Why are you here?

This is probably the most common question many of us ask ourselves at some stage in our lives. You may even have come to the conclusion that it is all one, big, happy, random accident. However, now and then, when you sit quietly to self reflect and re-evaluate where you are in your life and where you are going, you may notice that something is missing. When you dig deeper and you are completely honest with yourself you will come to the conclusion that nothing really ever satisfy the yearning you have deep inside and that it all seems meaningless. The great King Solomon came to the same conclusion:

If we look at the most common definitions of what science is on the internet it is clear that it involves the proposal of testable explanations (hypothesis) that are verified using experiments and direct and unbiased observations:

What most people do not realise is that two types of research are being used interchangeably or in conjunction to make advancements in certain fields of science. The first is empirical research that is purely based on direct observations and measurements of the world around us. The second type of research is theoretical and it is basically used to put together the different pieces of empirical evidence to form a storyline to explain the bigger picture. Although theoretical research uses logical inference as far as possible, it also contains many assumptions and presuppositions as there are often gaps between the different pieces of empirical evidence available. 

You might be thinking that this is not a big deal. However, the problem comes when different researchers build on each others assumptions and the media sells all of it as scientific truth to the public. Eventually it gets incorporated into school curriculums and children are being taught a "factual" story that might not necessarily be completely true and may have other plausible explanations or story lines.

Maintaining logic 

A fact is verifiable. An opinion is a judgment based on facts, an honest attempt to draw a reasonable conclusion from factual evidence.

Unlike an opinion, a belief is a conviction based on cultural or personal faith, experience, morality, or values. 

A presupposition is background belief, relating to an utterance, that must be mutually known or assumed by the speaker and addressee for the utterance to be considered appropriate in context.

With Evolution vs. Creation debates we start with different presuppositions; things that are assumed to be true without being able to prove them. The debate is a dispute between two worldviews, with mutually incompatible underlying assumptions. 

Empirical science deals only with repeatable observable processes in the present that is taken as fact after repeated testing. Because of different  presuppositions the same facts are interpreted differently. We assume certain things to be true without being able to prove them. Empirical science deals only with repeatable observable processes in the present. 

Evolutionists believe that things made themselves and that no divine intervention has happened. 

Creationists believe that the Bible offers an eyewitness account of the origin of life and the universe in Genesis.

The diagram below illustrates that there are several worldviews within Christianity regarding the origins of the earth and its biodiversity. This phenomenon of several fundamentally different views is not new to Christianity as there are also thousands of different denominations and churches. This causes many people to avoid Christianity altogether. However, in the following sections you will find out why such disparity exists. 

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, information can be defined as knowledge obtained from investigation, study, or instruction; or the attribute inherent in and communicated by one of two or more alternative sequences or arrangements of something (such as nucleotides in DNA or binary digits in a computer program) that produce specific effects; or the communication or reception of knowledge or intelligence.

Because many scientists struggle to produce counter-arguments against the above, some of the greatest minds currently on earth are contemplating that the universe itself may have a mind or an imminent intelligence within the cosmos which evolved from purely natural processes. However, this hypothesis cannot explain the origin of the fine tuning of the laws and constants of physics and the initial conditions of the universe that precede the origin of any possible imminent intelligence within the cosmos. The fine-tuning problem relates to the puzzling fact that the fundamental forces of physics have just the right strenghts, the contingent properties of the universe have just the right characteristics and the initial distribution of matter and energy at the beginning exhibited just the right configuration to make life possible. 

Beyond 5 Senses & 4 Dimensions

Now that you may be considering the fact that there is a God from some physical evidence and logical reasoning in the section above, let us explore the existence of a spiritual world. 

Scientists are convinced that there are many more dimensions beyond the four dimensions (length, width, height and time) that we can observe and experience with our five senses. The theoretical framework of Superstring Theory proposes that the universe exists in ten different dimensions. Although this reality may seem difficult for unbelievers to wrap their minds around, it actually acts as supporting evidence for the existence of the spiritual world. Ask any person that is high up or deep into the occult or religions practicing meditation and they will tell you that they can see and "travel" (astral) in other dimensions (sometimes called planes or realms). Even the Bible recognizes and explains the existence of the spiritual world and different dimensions that humans sometimes access through the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 12:2-4).

