-earth IS their messiah (despite what they might claim), in other words, the idea of a flat-earth must be first believed before one can be a Christian, and Jesus Christ is used as a pretense to make flat-earth cultists appear to be "faithful" Christians. This is not to say that every flat-earther believes in this manner, but (based on my experience and research) there are a great many who do, largely because they are taught to think that way by those in positions of religious leadership within their groups, and furthermore, I have met others who will say that they reject the idea that you have to believe in a flat-earth to be saved, but when analyzing what they say in conversation and teaching, many of them reveal that they do believe in their hearts that flat-earth is the narrow path. They will often denounce others to be fake Christians if they do not believe in the flat-earth concepts preached by the cult as a whole (or at the very least, claim they are under Satanic deception, which could also be argued vice versa), and they twist the Scriptures out of context to provide alleged "proof" to the simple (i.e. whether they are naturally or willingly simple) who do not have the knowledge and understanding to discern the truth.

Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.
-Romans 16:17-18

simple (adj): weak in intellect; not wise or sagacious [prudent, perceptive]; silly
(See 'simple', American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster, 1828, retrieved Feb 16, 2023, [webstersdictionary1828.com])

As I just stated, the simple are generally defined as those who may not yet have the wisdom and understanding to discern the truth in these matters. However, in Scripture, the word 'simple' carries a secondary meaning, referring also to those who are WILLINGLY ignorant, or in other words, they do not take the time and put in the effort to study the matter out.

The simple believeth every word: but
the prudent man looketh well to his going.
-Proverbs 14:15

By the very fact that you have read this far into my book, you have obviously taken steps to study this matter, and that is commendable. I am not claiming to be an authority on this subject; I am just a sinner, saved by Christ, who has also taken the time to study these things out and write them down. Therefore, I hope you will take the time to search the Scriptures I have provided, and check out the references, to make sure I am giving you accurate information, so you can determine the truth for yourself.

The heart of the righteous studieth to answer:
but the mouth of the wicked poureth out evil things.
-Proverbs 15:28

Before we begin, I want readers to understand that the majority of this book is going to address the flat-earth controversy from a purely Biblical perspective. Although we will cover a few scientific points, that is not my primary goal. I could not care less if someone wants to say the earth is flat, but I do concern myself with those who claim the Bible says the earth is flat because, as I will soon prove, that is not true. Again, the reason I started writing this book was to warn my Christian brethren of the dangers concerning the corrupt philosophy (i.e. way of thinking) that is taught by flat-earth cultists (who I will hereafter refer to as FECs for short), so addressing the scientific points is mostly irrelevant to this book's purpose.

I also want readers to know that we will NOT be referring to lexicons or concordances in this book, unless it is to expose someone lying about what is contained in them. I do not rely on lexicons and concordances for the interpretation of Scripture because, not only should we Christians rely on the context of Scripture for interpretation (as we would do with anything else we read), lexicons and concordances are just as corrupt as the modern, watered-down bible versions, and those who try to interpret the "original Greek" or "original Hebrew" are often scamming you into thinking they have understanding of the interpretations of Scripture, when they do not.

I will cover some details on these points later, but if any readers want a more thorough explanation on those topics, here are some resources at creationliberty.com you can look up to get more information:

Why Christians Should Study The King James Bible: This free-to-read book will provide information about the origin of the modern, watered-down bible versions versus the King James Bible (i.e. they do not all come from the same source), why the KJB stands far above them all as the preserved Word of God in English, and why the KJB is not outdated or written for poetic flare, as is often claimed by skeptics, but rather, it is written for accuracy and modern English use. Dangers of Using Lexicons and Concordances: This will provide information about the many problems with Greek-English lexicons (e.g. Strong's, Vine's, Thayer's, etc), including their corrupt origins, and the corrupt, antichrist beliefs of the men who authored them. The 'Original Greek' Scam: This will explain the dangers and deceptions of the so-called "pastors" and "scholars" who try to interpret the Bible by "the original Greek." They leave their audiences blissfully unaware that most of them do not know hardly any Greek or Hebrew, but with the help of lexicons and concordances, they can put on a show of feigned education. Does the Greek Septuagint Exist?: This will give more details on the so-called "evidence" for the Greek Septuagint (LXX). The Septuagint does not actually exist because there is no documented evidence for it, and this teaching will not only explain why the existence of such a document defies historical and cultural reasoning, but also why pastors are so hell-bent to rely on it.

The deception of holding up lexicons and concordances in order to appear to have discovered "hidden knowledge" in Scripture is a common trick used by many pastors around the world, but most especially by FECs, and they know they can fool those who do not yet have much practice in studying the Bible on their own. (We will discuss more on the FECs lexicon scam in chapter six.) In my experience, I have found that FECs avoid Biblical context like it is the plague, and they often rail against me, change the subject, and/or quickly depart as soon as they are forced into a position where they have to address the context of the verses they are using.

One of the core ways that FECs fool people is by cherry-picking words or phrases out of verses, and interpreting them apart from the context of the chapter. Let's make sure we have a clear definition of what it means to 'cherry-pick' before we continue:

cherry-pick (v): to choose or take the best or most profitable of (a number of things), esp for one's own benefit
(See 'cherry-pick', Random House Dictionary, 2023, [dictionary.com]; See also Collins English Dictionary, 10th Edition, William Collins Sons & Co, 2012)

Cherry-picking is a logical fallacy that was named after a machine (i.e. a crane) used to get someone up high on top of a cherry tree to reach the cherries that are normally not reachable by someone with an ordinary ladder, taking only the best cherries at the top, while ignoring the rest of the tree. The analogy is that the cherry-picker (lifting himself up in the pride of his heart) will select specific words and phrases which he believes will support his preconceived idea (in the case of flat-earth cultism, often believing he has obtained secret, mystical knowledge above everyone else), and then ignores other supporting evidence which may contradict his position.

For Christians, we need to clarify exactly how the Word of God should be studied, and thankfully, the Lord instructed us in the Bible about how to study His Word. God said that He gives knowledge and understanding to those who follow this instruction concerning the Bible:

Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
-Isaiah 28:9-10

It should be understood that the Word of God is not organized with color codes and bullet points, and is purposefully designed in a way that the fullness of a doctrine can only be understood if all the pieces are aligned, and most often, those doctrines are located throughout various books in the Bible. We are to read God's Word "precept upon precept," meaning that we take each commandment in correlation with other commandments, "line upon line" meaning that we need to read it in its context, and "here a little and there a little," meaning that we need to compare Scripture with Scripture and correlate them together.

We should also note a VERY important point that God made in these verses, namely, His explanation of WHY He structured the Bible in this way:

But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
-Isaiah 28:13

The reason God set it up this way was so that men, specifically corrupt teachers, would read the Bible and attempt to understand it (in order to preach, that they might gain prestige and/or a paycheck among men), but they would never be able to fully understand it. Therefore, because they lack understanding of the fullness of Scriptures (i.e. they only know them in part) they would fill in the missing pieces on their own, and be led down false paths, teach false doctrines (i.e. they would "fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken"), and we would be able to spot the counterfeit teacher more easily, which is why the Bible says such men are "ever learning," but never able to gain understanding of God's Word because they have not had their understanding unlocked by the Holy Spirit.

Having a form of godliness, but denying the power [i.e. authority] thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
-2 Timothy 3:5-7

But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
-1 Corinthians 2:14

 


Now that we understand how the Lord God instructed us to study His Word, and that the Bible is a trap designed to ensnare false converts, let's take a look at an example of flat-earth cultist (FEC) cherry-picking to understand how the scam works. We will begin with Isaiah 40:22, since it is a commonly used verse to support the flat-earth narrative:

It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:
-Isaiah 40:22

The cherry-picked phrase here is that God "sitteth upon the circle of the earth," and the implication FECs make is that the earth must be a flat circle, and that God sits on it to look at everyone down below. We are going to cover the context of Isaiah 40 soon, but before we do, let's take a look at the flat-earth viewpoint to get an understanding of their argument, which will demonstrate how much creative imagination goes into the FECs interpretation of this verse.

Before we continue, let's make sure we understand what 'context' means:

context (n): The general series or composition of a discourse; more particularly, the parts of a discourse which precede or follow the sentence quoted; the passages of scripture which are near the text, either before it or after it. The sense of a passage of scripture is often illustrated by the context.
(See 'context', American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster, 1828, retrieved Apr 27, 2023, [webstersdictionary1828.com])

The word 'discourse' is generally a communication of information by words, and so context is the words of information that come before, or after, the quoted text. According to etymology dictionaries (i.e. the study of word origins), the word 'context' generally means "to weave" or "to knit together," so whereas someone who cherry-picks a word or phrase out of Scripture is looking at a single thread, context demands that we zoom out to view more of the tapestry to understand the thread's role in the composition of information.
(See 'context', Online Etymology Dictionary, retrieved May 23, 2023, [https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=context])

Because there are quite a number of FECs who use the Bible (out of context) as a justification for their flat-earth theories, they created a deceptive phrase called "Biblical cosmology." Cosmology is the study of the systems of the world and/or universe, and the purpose of using the phrase "Biblical cosmology" is to trick people into thinking that the Bible teaches the earth is flat, as well as an assortment of other principles surrounding their erroneous interpretation of the Bible.

cosmos (n): the world or universe regarded as an orderly, harmonious system
(See 'cosmos', Random House Dictionary, 2023, [dictionary.com]; See also Collins English Dictionary, 10th Edition, William Collins Sons & Co, 2012)

The phrase "Biblical cosmology" is redundant (i.e. repetitive in expression) and nonsensical because, if what cosmology (i.e. the study of the nature of the universe) teaches is true, and what the Bible teaches is true, then it is all just cosmology. There is no "Biblical" cosmology that is separate from cosmology. The Bible is the truth given to us by the Creator of the cosmos (i.e. Jesus Christ, Col 1:16), and so cosmology in general (or rather, that which is determined to be true in cosmology) will automatically align with the Word of God. There is no need to be afraid of scientific discovery in these fields, but rather, we should be cautious against ideological interpretations of that scientific data. Placing the adjective "Biblical" in front of the noun "cosmology" is a deception because it is an attempt to create separate categories of cosmology, to promote trust in the flat-earth principles taught by the cult, and use their opposition's faith in the Bible against them by heavily implying that if the opponents of flat earth do not believe in flat earth, then they do not believe in the "Biblical" worldview.

Of course, there are many people out there who lie about the nature of the cosmos, both deceiving themselves and others (2Ti 3:13), and the religious cult of evolutionism is a primary example of this. Evolutionists believe that the universe was created by a "Big Bang," which defies logical and scientific reasoning in so many ways, just conceptually, it is beyond absurd (and it must remain conceptual because it is impossible to recreate any scientific experiments to prove), and today, few people understand that it was British astronomer Fred Hoyle who unintentionally coined the phrase "Big Bang" because he was mocking the evolutionists' ridiculous theory on a radio show.
(Read "Evolutionism: Another New-Age Religion" here at creationliberty.com for more details.)

However, just because worshipers of evolutionism deceive people about cosmology, it is no reason to create a separate category of cosmology, because that does nothing but create confusion. For us Christians, our job is to expose the unfruitful works of darkness (Eph 5:11), and therefore, we expose lies simply by telling the truth, not creating a different "version" of truth because there is only one truth; there cannot be multiple categories of truth.

I searched for "Biblical cosmology" on an internet search engine to find models of the flat-earth theory from those who argue that the Bible teaches a flat-earth. The first example I found came from Wikipedia, which is a very unreliable source of information (i.e. the only time I typically refer to Wikipedia is when I am exposing the errors and lies of it), but I recognized the diagram immediately because we have had FEC visitors join our online forum, and they have posted this same image from this same source.

-Tom Lemmens, recreation of a drawing called "Early Hebrew Conception of the Universe," which was found in Understanding the Bible, Stephen L. Harris, 2003 edition, Pennsylvania State University, ISBN: 9780767429160

This image was created by an artist who based his work off of another artist's depiction of the flat-earth concept, which originally came from a 1909 diagram published in a newsletter called The White and Blue. As I traced the origin, I discovered that The White and Blue was a publication produced by the students of Brigham Young University, which is owned and operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, or in short, the Mormons (i.e. an antichrist cult of its own), who believe that God lives on the planet Kolob, has endless sex with many "spirit wives," who then produce "spirit babies," and those spirit babies who are evil get a black-skinned body when they are born.
(Read "Corruptions of Christianity: Mormonism" here at creationliberty.com for more details about the Mormon beliefs.)

(See The White and Blue Student Newspaper, Brigham Young University, Vol. XIII, No. 11, Dec 24, 1909, retrieved Mar 1, 2023, [https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:White_and_Blue_Vol_XIII_no._11_Dec_24_1909.djvu&page=14])

Some Christian readers (who are also veteran students of God's Word) might be confused by this diagram because you do not recall anywhere in Scripture describing such specific details about the shape and design of the earth. That is because most of this does NOT come from Scripture, but rather, it comes from the Apocrypha, which is not part of the Bible, even though FECs deceptively label it "Biblical cosmology."

The books called the "Apocrypha" (e.g. Sirach, Tobit, Maccabees, etc) were labeled as such because the original author of the works are unknown, which means they could have been created by a religious institution or deceptive author under false pretenses, and because they teach various heresies that are antithetical (i.e. in direct opposition) to the doctrines of the Bible. I cover more details on the corruptions of the Apocrypha in chapter 10 of my free-to-read book, Why Christians Should Study The King James Bible. These are unreliable sources of information, and it is one of the primary places that FECs go to gather information upon which they build their flat-earth model.

One of the reasons the so-called "Biblical cosmology" model is strange is because FECs insist that the earth is flat, but if you look carefully at the above models, it is mostly round. (The artist puts giant stalagmites at the bottom, but it is anyone's guess how it was determined to look that way.) The only difference is that they believe the top half of the globe is empty, and makes up the atmosphere, which they also believe contains the sun and moon, which may surprise some readers who are unfamiliar with their beliefs, since (apart from the account of Icarus, which is a fake story of pagan lore) we lack any testimonies about people flying too high and burning up because they had an intimate encounter with the sun, which one would expect if this "snowglobe" model were true.

So now let's go back to Isaiah 40:22, and though some readers might expect me to pull up a lexicon and dive into the meaning of the word 'circle' in the Hebrew (as many other preachers do), I would argue that is unnecessary, especially in this circumstance. We only need to go to the context of Isaiah 40 to get a better understanding, but it should also be noted that, because both sides (i.e. flat-earth vs sphere-earth) are arguing that the earth is circular in nature, the Biblical arguments are quite similar, no matter which side you are on.

For example, I would say that the 'circle' refers to the outline that one sees when looking at any spherical or global (i.e. ball-shaped) object, or in other words, we can only see two dimensions from our vantage point alone. For example, a basketball, from our perspective, is just a circle, but because of light and shadows, we can perceive the depth of it (i.e. commonly known as 'depth-perception') to know that it is a three-dimensional object.


However, FECs make the same argument with their flat earth model, as demonstrated by the following image of a FEC's model, uploaded onto a Facebook group called "Official Flat Earth & Globe Earth Biblical Discussion." As opposed to the globe, which one can see the "circle of the earth" from any angle, the flat-earth model forces one to look upon it ONLY from the top-down in order to see the circle, and thus, they use the same argument from a different perspective.
(See Lynn Adkins, Official Flat Earth & Globe Earth Biblical Discussion, Facebook, Sept 9, 2019, retrieved Feb 16, 2023, [https://www.facebook.com/groups/757850144398452/posts/1042745505908913])

So the FECs are arguing that the 'circle' in Isaiah 40:22 means a "disk," which I would like to point out is a thin, circular object, like a plate. However, according to their models, it is NOT a flat disk because there is a bunch of stuff underneath that disk which cannot be seen if one is simply looking at it from a top-down perspective, meaning that, one would have to perceive the depth in the SAME way one looks at a globe; it just depends on the angle from which you are looking at it.

So the point I am demonstrating is that the 'circle' argument is a leap of logic that only works if you look at their model from one particular vantage point, and it was developed by FECs cherry-picking a portion of one verse of Scripture out of its context. However, as we read earlier in Isaiah 28:10, the Lord did not teach us to study Scripture by cherry-picking phrases from verses; rather, He taught us to read the context, so that is what we are going to do.

The context of Isaiah 40:22 can be much better understood if we first go back to verse 13 and start there:

Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counsellor hath taught him? With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding?
-Isaiah 40:13-14

The Lord God is asking us a question to get us to consider who counseled or directed Him in any of His tasks, words, or judgments. The answer, obviously, is that no one counseled or directed God because He is the beginning and end of all knowledge, wisdom, and understanding, meaning that we have no right or authority to judge Him in what He says and does.

Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.
-Isaiah 40:15

This is not to say that nations are literal water drops falling into a bucket. This is a metaphor:

metaphor (n): a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance, as in "A mighty fortress is our God."
(See 'metaphor', Random House Dictionary, 2023, [dictionary.com]; See also Collins English Dictionary, 10th Edition, William Collins Sons & Co, 2012)

This dictionary provides an example of a metaphor with the phrase, "a mighty fortress is our God," and it should be understood that no one (or, at least, we would hope no one) would bow down and worship a castle as God because a fortress is obviously not a living, divine being. The understanding is that God is like a mighty fortress, in that when a man is in danger, he can hide within the walls of a mighty fortress, in a similar way that he can rely on the safety of God's protection. (Psa 18:2)

The figurative language in Isaiah 40:15 explains to us that the Lord God has supreme authority and power beyond our placid level of understanding. It is mankind who believes that they are great, especially a nation's government, who revels in their self-glorification with pompous ceremonies, but the Lord God has no respect to their person (2Ch 19:7), to such a degree that to lose one of these nations would be of no effect to Him, in a similar way that one has no emotional attachment to losing one drop of water from an entire bucket, which is not to say that God does not show mercy to the people of this world, as indicated in other verses (Eze 33:11, 2Pe 3:9), but that the nation itself (namely, its economic, political, and military infrastructure; those things which the world highly esteems and considers powerful) is of no esteem and little regard in the eyes of God.

And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the
beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering.
-Isaiah 40:16

In that day, Lebanon was known for its lush forests and quality trees, and much lumbering was done in that region, selling wood to all of Israel, which was not only used to build structures, but also to make fires upon which sacrifices were burned unto the Lord. Even though Lebanon was also full of countless cattle, the wood thereof, and the cattle thereof, were not enough to put away sin, and because of this, the Son of God had to offer Himself as a sacrifice to make full atonement for it, to put an end to all sacrifices.

All nations before him are as nothing; and they
are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.
-Isaiah 40:17

Not that the nations are nothing in the sense that they do not exist, but as indicated in verse 15, in His presence, it is as if they were nonexistent. This is to help demonstrate the greatness of the Lord, to put to nothing the vain glory of men.

To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him? The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains.
-Isaiah 40:18-19

Nothing in all of creation can be used to compare to Him, nor to create a proper analogy to Him, which is one of the many reasons why symbols should not be used to represent the Lord, nor Christianity in general. (This includes the commonly used cross symbol, which is a pagan symbol, not a Christian one, Acts 17:29) This is also why metaphors are used in Scripture, to help give us a conceptual understanding, since our brains are not capable of grasping the full understanding of who God is in His might.
(Read "Christian Symbols Are Not Christian" here at creationliberty.com for more details.)

He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved.
-Isaiah 40:20

An oblation is an offering, and this is not to be understood in terms of those who offered oblations to God, but rather, in this context, this is referring to an idol worshiper. The idolater is so dedicated to his heathen religion that, even if he has little food, being unable to afford the most basic provisions, he will still manage to find a way to craft his idol, having to fasten it in an honored place with a hammer and nails (Jer 10:4), because the idol is so weak, it cannot help itself, let alone help anyone who worships it.

Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?
-Isaiah 40:21

The Lord is now directing His question to the idolaters, pointing to the knowledge they already have from the observation of nature (Rom 1:19-20), and from the hearing of the traditions that they learned from their forefathers. (Job 42:5) Thus, the foundations of the earth being mentioned here is not speaking of the shape of the earth, but rather, it is speaking of the Lord God being the foundation on which the earth exists, and that the understanding of this has been passed down through many generations, and even today, we still have the record of His preserved Word.

It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:
-Isaiah 40:22

The Lord God has a seat of authority that is above the earth, which is not to be taken in the literal sense, as if God is physically sitting on the earth. Such an idea is a pagan-like philosophy, in which they believe they must give their gods physical locations and descriptions to make them more real in their minds. However, FECs use this verse as a justification to say the earth is flat, when actually, their interpretation does not make sense with this verse.

If God were literally sitting on the circle of a flat earth, it would mean that not only is God sitting on the same level (on a flat plain) with the rest of us (i.e. not above us, which is where the Bible says that the wisdom of God comes from, Jms 3:17), but it would also indicate that God's throne is in this world, which could easily be argued to be blasphemy, dragging the holiness and power of God's throne down to this world, even though we know that the thrones of this world are occupied by the princes of darkness, who rely on Satan's power. The Bible tells us that the highest places of this world contain "spiritual wickedness" because it is the rulers of darkness of this world that set themselves up on high places (i.e. where they built their pagan temples), and imagine themselves to be little gods over men. (Eph 6:12)

I once had a FEC tell me that God was not sitting directly on the circle of the earth, but above it, on the firmament, which is described in Scripture as waters above the atmosphere. (I will cover more details on that later.) This creates a problem because, first of all, there is no correlating verse to back that up, secondly, that departs from the absurdity of literal interpretation to the insanity of speculative interpretation, and finally, that interpretation would have to redefine the word 'circle'.

Remember, FECs claim that the 'circle' of the earth is the flat disk. If God is sitting on the firmament, then the 'circle' must now be defined as the global (or spherical) shape of the firmament surrounding the earth (i.e. the very argument which they reject), combining both the earth beneath and the heaven above as the "earth" in one whole entity, which leaves the FECs in circular reasoning (pun fully intended).

Ultimately, none of this matters because these verses are not meant to be taken in the literal sense, but in the metaphorical sense. This is why I disagree with pulpit-punching preachers who scream, "We believe the Bible is LITERALLY true from cover-to-cover!"

The Lord God sometimes uses metaphors to communicate with us, which means we Christians should not follow the fallacious example of FECs, in which they toy around with Scripture to fit their preconceived imaginations. Rather than say that we Christians take the Bible to be literally true in every instance, we Christians ought to say that we take the Bible SERIOUSLY from cover-to-cover, and in order to do that, we have to read it in its context, and correlate Scripture together.

On the website Bible Cosmology, an anonymous FEC wrote:
"This site takes the Bible literally in the details. When you write a letter to a loved one with important things to say, you don't speak mysterious tripe, but you give every effort for the loved one to understand. GOD intends for His Word to be understood; people often confuse ourselves. [sic] Our imperative necessity is to TRUST GOD (Proverbs 3:5,6)! The Creator of the universe gave us a succinct account of what He did, and some basic statements as to how HE created. We wrestle and fight with it because the fact of a CREATOR literally scares fallen man."
-Anonymous Author, "Calling for a Paradigm Shift in Thinking," retrieved Mar 15, 2023, [https://www.biblecosmology.org/copy-of-i-the-bible-is-literally-tr]

This paragraph was very interesting to me because it was a very complex web of fallacious arguments. The first thing I will point out is that he setup this argument in such a way that, according to them, anyone who does not believe in a flat earth is "scared" of the concept of a Creator, which is simply not true, as demonstrated by the fact that I wrote this book. (i.e. I am an author who believes that the Lord God created the universe roughly 6,000 years ago, as the Bible tells us, and I do not believe the earth is flat.)

