Gems From Genesis

Late on a recent Saturday afternoon, I received an email from the assistant pastor who heads up the Sunday School classes in my church here in St. Augustine, Florida. He asked if I could teach an adult Sunday School class the next morning because the regular teacher would not be available. I accepted, but what made it challenging was that there was no Sunday School lesson book or teachers manual to help me prepare for the class. I was on my own to prepare a lesson if I was going to teach. Immediately the motto of the Boy Scouts, which I was a part of during my teen years, came to mind – “BE PREPARED!” Now, it's not as if I had never done this before. I had been a pastor for almost 20 years and taught adult Sunday School classes for about the same number of years before my cancer in 1976, so it wasn’t hard to create a curriculum for the next morning’s class. I began by going to one of my favorite books in the Bible, Genesis, the first of the five books of Moses, also known as the Pentateuch. In the first few chapters of Genesis we learn of the beginning of the earth, the beginning of plant life, the beginning of animal life, and the beginning of human life. We learn of the first sin, the first blood sacrifice, the first prophecy of the coming of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, and so much more. And so I put together an outline titled “Gems from Genesis." From that outline I handed out to the class that Sunday morning, I have added a lot of meat (if you will) to hang on the bones of the outline to create today's Health Tip:

 

Gems From Genesis

Genesis 1:1 “In the Beginning God” (Plural Noun – See Genesis 1:26-27 – John 1:1 – 14 – See also Colossians 1:16-17 and Hebrews 1:1-2

The Hebrew word for “God” here is “Elohim”, a plural noun. So was someone there “in the beginning” with God? Genesis 1:26-27 clearly indicates there was, where we read “Let US make man in OUR image” In the New Testament in John 1:1-3 we read “In the beginning was the word . . . .” and in verse 14, we find who the “Word” was that was there “in the beginning” with God! “And the Word became flesh . . . .” Why it was none other than Jesus Christ, who was there with God “In the beginning” in Genesis 1:1. Other interesting verses concerning Jesus being the creator are found in Colossians 1:16-17 and Hebrews 1:1-2.

Genesis 1:2 “the Spirit of God moved” Holy Spirit there “in the beginning”. Psalm 33:6 (Spirit sometimes translated “Wind /Breath”)

Here we are introduced to the third part of the God Head, the Holy Spirit, who interestingly was also involved in creation: “And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters”. Psalm 33:6 is another interesting verse in this regard: In the King James text it reads “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.” The word “breath” used in Psalm 33:6 is from the same Hebrew word for Holy Spirit used in Genesis 1:2.

Genesis 1:3-13 — First 3 days of creation, literal 24 hour days not periods of time

On each of the six days of creation recorded in Genesis one, we see the words: “And God said . . . .” and the verses conclude with “And the evening and the morning were the - day." God did not use periods of time as some claim to create all things that were created in Genesis one, but God simply spoke and the item created was created whole and in a 24-hour period. That also answers the question: Which came first, the chicken or the egg? According to Genesis Chapter One, it was the chicken!

Day 3, Genesis 1:11-13 — Plant life created, seed in itself, evolution impossible

In verse 11, the green plants were created: “And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb (vegetable) yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit, after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.” It is interesting to note “whose seed is in itself." To this day, a tomato seed has never produced anything other than another tomato plant, not as evolution teaches that one kind of plant evolved into another kind of plant.

Day 4, Genesis 1:14-19 — Sun, moon, and stars, sun necessary for plant growth

In verses 16-17: “And God made two great lights; the greater light (the sun) to rule the day, and the lesser light (moon) to rule the night: and he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament to give light upon the earth.” If you know anything about plant growth, sunlight is absolutely necessary for plant growth, and so God, the day after creating the plant life on Day 3, on Day 4 provided the sun for plant growth.

Day 5 , Genesis 1:20-25 — Animal life created after “His kind,” again evolution impossible

After the plant life had been created to sustain all of the animal kingdom, God creates the animals listed in verses 20-23. Note: all creatures were created by God to derive their nutrients from the green plants either directly by eating them or in the case of the carnivorous animals, indirectly by eating the flesh of the plant eating animals. All life comes from God through the sun, and through the green plant comes the nutrients through photosynthesis as the plant puts the sun's energy into the green plant in the form of chlorophyll to sustain all life. Another important thing to note is found in verse 21, 24-25, where God tells us six times that every animal creation would reproduce “after his/their own kind”. Nowhere in the Bible or in nature can you see one species of animal becoming different species as evolution teaches!