Another way to possibly explain the supernatural is to look at the make-up of the everyday 4D reality we live in. Did you know that you are actually made up of more space than matter? If you zoom into your hand and keep zooming in smaller and smaller to the atomic level you will realise that the nucleus and all the electrons in the atom bunched together (in other words the "matter" part of the atom) takes up the same amount of space in the atom as a handful of berries in the middle of a soccer field. What you see as solid is actually an illusion created by the electromagnetic and nuclear forces holding the atomic particles together. There will be more than a trillion atoms in one cubic centimeter of bone. When you zoom in even more to a sub-atomic level, which is where scientists in quantum physics focus on,  our typical understanding of reality is challenged as the behaviour of the quantum particles like “quarks” is highly unpredictable. 

Quantum particles can behave like particles, located in a single place; or they can act like waves, distributed all over space or in several places at once. How they appear seem to depend on how we choose to measure them, and before we measure they seem to have no definite properties at all. Moreover, quantum particles also seem to be able to affect each other instantaneously even when they are far away from each other. This phenomenon is known as quantum entanglement.

The bizarre behaviour of quantum particles supports the the notion of our "reality" being a digital simulation at the finest scale and some scientists are now even trying to look at quantum physics as a mechanism to explain human consciousness (https://www.newscientist.com/article/2288228-can-quantum-effects-in-the-brain-explain-consciousness/) . 

For Christianity, much has changed since the birth of the first church after Jesus was crucified, died, was resurrected and ascended to heaven in AD 31. During the last 2000 years the church diversified with many denominations moving further and further away from what the original church looked and operated like. Today there are hundreds of churches and church denominations that can be categorized within the main denominations listed in the figure below. However, even though individual churches or some members within a particular church might be true believers who believe and apply everything in the Bible and have a healthy relationship with Jesus, the main umbrella under which they submit might have false doctrines or allow unbiblical practices, which will open the door for spiritual attack, suppression of the works of the Holy Spirit and an eventual "falling away"  of many members whilst others simply continue practicing an empty religion and rituals without any true faith in or relationship with Jesus.  

Although the initial splits in the church was due to clear fundamental differences in church doctrine (e.g. the great reformation in the 16th century which led to the development of Protestantism), diversification in the 21st century, especially amongst the more charismatic churches, has been subtle but often more dangerous in that emphasis is slowly shifting towards self (e.g. churches preaching a prosperity or Kingdom now type gospel) or towards extremist views such as Hebrew roots where people try to live by the Law of the Old Testament as part of the "elect".

If we acknowledge there is a spiritual world, and a God, how can we say that Jesus is the Messiah when the church, who is suppose to be the body and bride of Christ, is so divided and have moved so far away from what Jesus and His first apostles originally taught? The truth is actually simple. Satan (sometimes called Lucifer), the fallen angels who joined his army and their offspring are also very real and very active in the spiritual dimension around you, whether you believe it or not. One of the biggest deceptions Satan ever pulled off, was to convince Bible believing Christians that he will not bother them if they don't bother him and/or that he is just a symbolic figure that does not really exist. Satan's biggest target for destruction was the bloodline that was promised to bring forth Jesus the Messiah but after Jesus's resurrection his focus shifted to the Christian church as this was the biggest threat to his future plan to destroy mankind and rule the world. 

The unbelievers amongst our viewers may be uttering a sigh of disbelief by now but in the next section we will try to show how humanity have always experienced, worshipped and documented the existence of supernatural beings.

Doctrines of demons

To understand the truth and thereby recognise a counterfeit, one need to go back to the origins of it all, which according to the Bible is the garden of Eden. Here, it all boils down to two main things: 1. morality and, 2. free will. We were made in the image (likeness) of God (Genesis 1:26), for His glory (Isaiah 43:7) and pleasure (Revelation 4:11) to be a peculiar people, zealous of good works (Titus 2:14), to be fruitful and multiply, to rule over the plants and animals on earth (Genesis 1:28) and to stand in relationship with Him (Jeremiah 29:11, Psalm 86:15) as part of His family (1 John 3:1). In order for God to have a relationship with us, to love us unconditionally and for us to love Him in return, He needed to create us with a free will. 