Another interesting point is that there are mysteries (i.e. secrets) in Scripture, meaning that there are things that God has told us that are not well understood by mankind, while other things are only kept as mysteries until a certain point in time where they are revealed:

He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
-Matthew 13:11

A large amount of the Old Testament was mysterious prophecies, until they were revealed by Christ. However, according to this anonymous FEC, God's method of doing this in Scripture is "tripe," which is slang for writing that is believed to be false or worthless, and therefore, he is calling God's Word "worthless," likely without even realizing that he did it.

But the most damning comment he made was saying that he "takes the Bible literally in the details," which leaves me with no choice but to believe that this man is insane, or he is wicked in the sense that he is deceiving others for his own benefit. For example, let's take a look at John 10:

Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily,
I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.
-John 10:7

If the anonymous FEC believes what he said, then he would have to believe that Jesus is LITERALLY a barn door that opens on hinges and latches shut. Some readers may want to argue that I am taking his words to an extreme, but that is a comical argument considering that is what FECs do with the Word of God, and I would repeat that he is the one who said that he takes the Bible "LITERALLY" in all of its details.

In John 10, Jesus points out that, not only is He the door, but we Christians are the sheep who He gave His life for:

I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
-John 10:11

Therefore, the anonymous FEC would have to believe that I am a literal sheep that wrote this out by carefully using my hooves to type this sentence out on a keyboard, and that later, I will bleat my way through an audio teaching series on this subject. (i.e. Bleating is the sound a sheep makes.) Of course, this is beyond silly, and it is mind-boggling that I would even have to explain this to anyone who claims to be of Christ, but this is the insane mindset of the FECs, and they infect the minds of others with this corrupt philosophy.

Concerning Isaiah 40:22, a FEC named Anna, who joined our website forum, wrote that "there is nothing in the language to suggest we should be reading this figuratively," but that is absurd if you simply read the verse. If Isaiah 40 is to be taken as literally true, then you have to ignore the metaphors, which leads to some extremely insane ideas. (See Anna G, "Biblical Cosmology," Creation Liberty Forum, Jan 5, 2023, retrieved Mar 15, 2023, [https://www.creationliberty.com/forum/index.php?topic=1653.0])

If Anna believes what she said, then she is forced to believe the following absurdities:

nations are literally water droplets (v15) nations are literally dust on a scale (v15) nations are literally nothing (v17) God literally sits on the earth (v22) people in the world are literally grasshoppers (v22) the atmosphere and space are literally curtains (v22) the earth is literally inside a tent (v22) kings and rulers are literally nothing (v23) kings and rulers are literally planted liked seeds (v24) kings and rulers literally have roots inside the earth (v24) kings and rulers are literally dethroned by tornadoes (v24)

These examples are just a fraction of what you will find in the 40th chapter of Isaiah if you read it carefully, which demonstrates that there are MANY reasons the text should be taken figuratively. Not only are these concepts absurd from a literal standpoint, but they would actually be contradictions of one another (e.g. kings and rulers cannot be literally nothing and literally have roots at the same time), and if there were any contradictions in Scripture, then the Word of God would be a lie.

In short, what I find common among FECs is that they worship the creation more than the Creator, and change the truth of God into a lie in the process:

Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
-Romans 1:25

 


More "proof" verses often used by FECs are those that talk about "the ends of the earth." For example, they often refer to Job 28:

God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place thereof. For he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven;
-Job 28:23-24

So what the FECs believe is that the earth has "ends" in the sense that there are edges to the earth. Of course, this is not the sense in which the Bible uses this phrase, as I will demonstrate in a moment, but that is what they believe.

According to the FECs, the world map is supposed to look like the following image, taken from Flat Earth Stuff World, a seller of flat earth paraphernalia on Etsy. The model has the same (or somewhat similar) continents that exist, with the exception of Antarctica, which is stretched out in a giant circle around the edges.

(Flat Earth Model Azimuthal Equidistant Projection Map, Flat Earth Stuff World, retrieved Mar 2, 2023, [https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/608149313/flat-earth-model-azimuthal-equidistant?ga_order=most_relevant&frs=1])

As a side note, this map confused me when I first looked at it closely because you will notice how most of the continents are squished and compacted, which, if that were true, would defy all known measurements of various countries and their topography (i.e. relative positions and elevations). For example, the United States is roughly 2800 miles (4500 km) in width, while Russia is roughly 5600 miles wide (9000 km), or in other words, Russia is about twice the size of the USA, and yet, if you look carefully, you can see that Russia has been shrunk down to roughly the same size as the USA in order to make it fit with their model.

As much as I have seen FECs argue against evolutionism, it is amazing to see them do the same things as the cult worshipers of evolutionism. Instead of changing their theory to match the facts, evolutionists often distort and cover up facts in order to create evidence that will fit their model, and in the example of the flat-earth map, we can see FECs doing the same thing.
(Read "Evolutionism: Another New-Age Religion" here at creationliberty.com for more details.)

If you look up websites and videos presented by FECs, you will notice a pattern with most of them, and that is to make a statement about flat-earth, present a list of rapid-fire cherry-picked phrases from various verses, and then they immediately move on to the next topic. (You will also find that evolutionists do this same cherry-picking technique when attempting to "disprove" the Bible.) As I stated earlier in this book, FECs avoid context like it is the plague. For example, there is a FEC website called The Unexpected Cosmology which has a section on their website called "Ends of the Earth or the Earth is Flat," which is meant to interpret the "Ends of the Earth" phrase as flat-earth, and the following are a couple of the many verses they cherry-pick in rapid succession:

I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth;
-Isaiah 43:6

Thus were the visions of mine head in my bed; I saw, and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was great. The tree grew, and was strong, and the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth:
-Daniel 4:10-11

The Unexpected Cosmology site lists out some more verses (which we will cover later in this book), but there is no explanation of them; the author highlights in bold print the cherry-picked phrase "ends of the earth," and then proceeds to advertise an upcoming flat-earth conference. Though some readers might be surprised that the author gave no explanation and moved on to advertisements, it should be noted that this is a VERY common (and quite deceptive) approach to Scripture among FECs.
(See Noel J. Hadley, "The Biblical Flat Earth & Four Corners of Creation," The Unexpected Cosmology, Mar 27, 2017, retrieved Mar 3, 2023, [https://theunexpectedcosmology.com/the-biblical-flat-earth-four-corners-of-creation])

The "ends of the earth" phrase has a number of contextual meanings in Scripture, and is used in a variety of ways. Let's look at a few more instances in Scripture so we can get an idea of how it is used:

His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.
-Deuteronomy 33:17

This verse is speaking of Joseph, who was a type (a prophetic sign) of Christ, that he would push back the enemies of Israel to the ends of the land of Canaan, which is why it says that his horns (which are metaphorical, not literal) were like a unicorn (i.e. another name for the rhinoceros), to describe the great strength the Lord had given him, as well as his sons (i.e. the tribes of Ephraim and Manesseh). If the FECs interpretation of "ends of the earth" were true, then we would have documentation that Joseph drove the enemies of Irsael across all continents and oceans to the frozen regions of the edge of the world according to their flat-earth model, which is not only a ridiculous notion, but would have been beyond the military strength of Israel to perform.

In this verse, "the ends of the earth" is an expression used to describe the ends of the land that the Lord had given the Hebrews, which was their responsibility to maintain and defend, which makes both contextual and logical sense. In other words, the "ends of the earth" is referring simply to the land of Canaan, not the earth as a whole, otherwise, we would also have to assume that there are people living on the edges of that ice wall in the flat-earth model, which is yet another absurdity.

Of course, there are FECs who simply refuse to believe that "the ends of the earth" or "the ends of the world" would only be referring to the land of Israel, but that is only because they are desperate to protect their cultic ideology, rather than looking to Scripture to guide us to the intrepretation. For example, Paul uses this phrase when speaking to the Corinthians:

Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
-1 Corinthians 10:11

The beginning of chapter ten was a warning to the Christians to consider what happened to the Hebrews in the wilderness before they were allowed to go into the promised land. Paul goes on to describe how they committed fornication, idolatry, murmuring, and many other sins, which all happened to them as examples to us, so we would be corrected and instructed.

If the ends of the world were the flat-earth edges of the world, then that flat-earth edge would have to be physically moved to Israel, which is completely nonsensical. Nor should it be said that the entire world ended when the Jews had to wander in the wilderness for 40 years, because that thought is also nonsensical. The correct contextual interpretation is that the Jewish age ended under the law, that all those things were fulfilled in Christ, and that the world that existed in which the Gentiles walked in darkness ended, so that both Jew and Gentile could come to Jesus Christ for repentance and remission of sins. (Gal 3:28-29)

Therefore, Paul continues to say:

Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
-1 Corinthians 10:12

The Jews had to suffer much because of their temptations into sin. Therefore, we also should not be arrogant in the light of understanding which Christ gave us, that we would discipline ourselves in humility, that we would not end up like many Jews today, who walk in blindness of sin, without the Messiah who they claim to still be looking for.

To further demonstrate that the FECs interpretation of Scripture is absurd, let's look at Romans 10:

So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.
-Romans 10:17-18

Here, we have a similar phrase "the ends of the world" used, and in this context, it is referring to the Gospel of Christ going throughout all the world. One of the ways we can verify this is by going to the correlating Scripture that Paul was referring to in this passage, namely, from Psalm 19:

Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,
-Psalm 19:4

This is prophetic Scripture that is referring to Christ's Gospel of Salvation going throughout the world. However, if what FECs believe were true, then we would have to conclude that, as you read this sentence, there are people preaching and hearing the Gospel on the ice-wall edge of the flat-earth model, which is absurd.

In Isaiah 41, we can see "the ends of the earth" being used in another way:

The isles saw it, and feared; the ends of the
earth were afraid, drew near, and came.
-Isaiah 41:5

If the FECs interpretation of "the ends of the earth" were true, we would have to believe that an ice wall on the edge of the planet feels fear, moved itself near to Israel, and came into the cities that the Jews inhabited. Such an idea is insane, to say the least, and so it is obvious this is not talking about a flat-earth edge to the world.

Isaiah is prophesying of the coming Gospel of Salvation in Jesus Christ, which goes out around the world, and the isles are not islands themselves, but rather, it is the heathen who live on those islands, who witness the Gospel of Christ preached, seeing the people converted and tearing down their idols, and therefore, they panic in fear of losing their religious ideology. The "the ends of the earth" in this context is speaking of the pagans who live in countries that are the farthest away from Israel, who will hear the Gospel of Christ, be converted, and throw off the idols of false gods, which causes them to fear, come to Israel, and stand together with their pagan brethren to hold fast to the heathen traditions, which is why Isaiah went on to say in the next verse:

They helped every one his neighbour; and
every one said to his brother, Be of good courage.
-Isaiah 41:6

Another good example is in Deuteronomy 28:

The LORD shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand;
-Deuteronomy 28:49

If the FEC interpretation were true, then they would have to believe that there are nations that live on the ice wall edge of a flat earth, who attacked Israel. Whether one believes in a flat-earth or a spherical-earth, that interpretation does not make any sense.

It was during the days of Jeremiah that this prophecy was fulfilled when the Lord brought the nation of Babylon to invade Israel, and they built a siege wall around Jerusalem to starve them out, which forced Jerusalem to eventually surrender. Thus, the phrase "the end of the earth" was referring to Mesopotamia, in Arabia, southeast of Israel, near the Persian Gulf, because that's where the Babylonian Empire was located.

Furthermore, the Lord went on to warn Israel:

And the LORD shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone.
-Deuteronomy 28:64

Under a FEC interpretation, Israel would have been scattered to the ice wall edges around the flat-earth, and would live there, which makes no sense. The Jews were brought to places like Babylon and Egypt, and so the phrase "from the one end of the earth even unto the other" is contextually referring to Arabia, which is the region around Israel, where most of their trade and diplomatic interactions took place.

In the United States, we are generally more familiar with places like Canada and Mexico, than we are with places like Russia and China, and we would be more likely to refer to their countries as "the ends of the earth" because they are far away from us. (Likewise, Russians and Chinese look to use as "the ends of the earth" from their perspective.) This is why, when explorers came to the Americas for the first time, they called it "The New World," which does NOT mean they discovered a new planet. Because we live in this general region, on this continent, we are more likely to consider this our "world" or "earth" as it exists in our perspective, and in Scripture, the Lord God often speaks to people from their vantage point because we would struggle to understand Him if He spoke to us from another vantage point we did not understand.

We should also consider that, today, we live in a world with jets that fly all over the planet within a few hours, and the internet, which allows us to share live video feeds with others around the world instantly. This makes our world seem quite a bit smaller, which is why not many use the phrase "the ends of the earth" as much today, as they might have back then, when traveling to another country took weeks, months, or even years depending on the distance. (i.e. If one would have to spend years of his life traveling a distance, it might as well be another world from his point of view.)

These are just a few examples to help readers understand the deception of FEC cherry-picking. Again, Biblical context destroys FEC beliefs, which is why they do everything in their ability to avoid context in Scripture. The phrase "the ends of the world" or "the ends of the earth" has a variety of different meanings depending on the context, and most of the time, it simply means various places that are around the world, far away from the region of the people being addressed.

For example, citizens in Thessalonica were looking for Paul and his companions to capture them, but all they found was Jason and some other Christians, so they assaulted them instead:

And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also;
-Acts 17:6

Should we believe that Jason and the other Christian brethren with him were able to LITERALLY turn the world itself upside-down? Of course not because that is a ridiculous notion.

Knowing that the preaching of Christ (by Christians in general) was affecting the world, should we believe that Jason, and the other Christian brethren with him, had LITERALLY preached in every location across the entire world and personally preached to all people everywhere? Of course not, because that would have been impossible for them to do within the span of their lifetimes.

The context of this verse is a fulfillment of the prophecy we read earlier from Isaiah 41:5, in which the heathen were afraid that their idols were being torn down by the preaching of the Gospel of Christ. In other words, their "world," which is paganism and idolatry, was being turned upside-down. Therefore, they set out to entrap the Christians by finding legal loopholes to try and get them into trouble with the government, that their preaching might be silenced.

The ridiculous thinking of FECs is that, whenever the word 'earth' is mentioned in Scripture, it means the entire planet, but most of the time, the Bible's use of the word 'earth' does not refer to the planet as a whole. For example, in the first chapter of Genesis, God defined the word 'earth' as the dry land:

And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.
-Genesis 1:10

Therefore, as we have already seen, the word 'earth' can mean dry land of any portion of the planet that is apart from the waters. We can use the word 'earth' when we are talking about planting a field, we can use it when talking about the dimensions of a nation or region, or we can use it when talking about all the inhabitable land (above the seas) currently available across the world.

Because mankind does not live in the seas (i.e. we must survive by living on dry land, or at least living on resources that come from dry land), the word 'earth' can also refer to the people who live on it because, after all, we were created from the same dirt that we stand on. (Gen 2:7) For example, let's look at Genesis 11:

And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.
-Genesis 11:1

The earth itself does not speak a language because it is an inanimate object, meaning that it is not a living organism. Therefore, it cannot pass knowledge in such a way, and has no language to speak, which means this passage is referring to all the language-speaking people who live on the earth, and that they all spoke one language at the time, instead of the many we read and hear today.

This is another example to demonstrate why flat-earth cultism is so dangerous because, if one were to take their definitions seriously, and spread them across Scripture, one could adopt a multitude of false ideologies. A man might say that this passage proves that the earth has a language, and then he might go out into nature to meditate, that he might "listen" to the earth to discover its secret language, which is complete nonsense, and that is how quickly things can devolve into madness the moment we loosen our discipline concerning doctrine in context.

Here is another instance from Genesis 9:

And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.
-Genesis 9:1

Since God commanded mankind to "replenish the earth," should we then say that it is our duty from God to create our own soil and water to add to the planet? Or should we say that the context (interms of being "fruitful" to "multiply") is telling us to have children and families to fill the earth with people? I will let readers decide which interpretation makes more sense.

In fact, the Lord God even uses the phrase "the whole earth" to refer to a specific region of the planet, not to the entire planet:

And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the coasts of Egypt: very grievous were they; before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such. For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left: and there remained not any green thing in the trees, or in the herbs of the field, through all the land of Egypt.
-Exodus 10:14-15

If we interpreted this as FECs do, then we would have to believe that these locusts covered the entire planet, punishing everyone around the world for what the Pharaoh in Egypt did. However, if we look carefully at the passage, it says that the locusts "rested in all the coasts of Egypt," which indicates they did not pass beyond the coasts, and so even though it says the locusts "covered the face of the the whole earth," it means only "through all the land of Egypt."

Even the phrase "the world" is not always used in the sense of the entire planet:

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
-Luke 2:1-3

Was everyone in North and South America taxed by Caesar at that time? Was everyone in Australia taxed by Caesar? Was everyone in China taxed by Caesar? Of course not, because that would not make any sense, but rather, "the world" is meant in the sense of the Kingdom of Rome (and the cities which were in the boundaries of nations conquered by Rome), which was the leading world power at the time, and therefore, this is a figure of speech, and such figures of speech are used often throughout the Bible.

figure of speech (n): any expressive use of language, as a metaphor, simile, personification, or antithesis, in which words are used in other than their literal sense, or in other than their ordinary locutions, in order to suggest a picture or image or for other special effect
(See 'figure of speech', Random House Dictionary, 2024, [dictionary.com]; See also Collins English Dictionary, 10th Edition, William Collins Sons & Co, 2012)

Now that we have an understanding on how the Scripture uses these words and phrases, and how to interpret them in context, let's take a closer look at the verse used by the corrupt Unexpected Cosmology website:

I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth;
-Isaiah 43:6

This is prophetic, in that God is promising that He will bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to "every one that is called by my name." (Isa 43:7) This passage is referring specifically to spiritual children of God, saved by His grace through His gifts of repentance and faith in Christ, and He will bring "thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west," meaning that wherever they have been scattered, He will bring them together from the most distant parts of the world, a distance that is far from Jacob (i.e. Israel).

This verse has nothing to do with cosmology or the shape of the earth.

Here is another verse they use from the same website:

Thus were the visions of mine head in my bed; I saw, and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was great. The tree grew, and was strong, and the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth:
-Daniel 4:10-11

I realize this is a rather simplistic statement, but this is a prophetic dream; there is no literal tree sitting in the middle of the world that reaches up to heaven, and feeds "all flesh" (Dan 4:12) across the planet. This tree was a representation of Nebuchadnezzar, who was a prince/king that ruled over the most powerful nation in the world at that time, and his power reached into other distant nations which were far away from Babylon.

This verse has nothing to do with cosmology or the shape of the earth.

The FECs cherry-pick "the ends of the earth" and run away with it like a child, preaching from the conceit of their imaginations, not from understanding of Scripture. None of these verses prove, or even indicate, a flat-earth, nor do they prove, or even indicate, a spherical-shaped earth. Such foolish interpretations do not edify anyone's knowledge of God's Word, nor does it offer any wisdom and understanding that will lead someone to salvation in Christ.

That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
-Ephesians 4:14

 


In the same section of the Unexpected Cosmology website, the author also mentions "the four corners of the earth" being evidence of a flat-earth. (By 'mention', I mean that he does not talk about it at all; he only put it in the title of the section.) Once again, the author offers rapid-fire verses that have the words "the four corners," but no contextual explanation to go with them, and instead follows it up with advertising of flat-earth conferences.
(See Noel J. Hadley, "The Biblical Flat Earth & Four Corners of Creation," The Unexpected Cosmology, Mar 27, 2017, retrieved Mar 3, 2023, [https://theunexpectedcosmology.com/the-biblical-flat-earth-four-corners-of-creation])

Here are a couple of the verses the author uses:

Also, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD unto the land of Israel; An end, the end is come upon the four corners of the land.
-Ezekiel 7:2

And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.
-Revelation 7:1

The FECs make the argument that the earth cannot have corners if it is a globe, and therefore, the earth must be flat. It was extremely baffling to me why they would make this argument because, if we stop for a moment to consider this, we will realize that this is a flat-earth argument that contradicts the flat-earth model.

If you remember earlier in this book, I provided images of what the FEC model looks like according to their beliefs, and you might remember that it was a flat disc with a circular shape, to fit the explanation of the 'circle' of the earth in Isaiah 40:22. However, that model does not have four corners, because if it did, it would no longer be a circle (i.e. it would be square), so how can the flat-earth model be a circle and a square at the same time?

There are some FECs who argue that the earth is a circle of a flat disc, but beyond that, it is a cube shape that has corners, and I will show an example of what they claim that would look like later in this chapter. Not only would this create a massive amount of basic, visual paradoxes, it should be noted that a cube has eight corners, whereas the Bible says "the four corners," which makes this another unreconcilable contradiction.

Let's take a look at Isaiah 11:

And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
-Isaiah 11:12

This is another prophecy concerning the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the world, and points out two groups of people. The Gospel would go out to the Gentiles in various nations, and also to the Jews who were scattered among nations all over the world, which is the way "the four corners of the earth" is used, similar to how "the ends of the earth" is used.

If we were to take the FEC interpretation of this seriously, we would have to conclude that their flat earth model has corners, and that there are Jews who are living in cities in these corners, who leave their cornered-earth cities and come to Israel. In my research, I did not find any FECs discussing this detail because it would force them into a narrative that (to me) is strikingly similar to pagan mythology, in which they claim the existence of places like Mount Olympus, without having any evidence for it.

On the other hand, if we stick to Biblical context, this is a phrase used to describe what would be taken to mean the far reaches of an area, just as we would conceptually understand if we were looking at a map. Most maps are designed on a flat sheet of paper, which has four corners, and because the focal point of a map tends to put the area of interest in the center, therefore, the farthest reaches from that point are the corners of it.

For example, the following image is a map of the United States of America (a free download provided by OrangeSmile.com), and something to immediately note is that the map is NOT shaped like the USA; rather, it is rectangle-shaped, with the borders of the land drawn on it. This is because it is much easier to make a square-shaped map with four corners, than it is to try and cut out the jagged edges of the USA. (See Orange Smile, "Maps of USA," retrieved Mar 8, 2023, [https://www.orangesmile.com/travelguide/usa/country-maps.htm])

This is how we look upon the world from our perspective when we look at a map, and because the Hebrews did not have airplanes thousands of years ago, maps are how they had a top-down view of the land around them. On this map, we can see that the four corners have locations that are far reaching from the center of the map, such as Vancouver, Canada (top left), Nova Scotia, Canada (top right), Hawaii, USA (bottom left), and The Bahamas (bottom right), which are all a VERY long distance from where I live in Indiana, closer to the center of the map.

The phrase "the four corners of the earth" is simply the Lord God speaking to us from our perspective, which is a phrase that would be commonly understood by anyone (even a child) who looks at a map. The areas in the corners of the map are always farther away from the center focal point, and likewise, various nations in Europe, Asia, and Africa are on the four corners of a map of Israel.

There are a number of instances in Scripture in which the phrase "four corners" should be taken literally, but those are very clearly distinguished. For example, many times, God gave the children of Israel instructions on how they were to design something that He commanded them to make:

And thou shalt make for it four rings of gold, and put the rings in the four corners that are on the four feet thereof.
-Exodus 25:26

And thou shalt make the horns of it upon the four corners thereof: his horns shall be of the same: and thou shalt overlay it with brass.
-Exodus 27:2

It is silly that I am forced to make this statement to help the FECs understand this (because these are the kinds of things we learn in elementary school English classes), but we cannot physically construct a metaphor (we can only verbally make them from conceptual thought) because metaphors are abstract. Therefore, whatever is commanded of men to be created (by the work of their hands) would have to be literal so it could be made (i.e. you cannot craft an abstract concept, like love or hate, with your hands), which is one of the ways we can tell the difference between concrete (i.e. physical) realities and abstract thought.

abstract (adj): thought of apart from concrete realities, specific objects, or actual instances:
(See 'abstract', Random House Dictionary, 2023, [dictionary.com]; See also Collins English Dictionary, 10th Edition, William Collins Sons & Co, 2012)

The 'four corners' phrase is simply used to refer to something that is square, as I indicated earlier, but the main question is this: Does the Scripture indicate that this square object is the earth itself, or simply a conceptual viewpoint of the earth as it appears on a square map? In the first chapter of Job, when he gave his testimony of what he saw, we can clearly understand that Job's house literally had four corners (as do many houses), it literally fell, and literally killed all those who were inside, and the great wind that blew it down was also literal because it was the cause of the fall.