Day 6, Genesis 1:26-28 — Adam & Eve created

On Day 6 God, in the person of the Godhead (God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit) (See 1 John 5:7), the Bible says in verse 26: “And God said, Let US make man in OUR image, after OUR likeness . . . . “ And in verse 27 we read: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created them.” Man is the only creation of God, made in the “image of God”. After God creates man, in verse 28: “And God blessed them, and said unto them, be fruitful and multiply. . . .”.

Genesis 1:29 — God gives Adam (and us) a diet

In the next verse, Genesis 1:29, God gives man a diet, a diet that God Himself had specifically designed to properly nourish the physical body He God had just created. May I ask a question here? Who would know better what was best to fuel the human physical body then the Creator of that body?

Genesis 1:31 — God is pleased with His creation. It was perfect!

“And God SAW everything HE HAD MADE, and behold it was VERY GOOD (perfect), and the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”

Day 7, Genesis 2:1-3 — God rests. Creation is complete

“Thus the heavens and the earth WERE FINISHED, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which HE HAD MADE: and he rested on the seventh day from all his work WHICH HE HAD MADE.” Friends, there is not even a hint here that this world, all the plant life, animal life, or man came through a process of evolution. So where this earth and all plant and animal life that is upon it came from becomes a matter of faith:

• Faith that it all began by a direct creation of God as explained in the Bible in Genesis... OR
• Faith that it all began and came into being by a process called evolution

As far as I am concerned, it takes a lot more faith to believe that it all happened by chance than to believe “In the beginning GOD CREATED” (See Genesis 1:1).

Chapter 2 – Explains How God Did It

When I was in school preparing for the ministry, I was taught that “the Old Testament is the New Testament contained – while the New Testament is the Old Testament explained.” In other words, the New Testament explains and fulfills the prophecies of the Old Testament. In a similar way, Genesis 2 is an explanation and fulfillment of Genesis 1.

Genesis 2:4-6 — How things were after creation and before man was created

“These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth WHEN THEY WERE CREATED, in the day that the LORD GOD MADE THE EARTH AND THE HEAVENS. And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb (vegetable) of the field before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth and there was NOT A MAN TO TILL THE GROUND. But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.” Right here in the first few verses of Genesis 2 there is capitulation (summary: an outline) of most of what happened in Genesis Chapter One.

Genesis 2:7 — God creates man from dust and breathes the breath of life

This verse is so exciting to me because it tells how God created man. It sure beats evolution's explanation that man just came into being by chance from some dead rock! “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul”. Notice first who formed man – “the Lord God . . . .” Notice second what God formed man of: “The dust of the ground . . . .” Here, evolution and the Bible agree: man was made of the “dust of the ground”. The Bible teaches God created the dust – see Genesis 1:1. Evolution teaches this dust came as a result of the colliding of some dead rocks. We see here that God formed man of the “dust of the ground”, but after he had formed man he was in a condition like we see someone lying in a casket at a funeral; they have the form of a man but there is no life in them. Notice what God did next: He “breathed into his nostrils (into this rock dust form God had just created) the BREATH OF LIFE; and man became a LIVING SOUL.” It's just like a baby taking its first breath when it is born. After a person takes his last breath, the body dies, the person is buried, and over a period of time that body returns to rock dust. Even if the person is cremated, the only thing left is a small pile of dust. How true are the words spoken in Genesis 3:19: “In the sweat of they face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return”.

Genesis 2:8-15 — God plants a garden and places man in that garden

“And the LORD GOD PLANTED A GARDEN eastward of Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and GOOD FOR FOOD; . . . .” This is so interesting, God Himself plants a garden – where he puts the man he had just created – and God tells man that what He has just planted is “good for food.” Now if we go back to Genesis 1:29, we see that God had created that garden for the purpose of providing the food necessary for man’s sustenance. It is very clear from these verses that man was to sustain his physical body on the foods coming from the garden! “And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for food.”

