WesleyGospel Ministries

In six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea,
and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day.
–Exodus 20:11 (KJV)–

This verse shows that the days in the first chapter of Genesis were real twenty four hour days. For you compare like things to like. Just as God worked six days and rested on the seventh, so the Israelites were to do also. The comparison would make no sense if the days were “seven ages” or were “seven ages” that overlapped each other (Day Age Theory) or if there was a huge gap between the days (Gap Theory). These are modern compromises to accommodate the alleged geological ages with the Biblical account of creation. Further this verse allows one to determine the age of the universe. Using the Biblical genealogies (Gen. 5; 11:10-32), Bishop Ussher determined the date of creation to be 4004 B.C. Although this may be off by one or two percent, it is a very accurate estimate based on Biblical revelation, not man’s speculation.

–EDITOR OF JOHN GILL’S COMMENTARY ON EXODUS 20:11–

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Norman Geisler, “A Response to Ken Ham and Answers in Genesis.”

AiG, “The Early Church on Creation.”

Douglas Hamp, The First Six Days (Yoel Press, 2007), ch. 7: “‘Days’ According to the Church Fathers.” Here is the AUDIO BOOK.

John Haley, Alleged Errors of the Bible (Whitaker House, 2019). Originally published in 1874, the year before Charles Finney died, under the title of An Examination of the Alleged Discrepancies of the Bible, he was also from the same denomination at the time: the Congregational Church. While Haley technically remained silent on the age of the earth in this book, he seems to align with a traditional literalist view of the Genesis 1 six day creation, and would be much more compatible as a resource for believers in young earth creation, than Geisler or Gleason Archer are. It was Charles Finney who said, “For SIX THOUSAND YEARS God has been hearing it, and still the world is spared, and the vengeance of God has not yet burst forth to smite all His guilty calumniators to Hell!” (Sermon: “The Excuses of Sinners Condemn God”).

Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People (Penguin, 1991). This medieval church historian was a young earth creationist just like Josephus.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
–Philippians 4:6-7 (ESV)–

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CHRIST HAS ANOTHER LIFTING UP, not ignominious, but truly honorable; there is a lifting of him upon the pole of the gospel, in the preaching of the Word. Christ Jesus is to be lifted up every day; for that purpose he came into the world: “That like as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,” even so he might by the preaching of the truth be lifted up, “that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Christ is THE MINISTER’S GREAT THEME, in opposition to a thousand other things which most men choose. I would prefer that the most prominent feature in my ministry should be the preaching of Christ Jesus. Christ should be most prominent, not hell and damnation. God’s ministers must preach God’s terrors as well as God’s mercies; we are to preach the thunder of God’s law. If men will sin, we are to tell them that they must be punished for it. If they will transgress, woe unto the watchman who is ashamed to say, “The Lord cometh that taketh vengeance.” We should be unfaithful to the solemn charge which God has given us if we were wickedly to stifle all the threatenings of God’s word. Does God say, “The wicked shall be cast into hell, with all the nations that forget God?” It is our business to say so. Did the loving Saviour talk of the pit that burneth, of the worm that never dieth, and of the fire that can never be extinguished? It is ours to speak as he spake, and not to mince the matter. It is no mercy to men to hide their doom. But, my brethren, terrors never ought to be the prominent feature of a minister’s preaching. Many old divines thought they would do a great deal of good by preaching this. I do not believe it. Some souls are awakened and terrified by such preaching; they however, are but few. Sometimes, right solemnly, the sacred mysteries of eternal wrath must be preached, but far oftener let us preach the wondrous love of God. There are more souls won by wooing than by threatening. It is not hell, but Christ, we desire to preach.

–CHARLES SPURGEON, “CHRIST LIFTED UP”–

Now, brethren, concerning the COMING OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST and OUR GATHERING together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that day will not come unless THE FALLING AWAY COMES FROM FIRST, and THE MAN OF SIN is revealed, THE SON OF PERDITION, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
–2 THESSALONIANS 2:1-4 (NKJV)–

The above passage is a revealed doctrine, based on a prophetic vision of future events; and it tells us the following things:

1. The Lord Jesus Christ will come back to earth.

2. True Christians will be raptured up to be with Jesus when he returns.

3. The Church will experience a worldwide apostasy or backsliding.

4. There will be a personal Antichrist: here called the Man of Sin and the Son of Perdition.

5. The Antichrist will sit in the Jerusalem temple and call himself God.

6. Steps 3, 4, and 5 happen (Antichrist): then Steps 1 and 2 (Advent and Rapture).

Then there will be GREAT TRIBULATION, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but FOR THE ELECT’S SAKE those days will be shortened. Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. For FALSE CHRISTS and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders TO DECEIVE, IF POSSIBLE, EVEN THE ELECT…Immediately AFTER THE TRIBULATION of those days…they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven…And He will send His angels with a great sound of a TRUMPET, and they will GATHER TOGETHER HIS ELECT from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other…Then two men will be in the field: ONE WILL BE TAKEN AND THE OTHER LEFT…Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.
–MATTHEW 24:21-24, 29-31, 40, 42 (NKJV)–

The above passage is a revealed doctrine, based on a prophetic vision of future events; and it tells us the following things:

1. The Great Tribulation is the time when the Antichrist tries to deceive the elect.

2. After this, that is, POST-TRIBULATION, Jesus will return on the clouds.

3. After this, that is, POST-TRIBULATION, the angelic trumpet will blast.

4. After this, that is, POST-TRIBULATION, the gathering or rapture will happen.

5. The elect living in the time of the Antichrist won’t know the exact time of the rapture.

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St. Irenaeus, “The Fraud, Pride, and Tyrannical Kingdom of the Antichrist.” (180 A.D.). “They [the ten kings] shall…give their kingdom to the beast, and put the Church to flight…But he [John] indicates the number of the name [Antichrist, 666] now, that when this man comes we may avoid him, being aware who he is.”

St. Hippolytus of Rome, “On Christ and Antichrist.” (202 A.D.). “Concerning the tribulation of the persecution which is to fall upon the Church from the adversary…That refers to the one thousand two hundred and threescore days (the half of the week) during which the tyrant is to reign and persecute the Church.”

George Eldon Ladd, The Blessed Hope (Eerdmans, 1956). Shows that the early church fathers taught that there will be a post-tribulation rapture. The appearance of the Antichrist was the first aspect to be expected in the end-time process; and not a sudden and unexpected rapture like in the Left Behind films. The Omen films, as worldly as they are, come much closer to the Biblical and early church view of the last days.

Robert Gundry, The Church and the Tribulation (Zondervan, 1973).

Douglas Moo, “A Case for the Posttribulation Rapture,” Three Views on the Rapture (Zondervan, 2018).

Consumed with memories that preceded today
Given a chance to bereave life that’s slipping away
Suffered through tragedy of my slow decay
Deceptive tendencies dragged my soul away

All that I know, there was no God for me
Force that shatters all, absence of mortality

Revive all my fears
Revive wasted tears
Revive void within
Revive once again

Forsaken by destiny, forsaken by my own mind
I must remove my skin to see belief in your eyes
All that I know, there was no God for me
Force that shatters all, absence of humanity

Revive all my fears
Revive wasted tears
Revive void within
Revive once again

Reach for the sky
Touch the sky
Revive a hope
For mankind

–Fear Factory, “Resurrection”–