There is no greater subject than that of the one true God and as he is revealed in his own word, the Bible! From my childhood, which was as I remember it, subject to being wrong, it appears that we as a nation have been on a continual downward swing from God! Can you remember, only if you are over sixty, when people could actually be seen leaving their houses and walking and driving their cars heading to a church building?
I confess, I have been watching on television early each Saturday mornings, “Hopalong Cassidy.” He is a fictional cowboy hero created in 1904 by the author Clarence E. Mulford, who wrote a series of short stories and novels based on the character. If you should, more than likely you will not, do an internet study of the character, Hopalong Cassidy: he was totally unlike the one portrayed in the television series I have been watching. Yes, I did watch the movies which were made in the 1940s as a young boy, in which William Boyd played Cassidy, who was reserved and well spoken, with a sense of fair play. So, you are asking what is my point? In a most unusual way, the actor William Boyd, in his “Hopalong Cassidy” character, he would at times appear talking “personally” to children at the end of the movies. Here is one of my points, he talked to them about washing their hands, obeying their parents, saying prayers before going to sleep at night and going to Bible class! Now, in all honesty, can you in your “wildest” thoughts, even think of this happening today? You see, people really did believe in God and the true God of the Bible. It was not uncommon but common!
It is a changing time in which we live today! Therefore, the totally unnecessary question in the 1940s, is a most important question today! “Does God Exist?” Have you ever heard that the order according to “some evolutionists,” that the order in which things first appeared, energy, air, water, earth, and life? More than likely, when reading the first verse in the Bible, you never thought about his order of things, but, let us read it here: “In the beginning God created (ENERGY) the heaven (AIR) and the earth (Please notice that the earth came out of the “waters” in verse 2). And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved (ENERGY) upon the face of the waters (WATER)” (Gen. 1:1-2). If you read with care, the order is the same, according to God, as according to “some scientists!” As we continue to read the opening chapter of the Bible, Moses wrote: “And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters” (verse 6); but don’t stop here, as Moses continued: “And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth; …” (verses 9-10). Here I conclude with this quote: “Indeed, some scientists think life appeared the moment our planet’s environment was stable enough to support it.” (Taken from LIVESCR=NCE on – GOOGLE). God did not depend upon “some scientists,” but created things in a natural order, even now recognized by “some scientists!”
What came next in the natural order of things? Well, here is the question: “What do you need for human life? This is the way a simple thinking man puts things, using words we know and use every day. You need water for fish, and you need land for animals and man. Of course, you need food for both the animals and man. Let us see how God did it! Moses wrote: “And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good” (verse 11-12). Man also needs ways to know the seasons and time; therefore, Moses continued: “And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years” (verses 18). Moses continued: “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. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good” (verses 20-21). God’s order, the natural order of things, Moses wrote: “Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth” (verse 22). The natural order continued: “And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good” (verses 24-25). God brought forth these creatures, only after, he had prepared all things needed!
With this, the heavens and the earth were ready for God’s crowned jewel, and “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: …” (verse 26). Then, and only then, did God bring forth the grand conclusion: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (verse 27). Please note, that God created them, “male and female created he them!” Necessary for being “fruitful” and “multiplying!”
With these words of God, this series of articles is concluded. If nothing else has been gained from these articles, it is hoped, that they have given the readers “food-for-thought” on the question: “Does God exist?” The answer is, yes!
Frank R. Williams