 Genesis 1:1-2 says, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters." Never in scripture do you find God arguing to prove His existence, He simply declares He is God and it is He who has created all things. Through His creation (what we call natural or general revelation) man knows that God exists and are without excuse when they live a life in rejection to what they already know but suppress. In their suppression of the truth, self professing atheists (to which do not exist) attempt to come up with many ways and ideas to discredit God and His Word. One of those ways in which they seek to discredit God's Word is by claiming that the Bible is full of contradictions. One such foolish contradiction is that of the two creation accounts. The claim is that we have two different creation accounts between Genesis chapter one and Genesis chapter two. Genesis seems to be the most attacked book of the Bible, at least since Darwin and his theory of evolution, many claim that science disproves God's word and that instead of being created in the image of God, we are left with being pond scum that evolved over billions of years. Instead of life having value and meaning because God has created us with value and meaning, we are left with having no purpose but only coming into being by some random chance with no sense of value. And who is to say that since the claim is that we evolved from a common ancestor that we do not evolve back into that common ancestor or become like planet of the apes.  So the argument is that we have two creation accounts, and atheists use this argument to say that the scripture is contradicting itself. Any one who does any true research on this would see just how ridiculous this argument is and probably not waste anytime on dealing with it. However, I thought it might be helpful to some who are new believers and possibly even those professing atheists (again no such thing as an atheist) who would want to actually examine the claims made and not make the same foolish claims in their arguments.
Is there two creation accounts? The answer is... NO! Genesis chapter one gives a broad outline of the events of creation which begins on day one through day 6 with the creation of man in the image of God being the climax. Chapter two begins with the seventh day in which God rests. Some atheists make the claim that because God rests here on the seventh day and then in verse 4 we see the creation of man that there is an eighth day creation in which God creates Adam and Eve. This is really just another ridiculous attempt to discredit the Bible and shows a lack of understanding in their own arguments on the topic at hand. Chapter division in the Bible were developed by Archbishop Stephen Langton of Canterbury around A.D. 1227 and the first Bible to use them was the Wycliffe English Bible of 1382. In A.D. 1448 The Hebrew Old Testament was divided into verses by a Jewish Rabbi named Nathan. Stephanus used Nathan's verse divisions of the Old Testament and was the first to divide the New Testament verses in A.D. 1555. This is where we have a first problem when you attempt to read it as if there was these divides and it somehow starts a new account or a contradiction. Now knowing this we can look at the end of Genesis chapter one and see here in the beginning of chapter two that after this broad outline of His six day creation on the seventh day He rested. Now beginning in verse four of chapter two, we see the writer Moses, going into a more focused view of God's creation with the emphasis on His creation of man and the garden in which God placed man along with the creation of Eve the first woman ever created out of the rib of Adam. So this is a more detailed account of God's creation of man in His image. So as you can see and I hope you see clearly here that this is not a contradiction but rather flows perfectly as only God The Holy Spirit can do as He moved in inspiration on Moses to pen this account of God's creation. Now let me move in a little closer on some of these verses that atheists use in their attempts to support their erroneous view that we find two different creation accounts. As taken from the Skeptics Annotated Bible online making this claim that the Bible contradicts. They state this... "In the first creation story, humans are created after the other animals." citing Genesis 1:25-27 25 And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. They compare this passage of scripture with Genesis 2:18-19 and state this... "In the second story, humans were created before the other animals." Lets look at Genesis 2:18-19 and see if this is a contradiction. 18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” 19 Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. What they would like you to believe is that leading up to verse nineteen we see the creation of Adam and then we see another creation of the land animals. Honestly, this should be obvious to the reader, especially if you understand that chapter one was a broad outline and chapter two is coming in and putting the emphasis on man. Verse nineteen is not saying that God created the animals here but reminding you of His creation of the animals which were created before man which was laid out in chapter one. Remember the emphasis being on Adam here in chapter two, if you continue to read verse twenty, Adam names the animals that God brings to him and in naming these animals in which God brings to Adam it is made clear to the reader that there was not found a helper that was fit for Adam. So the Lord causes Adam to sleep and God takes one of his ribs and creates woman. And Adam declares in verse twenty three.... "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Now you would think that should cover it completely but there is one more aspect of this story that is connected and ties together with what has already been said, I feel I am repeating myself but for the sake of being thorough I will continue just a little further. The also make this claim on the skeptics bible under contradictions... "In the first creation story, the first man and woman were created simultaneously." citing