The tree of knowledge of good and evil that God told Adam and Eve to not eat from, was not put there for them to stumble and be tempted with on purpose, it was put there because God is perfect and a choice is what is required for a person to exercise their free will and be in relationship with someone or not. However, God did warn them that choosing to eat of the fruits of the forbidden tree would result in death. He didn't lie about this. As soon as Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit they died spiritually. Their divine connection with God was broken. 

If we look at the oldest and most common religions on earth and we analyse them through a process of comparative mythology, we will most of the time find a character that either replaces the original creator and/or who is a sun god and/or who brings knowlegde to humans to save them from an evil god and helps them to become illuminated. This 'hero' is most likely a twisted representation of Lucifer (Satan). Some other common threads and themes that emerge when comparing different myths and religions include, deities that come together forming a trinity (often with a goddess mother that also manifests in a human form being impregnated by a higher god, like the sun, to then produce a godlike human), the concept of reincarnation and resurrection of a godlike human to reach immortality and the sharing of knowledge, guidance and assistance of spiritual entities that sometimes visit earth and can even manifest physically, like the Annunaki from Mesopatamia (most likely the fallen angels from the Biblical account). 

Some believe that the Bible was inspired by these same themes because some of the writings from Mesopotamia, like the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Enuma Elish (Akkadian cuneiform tablets) predated the book of Genesis (1750 BC) and both the Babylonians and Assyrians held the Enuma Elishas as their creation account. However, the idea that the Hebrews would wholesale adopt Babylonian beliefs is simply untenable and a critical examination of these texts shows a forceful clash of worldviews, not a fusion of them. In Genesis 3:15 God reveals His plans to use mankind to birth a Saviour from a virgin because the text compares the seed of Satan to the seed of the woman, whom does not have seed.  Hence, Satan knew that there would be a Messiah and not only tried to stop it from happening by attempting to hybridize mankind (Genesis 6:10-4) and kill off God's chosen nation and bloodline on several occasions, but also to establish counterfeit religions that would create confusion and which can finally be used during the end times to support the rise of the "false Messiah" or "Anti-Christ" described in the Biblical book of Revelation. 

One example of how the ancient mystery religions have even infiltrated the Christian Church, is the unbiblical sacraments and doctrines, like purgatory and infant baptism with the sprinkling of water, that are part of the the Roman Catholic Church. When tracking their origin, it becomes clear that these are pagan beliefs and rituals, which were included during the time of Constantine (AD 350) as part of a political agenda that sought to unite the pagans and the Christians to keep peace when the Church became State. 

Who are you?

You did not evolve from an ape. You are made in the image of God. The moment you comprehend this, is the moment much of your identity crisis will be resolved. The anthropological field of human "evolution" is flooded with assumptions, and the slightest variation in the structure and size of a newly excavated skeletal bone is interpreted in such a way to compliment the story of evolution in a desperate attempt to fill the missing links. Often, to top this, artists filling in the "flesh" of these skulls for museum exhibitions and documentaries, let their imaginations run wild, which can be very deceptive as some of the illustrations creates the illusion that a particular skeleton is more "human-like" whereas it could have been interpreted in a completely different manner. 

From a biblical perspective (which, just like evolution, cannot empirically be proven right or wrong), some skeletons that anthropologist excavate, like the infamous "Lucy'" (Australopithecus afarensis), are either extinct apes, or ancient human tribes. Neanderthals (Homo sapiens neanderthalensis) are full human. There are no intermediates. In fact, after having a fresh look at the skeletal remains of Lucy and the fraud surrounding the classification of her "kind" over the years, creation scientists, like Dr. Christopher Rupe, can now show that Lucy was most likely a pygmy human (see Dr. Christopher Rupe's full explanation at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJPjTU4GJR0 )

According to the Bible, just like God, you are made up of three parts: body, soul and spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:23, Hebrews 4:12). Many people do not realise this but the seemingly different creation accounts of humans in Genesis 1 and 2 actually describe the creation of the separate parts you are made up of. When looking at the original Hebrew text God created (bara) mankind (adam (including male and female)) in the image and likeness (tselem) of God to have dominion and reign (radah) over earth. This represents your spirit man. In Genesis 2, God took the created spirit and used the dust of the ground to form and fashion (yatsar) a body into which He breathed the breath of life (neshamah) in the nostrils to become a living soul (nephesh). You are a spirit containing a soul that currently resides in an earthly body.