And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
-Job 1:19

Therefore, if we are seeking to understand when and how a metaphor is used, the context of the written words will indicate it. So going back to Isaiah 11, let's look at the previous verses in context:

They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.
-Isaiah 11:9

This is what is called a "simile" (sim-ill-ee) which is a type of metaphor that is often used in Scripture:

simile (n): a figure of speech in which two unlike things are explicitly compared, as in "she is like a rose;" an instance of such a figure of speech or a use of words exemplifying it
(See 'simile', Random House Dictionary, 2023, [dictionary.com]; See also Collins English Dictionary, 10th Edition, William Collins Sons & Co, 2012)

In the example provided by the dictionary, we would not claim that woman, who is described to be "a rose," is a LITERAL flower because that obviously makes no sense for an endless amount of reasons. Rather, the woman is given the comparison to a rose, specifically to portray in speech the emotion one might feel when looking upon the beauty of a rose, and expressing that it is the same emotion one feels when looking upon the beauty of the woman.

So when reading Isaiah 11:9, we do not take it to mean that the dirt of the ground is literally full of God's knowledge, nor that if we drink the waters of the seas that we would gain the knowledge of God. This is a simile to express that the Gospel of Christ would go throughout the world, into every nation, which it has.

And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.
-Isaiah 11:10

This is not to say that Jesse is literally a plant that has roots. This is a metaphor to express that the root of Jesse is the Messiah, Jesus Christ, who, like the roots of plants, is hidden from view, but provides all nourishment for that which can be seen, and thus, Christ is the source of all life, salvation, and holiness for Jesse, as He is for all Christians, who are the spiritual children of God.

And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
-Isaiah 11:11

This is not to say that God literally takes His hand and picks people up, but rather, His hand is used as a metaphorical reference to His power, which first saved the remnant of his people from Egypt, as He will save His children through conversion unto the Gospel of Christ. Some among the Jews may have interpreted this verse to mean their freedom from captivity in Babylon, but it is clear from the description of these verses that this is referring to something beyond that, since so many other locations were mentioned that were not part of Babylonian captivity.

The Lord talks about Assyria, Egypt, Pathros (which may be referring to Parthians, mentioned in Acts 2:9), Cush (i.e. Ethiopia), Elam (i.e. a province in Persia), Shinar (i.e. Chaldea), Hamath (i.e. ancient Cilicia, now part of Tripoli), and the islands of the seas, which would include Mediterranean islands like Greece, and also the northern islands of England, Scotland, and Ireland. If one views a map of these regions, you will notice that they stretch out to the edges, in various corners of it.

And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
-Isaiah 11:12

This verse is a prophecy of Christ being set up as an "ensign," which is like a flag or banner of colors that would represent an army or nation, meaning that Christ is the ensign of the Kingdom of Heaven, which is the church. This is not to say that a cross symbol, or the purple, so-called "Christian" flag is the ensign of the church, for such symbols (modeled after the pagan world) cannot be used to represent Christ, His Word, or His church. (Acts 17:29)
(Read "Christian Symbols Are Not Christian" here at creationliberty.com for more details.)

Therefore, based on the context, it should be easy to understand that Isaiah 11:12 is NOT talking about cosmology or the shape of the earth. This verse is referring to the four corners of the earth in the sense that you would look at a map of countries surrounding Israel, and God is saying that He will bring His elect (i.e. the born again Christians) to Christ, even the Jews of Judah, namely, those who would hear and understand the Gospel of Christ (Mat 13:23), from the far-off nations to which they were scattered, into the hands of God the Father, that no man could pluck them out. (John 10:28-30)

However, FECs willingly leap off the edge of reality, into a world where all figurative meanings must be interpreted literally, and the end of that road results in something like this: (Click Image for Larger View)
(See Orlando Ferguson, "Map of the Square and Stationary Earth," 1893, Library of Congress, retrieved Mar 9, 2023, [https://www.loc.gov/item/2011594831]; It should be noted that the only reason this made it to the Library of Congress is because a descendant of Ferguson sent it there to preserve it.)

I was speechless for a few moments while looking at this for the first time because, it is so absurd, I was unsure how to describe it in words. I tried to tell my wife about it later, but I could not find the words, so I showed it to her, and she gave me the same speechless reaction because this is one of the most ridiculous proposals her and I had ever seen.

Just looking at it initially, my first thought was that it is objectively provable that the earth is much hotter around the equator, and yet, that would not make any sense according to this model because the equator is farther away from the sun than other regions. Even more absurd is the fact that, as I look at where I live on that map (in Indiana, just south of the Great Lakes), I should be able to look out on the horizon (with or without a telescope) and see a line somewhere above the horizon that would be the edge of the world. (Even at night, there should be a line above the horizon where stars would not appear past the edge.)

In the drawing, there is a paragraph which erroneously uses Isaiah 11:12 (among other verses) as "evidence" of a flat earth. Again, the author is cherry-picking verses out of their context to argue that they are describing cosmology, and this was back in 1893, which demonstrates that the FECs have been making the same fallacious arguments for a very long time.

Of course, there are always people ready to make money off of the delusions of others. There are an assortment of flat-earth stores where FECs can still purchase these models.
(See Flat Earth Prints, "Professor Orlando Ferguson and the Square and Stationary Earth Map," Aug 27, 2022, retrieved Mar 10, 2023, [https://flatearthprints.com/professor-orlando-ferguson-and-the-square-and-stationary-earth-map])

On the flat-earth model, you can see that the author placed what he calls "angels" at the four corners. It should be noted that these depictions of angels are not what angels look like in Scripture, and the idea of a man-like creature with stork wings and a halo is based on pagan principles, but I will not be covering details on that in this book because it will take us too far away from the focus of the main topic.
(Read "Christian Symbols Are Not Christian" here at creationliberty.com for more details.)

Though it appears (at first glance) like the author is giving a bunch of references in various places in the drawing, upon closer inspection, each of the "angels" has the same verse reference copied four times. The author refers to Revelation 7, which we read earlier:

And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.
-Revelation 7:1

The seventh chapter of Revelation is the vision of the sixth seal opened, and the opening of the seventh seal, which precedes the day of the wrath of God, and foretells the security of a small remnant of Christians who will be preserved until the end. The specific passage on the four corners is an allusion (i.e. an indirect reference to) Zechariah 6:

And the angel answered and said unto me, These are the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth. The black horses which are therein go forth into the north country; and the white go forth after them; and the grisled go forth toward the south country.
-Zechariah 6:5-6

I included verse six in this passage because most FECs do not know anything about it. They are so busy cherry-picking verse five, they cannot (or are unwilling to) see that the verses surrounding verse five are the context to understand verse five.

Zechariah speaks with an angel in the vision God gives him, in which chariots are pulled by horses of different colors. Zechariah asks the angel what they are, and the angel answers that they are "the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth."

The Lord of all the earth is Jesus Christ, and the four spirits are four powerful angels (invisible to the eyes of men) who were set to guide the apostles and ministers of the Gospel of Christ. The key note here is that this is the spreading of the Gospel of Jesus Christ around the world, and therefore, it makes more sense that the black horses described in verse six would be Babylon or Chaldea (i.e. north of Judea), the white horses are the Grecians (under Alexander) who fought the Persians (under Darius) in the same lands, and the "grisled" (i.e. spotted horses), which are the Romans (under the Caesars) who went far south of Judea into Egypt to conquer lands in Africa.

However, in FEC interpretation, they would have to believe that only white and black horses exist in Arabia, and only spotted horses exist in Africa. They would also have to believe that they are all literally running around because they are pulling chariots, and that all the horses in these lands literally came from hills that were literally made out of pure brass because, in verse one, it says "these came out from between two mountains: and the mountains were mountains of brass."

Of course, FECs will scoff at this and say they obviously do not believe that, but that begs the question of how they are able to tell the difference between what is literal and what is metaphor. (There are some FECs who claim that no one can, and we will see an example of that in chapter eight.) The answer is that FECs do not look to the context as the Lord instructed us, but rather, they look to their own hearts and minds (i.e. becoming their own gods), deciding what they want to believe without knowledge, understanding, or wisdom to discern the truth, and then glorify themselves for having (what they believe to be) some sort of mystic spiritual clarity.

There is a way which seemeth right unto a man,
but the end thereof are the ways of death.
-Proverbs 14:12

Every way of a man is right in his own eyes:
but the LORD pondereth the hearts.
-Proverbs 21:2

Now that we understand the correlating verses, let's go back to Revelation 7:1, specifically to the phrase "holding the four winds of the earth." I want readers to understand that these winds are NOT the same as the winds described in Daniel 8, which is another "proof" verse FECs like to use:

Therefore the he goat waxed very great: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven.
-Daniel 8:8

These four winds in the context of Daniel 8 are simply talking about north, south, east, and west. This is because specific regions are being emphasized concerning the dividing of the Grecian Empire (i.e. Asia, Egypt, Syria, and Greece/Macedonia), but again, I will not go into great detail on that subject because it departs from the main subject of this book.

The reason I emphasize that Revelation 7:1 talks about "four winds of the EARTH" is because, in this context, it is talking about the false gospel of the various kingdoms of this world, and so the angels hold back these winds of corruption, not allowing them to blow violently, to cause the destruction that they would undoubtedly inflict upon the church as they do to the rest of mankind, if God allowed them to do so.

There are princes of Satan, fallen angels, who withstand the princes (i.e. angels) of God. The angels of the Lord do battle against the fallen angels to keep them from spreading corruption unchecked.

But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia.
-Daniel 10:13

This is not to say that there will not be numerous false gospels all over the world at the time, but the angels are protecting the church. This is why the Bible tells us that those who are truly born again in Christ (as opposed to those who only feign to be of Christ with their lips) will not be deceived in that day, because the Lord will not allow it.

For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
-Matthew 24:24

Therefore, once again, the "proof" verses of the FECs, like that of Revelation 7:1, are used out of context. These verses have NOTHING WHATSOEVER to do with cosmology or the shape of the earth, but the deception of cherry-picking phrases out of verses of Scripture continues to fool people into glorifying themselves that they have spiritual knowledge, even though they ought to be ashamed of themselves for what they do.

For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.
-Philippians 3:18-19

It is from the writings of Solomon that we get the phrase, "There is nothing new under the sun." Of course, using the fallacious methods of FEC interpretation, they might believe that this means that Adam and Eve had smart phones because they think that "no new thing" is referring to anything mankind invents, but the context here is talking about the corrupt philosophies and selfish imaginations in the minds and hearts of mankind, in which they do the same sinful things over and over, and each passing generation forgets that the previous generation did them too.

The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us. There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after.
-Ecclesiastes 1:9-11

 


The following images were taken from a blog called "Romans 3:4," and as is the case with quite a number of FEC websites I have seen so far, the author keeps his/her name anonymous. If you visit the site, you will notice that the anonymous FEC author does not give any explanation for this, and in fact, these images are the ONLY explanation he offers for the footstool argument.

(See Website Romans 3:4, "Cosmology, According to the Bible," retrieved Mar 15, 2023, [https://romansthreefour.com/biblical-cosmology])

As a side note, I find this to be rather strange when I consider how many FECs I have read and listened to, who claim that they are the ones who are "faithful" to Scripture, but then cowar in the darkness when declaring what they believe about Scripture. Jesus Christ told us that we should let our light shine before men, which demonstrates our faith in Him, that He is our protection from evil, and so it is baffling when those who claim to be of Christ hide their names.

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
-Matthew 5:14-16

The anonymous FEC uses the following verse as "proof" of the flat earth:

Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?
-Isaiah 66:1

As I pointed out in the introduction, this is another example of cherry-picking a short phrase of a verse of Scripture, and reinterpreting it according to one's imagination, instead of relying on the context of Scripture to explain its meaning. Just so we have a clear understanding, let's look at the definition of a footstool:

footstool (n): a stool for the feet; that which supports the feet of one when sitting
(See 'footstool', American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster, 1828, retrieved Mar 15, 2023, [webstersdictionary1828.com])

The Lord God, through Isaiah, begins chapter 66 by explaining that "heaven is my throne," which is not to say that the sky is where God sits, which is what many FECs seem to believe. Before we address that point, I would like to remind readers that FECs believe that Isaiah 40:22 says that God sits on the "circle" (i.e. in their view, the flat disc of the earth), which I covered in more detail in chapter one, so why are they now changing where God sits from the circle of the earth to heaven? (These are the logical contradictions one runs into when attempting to invent literal meaning out of metaphorical communication.)

According to Scripture, there are three literal heavens mentioned:
The first heaven is where the birds fly:

And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
-Genesis 1:20

The second heaven is where the sun, moon, and stars reside, and is sometimes called the "starry heaven" by Jewish authors:

And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.
-Deuteronomy 4:19

The first and second heaven are only separated into two categories based on descriptions given in Scripture (and from Paul's mention of three heavens, which we will cover momentarily), but the atmosphere and outer space (i.e. the first and second heaven) are both part of the "firmament" mentioned in Genesis 1:8. FECs often erroneously classify the firmament to be ONLY referring to the atmosphere, so they can fit the sun, moon, and stars into their snowglobe model.

The third heaven is the Kingdom of God:

I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth; ) such an one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth; ) How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.
-2 Corinthians 12:2-4

The heaven that is referred to in Isaiah 66:1 is the third heaven, where God has His throne, meaning that He rules and reigns from this spiritual location. Therefore, when it says "the earth is my footstool" it is not said in the sense that God is stretching out His feet and putting them on the earth, but rather, the creation is in a submissive position to Him, and He uses it for His will and good pleasure.

FECs completely skip over the second half of the verse, which is very important to understand the context, because it poses the question: "Where is the house that ye build unto me?" This question is not designed to be answered because there is no answer for it; rather, it is designed to get mankind to consider that God is immense and infinite in His power and understanding, and so just as a footstool cannot house a man, so the earth cannot house the Lord.
(Read "The Church is Not a Building" here at creationliberty.com for more details.)

The Lord God cannot be confined to any physical place on the earth, nor to any space in the first and second heavens because He is so awesome, we need such metaphors to help our tiny minds contemplate His greatness. However, because God is a spirit (John 4:24), through the Holy Ghost, the Lord lives within those who have been born again in Christ, or in other words, those who have been given the gifts of repentance (i.e. grief and godly sorrow of sins) and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ are those who God looks to for Him to dwell in, which is why the Lord God went on to say in the next verse:

For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit [i.e. a man who is broken-hearted because of his sin], and trembleth at my word.
-Isaiah 66:2

In order to understand the grave stupidity of this FEC footstool argument, we need to apply their same method of interpretation to other verses of Scripture. For example, let's follow their rules concerning Genesis 49:

Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?
-Genesis 49:9

In context, this is a metaphorical meaning, and should be obvious to any reader, even to children, that this is figurative. This is talking about Judah, son of Jacob, being like a young lion in his strength and courage, and is a reflection of meaning onto the Kingdom of Judah, which kept Israel safe, especially during the reign of David and Solomon.

However, if we are to take the meaning of this verse according to the philosophy of FECs, we must conclude that the Kingdom of Judah is LITERALLY a young lion. I am not saying that FECs make this argument, but I am simply applying their philosophical approach to the Bible to other Scriptures, and as we can clearly see, this is an extremely stupid argument because it makes no sense whatsoever, and obviously ignores the context.


What I find fascinating is that the Lord God told the Lord Jesus Christ to sit on His right hand until He makes Christ's enemies His footstool:

For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, Until I make thy foes thy footstool.
-Acts 2:34-35

And yet, for some mysterious reason, I have not found one FEC who teach that the enemies of Christ are literally shaped like footstools, or that God will transform them into literal footstools on the Day of Judgment. If I had to guess, it seems to me like FECs fully understand how to tell the difference between literal and metaphorical interpretation, but feign ignorance of it when it comes to the flat-earth narrative, or in other words, they hold the truth in unrighteousness.

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
-Romans 1:18

However, despite the obvious absurdities, FECs continue to plow forward through the stoney field of nonsense, as demonstrated by Roberto Gagliardi. The following image is taken from his website, "ButGodButNow.com," and this is his argument in its entirety as I found it on his site; there is no other argument or any other text included with this: (See Roberto Gagliardi, "Biblical Cosmology - KJB 1611-1769," But God But Now, retrieved Mar 16, 2023, [https://www.butgodbutnow.com/biblical-cosmology.html])

If any readers found this vague, and are curious about what Gagliardi is arguing, all I can tell you is that this is listed as his argument for a "geometrical flat surface," and there are NO other details provided. This is the pattern I mentioned earlier when it comes to FECs, in which they cherry-pick out-of-context phrases, regurgitate the chapter and verse numbers in rapid succession, and provide nothing else.

Furthermore, the hypocrisy of their footstool argument is perplexing when you consider that FECs do not make the same argument with "heaven" and "throne" as they do with "earth" and "footstool." For the earth and footstool argument, they say that the statement PROVES that the earth is shaped like a literal footstool, but in all my research, I have not yet seen a single FEC who says they believe (and have offered depictions of) heaven shaped like a literal throne.

If one is going to argue that these verses are literal in their descriptions of cosmology, then FECs (if they were consistent in their theology) would have to believe that the sky is shaped like a throne upon which God LITERALLY sits in a physical manner. The only reason they do not draw that conclusion is because anyone can look outside and see that the sky is not shaped like a literal throne, providing more clear evidence that FECs alter their interpretation of Scripture to fit a preconceived narrative, or in other words, in actuality, they are NOT using the Bible to interpret flat-earth; rather, they are using the flat-earth model as the concordance for the interpretation of the Bible.

Flat-earth cultists do not use the Bible to interepret cosmology, rather, they use the flat-earth model to interpret the Bible.

It has been quite irritating to do reseach on the subject of what they call "Biblical Cosmology" because I cannot find any actual arguments being made for it. I was looking forward to analyzing the arguments that FECs make, but I cannot hardly find any. They only provide subjective implied meanings to brainwash their audience into thinking that they have attained special mystical knowledge in the Bible about the shape of the earth.

The aforementioned Unexpected Cosmology website offers an identical argument, and once again, without any explanation or details offered about the context and meaning of the verses. The only thing provided by the author is a computer-generated image, which is hilarious when we consider that, in most cases, FECs complain that (according to their beliefs) the only thing NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) ever offers is computer-generated images: (See Noel J. Hadley, "The Biblical Flat Earth & Heaven's Place Above the Firmament," The Unexpected Cosmology, Mar 27, 2017, retrieved Mar 16, 2023, [https://theunexpectedcosmology.com/the-biblical-flat-earth-heavens-place-above-the-firmament])

In 1863, flat-earth pastor W.F. Warren had a little more of nothing to say about the footstool argument:
"Science has robbed us of the old heaven up among the stars - the heaven of the Bible and of childhood. She has unroofed the imposing temple under whose dome of spangled azure David sang, and the whole procession of primitive saints reverently trod. She has left us no firmament to support God's throne, and his footstool has become a flying, whirling ball."
-W.F. Warren, quoted by S. Pollock Linn, Dictionary of Living Thoughts of Leading Thinkers, Ketcham, 1896, p. 84, [Harvard University]

Does Warren add anything else to this argument? If you read his sermon, sadly, the answer is no. He simply goes on a poetical rant for the rest of his sermon instead of addressing the context of Scripture, proving that the absurd Scriptural arguments (or lack thereof) that the FECs use has been the same for (at least) the better part of two centuries.

If FECs have a Biblical argument for their theories, I would like to see them, but sadly, they do not offer them. I am not saying this as some vague, generalized attack; I am simply pointing out what I am seeing as I go from website-to-website, and it is the same thing I have seen from those I have spoken to personally. Therefore, it is a marvelous contradiction for them to claim that they believe in "Biblical cosmology," when the Bible has nothing to do with what they really believe.

In fact, the Bible actually contradicts their idea that God is housed on the earth or in the heavens:

But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?
-1 Kings 8:27

None of these created things can contain the Lord God. Even if FECs want to contradict themselves and argue that this was taken out of context, the context indicates this should be taken literally:

And now, O God of Israel, let thy word, I pray thee, be verified, which thou spakest unto thy servant David my father. But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded? Yet have thou respect unto the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, O LORD my God, to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer, which thy servant prayeth before thee to day:
-1 Kings 8:26-28

The concept to understand in this passage is that God is so massive in His infinite span, He cannot be housed, which is constrasted to the concept of idols of fake gods being placed inside a temple of worship. (i.e. Idols can be housed, but God cannot.) The point of this verse is that Solomon had a good understanding that, although He built the Temple for the Holy Spirit to dwell in the holy of holies upon the Ark of the Covenant, such things do not contain the Lord, nor can they bind Him in any way.

Thus, by this verse alone, we can know that the wacky theories and stale theology of FECs is completely nonsense because they try to apply physical attributes to God. The ideology of FECs is exactly like pagan ideology, in which they apply physical attributes to their false gods in idolatry, and the only real difference between them is that FECs claim these things about the Living God (which is heresy and blasphemy), and end up worshiping the planet itself more than God.


 


The following is from the aforementioned FEC website "Romans 3:4," which says:
"[W]e live in an enclosed system, one that consists of a fixed and immovable circular flat plane that sits on pillars, (1 Samuel 2:8, Job 9:6, Psalms 75:3)"
(See Website Romans 3:4, "Cosmology, According to the Bible," retrieved Mar 17, 2023, [https://romansthreefour.com/biblical-cosmology])

Once again, this is the entirety of this anonymous FEC's argument; there is no more detail that he offers on the subject of the "pillars of the earth" or "foundations of the earth." As we saw indication of in the last chapter, not only do FECs believe the earth is flat, but they also believe it is set on LITERAL pillars.

pillar (n): a kind or irregular column; that which sustains or upholds; that on which some superstructure rests; foundation; support
(See 'pillar', American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster, 1828, retrieved Mar 17, 2023, [webstersdictionary1828.com])

The anonymous FEC author refers to First Samuel 2:8 as his "proof" that the earth is resting on literal pillars:

He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the LORD'S, and he hath set the world upon them.
-1 Samuel 2:8

Unsurprisingly, we can see more FECs cherry-picking. Let's go back to the context of First Samuel 2, and get an understanding of what is being talked about:

And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart rejoiceth in the LORD, mine horn is exalted in the LORD: my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in thy salvation.
1 Samuel 2:1

This is an EXTREMELY tough verse for FECs because, since they interpret the Bible to be literally true from cover-to-cover, they will have a very difficult time understanding it. This is the prayer of Hannah, given to her by the Lord for the purpose of documenting it for us, who performed acts of kindness and charity towards God's prophet Samuel.

FECs would have to believe that Hannah had literal horns, which is complete nonsense because this is obviously a metaphorical reference to animals which have horns. The Lord had closed Hannah's womb, and her enemies mocked her for it, to which she was heavily grieved, but she rejoiced in the salvation of the Lord, and therefore, she could lift up her head like a lively horned animal, to face her adversaries with boldness.