Genesis 1:25-27 then state... "In the second account, the man was created first, then the animals, then the woman from the man's rib." citing Genesis 2:18-22. Again what we have here is the broad outline of chapter one into the more focused emphasis on the creation of man in chapter two. Not two different creation accounts, not contradictions between the two chapters but a perfect cohesive account of God's creation. My prayer for you atheist or those who claim to be a Christian but seek to dismiss God's word by making claims such as this one, is that you would repent and believe in Jesus Christ. He is God in the flesh, the creator of all things, the very one you are arguing against when you attack His creation account. He is Lord and deserving of all glory, honor and worship. Bow the knee to Him today, repent and believe in Christ, who changes the heart of stone and gives you a heart of flesh, changing your desires, that natural desire to rebel against Him because we are born sinners because of Adam's sin, which if you continue to read in chapter three of Genesis, has been passed on to us which is why we need Christ to save us. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge and fools despise wisdom, don't be a fool in your self professed atheism, turn to Christ who is the wisdom of God. In Christ, Ricky Gantz
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2/4/2025 A Covenant of Redemption (Addressing the False Teaching of Hebrew Israelites on Isaiah 42)Read Now Recently, during an interaction with a local Hebrew Israelite, the passage of Isaiah 42 was brought up more than once. I was asked, who is this chapter referring to? One of the things Hebrew Israelites like to do is point to Old Testament scriptures that reference Israel as a proof that God has come to save His people Israel, which as someone who holds to Reformed Theology, I wouldn’t disagree. Although, I would disagree on their understanding of what that means. This creates many problems for Hebrew Israelites because they fail to see the differences between the type and the antitype in the scriptures.
What we are examining here is what is known as the “Covenant of Redemption” by reformed theologians. The covenant of redemption is the covenant made between the members of the Trinity (The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit) before the world was created. I will only be touching on chapter 42 of Isaiah, with a few looks at connecting scriptures, but I would strongly encourage you to study out this covenant of redemption in greater detail. However, let me briefly explain what this means. Let’s look at Isaiah 42. The first seven verses are where I want to spend my time but let me quickly give an overview of the rest of the chapter. In verses 8-9 the LORD makes it clear He gives His glory to no other, which is another clear refutation to the Hebrew Israelites who deny that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh, who shares in the same glory with His Father. (John 17:5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.) He speaks on how former things have come to pass and declares new things. In verses 10-13 the psalmist writes of singing a new song to the LORD, which will reach a gentile people, Kedar being referenced which is from the line of Ishmael, and the people of Sela, which was the capital of Edom. This is yet another clear refutation against the Hebrew Israelites. In verses 14-17 is a passage of prophecy, those whom God brings in through the right way, by His gospel message, through Christ, He will guide and be a light in the darkness leading the blind, but for those who blaspheme and reject the gospel, they will be put to shame. Hebrew Israelites should repent and turn to Christ and pray that He will grant them genuine repentance and that they will not be like Israel as we are about to see here in the next section of scripture. In verses 18-25 we look upon the failure of Israel to hear and see, listen to how God refers to them in verse 22, But this is a people plundered and looted; they are all of them trapped in holes and hidden in prisons; they have become plunder with none to rescue, spoil with none to say, “Restore!”, Israel did not take it to heart as stated in verse 25, and I plead with the Hebrew Israelites not to make the same mistake and reject the true gospel of Christ. Now going back to verses 1-7. I was told by the Hebrew Israelite I was in a conversation with that the servant here being referred to is the nation of Israel. Which is incorrect, this is not the nation of Israel being referred to, but the servant is Christ, the Son of God! God the Father is speaking here to God the Son. Christ will faithfully bring forth justice and establish it in the earth and bring His law to the coastlands (Isaiah 42:3-4). We see the same spoken of Christ in Isaiah 49:1-7 as the servant of the LORD, called from the womb (v.49:1,5), mouth like a sharp sword (v. 49:2), will gather the preserved of Israel, and a light for the nations, meaning gentiles also (v. 49:6), who is the redeemer of Israel (v. 49:7). In Isaiah 50 verses 4-9 the servant of the LORD who is Christ, speaks to the God the Father, as the prophesy about Himself in verse 6 says, I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard, I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting. Christ was beaten with the cat of nine tails and the flesh ripped from His back, hit on the cheek and His beard plucked from His face, and spit upon. This suffering servant is God the Son, who is coming to judge you Hebrew Israelites and every other false worship of an idolatrous god. Do not be like those who we see, in Isaiah 42:18:25, who fail to hear and see. Open your eyes before it is to late, cry out to Jesus Christ who is God in the flesh to save your soul. Do not stay in the darkness but come to the one who opens the eyes of the blind and brings light into the darkness. Turn to Christ and live! In Christ, Ricky Gantz  As one who spends much time evangelizing out on the streets, you often run into interesting people who believe a variety of different views about God and His Word.
