Fundamentals of the Gospel
By Carlton Foster – May 23, 2020
My first real work experience when I graduated from high school was at a construction site on the east side of the same high school. They were creating some more classrooms, so I went to look for a handyman job to earn pocket money for the coming holiday festive activities. It was then I that realized that buildings have strong foundations. We dig deep trenches, laid many sheets of steel, mixed cement, and dragged buckets full of mortars to the contractors. It was hard work. I now know that foundations are the start of most things, and that good foundation will keep a structure strong. Genesis 1 is the foundation of the Gospel, and that is where Satan concentrated his most powerful deceptions.
The Bible said in Genesis 1:1 that “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Satan’s counterfeit to verse 1 is that the earth was formed from a big explosion – called the “Big Bang”, many millions of years. The Devil and many schools of thought preached this to everyone. In verse 3 when God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light ‘day’ and the darkness ‘night’, and evening passed and morning came, marking the first day.” Satan said for those who still believed that the earth was created, he infused the concept that this process happens over thousands of years. He wants us to believe that when God said it was day one, he said a day for God is a thousand years for us. He will also let us know that this is recorded in the Bible. So he would point to 2 Peter 3:8, “But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord and a thousand years are like a day.” This he is doing because he wants to nullify a 7-day creation week.
In verse 9 when God said, “Let the waters beneath the sky flow together into one place, so dry ground may appear.” And that is what happened. God called the dry ground ‘land’ and the waters ‘seas’, and God saw that it was good. Every so often Satan caused the water and the land to come back together by causing storms and disastrous hurricanes on earth. And when God said, “Let the land sprout with vegetation—every sort of seed-bearing plant, and trees that grow seed-bearing fruit. These seeds will then produce the kinds of plants and trees from which they came.” Satan tries to reverse this by causing droughts, famines, and fires to destroy the vegetation and seed-bearing plants. And if that is not effective, he facilitated deforestation of the trees so humans can build huge cities.
In verse 14 when God said, “Let lights appear in the sky to separate the day from the night. Let them be signs to mark the seasons, days, and years.” Satan said no, they will instead mark the signs of the zodiac. He said these people will use the signs to practice fortune-telling and necromancy. When God made two great lights, the larger one governs the day, and the smaller one governs the night. God also made the stars and set these lights in the sky to light the earth. Satan denies that and tries to remind us that after the “Big Bang”, these lights were formed over millions of years.
In verse 20 when God said, “Let the waters swarm with fish and other life. Let the skies be filled with birds of every kind.” So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that scurries and swarms in the water, and every sort of bird—each producing offspring of the same kind. And God saw that it was good. Satan said as soon as he is the leader of earth, all these fishes and birds will be hunting and attacking each other. Also when God said, “Let the earth produce every sort of animal, each producing offspring of the same kind—livestock, small animals that scurry along the ground, and wild animals.” God made all sorts of wild animals, livestock, and small animals, each able to produce offspring of the same kind. Satan said he will do the same thing to these animals as he will do to the fishes of the sea – each one will be hunting and killing the other. Soon they will be extinct.
In verse 26, when God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.” Satan was astonished; God creating humans like God! No! He will change them to have instead, the mind of Satan – hating, killing, and fighting against each other, and to love sports and competitions. So God created human beings in his image. In the image of God he created them – male and female he created them. Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and govern it.” Satan said no! As soon as he can get Adam and Eve to sin, he will be the ruler of this earth, and he will cause females to marry females and males to males, this way they will not be fruitful and they will not multiply. He will cause much confusion; the humans will start hating each other; so he will use fear to control them.
In verse 29, when God said, “Look! I have given these humans every seed-bearing plant throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for their food.” God continue and said, “I have given every green plant as food for all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, and the small animals that scurry along the ground—everything that has life.” Satan said he will reverse that. He will instead give humans the animals as food and will give the animals human flesh for food. Soon all humans, animals, birds, and fishes will be extinct.
Finally, when God rested on the seventh day because God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. God also blessed the seventh day and declared it holy. Satan said this is the worse one of all because there is no item to counterfeit. However, he said he will instead declare a different day. Yes! He will use the first day of the week. As soon as he can, he will declare the 1st day of the week as holy, and make the 7th day to be the busiest day of the week. This he believes will show the world that he is in control of humans. He believes that by attacking the foundational principles of the Book of Genesis, God’s law will be weakened and soon be forgotten by many.