FECs would have to believe that Hannah's mouth was so enormous that she could completely envolope her enemies inside her mouth. (I had a hard time writing that sentence without laughing.) The "enlarged" state of Hannah's mouth was an expression of her boldness in the face of her enemies who vexxed her, whereas her mouth was once closed, it is now open, freely speaking to her friends and neighbors with gladness of heart, which confused her enemies.

There is none holy as the LORD: for there is none
beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God.
1 Samuel 2:2

Whether angels or men, none can be holy without the Lord blessing them with holiness. When Hannah said "any rock," it is referring to idols made from rock (i.e. metals such as silver and gold), and so there is no rock/idol/false god that is like the Lord God, the Creator of all things.

Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.
-1 Samuel 2:3

Though this is a general proverb for all of us to consider, this was also directed at the adversaries of Hannah, who boasted of themselves against her. This is a warning to them that they should not be proud and arrogant in their speech because the Lord God is the giver of all blessings and knowledge, He is the judge over the hearts of all mankind (Pro 17:3), and He takes record of all actions and words. (Mat 12:36)

The bows of the mighty men are broken, and
they that stumbled are girded with strength.
-1 Samuel 2:4

If the FECs literal interpretation of Scripture were true, then we should not believe than any bows used in any army (of mighty men, which are men in positions of governing and military leadership) have ever worked, meaning that all their bows broke automatically upon use, and that is utter nonsense. This verse is explaning the judgments and power of God, in that He can break the bows of mighty men at His will, and for those who are weak, the Lord can lift up and strenghten according to His will.

They that were full have hired out themselves for bread; and they that were hungry ceased: so that the barren hath born seven; and she that hath many children is waxed feeble.
-1 Samuel 2:5

Should we take this literally and say that those who have much must work for pennies, or should we say that the hungry have much to eat? No, that is nonsensical. This verse is explaining that God, by His power and will, bring the arrogant to their knees, and lift up the weak. (1Co 1:26-29)

Should we take this literally and say that barren women have many children, or that the mother of many children is barren? No, that is nonsensical. This verse is explaining that God will give to the oppressed, and punish the wicked in their arrogance, so that whereas Hannah might bare only one child, her adversaries may end up having to bury all their children because they mocked the Lord. (Gal 6:7)

The LORD killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up. The LORD maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up.
-1 Samuel 2:6-7

There are some the Lord allows to live long lives, and others, He cuts their lives short. Some He brings very close to death (by which those close to them think there is no hope left for them), while others He commands back from the brink of death. Likewise, by His will and power, He can make the poor rich, as He did with Job, and can make the rich poor, as He did with Nebuchadnezzar, or He can bring people down to nothing as He did with Jezebel, while others He can lift up to a place of honor as He did with Joseph, son of Jacob.

He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the LORD'S, and he hath set the world upon them.
-1 Samuel 2:8

Before I explain this verse, it should be recognized that there is a lot of figurative language used in First Samuel 2. Furthermore, nothing in the context of this chapter has ANYTHING WHATSOEVER to do with cosmology or the shape of the earth; rather, this has to do with warnings to the arrogant, and encouragement to the faithful.

Does the Lord God create the poor out of dust? No, that is nonsensical. This is not said literally, but figuratively, as was expressed in previous verses. The only literal part of that statement is that the poor have nothing but the dust of the ground, and they sit on the ground and beg for what little they can get to live, and the Lord is able to raise them up from their condition at His will.

Are the beggars of this world trapped under a literal mound of dung (i.e. poop), and God literally, physically lifts them out of it? No, that is nonsensical. This is referring to God taking those who are looked upon by the world to be vile, disgusting, and worthless, and bringing them up to a place where they are set among princes, to work in higher offices, and to dine with them at their tables.

Therefore, the "pillars" being referred to here are not literal pillars of stone, but rather, the pillars of the earth are the power and providence of God. This could also be taken indirectly in the sense that the pillars are the princes/kings of government, an extension of God's authority (not in the sense that magistrates have divine authority, but in the sense that they are authorized to punish evildoers, Rom 13:1-4), which rule over the earth for the express purpose of protecting the people against criminals, and all those "pillars" are offices of government that belong to the Lord, so He controls them at His will, and if it is His will, He will set their eyes to look favorably upon those who the world may see as vile, weak, and foolish.

However, in a strange quest to abandon all rationality, FECs believe that Hannah was praying to God about the shape of what is underneath their flat-earth model. I am doing my best to take their arguments seriously for the purpose of addressing them in a reasonable manner, but with each chapter of this book, it is getting more difficult to give the theories of FECs any sincere consideration.

On the website "BiblicalCosmology.faith," an author, who only goes by the name of "Genesis Man" (i.e. hiding his identity), has an article called "The Earth Sits on Pillars," and I thought to myself, "Okay, after all this searching, let's see if this is a flat-earth cultist who will finally attempt to write out an actual thought." Once again, I got baited, and was left disappointed because "Genesis Man" quotes four cherry-picked verses, and that is the end of the so-called "article" (if you can call it that); there is NOTHING ELSE—no commentary, or any other reasonings.
(See Genesis Man, "The Earth Sits on Pillars," BiblicalCosmology.faith, Oct 26, 2022, retrieved Mar 17, 2023, [https://biblicalcosmology.faith/bible-verse/the-earth-sits-on-pillars])

In the "article," the author refers to Psalm 75:

The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved:
I bear up the pillars of it. Selah.
-Psalm 75:3

The first thing you will notice about this verse is that, if we take it according to the literal interpretation of FECs, the earth, and all its creatures (including mankind), do not exist because they dissolved. I would be very interested to see a FEC try to explain that one. Is it any wonder, then, that so many FECs websites offer no commentary on these verses?

This verse, in context with the rest of Psalm 75, is speaking of the judgments of God, and that "the earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved" in the sense of God's coming judgment (on the final Judgment Day), in which He will burn the world with fire.

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
-2 Peter 3:10

The Lord says that He bears up "the pillars" of the earth in the sense that He will not let the fire burn up the planet in its entirety. Only the surface of the earth, along with all the works of men, will be burned up so that the appearance of it (which we are so used to seeing) will no longer exist, and from that, He will create a new heavens and new earth. (Rev 21:1)

FEC "Genesis Man" also refers to Job 9:

Which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble.
-Job 9:6

Before I address the context of the verse, I found this verse contradictory to the statement from the anonymous author of the FEC website "Romans 3:4" (who I quoted at the beginning of this chapter). That author said the earth is "a fixed and immovable circular flat plane," and yet, if he takes the Bible literally in Job 9:6, it says that God shakes "the earth out of her place."

However, this verse is only referring to the shaking of the earth in terms of God altering the surface of it, as He did in the days of Noah in the worldwide flood, and as He will do again with fire on the Day of Judgment. This is not referring to something as simple as earthquakes, which are small and local, and do not tremble the very core of the earth.

Proverbs 8 was also used to support the FEC doctrine:

When he prepared the heavens, I was there:
when he set a compass upon the face of the depth:
-Proverbs 8:27

I confess that I have no idea what argument the FECs are making with this verse. Of course, the anonymous authors do not provide any contextual arguments with their cherry-picked verses, so it becomes difficult to tell what point they are trying to make.

If I had to guess, based on the absurdities I have seen so far, they are likely taking the word 'compass' literally, and arguing that because a compass points north, south, east, and west, that the world has four pillars, one in each direction. However, that is not even close to the context of the verse because the word 'compass' here is not used in the sense of a literal handheld compass that points north, south, east, or west.

compass (n): stretch; reach; extent; the limit or boundary of a space, and the space included; applied to time, space, sound, etc. Our knowledge lies within a very narrow compass. The universe extends beyond the compass of our thoughts. So we say, the compass of a year, the compass of an empire, the compass of reason, the compass of the voice.
(See 'compass', American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster, 1828, retrieved Mar 23, 2023, [webstersdictionary1828.com])

In this instance, I am not even arguing figurative meaning over literal interpretation, but rather, I am saying that the word 'compass' is NOT referring to a handheld device that we use to indicate direction because the word generally means "a limited boundary." This is the same meaning that Job used it again later in chapter 26:

He hath compassed the waters with bounds,
until the day and night come to an end.
-Job 26:10

This is referring to the waters of the seas, binding them with walls of dry earth, so that they would only go as far as His will allows, according to the promise He made with mankind to never destroy the world with water. (Gen 8:21-22 - This is one of the many reasons we know that things like "global warming" are a scam.) Job then adds that the waters are set at their boundaries "until the day and night come to an end," and that will happen on the final Day of Judgment, as we read earlier from Second Peter 3:10, in which "the heavens shall pass away with a great noise." This is what was meant in chapter nine, that a compass, or extent within a limited space, was set upon the waters, that they would not go past certain boundaries to cover the whole land as they did in the days of Noah.

There is nothing in the text that refers to literal pillars (often portrayed by FECs to have four pillars specifically) that a flat-earth is resting upon. I searched through as many websites and videos as I could find on the topic of pillars, but I was unable to find any FEC willing to talk about the subject in any more detail than their usual cherry-picking, and most of them continued to push their propaganda that anyone who does not believe in flat-earth (after reading their cherry-picked phrases) also does not believe the Bible.
 


For any reader who does not understand, the word 'heliocentric' refers to a cosmological system in which the Earth revolves around the Sun, and the word 'geocentric' refers to a system in which the Sun revolves around the Earth. Normally, I would classify this as a separate issue from flat-earth, but many FECs also believe in the geocentric model for the same cherry-picking reasons that I have covered in previous chapters.

With this topic, I maintain the same position I do with the flat-earth topic, namely, that it does not bother me if someone claims to believe in either the heliocentric or geocentric belief/worldview/model because I simply do not care. As I stated in the introduction to this book, it has no effect on my ability to preach the Gospel of Salvation and the doctrines of Christ, nor does it affect my day-to-day living. However, if someone claims that the Bible exclusively teaches a geocentric model of cosmology, now we have a problem that needs to be addressed because, as I have already pointed out, the Bible is mostly vague on the subject of cosmology, and does not point to one specific view or another.

As I searched for articles about this subject, I came across an author named Glenn Elert (a teacher at Midwood Science Research in New York City) who seems to be an atheistic evolutionist, but does not make that point very clear in his writings. (i.e. He refers to God's creation as a "myth," but does not directly state his position.) He wrote an article arguing that the Bible teaches flat-earth and geocentrism, and since FECs have not made near as much effort to put their thoughts in writing, I thought it would be interesting to see how he argues this point because, even though he has a different worldview than FECs, he claims that the Bible teaches a "scriptural cosmology" in the same manner that FECs do, the only difference is that he mocks Scripture for being "anti-evolution."

Elert begins his argument by saying:
"The most important biblical quote supporting a geocentric universe can be found in the Book of Joshua. This will be used as the starting point for our scriptural cosmology."
-Glenn Elert, "The scriptural basis for a geocentric cosmology," retrieved Apr 14, 2023, [https://hypertextbook.com/eworld/geocentric]

Elert then quotes from Joshua 10:

Then spake Joshua to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.
-Joshua 10:12-13

And he also cross-references Habakkuk 3, which refers to the same event in Joshua 10:

The sun and moon stood still in their habitation: at the light of thine arrows they went, and at the shining of thy glittering spear.
-Habakkuk 3:11

Elert goes on to say:
"The evidence in support of a geocentric model is overwhelming here. Joshua commanded the sun to stand still. He did not order the earth to cease rotating nor did he qualify his statement with the divine knowledge that the sun was merely made to appear stationary. The sun was commanded to stand still because it is the sun that moves."
-Glenn Elert, "The scriptural basis for a geocentric cosmology," retrieved Apr 14, 2023, [https://hypertextbook.com/eworld/geocentric]

The problem that Elert has is the same problem the FECs have, in which they take something that was said according to the viewpoint of mankind, and transform it into a cosmological ideology; the difference being that FECs do this to make themselves look presumably intelligent, while Elert does this to make them look foolish, but neither side understands that they are both foolish. In chapter three, we covered the "four corners of the earth" phrase, in which I demonstrated that it was speaking figuratively, in the sense that we might look at a square map on a table, which has distant lands reaching to the four corners of it, and likewise, this is simply the Lord God speaking to us in Scripture from our vantage point, as well as accurately recording the words of men like Joshua.

Of course, I am not saying that Joshua was speaking figuratively or metaphorically when he commanded the sun and moon to stand still, but we use language from our own perspective, and God is kind, patient, and understanding with us as we grow in our limited understanding of the world. Elert picks on the language of the Bible to indicate that it teaches geocentrism, but everyday, there are many meteorologists presenting weather forecasts on news networks, who all believe in the heliocentric model (i.e. that the sun does not move), but when speaking about the position of the sun, they still talk about the sun rising, setting, and moving across the sky, as it appears to us earth-bound observers.

For example, on his website, Elert has a section called The Physics Factbook, which has a document written by his students, but edited by him. In this document, it speaks of the "sunrise," but if Elert truly believes the Bible is in error for speaking in the manner of a planet-bound observer, why did he not discipline his students for speaking that way? In fact, the context of Elert's document is the "Temperature on the Surface of Mercury," and even though we all know that Elert has never been to the planet Mercury, he still calls it "sunrise," as if he is speaking from the perspective of a man standing on Mercury.
(See Glenn Elert, "Temperature on the Surface of Mercury" The Physics Factbook, 2000, retrieved Apr 21, 2023, [https://hypertextbook.com/facts/2000/OlesyaNisanov.shtml])

The point I am making here is that Elert is a hypocrite, selectively criticizing others for something he does himself. From a philosophical standpoint, Elert is no different than the FECs who he scoffs at, and though FECs also scoff at evolutionists like Elert, they are also no different from him in that regard; neither side has any concern about the context of what they are reading, and both sides manipulate others to believe in their biased, presuppositional narratives.

This simple use of language from one's own perspective is not a cause for despair for one side or another, nor is it a call to condemn the heliocentric model as "an evil lie of Satan," as I have seen many FECs label it. For those who are skeptical on this subject, I would ask you some simple questions, and let you answer it for yourself: Did God specifically say that the sun moves around the earth? Or rather, did the Lord accurately document what Joshua said, and then Habakkuk later referred back to the book of Joshua?

What I find interesting about the geocentric claim is that FECs insist that the sun moves in circles within the earth's atmosphere. The following diagram shows what they believe, namely, that both the sun and the moon are in a circuit within earth's atmosphere, and that the sun only shines downward like a spotlight (even though there is no Biblical or scientific evidence to support that idea).
For those Christians who study the Bible and take it seriously, let's take a look at the Scriptures in which Jesus spoke about the sun rising:

That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
-Matthew 5:45

This is not a metaphor, but rather, it is literal because Jesus is referring to the kindness God has, even on those who hate Him, in which He causes the sun to rise to give those hateful people warmth, and to grow their food. From the FEC perspective, this should be a rather odd statement because, according to their model, the sun does not "rise," and therefore, they would have to believe that there is some misinterpretation of the verse, or that Jesus was in error somehow... UNLESS this is simply God speaking to us in the manner of our limited understanding from our vantage point.

Furthermore, the Bible speaks of the sun setting:

And at even, when the sun did set, they brought unto him all that were diseased, and them that were possessed with devils.
-Mark 1:32

Did Mark (and the Holy Spirit who inspired this passage) not understand cosmology? Or was Mark simply speaking the truth from the perspective of an earth-bound observer?

Again, according to the flat-earth model, the sun should be "moving over," or "coming around." There should be no mention of sunrise in the Bible, nor would it be logical (according to the FEC worldview) to say that the the sun comes up, and yet, the Bible says these things:

And it shall be, that in the morning, as soon as the sun is up, thou shalt rise early, and set upon the city: and, behold, when he and the people that is with him come out against thee, then mayest thou do to them as thou shalt find occasion.
-Judges 9:33

Likewise, according to the FEC model, the sun should not "set" or go "down," but if we go back to Joshua 10:13 and read it carefully, the Bible specifically states that the sun did not "go DOWN about a whole day."

...So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven,
and hasted not to go down about a whole day.
-Joshua 10:13

I have read arguments from FECs in which they say that if God had to stop the earth to make the sun stand still in the sky, that everyone in the world would have been violently thrown off of the earth because of the angular momentum. To that, I would respond that they are obviously worshiping a different god than I worship because the Christian God of the Bible is not bound by the laws of physics, and can do anything He chooses to do with this universe without us ever knowing about it.

It should be noted that, after viewing many arguments from a variety of FECs, I do believe that they worship a different god, and a great deal of evidence is seen in their (possibly intentional) mishandling of the interpretation of God's Word. If Joshua 10 is (as Glenn Elert indicated) the best argument they have for a geocentric model, then they are standing on very flimsy ground, and proof of their deception can be seen in other Scriptures they use.

Elert goes on to argue that the Bible teaches a stationary (i.e. geocentric) earth model by referring to Psalm 93, and I knew he was going to do this because he is modeling his arguments directly from FECs. I have had emails from various upset FECs in years past who attempted this same fallacious argument:

The LORD reigneth, he is clothed with majesty; the LORD is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself: the world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved.
-Psalm 93:1

We will cover the context of these verses in a moment, and it will demonstrate how little study that FECs do when approaching these verses. I am not boasting of myself in this in any way, because I thank God that He has shown me mercy to give me understanding of these verses, but the fact is that FECs are often very lazy, and rely on keyword searches from an internet Bible search engine, rather than studying the context to gain understanding.

I once had a FEC write an email to me, in which he listed out many verses that had the words "shall not be moved" or "cannot be moved" in them. Though I am sure he thought that would impress me, it was nothing more than a pathetic attempt to seem like he had understanding by copying and pasting verses he found in a keyword search engine, which is something any 8-year-old child could do, and likely took him only a couple of minutes to prepare.

For example, here are a couple of verses that he added in his email to me:

Say among the heathen that the LORD reigneth: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved: he shall judge the people righteously.
-Psalm 96:10

Fear before him, all the earth: the world also
shall be stable, that it be not moved.
-1 Chronicles 16:30

FECs argue that these verses prove that the earth does not move, and therefore, they claim that the earth is stationary, having no rotation or circuit. However, in response to this man, I sent him one verse:

The LORD reigneth; let the people tremble: he sitteth between the cherubims; let the earth be moved.
-Psalm 99:1

How can one say that the earth cannot be moved, but that the earth moves at the same time? The person who wrote the email to me did not want to talk to me anymore after that, and that is one of two types of responses that I have received from EVERY FEC I have encountered to date.

Over the years after that email exchange, I have had a few people contact me about this subject, and when I show them this verse, I either receive no more communication, or I receive a laundry list of railing and false accusations. However, what I want readers to understand is that NONE of these verses (neither what they send me, nor the verse I use to respond to them) have ANYTHING WHATSOEVER to do with the shape and design of the planet as a whole, so let's take a look at the context to understand this more clearly.

Psalm 93 is a song, or hymn, that consists of only five verses, making it one of the shortest chapters in the Bible, and typically, the less text there is, the more difficult it is to gather a context from it. However, if we simply read more than just the cherry-picked phrase out of verse one, we can gather more information.

The LORD reigneth, he is clothed with majesty; the LORD is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself: the world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved.
-Psalm 93:1

There is a question that I believe most Christians never ask themselves (let alone FECs), and that is: What is the definition of 'world'? Some readers might be surprised to learn that the word 'world' has a lot of different meanings, and is very adaptable to the context in which it is used.

world (n): 1. the universe
2. the earth
3. the heavens; as when we speak of the heavenly world or upper world
4. system of beings
5. present state of existence; as while we are in the world
6. a secular life
7. public life, or society
8. business or trouble of life
9. a great multitude or quantity; as a world of business
10. mankind; people in general
(See 'world', American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster, 1828, retrieved Apr 19, 2023, [webstersdictionary1828.com])

There are more definitions beyond these, but this should be enough to make the point clear. So this begs the question, "What 'world' was David (via the Holy Spirit, Acts 1:16) referring to when he wrote Psalm 93?"

Thy throne is established of old: thou art from everlasting.
-Psalm 93:2

In the first part of verse one, it speaks of the girded strength of the Lord Jesus Christ, and then says "the world ALSO is stablished," meaning that whatever is being referred to as "the world" has a direct connection to the power and strength of Christ. Then, in verse two, we can see a reference to God's throne, that both He and His throne are "everlasting," and so we need to ask ourselves where the throne of God is located.

Jesus answered that when He rebuked the scribes and Pharisees:

And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.
-Matthew 23:22

Jesus also mentioned this in the Sermon on the Mount:

But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne:
-Matthew 5:34

Therefore, the context indicates that Psalm 93 is speaking of Jesus Christ, who established the world known as the Kingdom of Heaven (i.e. the third heaven), which cannot be moved by any power because it is made everlasting by the will of God the Father and Christ the Son. FECs will heavily object to this interpretation because this is one of the foundational verses they use for their holy sacred cow of geocentrism, but this is the correct, contextual interpretation of the verse, as Paul verified in Hebrews 12, namely, that the Kingdom of Heaven, which we receive as an inheritance, is the world which cannot be moved:

Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
-Hebrews 12:28

Psalm 93 then goes on to talk about flood waters:

The floods have lifted up, O LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their waves. The LORD on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea.
-Psalm 93:3-4

Again, this is figurative language because there are no flood waters in heaven. The floods mentioned here are those of wicked men, who are the enemies of Christ and His kingdom (i.e. the church), that "lifted up their voice" against God's Word, and we can see this same analogy used in Isaiah 8, in which the wicked armies who came against Israel were described as flood waters breaching the banks of the river:

Forasmuch as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah's son; Now therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria, and all his glory: and he shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks: And he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel.
-Isaiah 8:6-8

Now that we understand how Psalm 93 is interpreted, let's also take a closer look at Psalm 96:

Say among the heathen that the LORD reigneth: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved: he shall judge the people righteously.
-Psalm 96:10

This is said in a slightly different manner than Psalm 93 because this speaks of Christ judging the people righteously, which would not have to be done in the Kingdom of Heaven since all will have the same spirit and a full understanding, and there will be no more sin, and no more fighting. The time this is referring to is the millennial (i.e. thousand-year) reign of Christ (Rev 21:1, 2Pe 3:13, Isa 66:22), in which He will directly rule over the newly established earth along with the saints (Rev 20:4), and at that time, the world will not be moved, meaning that it will not pass away specifically during that thousand years.

It should be noted that it makes no sense to say that the earth itself would not be moved because, eventually, it will be moved, meaning that it will pass away and no longer exist, being burned up with a fervent heat (2Pe 3:10), along with the sky above and the universe. Only the Kingdom of Heaven (for the saints, John 14:3) and the Lake of Fire (for the unsaved, Mat 25:41) will remain forever.

Of course, when I say that it makes no sense to say "the earth cannot be moved," the FECs will retort with the above mentioned verse in First Chronicles:

Fear before him, all the earth: the world also
shall be stable, that it be not moved.
-1 Chronicles 16:30

They see the words 'earth', 'world', and 'stable', and immediately jump to a geocentric conclusion, however, what they do not understand is that Psalm 96:10 (which we just covered) is a reiteration of 1 Chronicles 16:30, in which the Holy Ghost had David make this prophecy into a song. Here are both verses again, side-by-side, with extra proceeding verses, which I have highlighted so you can compare them:

Say among the heathen that the LORD reigneth: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved: he shall judge the people righteously. Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof. Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice Before the LORD: for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.
-Psalm 96:10-13

Fear before him, all the earth: the world also shall be stable, that it be not moved. Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice: and let men say among the nations, The LORD reigneth. Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof: let the fields rejoice, and all that is therein. Then shall the trees of the wood sing out at the presence of the LORD, because he cometh to judge the earth.
-1 Chronicles 16:30-33

As you can see, both verses speak of the heavens (i.e. the angels) and the earth (i.e. the saints) being glad for the return of Christ for His millennial reign over the earth, that He would directly judge all mankind, and that the trees would sing and rejoice, which is a figurative reference to the sons of God that comes from the Song of Solomon 2:3. There is nothing in the context that even remotely hints at the shape of the earth, nor the cosmological functions of the planet, but once again, FECs cherry-pick phrases out of context in their willful ignorance, and mock all those who do not join hands with them in their hopeless circular reasoning.