From the atheists to the religious, you pretty much run into them all. One group of individuals I have run into and will focus upon in this series of articles addressing their teaching is the Hebrew Israelites also known as Black Hebrew Israelites. Every Saturday towards the evening we would head down to the city to preach the gospel in the open air and hand out tracts in the public square. One afternoon, we had the opportunity to get down there earlier than usual. While walking to meet up with others who were evangelizing with us we walked by a group of men who were standing near one of the bus stops holding up signs and proclaiming a message of some sort. They had a sign with a white Jesus who had devil horns on his head, a sign with a twelve tribes chart (which claimed only the Blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans were the true Hebrew Israelites, and had them broken down into twelve tribes), another sign with RFID microchips as the mark of the beast, a sign about how America was going to be destroyed, and they were proclaiming how the white man is the devil they called Edomites, which they claimed were descendants of Esau, the twin brother of Jacob. They used this reference because God says in the scripture, “Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated” (Malachi 1:3, Romans 9:13). We stopped and engaged with them for a little while and attempted to have a dialogue, however, it wasn’t an easy task to do, because the group of men seemed more inclined to shout over you and weren’t really interested in hearing you out, only reading passages of scriptures that weren’t necessarily dealing with what they claimed it to deal with while shouting white devils at us. We preached the gospel to them and then went on our way to meet up with the group we came out to evangelize with. This would be the first of many encounters with this group over the years. With more interactions picking up in 2017 until this day, as the group has grown on the streets and the encounters have been not only on the streets but also on YouTube (which is the main platform they use to spread their message). >>>Just type in Ricky Gantz or G220 Ministries into the YouTube search engine and many videos will show up of either interaction with them or videos they made about me and the ministry.<<< Not only has this group of men who I ran into about four to five years ago grown in number, but other groups were starting to come together in the city as well. Different camps holding to many of the same things with some distinct differences that divide them from one another. Sometimes you hear them refer to their camp as the true Hebrew Israelite while they call out other camps. Now that we have a little context of the background in how I became aware of the Hebrew Israelites, let me explain why I feel this is important to address. There are many false religions that claim they have the truth and many cults who claim to be Christian and are not. The Hebrew Israelites are no different than other false groups that claim they have the truth. While they claim they are not a religion but a nationality, the real Hebrew Israelites the Bible speaks of, the reality is they are using the Word of God to promote their hatred and racism against others who do not fall into the list of their twelve tribes chart (Blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans), especially their hatred of white people in which they claim are Edomites. Not much has been written against the Hebrew Israelite teachings, which I believe is due to a few factors:
I have heard Hebrew Israelites say that you must first know who you are in the Bible before you can understand it. They make it more about a nation of people then about Christ. Which is why I can honestly say that I have never heard them preach the good news of the gospel of Christ, they preach what they believe is good news, which is them having the white man as slaves in the kingdom, but never preach Christ crucified on the cross and raised from the dead. They deny Jesus is God in the Flesh and teach he is a created being. I would agree we need to understand who we are, we are totally depraved by nature, separated from God because of our sin. I submit to you Chapter Six of the 1689 Second London Baptist Confession of Faith:
Hebrew Israelites though are not referring to the nature of man but rather the nationality of man which they believe is the Blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans and they come up with this based upon some proof texts that they believe support their claim. One such text is Deuteronomy 28. In this chapter of Deuteronomy God is laying out the blessings and the curses. In verses 1-6 we see the blessings laid out:
As stated here in James 2:8-13: 8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. 9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. 11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. 13 For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. Consider the underlined and highlighted scriptures above, verse 9 if you show partiality, you are committing sin! There is no getting around the fact that Hebrew Israelites promote and build a whole system around showing partiality for which they must repent. Now look at the next verse, if you fail in one point you are guilty of it all. There is never anytime in which you can keep the whole law perfectly, never has been and never will be in this life a time when you can keep the law perfectly. Which is why the need for Christ, who is God in the flesh come down to take upon Himself the sins of all those who would believe in Him. The righteous laying down His life for the unrighteous. No man was ever justified by the keeping of the law as the scriptures say.