Although science cannot yet explain the fact that not all of what we are is physical, the existence of a conscience mind outside of physical matter is at least acknowledged and referred to as the mind-body problem. Evidence of this can be seen from a large number of people who have been successfully resuscitated during the last few decades and who are able to report their experiences. In these evidential near-death experiences, patients report, from the time at which there was no measurable brain function, witnessing numbers on medical machines, or the location of items like shoes, or facts that were subsequently independently verified. They recall things which are objectively true, even though they could not have observed from their position when they were unconscious. 

People who are deeply involved in the occult have similar experiences of their souls (mind) being able to leave their physical bodies in a practice called "astral projection" ("remote viewing"). They describe their bodies being attached to their souls with a "silver cord" during this process, which, when severed, leads to death of the physical body. Interestingly, the Bible also refers to this silver cord that should not be cut: "Remember your Creator before the silver cord is loosed [broken]...then the dust will return to the earth as it was." (Ecclesiastes 12:6-7). 

Moreover, the Bible explains that the soul include, the intellect (Proverbs 2:10, Psalm 139:14), which together with the will (Job 7:15, 6:7) makes up the mind, and the emotions (Song of Songs 1:7, Samuel 5:8). Science is showing that these parts of the soul are not just controlled by the brain in our head but also by our “gut brain” (enteric nervous system) and the “heart brain.” Both have neurons, synapses and glia that work like those inside our skull, and both run some independent operations. They let the big brain know what’s going on and offer advice.

Your gut feelings are a combination of your gut bacteria communicating directly to your brain via chemical messengers in the blood (cytokine transmission) and the gut neurons connection to the limbic (emotional and intuitive) part of the brain. Recent neurobiological insights into this gut–brain crosstalk have revealed a complex, bidirectional communication system that not only ensures the proper maintenance of gastrointestinal homeostasis and digestion but is likely to have multiple effects on affect, motivation and higher cognitive functions, including intuitive decision making.

It is known that some of the messages from the heart and gut are processed at an unconscious level and the nervous system interprets these signals to provide the brain with continuously updated information about the body's internal state. Recently, researchers measured the strength of the connection between the gut and the brain by recording the electrical activity of both regions at the same time. The researchers also measured brain responses to heartbeats. They found that weaker brain responses to the gut and heart were both significantly associated with greater levels of people feeling ashamed of their bodies and being preoccupied with their weight.

The intrinsic cardiac nervous system has both short-term and long-term memory functions and can also operate independently of central neuronal command. Research has shown that the heart sends more information to the brain than the brain does to the heart and this occurs in four major ways: neurologically (through the transmission of nerve impulses), biochemically (via hormones and neurotransmitters), biophysically (through pressure waves) and energetically (through electromagnetic field interactions). The heart produces the balance hormone (atrial natriuretic factor (ANF)) that plays an important role in fluid and electrolyte balance, helps regulate the blood vessels, kidneys, adrenal glands and many regulatory centers in the brain as well as influencing motivation and behaviour. The heart also manufactures and secretes roughly the same amount of oxytocin as the brain does, which can act as a neurotransmitter and commonly is referred to as the love or socialbonding hormone involved in cognition, tolerance, trust and friendship and the establishment of enduring pair-bonds. 