Now let's take a close look at the verse that FECs and geocentrics hate me quoting, which is from Psalm 99:

The LORD reigneth; let the people tremble: he sitteth between the cherubims; let the earth be moved.
-Psalm 99:1

The only reason I quote this verse back to them on the subject of geocentrism is because, if they interpret this using the same fallacious methods they do with other verses, it is a direct contradiction to their preconceived model. However, as I have already stated, this has NOTHING WHATSOEVER to do with cosmology.

As with many of the psalms in the 90s (i.e. the chapters), this is praise and worship of Jesus Christ without specifically naming Him because His name was not yet known to the world, until it was later revealed to Joseph, the husband of Mary. (Mat 1:20-21) When Christ will return to claim His rightful place as king in His millennial reign, the people will tremble, whether trembling with excitement and rejoicing at His coming, or trembling in fear, as will His enemies when He comes to judge them with righteous judgment.

Christ sits between the cherubim, which is a reference to His holiness and power, since the place between the cherubim was the holy of holies in Solomon's temple, the most sacred and revered of places in all of Israel. Therefore, the "earth" being referred to in this passage is not the entire planet, but specifically Israel (as we learned in chapter two that the word 'earth' can refer to specific regions), and they would be 'moved' in the sense of emotion and commotion, shaking up the nation (Heb 12:26), both civilly and religiously, most especially the city of Jerusalem, both at His birth, and at His second coming.

I will not answer every verse FECs use on geocentrism in this book, only because they take hundreds of verses out of context, and to go through all of them would make this book far too long. I have simply addressed some of their most commonly used (and what they claim to be "strongest") arguments for the express purpose of demonstrating to Christians that FECs are taking the Scripture so far out of its context, the kindest way I know how to say this is that they are childish in their understanding.

Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men.
-1 Corinthians 14:20

 


Sadly, in most church buildings, churchgoers are getting a terrible education because they are being taught a philosophy that departs from studying the Scripture in context. Instead, churchgoers are taught a bad practice that, when they do not understand a verse, they should go to a concordance or lexicon to look up what a word means in the "original Hebrew" or "original Greek" for the interpretation.

For those of you who study the King James Bible, you know that you do not need "the original Greek" or "the original Hebrew" because we have the Word of God perfectly preserved for us in English. However, there are many who do not look to the Word of God as perfectly preserved, and they believe that they must go to an outside source to get the meaning of things that should be basic contextual interpretation.

Please do not misunderstand me on this point because I am not arguing that going to a dictionary to understand the meaning of a word is wrong in any sense. We all have to learn the general meanings of words in order to use them in our daily communication with one another, and the training to read language is how we are able to read and study the Bible in the first place. However, what many churchgoers are being taught to do is go to a lexicon or concordance to find the definitions of words that they ALREADY understand, to get a list of meaning they can pick and choose based on what they feel like the words mean, instead of based on the context in which they are used.

As I pointed out in the introduction to this book, the Lord God instructed us to study His Word by comparing various commandments together (i.e. "precept upon precept"), with each verse in its context (i.e. "line upon line"), and correlating various doctrines together (i.e. "here a little, and there a little") to gain a full understanding:

Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
-Isaiah 28:9-10

I have read various FEC authors who also use this passage to claim the way the Bible should be read. However, as I have already demonstrated in previous chapters, FECs have frequently used this passage to deceptively make themselves appear like they are interpreting verses according to a Biblical standard, when in reality, they make almost no effort to follow the instructions of Isaiah 28.

In most church buildings, this method of Biblical interpretation has been abandoned because lazy churchgoers (who have little care for the sanctity of the Bible) find it FAR less work to simply have a lexicon (or a pastor holding a lexicon) tell them what it says, than to have to take the time and focus to study the Word of God in its contextual detail. I fully admit that it is a lot of work to study the Bible the way that God instructed (because I have to do it quite often when I study and teach), which is why my ministry has become a full-time job, but to take the lazy path and rely on lexicons to do the interpreting has created a generation of lethargic churchgoers that have spewed out countless false doctrines.

To be fully transparent, I cannot speak, read, or write any Hebrew or Greek (outside of a few random letters or words), and that is something you will not hear very many preachers tell you, simply because they do not want others to know that. Most pastors (i.e. specifically those who got a degree from a corrupt seminary) do not want you to know that, in most cases, they have only taken a one-semester "Intro to Greek" course in college, and have no other education in Greek or Hebrew outside of that because it was not required education for them to get their seminary degree.

Introduction courses (or 101 courses) are EXTREMELY basic, and anyone who has attended colleges will understand exactly what I mean. Most often, 101 college courses have a lot of students in them because they are required course credits in order to get general education degrees, and with a Greek 101 course, most students will only learn the Greek alphabet and a bit of syntax (grammatical structure) to be able to speak and/or write a few words.

So without any in-depth education in Greek, how are these pastors able to come to you and preach from the "original Greek" or "original Hebrew?" The answer is concordances and lexicons, but they fool you into believing that they have an extensive education and experience in translating Hebrew and Greek into English, when in fact, they do not have much more experience than you do.

For any readers who do not believe me on this point, that is alright; you do not have to believe me. I would simply challenge you to find the New Testament in Greek and/or the Old Testament in Hebrew, hand it to a pastor, and ask him to read to you certain passages from it while you look at the English to verify, and in most cases, he will tell you that he cannot do it, revealing that what he really does behind the pulpit is look to the notes that he copied down from a lexicon earlier that morning, or he simply has a Greek-English bible version that he is regurgitating to make himself look really smart.

The scam that these pastors have been taught to run is much more elaborate than I will be able to cover in this book alone, but I will briefly go over how the scam works. It is important to understand this because this is the primary strategy used by FECs to trick people into believing their false doctrines.

Let's look at an example when it comes to the Greek word άναφέρω, or "anaphero," which is pronounced "ah-nah-feh-ro." I went to Strong's Greek Lexicon to look up the translation it provided for this word: άναφέρω - anaphero

to bring up to lead up to offer up (i.e. upon an altar) to lift up (carry) to sustain

(See Strong's Greek Lexicon, "G399 άναφέρω," Blue Letter Bible, retrieved Mar 28, 2023, [blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?t=kjv&strongs=g399])

In Matthew 17, the word 'anaphero' is used:

And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up [άναφέρω] into an high mountain apart,
-Matthew 17:1

In the context of Matthew 17, this simply means that Jesus brought the disciples with Him up the mountain, or in other words, they traveled up the mountain together. This is a very simple passage, and one does not require a masters degree in theology to understand it, but with the use of creative cherry-picking, and the use of selective definitions in a Greek-English lexicon, a preacher can create a variety of wild doctrines to convince an audience that there is secret information and hidden meanings in Matthew 17:1 just waiting to be decoded by a preacher of a "spiritual" mind.

The pastor of a church building is looked upon to be a man of intellect and wisdom, and the pastor knows this and takes advantage of that by giving churchgoers the impression that he has a secret, mystical revelation about this verse; telling churchgoers that Jesus did not just "bring them up" to the mountain, and that there was much more to it than that because of a magical filter called "the original Greek." Thus, because the average churchgoer knows nothing about Greek, they immediately think the pastor is super smart, they respect his person, and they automatically believe what he tells them next.
(Read "Respecting Persons is Sin" here at creationliberty.com for more details.)

To have respect of persons is not good:
for for a piece of bread that man will transgress.
-Proverbs 28:21

In case any readers are unaware, to respect a man's person means that you believe him on the basis of his stature, education, title, rank, or any other socially prestigious label that would make him appear honorable on the outside, rather than respecting the truth first and foremost, thereby judging righteous judgment (John 7:24), analyzing what he says based on the merit of the facts, and checking the Scripture to verify the truth. (Acts 17:11) In other words, if you automatically trust a man's words because of his title, wealth, or other accomplishments, then you have a personal preference to the vain and prideful things that the world highly esteems (Luke 16:15), which neither shows love to God, nor to your neighbor. (Mat 22:37-40)

But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin,
and are convinced of the law as transgressors.
-James 2:9

So the pastor looks at these definitions and says that Jesus did not just "bring them up," but rather, he LED them up (i.e. Strong's definition #2), and if he is skilled in his speechcraft, he can easily fill a 30-minute time slot with that alone. He simply tells the congregation how the King James Bible is an outdated book that got some things wrong, but thankfully, the pastor is there to save everyone from their ignorance.

So the pastor tells everyone that Jesus did not just "bring them up," but rather, Jesus LED them up, and that is MUCH more meaningful because Jesus is a LEADER. He preaches fervently that Jesus LEADS us through those really dark times, when our dishwasher breaks down, when we get brain freeze headaches at an ice cream social, or when we get a flat tire on the car.

Some readers may think that I am being overly or unnecessarily facetious. However, the following is a "Christian" author who uses the exact scam I just showed you::
"Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves. Matthew 17:1 [NIV]... These three men were becoming intimately connected with Jesus, and it was becoming instinctive for them to follow His voice. What encourages me most is that, even though Peter was accused of allowing the enemy to use him, Jesus still included him. The other word in verse one is led, or anaphero, which means 'to carry or bring up, to lead up men to a higher place.' I'm sure we can all think of a time when we felt we could have been 'left behind.' Jesus doesn't work that way, though. He doesn't reject or exclude us. He includes us... We can then assume there was a work of repentance in Peter's heart for Jesus to lead him to a higher place."
-Sherry Budd, The Leader Who Followed: A Study on the Life of Peter, Tate Publishing, 2011, p. 69, ISBN: 9781615669776

I hope readers now see what I mean because a 10-year-old child could do this. It does not take a theology degree, nor a PhD in Greek or Hebrew. All it takes a lexicon and some creative imagination, making it very easy to fool people, which is why so many so-called "pastors" do this in church buildings, and it is also why FECs do it.

Let's look at another example: Perhaps the pastor decides to tell churchgoers that Jesus did not just "bring them up," but rather, the Greek says that He OFFERED them up (i.e. Strong's definition #3), as if to sacrifice them on an altar like Abraham and Isaac. The pastor tells them that Jesus knew there had to be a sacrifice, and planned to OFFER up Peter, James, and John, but He just could not bear to see His disciples sacrificed, so in His mercy, Jesus changed his mind and OFFERED up Himself instead.

Of course, this is a nonsensical interpretation based on such a simple thing as bringing people up a mountain, but once again, here is another so-called "Christian" author writing a very similar concept to what I just described: "Now it is Jesus who takes the initiative, leading his disciples to the 'burning bush' of the mystery of God. The word 'lead' (anaphero: to lift on high, to offer) used by Matthew conveys the idea of offering something in gratitude. Jesus wants to teach us that everything is a gift... It is precisely this offering that reveals the Master's freedom of heart—he is not afraid to enlighten the world with the transfiguring power of a completely new kind of love."
-Paoline, "The 7 Lights of Easter," Figlie Di San Paolo, retrieved Mar 28, 2023, [http://www.paoline.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/II_domenica_Quaresima_eng.pdf]; Read "Easter: Christians Celebrating Abomination" here at creationliberty.com for more details.)

In another example, perhaps a pastor decides to tell the churchgoers in his congregation that Jesus did not just "bring them up," but rather, the Greek says that He CARRIED them up (i.e. Strong's definition #4). This pastor tells churchgoers that the disciples were weak, but Jesus is strong, and so He had to CARRY the disciples up the mountain in the same way that Jesus must CARRY our burdens and sins.

And once again, we can see more leavened, so-called "Christian" authors doing something similar:
"'Jesus led them.' Led here is anaphero which actually means carry. Two things we can be sure of. He knew where He was going and He was looking forward to blowing these guys' minds."
-Terry Clark, "See Jesus In His Kingdom?" retrieved Mar 28, 2023, [https://catalystpeople.com/matthew-171-13-see-jesus-in-his-kingdom]

Though of some of you might be surprised by this (if you have never heard of corrupt preachers doing this before), it is extremely commonplace in many church buildings nowadays, especially among various flat-earth or "Biblical" cosmology groups. Even though there are a substantial amount of FECs who use the King James Bible, the Bible version they choose to use is irrelevant because their true faith and foundation rests in their own interpretations of cherry-picked definitions out of corrupt concordances and lexicons, and despite what they tell you, their interpretations do not come from the Bible.

Of course, some readers may be skeptical of me because, after all, I do not have any special college degrees or linguistic expertise, by which I can impress an audience by flexing intellectual muscles to get them to respect my person. However, what I do have is the Holy Spirit to open my understanding and give me basic reasoning, by which I can work hard to study the context of Scripture and, in most cases, gain a general understanding of what it is saying.

These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
-1 John 2:26-27

However, for those who pay great honors to those with prestigious degrees and lofty positions (instead of looking to logical understanding and sound wisdom from Scripture), allow me to quote John Chadwick, one of the leading experts in the University of Cambridge on lexicon source definitions:
"The essential precept to bear constantly in mind is the need for exercising sober judgment, and adopting a skeptical attitude towards every assertion which cannot be proved by satisfactory evidence. This is true of all forms of scholarship, but it is never more necessary than in the practice of Greek lexicography."
-John Chadwick, Lexicographica Graeca: Contributions to the Lexicography of Ancient Greek, Clarendon Press, 1996, p. 29-30, ISBN: 9780198149705

skeptic (n): a person who questions the validity or authenticity of something purporting to be factual
(See 'skeptic', Random House Dictionary, 2023, [dictionary.com]; See also Collins English Dictionary, 10th Edition, William Collins Sons & Co, 2012)

Skepticism is often used when speaking of those who question the authenticity of the Bible, but the general meaning of the term is to not take stated facts at their face value, and investigate further to discover if the claims to factual accuracy are legitimate. As Chadwick pointed out, this is extremely important when approaching the subject of "the original Greek" because of how easy it is to use bait-and-switch tactics, in combination with selective quoting and cherry-picking, to create alleged "Biblical" interpretation and doctrines, which in reality, do not exist in the Bible.

William Johnson is one of the main contributors to the digital lexical library Thesaurus Linguae Graecae [stephanus.tlg.uci.edu], which is a research center (founded in 1972) with the goal of creating a digital collection of all surviving Greek texts. Johnson described Greek lexicographers and their work:
"But then one turns to Greek. We have not walked into a slum exactly, but the buildings are more closely spaced, the porch banisters often rickety, the lawns not so well kept. Approaching the dictionary, a Hellenist [student of Greek culture] must remain cautious and light on the feet. Often enough, none of the translation equivalents is exact for a given context; sometimes the definition is simply wrong; glosses [personal interpretations without evidence] are rather frequently wrong; information on syntax, typical expressions, orthographica [the study of writing words with proper letters according to standard usage], or dialectical forms is hit-or-miss; and the overview one gets of the word can be fundamentally flawed, since, lexicographical practice aside, the passages considered by the lexicographer were too few and too skewed."
-William A. Johnson, Biblical Greek Language and Lexicography: Essays in Honor of Frederick W. Danker, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004, p. 77, ISBN: 9780802822161

Johnson is not saying that the Greek langauge itself is a wreck in any sense, but in all his experience in analyzing translations of Greek texts to create a digital library, he has found that there is a gross amount of error. One of the key points Johnson made in this statement is that "none of the translation equivalents is exact for a given context" and that is the primary point I have been making throughout this book, namely, that when it comes to translation and interpretation, context is vitally important, people often overlook context in written translations, and uncoincidentally, that is the one thing that FECs run from like its the plague.

It takes a great deal more work to study context than it does to look up a definition.

The purpose of this chapter was to briefly explain how the "original Greek" scam works, so that readers can understand how FECs are taking advantage of those who do not have understanding of the Scripture. In the next chapter, we will see more examples of how a FEC pastor uses these deceptive techniques to lead astray willingly blind churchgoers into corrupt ideology.
(Read "The 'Original Greek' Scam" & "The Dangers of Using Lexicons & Concordances" here at creationliberty.com for more details.)

Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy [a way of thinking] and vain deceit [useless lies], after the tradition of men, after the rudiments [first teachings you learn] of the world, and not after Christ.
-Colossians 2:8

 


I wanted something more than simply quoting various FEC (or "Biblical" cosmology) websites because nearly all of them gave no details whatsoever. My goal in this book was to give the FECs a fair chance to present an argument that I can analyze, but I could not find even the smallest effort of attempt to explain themselves on any of these websites, so I started looking up anyone I could find who published a video of himself preaching on the subject of flat-earth and the Bible.

Most of what I found online was just short videos of FECs going on rants about how they were so spiritual because they believed in flat-earth. Very few had any actual arguments to make, and most of them just posted random nature photos and computer-generated graphic models in front of some emotional music, which was very hypocritical from my perspective because they criticize NASA for doing the same thing.

One of the few people I found who offered more than short, poorly made videos was a man named Dean Odle, who has become somewhat of a poster boy for the "Biblical" cosmology movement. (i.e. I mean specifically for "Biblical" cosmology, not for the flat-earth movement in general, because there are different sects within the FEC community.) In Odle's church building, located in Auburn, Alabama, called "Fire & Grace Church," he gave a presentation he called, "God's Flat Earth & The Firmament of His Power," and he stated:
"The earth is not a ball. Alright? The Bible's never taught that it was. The Bible's always taught that it was flat... [@2:14] this is what the Bible teaches, I said, you can't argue that fact. Now, if you want to argue whether you believe the Bible or not, that's your issue.... [@5:00] And what we're going to prove this morning, beyond any shadow of a doubt, it can be proved in court—mind you, with this evidence—there is no curvature to the earth."
-Dean Odle, "God's Flat Earth & The Firmament of His Power," uploaded by Anissa Ledner, Dec 1, 2017, retrieved Mar 23, 2023, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtv1rv0l9Y0]

As we can see, Dean Odle is teaching a false dichotomy (also known as a "false dilemma," a logical fallacy, in which one forces you into one of two choices without considering other options), that you either have to believe in a flat earth, or you do not believe the Bible, and that the flat earth concept has all been proven "beyond a shadow of a doubt." Again, I will not be covering much on scientific evidence, I am only addressing the Biblical arguments, and the fallacious things that preachers (like Dean Odle) are saying. As I stated in the introduction to this book, I could not care less if someone wants to believe the earth is flat, but if someone wants to say that the Bible teaches that, then we have a problem that I need to address.

Now that we have an idea of what Odle believes, let's look at some of the "court-ready" arguments he gives for his position:
"Name something to me, a deception of Satan, that's turned more people away the Creator, and the Bible, than science."
-Dean Odle, "God's Flat Earth & The Firmament of His Power," uploaded by Anissa Ledner, Dec 1, 2017, retrieved Mar 23, 2023, [https://youtu.be/qtv1rv0l9Y0?t=383]

Sure, I can name something: The Catholic Church is a deception of Satan that has done more damage to the world, to turn people away from the Creator and the Bible, than any other entity in this world that I can think of, because they have led people to a false version of Christ. Odle makes this statement with great passion, using dramatic pauses for effect, to influence the audience into thinking that his idea of flat-earth is the most important issue of our time, when in fact, it is of no importance at all, let alone is it important to the Gospel of Jesus Christ in any capacity.
(Read Corruptions of Christianity: Catholicism here at creationliberty.com for more details.)

Odle then gives his first Scriptural argument in the video, and he quotes from Psalm 19:

The heavens declare the glory of God;
and the firmament sheweth his handywork.
-Psalm 19:1

I understand that nothing about this verse is indicative of a flat-earth, but Odle's use of it still needs to be addressed because he uses the "original Hebrew" scam that we covered in the previous chapter. I am about to demonstrate, once again, how the FECs use verses out of their context to justify their heretical teachings, and then use the Greek and Hebrew scam to reinforce it, so that it is believable for the willingly ignorant.

Just to make sure we understand that this is Odle's position on the matter, here is a quote from one of his sermons, in which he states that in order to gain a full understanding of the Scriptures, you need the original Greek and Hebrew:
"[@0:32] I love my King James Bible, but even though I believe it's the best English translation, we lose some things at times. We don't get the full meaning unless we look it up in the original language, and for the Bible—for the Old Testament it was primarily Hebrew, and of course, the New Testament was Greek. So you have to look these things up."
-Dean Odle, "DIRECT MIRROR - The Bible Does Say FLAT EARTH - Pastor Dean Odle," RealJasonDaniels, retrieved Apr 11, 2023, [https://rumble.com/vf8sbd-direct-mirror-the-bible-does-say-flat-earth-pastor-dean-odle.html]

This is wildly incorrect because we have the full meaning of the verses, translated in their context, preserved perfectly in the King James Bible. In order to justify the use of lexicons to interpret Scripture, men must downgrade the value of the King James Bible, so they can insert new interpretations that bring false doctrines. One of the main pieces of evidence to prove that Odle is scamming you is the fact that Odle never once reads directly from the Hebrew and/or Greek on his own, without the help of a lexicon (meaning that he does not know how to read and understand those languages), which also means that he has never read the context of Hebrew and/or Greek to understand the meaning of the words used in those passages, and this is a common deception that is perpetrated by pastors all over the world.

Based on my research, Psalm 19:1 is a very common verse that is quoted among a lot of churchgoers, not just FECs, but even creationists, and I confess that, many years ago, when I was giving young-earth creation presentations in various church buildings, I had made the mistake of quoting this verse out of its context. It needs to be noted that Psalm 19 is NOT a song about the creation of the universe, but rather, it is a song (which, again, was spoken by the Holy Ghost through the mouth of David, Acts 1:16) about the Gospel of Christ going throughout the world by the preaching of His church, and if I had not slowed down to carefully study the context of the chapter (instead of cherry-picking verse one), I would have never seen this.


Odle continues:
"Now, this is what a lot of people don't understand. These words here, heaven—the heavens, [Odle then presumably speaks the Hebrew word for 'heaven'] and firmament [Odle then presumably speaks the Hebrew word for 'firmament'], are two different Hebrew words! So they are completely two different issues! And what everybody does is, they just mold these two together, heavens and firmament, and they think it's the same thing!"
-Dean Odle, "God's Flat Earth & The Firmament of His Power," uploaded by Anissa Ledner, Dec 1, 2017, retrieved Mar 23, 2023, [https://youtu.be/qtv1rv0l9Y0?t=587]

What you are about to learn is not only how bad the deception of FECs is, but also how Christians should use context to destroy the arguments of heretics like Dean Odle. Even though the definition of 'firmament' will not matter for what I am about to show you, I want to note that the sky is defined as the firmament in Scripture.

The firmament is where the birds fly, as God defined it in Genesis:

And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
-Genesis 1:20

This shows us that Odle simply hides behind the magical words, "the original Hebrew" in order to fool people into thinking he has mystical knowledge. Noah Webster created his 1828 dictionary mostly based off of the context of words used in the King James Bible, and so based on Genesis 1 (and other correlating verses) this is a solid definition:

firmament (n): the region of the air; the sky or heavens; in scripture, the word denotes an expanse, a wide extent
(See 'firmament', American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster, 1828, retrieved Mar 17, 2023, [webstersdictionary1828.com])

The hilarious part about this is that Odle, because of his self-delusions, cannot see the forest for the trees, or in other words, though there may be two different words used for 'heaven' and 'firmament' in the Hebrew, the important note is that there are also two different words used in the English as well. I know that sounds absurdly simple, but 'heaven' and 'firmament' are two different words, which can mean the same or different things (depending on the context), and in our language, we have many words we use to describe the heaven above us, like the word 'atmosphere' for example. In fact, the Bible has more words than that to describe the heaven above us, like the word 'sky' for example, which is used in Scripture to both describe the heaven (where the birds fly) and outer space (where the stars reside), and once again, the difference can be identified by looking at the context.