Which would bring us to the curses, if you are careful to do all Gods commandments and obey Him you receive the blessings laid out in Deuteronomy 28:1-14, however, from verses 15-68 God lays out the curses for the covenant breakers, those who do not obey His commandments. Verse 15 says, “But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you. Sadly, the Hebrew Israelites claim to be the people of God is based upon how disobedient and a rebellious people they are to God and His word. Verse 45 says, “All these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you till you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that he commanded you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed according to the scriptures. Chapter 28 is filled with many curses and I just want to look at a few as we seek to refute the position of the Hebrew Israelite teaching that this applies to them. I have often heard from Hebrew Israelites that they are far more superior to all other nations in the world, meaning the Blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans. I have heard them say things about sports athletes who dominate their sport, whether it be boxing, baseball, basketball, or football. I have heard the claims that the reason the athletes who dominate their sports do so is because they are Hebrew Israelite. I believe this is a bad argument for their position and I will explain why. First many of these athletes (who are Black, Hispanic and/or Native American) who are extremely talented in the field (sport) in which they are in, do not claim to be Hebrew Israelites, many of them do not adhere to the teachings of the Hebrew Israelite movement. So, based upon their own logic about the blessings and the curses, how is an individual who is viewed and more superior in the eyes of the Hebrew Israelites because they claim they are truly Hebrew Israelites prospering in the field or sport they are in if they are not being careful to do all the commandments and obey the voice of the Lord? Verse 20 says “The Lord will send on you curses, confusion, and frustration in all that you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and perish quickly on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken me. If Michael Jordan, who I believe to be the greatest basketball player to ever play in the NBA does not obey the Lord and is not careful to do all His commands and yet he is considered a Hebrew Israelite by nationality (using Jordan as an example, but you could fill in the blank with a name of any successful athlete), how has he prospered so much and not experienced what is mentioned in the verse above, confusion and frustration in all that he has undertaken in. Again, this is just an example, there are countless other examples of athletes who have won championships and done well in their field. Do the curses not apply to them even though they do not adhere to the commands to obey and worship the god you claim to serve. The one who brings the curses upon His people here in Deuteronomy 28. How does verse 28-29 apply to these successful athletes, movie stars and entertainers.
I believe it is important to point out that slavery in America was a horrible atrocity which took place in this nation and is not supported by the scriptures, even though there were men who tried to justify slavery by using proof texts within the Bible trying to fit their wicked theology into the scriptures by twisting the scriptures and not properly exegeting the Word of God. In this verse is says, “therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness, and lacking everything. And he will put a yoke of iron on your neck until he has destroyed you.” We must let the scriptures interpret the scriptures, we see this reference used elsewhere in scripture. Jeremiah 28:14 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I have put upon the neck of all these nations an iron yoke to serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they shall serve him, for I have given to him even the beasts of the field.’” Is this a literal yoke of iron around the necks of the people of all the nations? Well, NO! It is referring to them serving the king of Babylon as we see with supporting scriptures such as in Jeremiah 25:11, 27:6. Another curse that is almost unimaginable to even think would come upon a people, yet do to their wickedness and rebellion against God, He says this curse will come upon them in verse 52-53.