Genesis 2:17 – God warns about eating “forbidden fruit”

Satan used food to get Adam and Eve to turn their backs on God and to commit the first sin. Indeed, Satan is still using destructive foods today to destroy the bodies of Christians so that they cannot have a strong and healthy body to serve the Lord, a body fit for the Master's use.

 

What Happened Next?

• Genesis 2:18-25 — Eve created from Adam’s rib. The first marriage, ordained by God.
• Chapter 3 — Serpent deceives Eve, she eats the forbidden fruit, and man is banished from the garden
• Genesis 3:15 — First prophecy of Jesus
• Genesis 3:21 — First blood sacrifice
• Genesis 4 — Birth of Cain and Abel, Abel is murdered, Cain is cursed, Seth and Enos are born
• Genesis 5 — Genealogy of man from Adam to Noah; average life span of man is 912 years
• Genesis 6-8 — Earth’s wickedness abounds, Noah builds an ark, the Great Flood ensues

It is important to note what happened to all the foods that were growing in the garden after the flood had destroyed all the very foods God had planted for man's consumption. In Genesis 7:19 we read: “And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth: and all the high hills that were under the whole heaven were covered”. And again in Genesis 7:24: “And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days”.

Gen 9:3 Meat allowed for first time after food had been destroyed by flood waters

“Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.” There are some that teach that God was here changing the diet of mankind because some deficiency had developed in God’s original diet as given to man in Genesis 1:29. But is this true? Had man’s nutritional needs changed? Or was there another reason for God allowing man to consume the flesh of the clean animals that were on the ark? I personally believe that man’s nutritional needs had not changed, but garden foods were no longer available because they had been destroyed by the flood. God was giving man permission to eat the flesh of the clean animals that were on the ark for survival purposes until the green plants were once again available for man’s food.

 

Some 6,000 Years Later...

I was brought up on an animal based diet (as Genesis 9:3 advocates) for the first 42 years of my life. The result was being told I had colon cancer! At the advice of Evangelist Roloff, I refused all medical treatments for the cancer and returned, at his advice, to eating the garden-sourced foods God had told Adam — and through Adam, all mankind — to eat in Genesis 1:29. The result of this diet change was that within weeks my rectal bleeding had stopped and in less than a year my baseball-sized tumor underneath my left rib cage had disappeared without any medical intervention or attention. As a result of making the diet change from a meat-based diet to a vegan diet based on God’s original diet in Genesis 1:29, and after reading many of the other verses expounded on here in the book of Genesis, God laid it on my heart to start a ministry geared especially to Christians (and anyone else who would listen). That ministry we named “Hallelujah Acres”! At Hallelujah Acres we teach that by simply changing what we eat, from the world’s Standard American Diet back to God’s Original Diet as found in Genesis 1:29, our bodies can correct almost every physical and psychological problem we endure — and we can stop new sicknesses from ever occurring. Millions of Christians and others around the world have taken this advice, just as I took Brother Roloff’s advice almost 40 years ago. As a result, tens-of-thousands have written to tell me that because of this simple diet change, they too, were able to get rid of almost all their physical and psychological problems... and they don’t get sick anymore. When we first started Hallelujah Acres back in 1992, our first publication was titled: "Back To The Garden." Today’s article, “Gems from Genesis”, could also have been titled “Back to the Garden”, because that is where I have been trying to encourage Christians to go back to since 1992: back to eating as God told us to eat in Genesis 1:29, “in the beginning." (Genesis 1:1)

 

If you are not already on The Hallelujah Diet, may I encourage you to give it a try! Hallelujah Acres is a Christian organization that teaches health from a Biblical perspective! Hallelujah Acres is trying to help the Christian community (as well as anyone else who will listen) realize that God's Original Diet, as given by God in Genesis 1:29, was His perfect plan for the proper nourishment of his human creation — you and I.

Multitudes have made this diet change that we teach here at Hallelujah Acres, and experienced normalization of weight, as well as the elimination of almost all their physical and psychological problems.

Next week, the good Lord willing and if the creeks don’t rise too high we will return with another exciting issue of the Hallelujah Acres Health Tip. Trust you will join us and that you will share these Health Tips with friends and loved ones.