He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red.
-Matthew 16:2

Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.
-Hebrews 11:12

Although it can definitely be said that the heavens declare the glory of God in the sense that the Lord's majesty can be "understood by the things that are made" (Rom 1:20), this is not the sense in which this is used in Psalm 19. The "heavens" and "firmament" are being used as a metaphor to describe the church and the Gospel of Christ, as we can see if we keep reading:

Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.
-Psalm 19:2

Again, FECs would have to believe that the sky, and outer space, are LITERALLY speaking to us with language that passes knowledge, which is silly. It is this kind of corrupt and lazy interpretation of Scripture that creates cults that will go out onto a mountain, to meditate and listen for some presumed "language" of the sky. The heavens are referring to the church that utters the speech of Christ's Gospel day to day, and night to night, speaking with others about the doctrine and philosophy of Christ, which has fulfilled the words of the law and prophets.

There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.
-Psalm 19:3

This is prophecy that the church would go into every nation, to all the inhabitable lands of mankind, and the Gospel of Christ has been preached, in every available language, to all who would hear. One of the ways this was done was by the power of the Holy Spirit, in which He gave the disciples of Christ in the early days of the church the gift of tongues (which is the gift of speaking multiple known languages of men, not the baby gibberish of Charismatic/Pentecostal/Apostolic cults), that all would hear and understand in every known language. (Acts 2:4)
(Read "Speaking in Tongues vs Charismatic Gibberish" here at creationliberty.com for more details.)

Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,
-Psalm 19:4

We covered this verse briefly in chapter two, but to give more detail, every apostle and evangelist that went out to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ had a line, or a path, by which God led them to do work according to His will, sending the first ministers of the Word far off unto "the end of the world," indicating far-off lands such as England, for example. The sun that is spoken of in this passage is not the literal sun, but a metaphor for Jesus Christ, not in the sense that Christ is a sun god, nor is Christ being glorified to be the sun (because that is pagan ideology), but again, it is a metaphorical reference, as described in the next verse.

Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.
-Psalm 19:5

This is the Messiah, Jesus Christ, who is said to be in a "tabernacle," and comes forth joyfully out of His chamber to meet His bride (i.e. the church, who are not deserving of the least of His joy and mercy, but are given them by His goodness and grace), as the sun cheerfully comes up from the horizon, being in constant motion, as a strong, trained athlete prepared and eager to run the race He has waited for, to complete the fullness of His Gospel by His return to rapture the saints in the final day.
(Read "The Beginner's Guide to Christian Rapture" here at creationliberty.com for more details.)

His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.
-Psalm 19:6

His going forth, through the mouths of the apostles and evangelists, went across the world, from the distance of sunrise to sunset from the perspective of Israel. Though there are places that people can hide from the light of the sun, they cannot hide from its heat, and this is a metaphor to explain the piercing power of the Gospel (Heb 4:12), which can both cause great strain on those who hate it, and bring great warmth and comfort to those who hear and understand it.

This gets very interesting in the next verse because, if you believe that Psalm 19 was talking about the creation and shape of the earth, then the next verses are quite the juxtaposition, or in other words, it would seem to take an drastic shift in its context:

The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.
-Psalm 19:7-8

However, if we stay on context, this fits beautifully with the rest of Psalm 19, and correlates well with doctrine in the New Testament. As pointed out by Paul to the Galatians, the law of the Lord is exactly how we Christians are to preach to the lost:

But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
-Galatians 3:23-25

The lost of this world need to hear the law of God in order to gain the knowledge of their sin (Rom 3:20), and if they hear and understand what sin is, it slays them inwardly (Rom 7:11-13), showing them their own wretchedness, which brings them to their knees in tears of godly sorrow (i.e. repentance), and if they look to Jesus Christ for their salvation, He will save them. When Jesus was approached by the rich young ruler and asked how he could inherit eternal life, Jesus did NOT say "believe on me," but rather, He gave that man the law. (Mat 19:18-19)

Therefore, the law being perfect in converting the soul is the very essence of the Gospel of Christ going throughout the world. This is the only way that these verses make sense, correlated together in the context. However, Dean Odle, as well as many other FECs, use these verses outside of their context to try and justify their highly-esteemed idol, the flat-earth narrative.

After watching a bunch of Odle's videos, I have to say that he is quite the character, meaning that I would akin him more to a snake oil salesman than I would a pastor. To help demonstrate this, I will quote Odle from a video in which he had just finished saying that his opponents collectively "lose their minds" about his flat-earth theory, but then immediately starts yelling (seemingly losing his mind) at his audience concerning Biblical interpretation:
"[21:10] These pastors, these creation ministries, they lose their minds all they want to. They can say it's just metaphors. But they are not—how can they say, you know, the creation ministries, this is what gets me, how can a creation ministry say that this descriptor of creation is true, and this descriptor of the Bible in creation is a metaphor. How do you do that?! How do you determine?! Who made you chief interpreter?!... Who made you chief interpreter of which creation descriptions, or, you know, verse that describes the creation—how do you know which one is true, and which one's a metaphor?"
-Dean Odle, "DIRECT MIRROR - Government Documents Admit Flat Earth - Pastor Dean Odle," RealJasonDaniels, retrieved Mar 29, 2023, [https://rumble.com/vesns7-direct-mirror-government-documents-admit-flat-earth-pastor-dean-odle.html]

There are many points to cover here, and we will begin by answering Odle's question, namely, "Who made you chief interpreter?" There is no "chief interpreter," but rather, the Holy Spirit made all Christians interpreters, as we are all commanded to study and to teach others the truth of God's Word:

Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers. Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.
-2 Timothy 2:14-16

I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
-2 Timothy 4:1-2

The second point that needs to be covered is the fact that Dean Odle, by his own admission in his sermon, does not seem to understand how Scripture is interpreted, nor does he seem to understand how to tell the difference between what is literal and what is figurative. Please do not misunderstand because I do not find this surprising coming from a FEC, but it is surprising to hear a man say this when even in public schools (which are far inferior in education to private and home schools) children learn to do this in their young, elementary years.

For example, a couple of decades ago, I heard a comedian perform a skit in which he acted the part of a gangster rapper who thought he was the greatest rapper of all time, but he was actually quite terrible. In this skit, he would frequently say that he "spit hot fire," concerning his rapping.

Immediately, without any other thought involved, we know that the rapper was not saying that he literally breathed fire when he was rapping because that is just a basic understanding that people do not breathe fire when they speak. This is not something that requires scientific studies, secret government documents, and theology debates to understand. Therefore, we can know that this is a figurative description of his rapping, in which he believed that his words were "hot," in the sense that his words were powerful and caused people to have to take notice of them because they were dangerous like a flame-throwing weapon.

So for example, when the Lord said that he spread his wings over the young, like an eagle does with its wings, this does NOT mean that God is a literal eagle with literal wings. These verses are only giving us figurative understanding of the invisible help that God gave to Jacob:

As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: So the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him.
-Deuteronomy 32:11-12

The context of the chapter tells us what this means, so that, when we keep reading to verse 14, we can know that grapes do not have literal blood in them:

Butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape.
-Deuteronomy 32:14

So when Dean Odle says that he cannot figure out how to tell the difference between literal interpretation and metaphorical description, he is not an idiot. I know that most people tend to jump to that conclusion, but I plead with readers to not misunderstand what Odle is doing because it is vital to protect the church. Odle is not an idiot, but rather, he is wicked, meaning that he can full-well understand the difference between literal and figurative speech, and LIES to his audience, that he might satisfy a narrative that allows him to be worshiped as a religious leader.

The final point I will make about his statement is the most deceptive of everything that Odle has said so far, namely, "Wow do you know which one is true, and which one's a metaphor?" Notice the comparison Odle made, not between what is LITERAL and what is metaphor, but what is "TRUE" versus what is metaphor, which is a completely nonsensical statement.

Metaphors can be used to portray something that is not true, depending on the context (like in the example of the untalented rapper who allegedly "spits hot fire"), but they can also be used to portray something that is true (like in the example of God covering Jacob with His "wings"). However, Odle does a bit of brainwashing by heavily implying that if something is a metaphor, then it is false, and if it is literal, it is true.

Literal statements can also be false, depending on the context. For example, in the craziness of the queer society, they claim that a biological man can "become" a woman by "identifying" as one, meaning that such wicked men claim to be LITERAL women, but that is objectively false.

So readers may have noticed that in both examples of literal and metaphorical statements, the determining factor depends ON THE CONTEXT. Again, this is why FECs run from context like it is the plague, because they know that Scriptural context completely destroys the narrative of their so-called "Biblical" cosmology.

So to Dean Odle's deceptive rant, I would reply to him with a question: "How do you do that?" After all, Odle is telling us that all these passages are literal, and yet, will not take them all literally. Odle, as well as all FECs, claim that some of the verses of Scripture are metaphorical, while others are literal, so how do FECs tell the difference between them?

There is one very important distinction between what Christians do and what FECs do. Christians read the context of Scripture to gain an understanding of it, then adapt their way of thinking (i.e. philosophy) to match the Scripture, whereas FECs first establish their own way of thinking, and then twist and distort the Scriptures to fit their narrative.

It should be noted that Odle NEVER offered any answers to the questions he posed to his opposition. Also, Odle NEVER quoted any arguments from his opposition, and because of that, he made NO attempt to answer their arguments (thereby leaving the audience with the impression that they will not, or cannot, answer him); instead, Odle simply mocked his opposition as being "crazy," but I believe that further investigation into Odle's arguments will provide us an example of what crazy really looks like.

Odle then proceeds to quote from Job 38 as "proof" text of a flat earth; he only provides verse 14 in his presentation, but I will provide more verses so we can get some of that context Odle seems to think is non-existent:

Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; and caused the dayspring to know his place; That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it? It is turned as clay to the seal; and they stand as a garment. And from the wicked their light is withholden, and the high arm shall be broken.
-Job 38:12-15

Before I get to the contextual interpretation of this verse, I want to prove (once again) that Dean Odle is being deceptive in the arguments he makes. On the screen of Odle's presentation, he shows the following image, in which he interprets the word 'turned' to mean 'changed', and the word 'seal' to mean 'signet ring', and then he says the following:
"[@22:40] Here's what the Bible does say... the context [of Job 38:14] is talking about the earth."
-Dean Odle, "DIRECT MIRROR - Government Documents Admit Flat Earth - Pastor Dean Odle," RealJasonDaniels, retrieved Mar 29, 2023, [https://rumble.com/vesns7-direct-mirror-government-documents-admit-flat-earth-pastor-dean-odle.html]

This is nothing more than a magician's slight-of-hand because, even though the earth is mentioned in this passage, it is not the focus of the context. I would encourage readers to read Job 38 carefully, and you will notice that it is talking about daylight from the sun (e.g. "morning" and "dayspring") and its affect on the topography of the earth, not the earth, nor a "flat earth."

Odle continues:
"[@22:48] The earth is turned, or changed, as what the Hebrew word there means, as clay to the seal, or the signet ring, and they stand out as a garment, talking about its features. This right here is as crystal clear as it gets about the shape of the earth. It talks about it being a lump of clay. God pressed it down with his signet ring, I believe a literal ring he has on his finger. [in a mocking manner against his opposition] 'Oh, I believe that's a metaphor.' Okay, keep believing that."
-Dean Odle, "DIRECT MIRROR - Government Documents Admit Flat Earth - Pastor Dean Odle," RealJasonDaniels, retrieved Mar 29, 2023, [https://rumble.com/vesns7-direct-mirror-government-documents-admit-flat-earth-pastor-dean-odle.html]

Even though earlier, Odle admitted that he does not know how to tell the difference between literal and metaphorical interpretation, in his foolishness, he mocks those who do know how. Also notice that the Bible did not say "lump of clay," it just said "clay," but that is an important distinction because Odle added in the words "lump of" because he is trying to paint a picture of having a built up lump that gets pressed down into a flat disk to fit his flat-earth narrative.

The way I will demonstrate this is by going to another video, and it is somewhat difficult to find Dean Odle's videos at the time I am writing this book (2023) because his YouTube account got removed by the corrupt YouTube censorship overlords, but I did find someone else who documented Odle's testimony, going over more details about how he came to this "signet ring" interpretation:
"It says it is turn or changed like clay under the seal. The Hebrew word there for seal means 'signet ring', and so what would happen was, in the old days, the kings, or governors, or leaders, would have this special ring that identified them, and what they would do, when they seal letters, or scrolls, they would drop some wax or some clay on top of them, and then they would press them down flat with that signet ring. So when God was talking about the earth, and how he formed it, the picture, the word picture he gives in Hebrew is that it was changed as clay to the signet ring, pushed down flat, and when that happens too, it causes an upturned edge, and causes a border around it. You look at any seal, there's going to be a border around that pressed down piece of wax or clay, whatever it is."
-Dean Odle, "Refuting Those 'Flat Earth Bible Verses': You Should Have Checked the Context," Mike Winger, Mar 10, 2020, retrieved Mar 30, 2023 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qePiXK_8Agc&t=1177s]

In Odle's original video, he put imagery on the screen, like a PowerPoint presentation, and included the following image when talking about Job 38:14.
As stated in the image, I searched through 32 different bible versions for the exact wording that was displayed for Job 38:14, and I could not find a match. In my opinion, I found this odd for a very important reason, namely, that Dean Odle, in all his other videos, almost exclusively uses the King James Bible, but then when it comes to Job 38:14, he not only switched out bible versions, it also appears that he did a little creative editing to the verse.

Odle also put up the following image when talking about the "Hebrew word there for seal:"
So here is what Odle did: He went to Strong's Concordance, and he looked up the word 'seal', and Strong's said it means "signet ring." However, before Odle could run with that verse, there was the word 'turned' in Job 38:14 that he needed to deal with because signet rings are not "turned" when used, and so he went back to Strong's again to redefine the word 'turned':
"haphak: a primitive root; to turn about or over; by implication, to change, overturn, return, pervert:--X become, change, come, be converted, give, make (a bed), overthrow (-turn), perverse, retire, tumble, turn (again, aside, back, to the contrary, every way)"
-Strong's Concordance, Job 38:14, No. 2015, retrieved Mar 30, 2023, [https://strongsconcordance.org/results.html?k=turned&p=8]

The only reason I am quoting from Strong's Concordance is to help demonstrate Odle's deception, and please note that the word is defined primarily as "to turn around" or "to turn over" because that is key to understanding what is meant in Job 38. Odle cherry-picked a definition he thought fit his flat-earth narrative, instead of looking at the context to see which definition should be used.

Now let's untangle the deceptive web that Odle has weaved by going back to the context of Scripture, and we will start in verse 12:

Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days;
and caused the dayspring to know his place;
-Job 38:12

These are questions that God is asking Job, knowing that Job cannot answer them, to get Job to judge himself in light of who God is, and though Job had lived many years, there was never a morning that he had any power to command the sun to rise. The sunrise is something we typically take for granted, and do not regularly consider that it rises by God's power through the promise of His Word. (Gen 8:22) Though the sun changes its position with the seasons, it still knows its place because (speaking from the perspective we have on the earth) it rises and sets according to the place where God has commanded it.

That it might take hold of the ends of the earth,
that the wicked might be shaken out of it?
-Job 38:13

As the sun comes up around the earth, it reveals the darkness, quickly reaching out to countries far away. During the night, wicked men take part in sinful deeds and criminal schemes, but when the sun comes up, they scatter and hide as the light purges them by making them known to all, which is symbolic of Christ's light coming into the world, and the men of darkness hating that light. (John 3:19-21)

It is turned as clay to the seal; and they stand as a garment.
-Job 38:14

Many Christians might be unaware of this, but there are different types of seals that were used in ancient times, and one of them was a signet ring, which is much more commonly known due to the influence of TV shows and movies. As I pointed out earlier, Odle needed to change the word 'turned' because a signet ring is a type of seal that is not turned, however, there is another type of seal that is turned, and it is called a "cylinder seal."

World History Encyclopedia explains more details:
"Contemporaneous with cylinder seals were stamp seals which were smaller and less ornate in design. The typical cylinder seal was between 3-4 inches (7-10 cm) long while stamp seals were less than an inch (2 cm) in total and more closely resembled the later signet ring. It would make sense that the stamp seals preceded the cylinder seals as the former are more rudimentary but evidence suggests the seals were in use at the same time with one type favored more than the other in different regions."
-Joshua J. Mark, "Cylinder Seal," Wold History Encyclopedia, Nov 27, 2015, retrieved Mar 30, 2023, [https://www.worldhistory.org/Cylinder_Seal]

For example, the following photograph shows a cylinder seal from the First Dynasty of Ur, Queen Puabi, which was discovered buried with her in her tomb: -Nic McPhee, Queen Puabi's Cylinder Seal, British Museum, Sept 6, 2007, retrieved Mar 30, 2023, [https://www.flickr.com/photos/nics_events/albums/72157623304011795]

As stated in the above quote from World History Encyclopedia, these cylinder seals were quite small. Although there are larger cylinder seals, they have been discovered in sizes smaller than an inch (2 cm), and would be used to identify certain people, as well as specific messages, in both diplomacy and business relations, or in other words, it was like a signature (i.e. based on the root word 'signet') that could be matched by comparing the imprint with the original seal.

So when Job 38:14 says, "It is turned as clay to the seal," that means the earth has grooves and edges of various width and depth, which can be much more clearly seen when the sunlight shines upon it, and the beauty of the morning, which comes over the hills and other landscape, can only be enjoyed with the coming of the light on the earth. When it says, "and they stand as a garment," it means that the plants, animals, and creeping things that God created stand upon the earth and are revealed by the sunlight, which gives beauty to the earth, like a beautiful garment of flowing robes reflecting in the sunlight.

And from the wicked their light is withholden, and the high arm shall be broken.
-Job 38:15

The point God is making here is that the wicked are deprived of the darkness they love when morning light comes. Whereas those who walk honestly prefer the daylight, those who walk in sin prefer the darkness, finding the light to be "as the shadow of death," as indicated earlier in Job 24:

For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death: if one know them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death.
-Job 24:17

So by looking carefully at the context, we can see clearly that Job 38 has NOTHING WHATSOEVER to do with cosmology or the shape of the earth. This is a figurative description of sunlight on darkness, to better understand God's light to shine against the wicked and expose them.

However, Dean Odle (as well as many other FECs) mock Christians who look to the truth of doctrine in God's Word. Odle ought to be embarrassed and ashamed of himself, but glories in his shame.

For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.
-Philippians 3:18-19

Odle continues to offer another deceptive argument, this time from Revelation 20:

And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
-Revelation 20:7-9

After showing these verses, and highlighting "breadth of the earth," Odle says:
"[@24:10] Now when I read this, I was like, breadth of the earth, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. The Lord—now I know it was the Holy Spirit just made me pause and the Holy Spirit made me think—said, 'Why did he say breadth of the earth when he could have just said they went up on the earth?' Why did he say breadth? So, I did something in 30 years of ministry at that time that I had never done, I looked up the word breadth of the earth, and it is the Greek word 'plat-os'... and I thought, platos, sounds like our word, plateau, which means, flat land. Right? Or a flat place of land. I though, huh, that's interesting. So then I looked an noticed it says from 4116, meaning that this word has a root word. The root word is plat-oos. And what does platoos mean?... spread out flat. So what he's saying is that they went up on the spread out flat earth."
-Dean Odle, "DIRECT MIRROR - Government Documents Admit Flat Earth - Pastor Dean Odle," RealJasonDaniels, retrieved Mar 29, 2023, [https://rumble.com/vesns7-direct-mirror-government-documents-admit-flat-earth-pastor-dean-odle.html]

It is not often that, while sitting alone at my computer doing research for my books, I do a physical forehead slap when listening to someone speak, but I did it in this instance when listening to Odle's explanation of this verse. It is not that I poke fun at people for misunderstanding things (because there is nothing wrong with not knowing something), but when a so-called "pastor" who admittedly has well over three decades of experience in preaching (more than twice what I have at the time I am writing this book), and he is willingly blind to what he is doing, then people need to be informed of how ridiculous and dangerous men like Odle really are. Putting aside the fact that the word 'plateau' does NOT simply mean "flat land" (i.e. it is a raised land above a joining land that has somewhat of a level surface), Odle spent so much time pouring through corrupt lexicons that he missed the fact that the Bible already explains this in correlating verses.

Without getting into the nitty-gritty details, Gog and Magog are generally understood to be kingdoms that are named after men who rule over them, but what they are exactly is not precisely known because the prophecies of Revelation have not fully been revealed to us yet. However, Gog is mentioned in much more detail in Ezekiel 38, in which Ezekiel gave God's prophecy about what happens "in the latter days" of Gog covering the land of Israel "as a cloud," which seems to indicate that they invade Israel and their armies become like a swarm of insects over the land.

And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.
-Ezekiel 38:16

Notice that, in this passage of Ezekiel, the covering of the land is specific to Israel, and as we went over in chapter two, the "ends of the earth" (or in this case, "the breadth of the earth") is not necessarily referring to the entire world, depending on that key thing that we learned about earlier called "CONTEXT." In fact, in the prophecies of Isaiah, the Lord God referred to Judah as "the breadth of thy land."

And he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel.
-Isaiah 8:8

Thus, Gog is not filling up the whole world as a cloud covering the land (which would be impossible to do without an army larger than the world could sustain), nor is Revelation 20 describing a cosmological model of the FECs. The "breadth of the earth" is only referring to Israel, and remember at the beginning of this book, we read from Isaiah 28, in which the Lord God told us that He setup His Word in this way on purpose, so that men like Dean Odle would trip and fall into a snare.

But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
-Isaiah 28:13

As I stated earlier, for those who believe in what men like Dean Odle call "Biblical" cosmology, the Lord Jesus Christ is not their Messiah. They claim with their mouths to worship Christ, but in reality, the flat-earth model is their messiah; it is the treasure of their hearts, and they will do whatever is necessary to protect their flat-earth narrative.

This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
-Matthew 15:8

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
-Matthew 6:21

For most FECs (i.e. those who claim to be Christians), if you do not believe in flat-earth, you are not saved, and Dean Odle repeats this lie:
"We are all going to be judge by what we believe, by what we speak, the words that come out of our mouth. Jesus made that very clear. Right? We're going to be judged by what we did and what we said, what we believe, and he's saying here [referring to Rom 3:3-4] when everything's said and done, and you stand before—this is why Jesus said, don't be ashamed of me; if you're ashamed of me, and of my words, I'll be ashamed of you the day of judgment."
-Dean Odle, "Flat Earth Sermon Preached by Pastor Dean Odle (Part 1)," Anissa Ledner, Dec 1, 2017, retrieved Mar 31, 2023, [https://youtu.be/qtv1rv0l9Y0?t=650]

Romans 3:3-4 was one of the main themes of Odle's teaching, which he had displayed on the projector screen behind him as he talked:

For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.
-Romans 3:3-4

Of course, some of you might say that he just spoke this generally, and that he is not telling everyone that they must believe in flat-earth or they will be rejected by Jesus on the Day of Judgment. However, once again, context is key, and at the beginning of his sermon, he stated what the context of his teaching was that day:
"This teaching, this revelation, today is called, 'God's Flat Earth, and the Firmament of His Power'."
-Dean Odle, "Flat Earth Sermon Preached by Pastor Dean Odle (Part 1)," Anissa Ledner, Dec 1, 2017, retrieved Mar 31, 2023, [https://youtu.be/qtv1rv0l9Y0?t=14]

What Dean Odle believes is that those who do not believe his flat-earth model are unbelievers making the faith of God without effect. Odle believes that all those who deny flat-earth are liars that will end up in hell. Therefore, Odle's version of salvation is grace through FAITH IN HIS FLAT-EARTH MODEL, or you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven, and the only thing flat about that is that it is flat-out heresy.