This is also referenced in Leviticus 26:27-33 which says:
Finally, I want to address verse 68, this verse is used by Hebrew Israelites as a proof text in which they claim is speaking of the transatlantic slave trade. Let’s examine verse 68, which says:
I point you back to the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith chapter 11:
May this also bring glory to the Lord by bringing Hebrew Israelites out of this movement, and for the edification of the true saints in Christ as they grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and His Word. In Christ, Ricky Gantz  If the title of this article seems shocking to you, it should! Not shocking that I would title this article, "Abortion is Premeditated Murder", because it is, but that you may be more offended by the title or thought that I would make such a claim rather than shocked by how many babies are actually murdered daily in this nation, at the predetermined and willful desire of mothers and fathers who request to have abortionist murders end the life of their child.
I would encourage you to listen first to what I have to say before you just dismiss it. Life comes from God, it's valuable because we are created in His image (Genesis 1:27). The Psalmist writes, For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. (Psalm 139:13-16). God said to Jeremiah, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you" (Jeremiah 1:5) and Paul writes to the church in Galatia, "even before I was born, God had chosen me to be His" (Galatians 1:15). Children are a gift from God (Psalm 127:3) to be valued and loved and cared for, not to be murdered on the alter of convenience, simply because the mother or father says they are not ready for a child, or can't afford a child, or want to finish school, start a career, whatever excuse you want to come up with never justifies murdering your own child in a place that should be the safest for a baby, their mother's womb! God says, "You shall not murder" (Exodus 20:13), that you are "not to shed innocent blood" (Jeremiah 7:6), and that He hates the "hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil" (Proverbs 6:16-19). What is more wicked and evil then shedding the innocent blood of your own child? Premeditated Murder describes a murder that was planned in advance and was carried out willfully. Which is exactly what happens every time a mother goes into an abortion provider to schedule an abortion and then follows through with ending the life of the baby. Every abortion is murder and every mother who has had an abortion is a murderer, every father who has participated or cooperated in the death of a child through abortion is a murderer, every grandparent who has forced their grandchild to have an abortion or encouraged and assisted in it is a murderer, every doctor who performs an abortion is a murderer, every escort who walks women into the clinic to shield them from the Christians who are pleading with them to come to Christ and not have an abortion is a murderer, and everyone who is pro choice is an accessory to murderer because you advocate for it. And sadly, many professing Christians and pro-life organizations are complacent in their stand against the murder of babies in this nation. Over 65 million babies have been murdered by legal abortion since Roe v. Wade. Christians cannot be silent on this issue, because it is not a political problem but a sin problem that manifests in the murdering of millions of babies in our nation every year. The Word of God says you shall not murder (Exodus 20:13) and no murderer will inherit the Kingdom of God, But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” (Revelation 21:8). We are all sinners and children of wrath by our nature (Ephesians 2:3), at war with the very God who created us, in constant rebellion against Him. The scary thing is that if you continue without Christ you are storing up His wrath for the day of judgment. Worshiping creation over the creator (Romans 1:25), And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. (Romans 1:28-32) However, there is forgiveness in Christ, by the grace of God through faith in Jesus (Ephesians 2:8-9). So that even those who have murdered their own baby or participated in anyway through abortion can receive complete forgiveness for the murdering of these precious babies by the only savior Jesus Christ. Christ died on the cross, taking upon Himself the wrath of God, for those who believe, and He became sin who knew no sin that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ. He was buried and rose from the grave defeating the power of sin and death. And for those in Christ there is no condemnation, Jesus paid the debt that was owed for the sins of those who believe and He commands you to repent and believe. Have you repented for the premeditated murder of your baby through abortion? Have you repented for the assisting of or participating in the murder of a baby through abortion? Christ can and will forgive you if you come to Him by repentance and faith, He heals the brokenhearted and brings you peace with God. In Christ, Ricky Gantz |