Dean Odle is extremely deceptive on this point because he has recorded sermons in which he says the following, claiming that Christians should be completely surrendered to the will of Christ:
"See, this is what Christianity has been missing, especially in America and the West, is TOTAL SURRENDER to the LORDSHIP of Jesus Christ! I am NOT my own! I am bought with a price! I don't get to do what I want to do anymore! That's over! I am crucified with Christ!"
-Dean Odle, "Forgetting the Past Clip - Ps Dean Odle," L M, Mar 30, 2022, retrieved Apr 7, 2023, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeI1qM89y3Y]

Some readers may find this to be good preaching, but I shared this quote to demonstrate Odle's hypocrisy. For example, Odle decided to run for Governor of Alabama, and please do not misunderstand; it is not wrong in any sense for a Christian to run for political office, but my purpose is simply to show how Odle contradicts himself when he tells the media why he is running for Governor:
"Well, I decided to run for governor because of—just the failure of leadership we've had in the state when it comes to the coronavirus pandemic, we're dead last in k-12 education, 47th overall, 52nd in math, the prison system is a disaster, the feds are about to get involved in that, it's so bad. We just have a lot of bad problems here, and it's just time for leadership."
-Dean Odle, "Commitment 2022: Dean Odle running for governor of Alabama," WVTM 13 News, May 4, 2022, retrieved April 7, 2023, [https://youtu.be/5lp72-SGV5o?t=24]

Putting aside the comical irony that you cannot be "52nd in math" when the USA only has 50 states (which makes him a walking case-in-point), there was NOTHING in Dean Odle's interview in which he stated that he was running for governor because Jesus wanted him to do so. He ran for governor based on what he wanted, and what he thought other people in Alabama wanted, not based on what Jesus Christ wants. Again, please do not misunderstand because I am not saying that a Christian that is running for office must say, "I'm running for Jesus," but I am quoting Odle because he is contradicting what he has said in his teachings, and I am pointing out that, apparently, he believes that his work as a "pastor" is not as important as the work he could do as a governor, which is a backwards philosophy (i.e. way of thinking) from the spiritual understanding we are taught by Jesus Christ.

For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
-1 Corinthians 3:11-15

Winning souls is infinitely more important and valuable than the reign of an earthly king.

To further prove that Odle only uses the name of Jesus Christ for pretense when pushing his flat-earth narrative, Odle asserts that belief in flat-earth will NOT save anyone:
"Listen, you want to tick people off, you can talk about God all day long—just say his name, Jesus, that's what they don't want to hear... [@7:30] If you get the truth of flat-earth, but you don't get the truth of Jesus Christ, you [sic] going to miss it, you're going to be deceived by these illuminati world rulers and this entire conspiracy! You're still going to be deceived! You're still going to miss the boat!"
-Dean Odle, "THE FLAT EARTH WONT SAVE YOU Dean Odle," eftupworld, Nov 17, 2017, retrieved Apr 7, 2023, [https://youtu.be/fFPS-QHN5pA?t=276]

Of course, outside of his flat-earth propaganda, some readers might be in agreement with Dean Odle on this point, and perhaps think he is preaching the truth of the matter. I agree that Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation, but Odle is a hypocrite on this point because, as we have already seen, Odle believes that you must believe in flat-earth to be saved, and that can be further proven by listening to Odle read a testimony from a man who was allegedly "saved" by Odle's flat-earth preaching:
"This is from a guy named Wes, and this is what he said, he said 'Dean Odle, I would like to thank you for this video. I recently found God almost two months ago. I used to believe in the ancient astronaut theory, and that we were a small speck in a huge universe hurdling through space. I came across a flat-earth video on YouTube and decided to check it out because I was curious what the fuss was about. Since that video, I researched for weeks on end, why NASA would be lying to anyone. Finally, I saw God's fingerprint, when I was 100% convinced the earth was flat, and that everything we know has been a lie, and that God's Word is more true than we know. I cried when I found God. Why? Well, I finally had an understanding. Life made sense now. I no longer question God's Word and if we are alone in the universe. I am thankful for you, and this video, and to help as many people as we can to realize the truth of God's Word'... just amazing, he said THIS issue [i.e. flat-earth] brought him to salvation. So Christians out there, people say, 'Oh, this is not important. This is a distraction' or 'This is an issue that we shouldn't even talk about or get into', let me tell you, for Wes, it brought him out of deception, out of error, and brought him to know Jesus as his Lord and savior."
-Dean Odle, "Dean Odle - Teaching Flat Earth Truth To Your Congregation," Zen Garcia, Dec 22, 2016, retrieved Apr 7, 2023, [https://youtu.be/D7RWL44OIf8?t=3278]

Odle stated very clearly that flat-earth "brought him to salvation," and that flat-earth "brought him to know Jesus as his Lord and savior." We just read a quote from Odle in another teaching in which he said that you cannot be saved by flat-earth teaching, so why did Odle not rebuke and correct this man?

Remember, Wes only mentioned that he "found God," and never once mentioned Jesus Christ. It was Odle who said that he found Jesus through flat-earth doctrine, and so not only was that a lie, but Odle, based on his previous teaching, should have been heavily concerned that this man was NOT saved because not only was there no mention of Jesus Christ, there was also no mention of repentance of sins.

The reason Odle does not care about that man's soul in this matter is because the doctrine of Jesus Christ is NOT what Odle really cares about. The evidence is clear that Odle is only looking to use such testimonies to boost his audience's confidence in his con game.

If, by the grace of God alone, there may be any flat-earther that might be reading this book, and you think this might be a one-time mistake that he made, immediately after this, Odle presents another testimony:
"My wife got a text message, now listen to this text message. This is from a friend of ours that lives over in Georgia. She said—she's fallen away from God, she's into, you know, meth, doing drugs, and she said, 'I have a friend of mine over today. He asked if he could watch a movie while I was in the kitchen cooking brunch... I felt an overwhelming desire to listen this morning. So I told him he could watch the movie after we listened to my pastor's sermon. Ken is his name. He's 35, he's addicted to meth. He got up off the couch, and came in the kitchen and sat down by the phone to listen. He hung on every word. After the prayer at the end he handed me his meth sack, and asked me to get rid of it. He's totally excited about researching the flat-earth stuff, and kept thanking me for making him listen to that, so tell Pastor Dean, really great job as always listening to God.' So, truth, like I said, we don't know—we didn't know that would be the truth that would penetrate to Ken's heart or to Wes's heart."
-Dean Odle, "Dean Odle - Teaching Flat Earth Truth To Your Congregation," Zen Garcia, Dec 22, 2016, retrieved Apr 7, 2023, [https://youtu.be/D7RWL44OIf8?t=3411]

There were numerous red flags for me as I listened to this testimony, and the first one was the fact that Dean Odle admitted the person giving this testimony was a meth addict. I am not saying that meth addicts cannot give valid testimonies, but if anyone has known an active meth addict, then you will know that they are not generally reliable sources of information.

The second red flag is that this was a meth addict having brunch with another meth addict, while they listen to false flat-earth doctrines from con artist Dean Odle, without having read or studied any context of the verses in question. One meth addict hands a bag of meth to another meth addict and asks her to "get rid of it" for him, and I am sure that a meth addict will have more than one method of "getting rid of" a bag of meth.

Finally, Odle compares the testimony of Ken handing over a bag of meth to the previous testimony of Wes supposedly coming to "salvation" by "finding God" through flat-earth cult doctrine. Again, Dean Odle believes that people come to salvation in Christ through flat-earth, which is not only antithetical to the doctrine of salvation in the Bible (demonstrating that Odle does not understand the Gospel of Salvation), but it is a general and simple understanding in Scripture that people do not come to Jesus Christ through lies.

I would also like to point out that the title of the video interview with Dean Odle was called "Teaching Flat Earth Truth To Your Congregation." However, if you listen to the almost two-hour interview for yourself, you will find that Scripture was only discussed briefly a couple of times, which shows us how little importance Odle actually puts on Scripture when it comes to flat-earth cultism.

In another video, Odle presents another testimony he received via email: "[@17:48] After of [sic] brief exchanges on messenger I write this email with more details. This may become a long email so please bear with me... I am also a recovered alcoholic and have not touched a drop in over 18 months. It took me a total of 5 years to finally stop completely, during that time I was in denial and tried to make excuses for it as much as possible. Then came the rumour of flat earth and changed my world upside down. I had always been interested in conspiracies (T/Tower, NWO, Bilderberg etc) but I just couldn't find any connections, so [I] put it down to evil people doing bad stuff and that's the way it is. My view on religion was the standard fairytale stuff and a massive excuse to deny it, I also believed most if not all church's [sic] are inherently satanic or spread the wrong message. I was never an atheist and new something was true but I had no idea what so [I] sat on the fence as an agnostic. Presently I now firmly believe and are [sic] very happy about the fact that the bible is 100% true and that we are created and not a speck of cosmic star dust. After hearing your sermon on the flat earth live broadcast on YouTube the other night my belief has been set in concrete and now my study of the bible has begun."
-Dean Odle, "DIRECT MIRROR - Government Documents Admit Flat Earth - Pastor Dean Odle," RealJasonDaniels, Apr 11, 2023, [https://rumble.com/vesns7-direct-mirror-government-documents-admit-flat-earth-pastor-dean-odle.html]

There is nothing in this testimony that indicates that this man understood his sin, and came to repentance (i.e. godly sorrow of his sin) and faith in Christ. Notice that this man did not say that Jesus Christ changed his world, but rather, he said that flat-earth changed his world, which tells us, in his mind and heart, who he really worships as his savior, namely, Dean Odle and flat-earth; not Jesus Christ.

After reading the email, Odle makes an absurd statement, one that he has no evidence to back up:
"[@18:38] In 31 years of ministry, I've never seen a Biblical topic bring more agnostics, atheists, and crazy, like, ancient alien believers and stuff, to come to believe the Bible is true, and accept Jesus as their Lord and savior. NEVER!"
-Dean Odle, "DIRECT MIRROR - Government Documents Admit Flat Earth - Pastor Dean Odle," RealJasonDaniels, Apr 11, 2023, [https://rumble.com/vesns7-direct-mirror-government-documents-admit-flat-earth-pastor-dean-odle.html]

As I have already demonstrated, none of the people in the testimonies Odle provided even spoke of the Lord Jesus Christ, let alone understanding of their sin and repentance. Thus, either Odle is willingly ignorant that none of these people were saved, or he is a hypocrite that believes people are getting saved through flat earth, which contradicts his earlier statement that no one can get saved through flat earth.

For those of you who live in Alabama and have read the entire book this far, you will likely be glad to learn that Odle lost the primary election with only 1.8% of the votes (roughly 11,000 of the 620,000 votes cast). When a man cannot read the Bible in its context, it is likely he will not be able to read important government documents in their context either, which could lead to statewide disasters.
(See Ballotpedia, "Alabama gubernatorial election, 2022," retrieved Apr 11, 2023, [https://ballotpedia.org/Alabama_gubernatorial_election,_2022])

After listening to many hours of Odle preach, I am not convinced that he is a born again Christian. I do not say this because he is a FEC, but rather, I say this because I see a man who lifts himself up in the pride of his heart, refusing to acknowledge the truth of Scripture while mocking others who try to explain it to him, believes that faith in his flat-earth model is the gateway to salvation, and uses the name of Jesus as a pretense to gain himself more religious clout among his followers.

And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
-2 Thessalonians 2:10-12

Please do not misunderstand this verse because this is not speaking of the truth about NASA, or the truth about 9/11, or the truth about the Covid19 scam. The truth that is being spoken of in this passage is the Gospel of Salvation in Jesus Christ, as well as the doctrines Christ taught us, and the Holy Ghost gives ALL Christians a love of that truth when they have been born again.

As a side note, Dean Odle has adopted many false doctrines and corrupt practices, including, but not limited to, Pentecostalism (along with the Charismatic baby gibberish they call "speaking in tongues"), false prophecies in the New Apostolic Reformation, revivalism, denominationalism, and various other ideologies from Hebrew-roots cults. Therefore, I pray that the Lord God would have as much mercy on Dean Odle and his family as the Lord has had on me and my family, and that Odle would turn from his idol of flat-earth, to come to the understanding of the Gospel of Salvation in Christ.
(Read "Speaking in Tongues vs Charismatic Gibberish," "Revivalism: The Devil's Design," and "Denominations Are Unbiblical" here at creationliberty.com for more details.)
 


I did not start writing this book with the intention to write a full-length book, but it slowly turned into a book because of the amount of Scripture that needed to be covered. However, even though I never wanted to write a book about this subject in the first place, I am now very glad that I did it because there are some things I learned about the interpretation of God's Word that I did not know before I started this project, and now that I have learned them, I am grateful to the Lord for giving me more understanding of His doctrine.

With that, I am now grateful that there is a flat-earth cult movement because the existence of their cult challenged me to look into the Scriptures more deeply, and by uncovering their scam, I was able to increase in my understanding of God's Word. Though the FECs are deceiving many by their false doctrines, I hope that, God willing, those of you who read this book in its entirety would increase in your understanding of God's Word as well, and be better prepared to answer those who have been carried away by the winds of false doctrine.

That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
-Ephesians 4:14

I once had an email exchange with a FEC by the name of Jeff, who had done the same thing that every other FEC does, which is to copy and paste many rapid-fire verses which are cherry-picked out of their context. He did this with me both in email and on our ministry forum, in which I responded to the verses he posted, but when I returned verses to him and asked him to respond to them, he would not give any answer to the verses I provided; instead, he simply aimed railing accusations against me, and against the church of which I am a member.

The following quote are some of Jeff's responses, which he sent to me in the summer of 2021, and please keep in mind that this is the typical response I have receive from FECs. Also note that most of these responses were not from one email, but they were sent to me in various back-to-back emails (most of which came in within minutes of each other), meaning that for most of this rant, he did not wait for my response before continuing.

All grammatical errors are in the original email:
"[Y]ou guys [referring to our church] love to throw scripture around and don't even use it correctly. Its does matter what we live on and we have been lied to....this world is filled with with nothing but lies and the ball earth deception has brought many to Jesus. Including myself. Again you people ignore actual scriptures. You seem to only use scripture that benefits you...all scripture is truth and should be treated as such. You people are the rudest crew I have every witnessed. Yall continually put people down and accuse them of doing it. You are a very arrogant group of radicals. Claim you love Jesus and show no fruits. Very weird... You have no wisdom whatsoever. You beleive the lies of this world and claim you love Jesus Christ and put everyone down who does not follow your self proclaimed gospel.
Do you watch TV Christopher? Do you watch Sports? Do you listen to worldly music? Or any music for that matter including main stream Christian? Are you on facebook Christopher? If you think Social media evil. It's all trash of this world. Every bit of it. Jesus said you cannot love the world and serve him. You cannot serve both. You have not said anything about giving up this world Christopher. You are good at throwing scripture around. But that's about it. JESUS said many will be turned away by him because he never knew them. Do you think you are the only one that can interpret scripture? I refuse to sit here and right down every scritpture like some arrogant troll. Speaking for myself. Not you. I know what Gods word says. I dont even think you realize just how arrogant and prideful you are Christopher and yes I will call you by your name. You used a definition on me of exaclty how you are, you and your band of prideful, self righteous, arrogant, egotistical band of hateful people...
I cannot believe you used they few scriptures on me that have nothing to do with fake outer space. It's a freemason/luciferian evolutionary lie...start reading you Bible correctly. You use the KJV and yet you called God the Creator liar. By saying I misinterpret scriptures about the earth. There are 100s of scripture on this earth buddy. It says we are on pillars Christopher. What does that mean? I already presented to you what a Firmament is. Its solid structure..lol Is You are will never convince me by telling me you can interpret those scriptures for me... lol The earth is stable and their is solid firmament above us...you are in the programmed world. And call God a liar by saying his scripture does not say what it says. How in the world do expect an awake person to beleive anything you say. When you condradict your own words. You somehow think you have this inside scoop on repentence. But called God q liar on his Creation. Give me a break dude....You sound like a freemason. Many of those in the apostate Church...matter of they have taken over the Churches all over world. ARE you a Mason Christopher? I may be wrong just asking.
You are about the most arrogant person who says he loves Jesus I ever met...that scripture does not say we are on a spinning marble...you are absolutely programmed dude...the earth is not a spinning marble. If you are going to use scripture Christopher. Use one the says its spinning sphere hurdling though infinite nothing. Sounds like an earthquake to me...lol You actually think that was proof of spinning water ball? You are programmed and dont even know it or a mason"
-Jeff from Texas, Creation Liberty Evangelism, Email exchange with Christopher Johnson, June 12, 2021; See also Creation Liberty Forum, "Believing in a Flat Earth is the New Repentance," June 12, 2021, [https://www.creationliberty.com/forum/index.php?topic=1388.0]

Again, most of these were just a few minutes apart, back-to-back from one another, and I finally had to warn him that I would block his email address if he kept spamming me these rapid-fire emails. Jeff then mocked me for the warning, and continued with these same railing, false accusations because this is the example he has learned to do from the flat-earth cult.

I have all the emails still archived, and I can prove to anyone that I did not speak to Jeff in the same crude manner that he spoke to me. I would simply ask readers to analyze Jeff's words against one very important verse of Scripture, which Jesus spoke to us:

Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.
-Matthew 7:12

Based on what you read of Jeff's emails, do you think that Jeff believes it is justified for others to use these kinds of railing accusations against him? Do you think that Jeff enjoys others speaking to him in the same manner he has spoken to me? Of course, it is not hard to figure out that he does not like it, so why is it that he ignores the commandment of Jesus Christ and chooses to speak that way to others?

I am simply using Jeff as an example so readers will not think I am just making up a story when I say that all my conversations with FECs end with them railing on me with false accusations. FECs go on these rants, having no concern for the words that come out of their mouths, because they have no fear of God that, one day, specifically on the Day of Judgment, they will be held accountable for everything they said and/or wrote.

But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.
-Matthew 12:36

Continuing with my goal to address the arguments of FECs, I will respond to Jeff's railing accusations. For any readers paying close attention, you may have noticed that Jeff did not provide any quotations or examples to back up his claims, and as we have already seen in previous chapters, that is standard operating procedure for FECs.

Jeff says that I "love to throw scripture around and don't even use it correctly," but in these rapid-fire letters, Jeff did not use any Scripture. The reason for that is because it is very difficult for one to quote the doctrines of Scripture while one is in an active fit of rage.

But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.
-1 Thessalonians 4:9

Of course, I do not believe that Jeff is a brother in Christ because he has not yet shown me the evidence of it, but we are also commanded to love our enemies as well, which means I should treat Jeff the way I would want to be treated.

Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
-Matthew 5:43-44

Therefore, I pray the Lord Jesus Christ would show Jeff and his family mercy, especially during hard times, that they would be richly blessed with all their needs. Knowing these doctrines in Scripture, it is quite ironic for Jeff to say to me, "claim you love Jesus and show no fruits," and that it is "very weird," since Jeff is not showing me a proper example of love, patience, meekness, temperance, and longsuffering.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
-Galatians 5:22-23

If it is true that I "throw scripture around and don't even use it correctly," Jeff failed to provide an example where I have used these Scriptures incorrectly. The email exchanges are far too long to publish here, but at the very least, I will leave that judgment up to readers to decide if I have used Scripture incorrectly at any time in this book.

Jeff said that "the ball earth deception has brought many to Jesus... including myself," but as we covered in earlier chapters, the Bible does not teach that men are saved through understanding cosmology. Jeff did not credit Jesus Christ for saving him near as much as he credited flat-earth for saving him because, according to Jeff, flat-earth was the schoolmaster to lead him unto Christ (instead of the law being the schoolmaster, to bring him to godly sorrow of his sins, Gal 3:24), and thus, if a man claims to have come to Christ through another method apart from the instructions of Scripture, then he is a false convert.

This is a very important note because I have seen this pattern many times before with various other topics. In this instance, Jeff believes that he was saved by learning about flat-earth, and therefore, in his mind, if flat-earth turns out to be false, then the foundation of his faith will also be false, and so he will defend flat-earth religiously, as if flat-earth and Jesus Christ are one and the same.

Jeff says, "You have no wisdom whatsoever," and he is correct on this point. I have no wisdom or understanding of myself because that only comes from the Living God, and if there was any knowledge, understanding, and wisdom that anyone might have gained from reading this book, it came from the Lord God alone, who is the giver of all those things according to His good will.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom:
and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.
-Proverbs 9:10

Jeff then asks a series of rapid-fire questions that are not designed to be answered, but rather, they are accusations that are disguised as questions. He says, "Do you watch TV Christopher?" and the answer is "No, I stopped watching TV a very long time ago," but again, this was a rhetorical question that was designed to be an accusation, meaning that Jeff wanted to believe that I am someone who is brainwashed by television, so he has a reason to accuse me.

Jeff says, "Do you watch Sports?"
No. I was never into sports that much, even from when I was younger.

Jeff says, "Do you listen to worldly music?"
It depends on what he means because FECs believe the word 'world' only means the planet Earth, and therefore, all music in this world comes from the world, which means it is all "worldly music."

Jeff continues on that point, "Or any music for that matter including main stream Christian?"
About a year before Jeff wrote me this letter, I published a book called Christian Music: For the Love of Money (which is free-to-read here at creationliberty.com - keyword search 'music'), in which I expose the demonic deceptions and corrupt doctrines of the so-called "Christian" music industry. This demonstrates how little research Jeff did into what I teach, and if this is the lazy extent to which he investigates matters, how can we trust that he has done any legitimate research into Biblical context?

Jeff continues on that point, "Are you on facebook Christopher?"
Due to censorship issues, I left Facebook in January of 2021, about six months before Jeff wrote me these railing emails, but that is irrelevant because the use or non-use of Facebook does not determine the truth of Scripture. It would not have been difficult for him to find that information if he had just looked it up, but again, Jeff did not write these questions for them to be answered; he wrote them as accusations so he would have a reason to accuse me of something, which is what the Bible calls "strife."

Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.
-Romans 13:13

For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
-1 Corinthians 3:3

strife (n): exertion or contention for superiority; contest of emulation, either by intellectual or physical efforts; contention in anger or enmity; contest; struggle for victory; quarrel or war
(See 'strife', American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster, 1828, retrieved Apr 26, 2023, [webstersdictionary1828.com])

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
-Galatians 5:19-21

Jeff asserted, "I refuse to sit here and right [sic] down every scritpture [sic] like some arrogant troll." So was Paul an "arrogant troll" for sitting down and writing out the Scriptures for us?

It is interesting to me that my job as a Christian evangelist is to talk about and write out the Scriptures, as well as their meanings, and I do this for the sake of others, that they also might understand them. In the email exchanges I had with Jeff, he would spend a few minutes writing short, rapid-fire letters to mock me, while I would spend upwards of two hours writing one letter, providing Scripture, explanations, all organized color coding and highlights, to answer his points, which is why I eventually had to block his email address (Mat 7:6) because I simply did not have the time to continue with someone who did not want to hear. (1Co 14:38) However, as he clearly stated, he refuses to take the time with others, demonstrating that he has no charity in his heart for anyone else.

Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.
-2 Corinthians 5:11

Jeff then does what I have seen many people do over the years I have spent in ministry, namely, if you disagree with them on a particular subject, they accuse you of being a Freemason, just as Jeff did when he posed another accusation disguised as a rhetorical question: "ARE you a Mason Christopher? I may be wrong just asking." I have another book called Freemasonry: A Luciferian Beacon (which is free-to-read here at creationliberty.com - keyword search 'mason'), in which I expose Freemasonry for the Luciferian cult it is, but again, Jeff was looking for a reason to accuse, not to gain knowledge.

This is only a portion of the communications between myself and Jeff, but during his rant, he accused me of mishandling God's Word, ignoring Scripture, cherry-picking Scripture, being rude, making false and hypocritical accusations, being arrogant and radical, having no fruits of the Spirit, having no wisdom, teaching a false gospel, being of the world (in the spiritual sense), being brainwashed, being a troll, being prideful, self-righteous, egotistical, and hateful, following evolutionary lies, calling God a liar, being involved in a Freemason conspiracy, and being programmed by Luciferians... all for simply telling him that he was not interpreting Scripture in its context. This is only one of my interactions with a FEC, but I wanted to share this with readers so you can see for yourselves how ridiculous this gets very quickly, and to remember that FECs have no choice but to react in this way because if they are forced to go to the context of Scripture, their arguments will fall like a house of cards, and therefore, railing and false accusations are how they can distract people from looking closely at the facts of the Bible.

The Bible teaches us that we Christians should not suffer those who bring railing accusation among us, and that if they are addressed on the matter, and refuse repentance of their wrongdoing, they should be removed from the church.

But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat. For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.
-1 Corinthians 5:11-13

We Christians gladly sit down and eat with brethren for fellowship, and with the unsaved sinners of this world to teach them the truth, but we should not sit down to eat with a man who claims to be of Christ and is an unrepentant hypocrite. This is because that hypocritical man needs to understand that he is at odds with Christ's church, that (if he is a false convert) he might come to repentance of his sin, and also that, when such a wicked man is caught and punished for his sin, he might not bring any blemish upon the church and the name of Christ.

I have listened to FECs, as well as those who oppose FECs, refer to the Bible as "poetry," or they claim that the Bible is "poetic" in nature, but I did not use those words to describe the Bible in this book. The reason for that is because I personally believe it is incorrect to describe the Bible as mere "poetry," and I believe those who believe God's Word is classified in that way are not taking it as seriously as they should.

First, let's get a clear definition:

poetry (n): the art of rhythmical composition, written or spoken, for exciting pleasure by beautiful, imaginative, or elevated thoughts; literary work in metrical form; verse; prose with poetic qualities
poetic (n): possessing the qualities or charm of poetry
(See 'poetry' & 'poetic', Random House Dictionary, 2023, [dictionary.com]; See also Collins English Dictionary, 10th Edition, William Collins Sons & Co, 2012)

When this dictionary used the word 'verse', it was not referring to a sentence, like a verse of Scripture for example. The way the dictionary meant the word 'verse' was in the sense of a poem, which is one of the definitions of the term.

The Bible never originally had "verses" in the sense of verse numbers and chapters. Those were added in later to help reference particular doctrines for study and preaching. We use the word 'verse' in Scripture in the same way we use the word 'universe', with the word 'verse' meaning "sentence," and the prefix 'uni' meaning "one," and thus, the word 'universe' means "one sentence," in which the Lord God spoke the creation into existence.

Although someone may successfully argue that the book of Psalms is poetic, since it is writing that is designed to use rhythmic verses for song, the great majority of the Bible is not poetry, nor was it written in any poetic manner. The Bible is written for instruction, meaning that we are educated by the Word of God, that we might be corrected unto the ways of His righteousness.

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
-2 Timothy 3:16-17

So on one hand, there are many churchgoers out there who do not take the Word of God seriously because they consider Scripture to be just flowery language there for artistic flare, while on the other hand, there are many churchgoers out there who do not take the Word of God seriously because they consider Scripture to be direct and literal in its every word. I find this very interesting because, although I used many figurative descriptions in this book, you likely never once thought that I was writing poetry at any time, nor did you ever once consider that my figurative descriptions should be taken literally.

However, when it comes to the Bible, for a mysterious reason, people tend to turn off the normal thought process they use when they read any other document, and make special exceptions when it comes to the interpretation of Scripture. Over the years, I have become convinced that the reason so many people do this is because it allows them to feign understanding, without having to put in any effort to study, that they might convince others that they are faithful followers of God's Word, without making hardly any changes that would be standard for a disciple of Christ.

This is a problem that is plaguing church buildings all over the world, but for FECs, it is even worse because the most simplistic explanations of Scripture must be drawn into question. For example, Joseph dreamed a dream that the sun, moon, and stars made obeisance (i.e. gave reverence) to him:

And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.
-Genesis 37:9

Should we then conclude that the sun and moon kneeled before Joseph and paid him great honors? Should we then conclude that there are only eleven stars, and that all other stars are a lie of the devil that is perpetrated by NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)?

If we just continue to read the verses in their context, it is quite easy to understand their intended meaning. These celestial bodies were symbolic of his family members, who would one day come to give him reverence, which happened after he became a ruler in Egypt:

And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?
-Genesis 37:10

Has NASA ever lied to the American public? Yes, of course they have; they are a government-funded agency, and therefore, it stands to reason that they lie to the people, and there are a number of things they have stated as "fact" that I personally do not believe.

However, it is not logical or reasonable to throw the baby out with the bath water, or in other words, it is nonsensical to say that every employee, every scientist, and every engineer that works for NASA is a knowing, willing participant in a greater demonic conspiracy. For example, the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) is a corrupt propaganda and mafia enforcement arm of the Deep State, but that does not automatically mean that every agent joined the FBI for the express purpose to further a demonic agenda (i.e. many FBI agents joined the agency because they just wanted to catch bad guys and bring justice to victims), and likewise, just because NASA is part of a greater money-laundering scheme for the Deep State, that does not automatically mean that every engineer joined NASA to help corrupt politicians launder money (i.e. many NASA engineers just like working on new technology, and want to help further as many helpful advancements as they can).

The FECs have gone so far off the "edge of the world" (so to speak), the FEC authors I have read, and FEC preachers I have listened to, are trying to convince their audience that NASA is helping to keep flat-earth a secret from the world, so the United Nations can turn people away from Jesus. I am at a complete loss for words on how to describe how unbelievably ludicrous that is, and the only way I know how to get the point across is to define the word 'brainwashing':

brainwashing (n): any method of controlled systematic indoctrination, especially one based on repetition or confusion:
(See 'brainwashing', Random House Dictionary, 2023, [dictionary.com]; See also Collins English Dictionary, 10th Edition, William Collins Sons & Co, 2012)

FECs will scoff at my accusation that they are brainwashed because they so often say that everyone who opposes their flat-earth model is brainwashed. Do not misunderstand, I do not believe that FECs are brainwashed because they believe in a flat-earth, but I do believe they are brainwashed because they are a part of a religious cult, and that even if the earth were flat, it would STILL be a religious cult because they have given themselves over to worshiping an idol they call "flat-earth," they deceptively use the Bible out of context to claim there is a "spiritual" foundation to their theories, and then condemn those who do not follow them in their insane ideologies.

For example, on a podcast interview with Dean Odle, the host of the show, fiction novelist Zen Garcia, gives us a little more insight into why FECs desire their flat-earth model:
"Children that learn, and that accept science as authority over that of the Scriptures of the whole thing of that we are created in the image of the most high God, that we are special, that the earth is special, that, you know, this is the only game in town, the only show, the only thing that's real, as far as the universal creation, that all those who believe that there's all these multiple earths, and that there's all these, you know... they believe we evolved from monkeys, they believe there's all these different earths out there... in my opinion, this truth, and the revelation of flat-earth and the firmament, is so very important, moreso than we can even realize, because, as I said, the whole Darwinian and, you know, Copernicus, all of that, is leading to, what will be the next aspect, and that is the ancient alien ideology."
-Dean Odle, "Dean Odle - Teaching Flat Earth Truth To Your Congregation," Zen Garcia, Dec 22, 2016, retrieved Apr 12, 2023, [https://youtu.be/D7RWL44OIf8?t=3411]

I had to heavily shorten this quote, not because I was hiding the context of what he said (see the references if you want to verify the full quote), but because Garcia rambled quite a bit, repeating the same things in different words. There are quite a few fallacies in this quote, as well as false statements, and I think it is important that we cover those, so readers can understand the problem in the thinking of FECs.

I have no argument against the fact that children, at least, those in the corrupt and failing tax-funded public education system (the students of which fall FAR behind private and homeschooled students), are being taught to accept science (i.e. what is accepted as accumulated knowledge over the course of history) as authority over the Scriptures. Please do not misunderstand my statement because I am NOT invalidating scientific experiments and discoveries about the laws of nature; we use that accumulated knowledge on a daily basis, and I am thankful that the Lord God has blessed us with an understanding of the few things we do understand about this world. The major problem we have in government-funded education is that religious ideologies, like evolutionism for example (i.e. the insane idea that people evolved from monkeys, which evolved from various other creatures, which came from rocks billions of years ago), have been inserted into science classrooms, when it is not part of science at all (i.e. it is religious ideology that is labeled "science").
(Read "Evolutionism: Another New-Age Religion" here at creationliberty.com for more details.)

In public school classrooms, there is an unspoken idea that is heavily impressed upon students, and that is the idea that everything that can be known is already known. It is a long-standing arrogant philosophy that, in my opinion, destroys the creative, inventive, and explorative minds of young men and women, who might otherwise go on to discover new things about this world that would benefit many people.

However, the problem with Garcia's statement is that it is a jumbled mess of conflation, false equivocation, and poisoning-the-well fallacies. A conflation fallacy is when you treat two different concepts as the same thing, a false equivocation fallacy is when you call two different things by the same name, and poisoning-the-well is when you present information about an opponent that is presented preemptively in order to weaken the opposing argument before it is made.

For example, let's say that Bob makes the statement that "bats are animals," but Karen, Bob's opponent, counters that statement by saying that bats are wooden objects used in sports, and so she argues that Bob is brainwashed because he has the same philosophy as pagans who think their wooden idols are alive and can speak to them. Karen, whether purposefully or not, took the word 'bats' out of the context Bob was using it, to conflate Bob's statement into something he did not mean, put his statement into a different context to make it falsely equivalent to Karen's argument, and by doing so, poisoned-the-well against Bob to make him look like an idolater who is brainwashed.

Not only did we see Garcia use all these fallacies at once, in my experience and research, this is essentially what all FECs do. Garcia created a scenario in which one either believes the Bible or believes science, but the Bible tells us that we should simply beware of science that is falsely so called:

O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called: Which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee. Amen.
-1 Timothy 5:20-21

The Gospel of Jesus Christ was committed to Timothy's trust, as it is committed to all those who are born again in Christ, and we should avoid the useless ramblings of men who claim to have faith in God and Christ, in which they have welcomed corrupt philosophies of the world into their minds, and have erred concerning the faith. False teachers often boast of their perceived scientific (i.e. knowledgable) understanding (as do most FECs), but it is not the saving knowledge of the doctrines of Christ (even though they may falsely label it as the "wisdom" and "understanding"), but rather, they have adopted the ways of the heathen to pervert the knowledge of Christ to their own destruction.

As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest [twist and distort], as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
-2 Peter 3:16

In summary, Garcia took the position that those who do not believe in his flat-earth model automatically adopt the religion of evolutionism, believe in "multiple earths" (whatever that is supposed to mean), and seek "ancient alien ideology." To clarify my position, I firmly believe that the Bible's account of history is true, meaning that God created the universe and this world roughly 6,000 years ago (which is the timeline if you add up the dates of geneology in Scripture), mankind is the only intelligent life in the universe (because the Bible says that Eve is the mother of all living, Gen 3:20), and that aliens very likely exist, but the public does not understand that they are devils who lie to mankind (John 8:43-45), and are allowed to exist by God for the purpose of proving us as His children, who are set apart from the schemes of men and devils. (Mark 13:22)

Is it possible for someone to have come to repentance and faith in Christ, and trust in God's account of history in the Bible, and NOT believe in Garcia's flat-earth model? According to Garcia and his flat-earth followers, their answer would be 'no', and that is because, even though they will deny it with their tongues, in their hearts, flat-earth is their Lord and Savior.

Garcia revealed this the more he spoke because he began to lift up himself and mankind in pride. (Pro 8:13) He began by repeating the truth of Scripture, namely, that mankind was created in the image of God (Gen 1:26), but then took it a step further to say that "we are special" and that "the earth is special," which could be taken in a general sense (i.e. that it was created for a special purpose), but that is not the way it is meant by FECs; rather, they are using this in the sense of being extraordinary and valuable to a high degree.

This ideology that mankind has high value is contradictory to the preaching of the Gospel of Salvation because the truth is that mankind is not even worth the dust of the ground from which we were created, and the reason for that is because of our sin, which gives us negative value because the dust of the ground did not sin. In fact, the entire creation groans and travails in pain constantly because of us:

For we know that the whole creation groaneth
and travaileth in pain together until now.
-Romans 8:22

Paul says "until now" because value and worth has finally been given to us by the Lord Jesus Christ, and without Him, we are not just valueless, but we are a blight on this world because of our sin. Those who would be born again in Christ must come to the humilty of repentance (i.e. grief and godly sorrow of sin), but they will not be humbled to repentance when they are lifted up in pride with the idea that they are "special."

A FEC by the name of Sean Gillum made a video called "Why is Flat Earth Important," and in it, he says:
"Flat earth is an epic epiphany that changes many people to their core by adding a spiritual dimension to their lives, affirming their common sense, developing their critical thinking skills,"
-Sean Gillum, "Why is Flat Earth Important?" Nov 14, 2022, retrieved Apr 12, 2023, [https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2978788855747934]

What FECs like Gillum are willingly blind to is the fact that the "spiritual dimension" (which he alleges is added to peoples' lives via flat-earth doctrine) is not of Christ. The FECs believe that they are benefitting people by their doctrine, when in fact, they are leading people AWAY from the Gospel of Christ, and as I have already demonstrated many times in this book, they are corrupting peoples' understanding of many Biblical passages that, if interpreted properly, lead them to repentance and faith.

The FECs are actually teaching people an anti-common sense approach to the reading of the English language, and shutting down critical thinking when it comes to Scripture. The purpose of removing critical thinking and common understanding in the study of Scripture is so they can replace it with a fanciful fable of creative imagination, and those with a child-like mentality are always attracted to sensationalism rather than study and critical thinking.

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
-2 Timothy 4:3-4

As far as I understand it, the Bible never teaches us what the shape of this world looks like, just as the Bible never teaches us what the shape of an ox looks like, nor does the Bible teach us what the shape of Rome looked like in the days of Christ. This is because, even though the Bible contains things that are related to science and cosmology, the Bible is not a book of science and cosmology; it is a book of doctrine to understand the philosophy of Christ and the spiritual things of God that last for eternity, and I will repeat for emphasis that, the Bible is a book of correction and instruction to shape our minds, discipline our hearts, and redirect our lives to follow after the righteousness of Christ.

But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
-2 Timothy 3:13-17

In his video, Gillum goes on to say that flat-earth is good for the mental health of mankind, and that it will expose all lies of the world and government. This simply proves the point that flat-earth is the idol of the pagan god FECs worship because all these wonderful things that they claim flat-earth does for mankind, is only what Jesus Christ alone can do for mankind.
(There is no such thing as "mental illness." See Psychology: Hoodwinked by the Devil here at creationliberty.com for more details.)

At the beginning of this book, I said that I did not care about the shape of the earth, and I still do not care. However, FECs use this as a point to attack those who make light of their arguments, claiming that because I do not believe that the shape of the earth is important, therefore, I do not believe that truth is important.

Another anonymous FEC wrote an extremely short post about "Why Flat Earth is the Most Important Truth," and he said:
"When the spinning ball-Earth is finally exposed worldwide for the 500 year deception it was, Earth's entire population will suddenly be faced with the reality that every government, every space agency, university, secret society, religious organization, mainstream and alternative media outlet..."
-The Daily Plane, "Why Flat Earth is the Most Important Truth," Aug 28, 2015, retrieved Apr 28, 2023, [https://www.thedailyplane.com/why-flat-earth-is-the-most-important-truth]

I did not cut off the FEC author; that was simply the end of the only paragraph on the page. The point I am making by quoting this anonymous FEC is that every FEC I have ever met thinks that all truths are related to flat earth, and that all deception and every corrupt entity in the world will be exposed by the "truth" of flat earth being revealed.

Likewise, this is the thinking of FECs who adhere to what they call "Biblical" cosmology. The reason they put such heavy emphasis on flat-earth is because, in their hearts, they think the whole world is going to have a "come-to-Jesus" moment because of the so-called "revelation" of flat earth.

Their misconception of this is understandable to a certain degree because, when I was a young Christian, I thought the knowledge about young-earth creation and dinosaurs was going to make people have a "come-to-Jesus" moment. However, as my study in God's Word continued over the years, I finally understood that the knowledge of those things do not bring people to repentance (i.e. grief and godly sorrow) for the remission of their sins, and Jesus explained to us that such a miracle could happen that a man who was dead could come back as a spirit to warn the people, and that would not be enough to bring them to repentance.

There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house: For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.
-Luke 16:19-31

Notice that the rich man still did not understand the Gospel of Salvation, even when he was tormented in hell, because he thought that such a miracle would be enough to cause them to come to godly sorrow of their sins. Abraham responded with understanding, knowing that Moses (i.e. the law) and the prophets were the only tools that would humble a man that he might be converted.

I covered these verses in the previous chapter, but I want to reiterate them for emphasis:

The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.
-Psalm 19:7-8

But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
-Galatians 3:23-25

I am in full agreement that flat-earth principles, or Christmas pageants, or presentations on dinosaurs and the bible, or any other church-ianity ideas or traditions, will bring people to a "sinner's prayer," by which one repeats a prayer after someone else claiming to "believe on Jesus," but the problem with that is a sinner's prayer brings NO ONE to repentance. The repeat-after-me sinner's prayer is simply a tactic of religious leaders in church buildings (who, in most cases, are not saved themselves) to brainwash unrepentant sinners into believing they are saved Christians, thereby creating large masses of false converts.

Certainly, salvation is a free gift, as the Bible clearly states:

But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
-Romans 5:15

However, most churchgoers treat this free gift as if it is a free sample at a grocery store, where they can come along and take one as they wish, and maybe sneak back around and grab another if they enjoyed the first sample. The free gift must be GIVEN, and the Lord God has made it clear that He will NOT give His grace to the proud of heart; rather, He will only give that free gift of grace to those who have been humbled.

But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
-James 4:6

God has stated, in no uncertain terms, who He saves, or in other words, there are only certain people to which He gives His free gift of grace:

The LORD is nigh [draws close] unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
-Psalm 34:18

contrite (adj): broken-hearted for sin; deeply affected with grief and sorrow for having offended God; humble; penitent
penitent (adj): suffering pain or sorrow of heart on account of sins, crimes or offenses; contrite; sincerely affected by a sense of guilt and resolving on amendment of life
repentance (n): sorrow for any thing done or said; the pain or grief which a person experiences in consequence of the injury or inconvenience produced by his own conduct
(See 'contrite', American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster, 1828, retrieved Apr 28, 2023, [webstersdictionary1828.com])

If someone thinks that the doctrine of flat-earth, especially the lies of the FECs (i.e. that the Bible teaches a flat-earth model), is going to bring anyone to repentance, then that person has no understanding of the Gospel of Salvation. If their flat-earth model was the key to finding Jesus Christ, then when the wealthy young ruler asked Jesus how to inherit eternal life, Jesus should have told him about the flat earth and to uphold that belief.

And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?... Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
-Matthew 19:16-19

Jesus gave him the law, that it would be the schoolmaster (i.e. instructor) to bring him to repentance, that he might believe the truth. That repentace MUST be given to a man by God.

Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour [i.e. Jesus Christ], for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.
-Acts 5:31

In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;
-2 Timothy 2:25

Do not think that you can squeeze out tears of repentance by your own efforts. It is the Lord God alone that can give men repentance, and so if anyone reading this book has concerns that you have never come to repentance of sins for the gift of remission (i.e. forgiveness of sins), then you need to pray the Lord earnestly that He would open your eyes and give you the gift of repentance that you might be saved.
(Read There is No Saving Grace Without Repentance here at creationliberty.com for more details.)

And if anyone is skeptical of this doctrine, thinking that what I am teaching here is not what should be taught to the world, then you need to take a closer look at the example that Jesus, His apostles, and the early church set for us. When John the Baptist came to the people to preach, he taught them repentance of their sins would lead them to God's grace, and baptized them in that doctrine:

John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.
-Mark 1:4

John the Baptist pointed the people to Jesus Christ (Mat 3:11-15), and the first thing that Jesus Christ taught when He started out in His ministry was repentance:

From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
-Matthew 4:17

Jesus taught His disciples what they should teach, and the first thing they preached was repentance:

And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two; and gave them power over unclean spirits... And they went out, and preached that men should repent.
-Mark 6:7-12

Before Jesus returned to His throne in Heaven, He unlocked the understanding of His saints so they could understand His Word, and then revealed to them that one of Christ's express purposes in coming to this world to suffer on the cross, die, and resurrect from the dead was so that His disciples would go into all the nations and preach repentance (i.e. godly sorrow) for the remission (i.e. forgiveness/pardon) of sins:

Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
-Luke 24:45-47

Then, when the Holy Spirit came down to the church on the Day of Pentecost, Peter preached repentance for the remission of sins:

Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
-Acts 2:38

When Paul was saved on the road to Damascus, the first thing he went out and preached was repentance for the remission of sins, he taught that doctrine everywhere he went, and he taught every Christian to do the same:

But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.
-Acts 26:20

Why did Jesus not tell His disciples to teach scientific principles to bring people to repentance and faith? Why did Jesus not tell His disciples to go out and do miracles to impress the people so they would believe? This is because, no matter how hard he tries, a man will never have true faith in Christ until he has first been given the gift of repentance from the Lord God, and neither scientific understanding or the working of miracles will provide it for him.

For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.
-Isaiah 66:2

What I hope readers take away from this book is the fact that the so-called "knowledge" of flat-earth will NOT bring anyone to knowledge of their own sin, nor will it lead anyone to repentance of their sin. Every testimony we read from FECs concerning their "revelations" about flat-earth was about how they claimed to "find God," or how life suddenly "made sense" to them, or that they wanted to study more about conspiracies, but none of them testified that they came to understand their own corruption and wretchedness, and that is because the FECs never came to Christ through the method that Christ taught His disciples.

If any readers are interested in learning more about the Gospel of Salvation in Jesus Christ, and the details of what He taught on false converts in the church, I would recommend the following resources, which are all free to read and/or listen to (if there is an audio series to go with them, by clicking the green audio button at the top of the page) here at creationliberty.com:

There is No Saving Grace Without Repentance

Jesus Said There Are Many False Converts
If you want to learn why there are so many leavened and false preachers, as well as leavened and false converts among churchgoers, I would highly recommend reading another book I wrote called Why Millions of Believers on Jesus Are Going to Hell. It is a short, free-to-read book here at creationliberty.com, and it will provide a lot more details and correlating verses to explain the full understanding of the doctrine.

Why Millions of Believers on Jesus Are Going to Hell

If you read the entirety of this book, I thank you for taking the time to understand this matter, and if you learned anything, I am glad the Lord Jesus Christ has made me useful to serve you in that capacity. I pray that the Lord God would make all of you prosperous and healthy in your endeavors to honor His Word in all that you say and do, and though Christ has told us few will find the way to eternal life (Mat 7:13-14), I hope that as many of you as possible would learn the truth about repentance and faith, and be sanctified for the sake of Christ.

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