Research by Dr. Rollin McCrary and his team at the Institute of HeartMath have demonstrated that the heart displays an anticipatory response before an event occurs, which triggers the brain in the head to prepare. Hence, the heart seems to be connected and receiving information from another "field of information" outside the body to prepare it in advance. From a Christian perspective this "field of information" can be identified as the Holy Spirit.  God speaks to us through His Holy Spirit who lives in our hearts (2 Corinthians 1:22, Galatians 4:6) and when we communicate through sincere prayer with Him we also do it through our hearts (Genesis 24:45, 1 Samuel 1:13). In the Bible, the heart and spirit are often linked (Psalm 51:17) or referred to interchangeably (Deuteronomy 6:5), and therefore the heart can be seen as the interface between the body, soul and spirit ("above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." Proverbs 4:23). 

Our spirits are related to worship and divine communion with God (John 4:23-24).  It is through our spirit connecting with the Holy Spirit that we have “God-consciousness” and a relationship with God (Ephesians 3:16, 2 Corinthians 3:18).  Our spirit is also called the inner man searching all the innermost parts of our being (2 Corinthians 4:16, Proverbs 20:27). Moreover, unlike your fleshly body, your soul and spirit are immortal. According to the Bible your spirit belongs to God and will return to Him when your body dies (Ecclesiastes 12:7).

The "Born Again" experience

About 2000 years ago Jesus said to Nicodemus, a very well versed Pharisee scholar and member of the Jewish ruling council at the time, that unless a person is born again, he cannot ever see (experience) the kingdom of God.  According to Jesus a man needs to be born of water and of the Spirit (John 3:1-21).

We are born from water at birth but we can also be born again when we get baptised through submergence in water, like Jesus was (Matthew 3:13-17). However, being baptised does not necessarily mean that you are born again of the Spirit as Jesus continue to explain in John 3 that what is born of the flesh is flesh and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. It is within our spirits that we are born again and this only happens when the Holy Spirit convicts us and we truly understand and accept who Jesus is and what He really did for us. It is a life changing, spiritual encounter with God. Although some people have been born into and grew up Christian there has to be a point or a moment in your life where you are completely convicted of your sinful nature and grasp the fact that Jesus, sent by Father God as the Son of God, became a sinless human in order to pay the price and shed His blood on a cross for every sinful thing you ever did. This was necessary because, as explained in a previous section, the only way for you to return to the light of God's presence and be reconciled in a loving relationship with Him, is for Him, as the definition of righteousness and justice, to take your place, including the death penalty (eternal absence of God) that fell upon you when you chose to the way of darkness over the light of His righteousness. 

At this point in your life you surrender everything you are and have to Him, you repent of you sins and you declare Him as the one true God and ruler of your life. Some people weep for hours when this happen because there are no words to describe the release, joy and freedom that is experienced when you truly encounter your Maker. Although most people don't actually see Him, you sense Him and know with everything in your being that He is real, that He is with you and that you will do anything to be with Him. The difference between just believing in Jesus and being reborn in the Spirit is that when you are reborn you really do not want to disobey God anymore and you hunger for more of Him. It does not mean that you will never sin again but you strive not to and to rather remain in His will (you are also quickly convicted by the Holy Spirit when you stray away:-) When you are reborn, you want to be baptised as a step of obedience and this step then symbolizes you dying to yourself in the water and rising as a new creation in Christ (Romans 6:4).

Another important and magical event subsequent to being reborn is to be baptized with the fire of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:11). For some people this happens automatically when they are reborn or during water baptism but for others it happens when mature, Spirit-filled and reborn Christians pray it upon them (Acts 8:14-17). The result of this baptism is that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are activated, which allow people, for example, to speak in foreign or heavenly tongues, heal the sick and drive out demons in the name of Jesus Christ and/or to prophecy, evangelize and speak words of wisdom (Acts 4:31 & 19:6).   

Nonetheless, being reborn and baptized is only the beginning of the Christian walk. Because we have accumulated nearly 6000 years of sin on our genes and bloodlines and did a lot of wrong ourselves, we often need to be delivered from evil spirits and curses to whom we or our ancestors gave access to in our lives. The biggest deliverance generally happens when we are reborn and baptised and people pray for us, but often some unconfessed sins remain because of historical trauma and pain. However, God is faithful and helps us gain more and more freedom and intimacy with Him along our journey. 

The best way to explain our journey and "evolution" as Christians is to look at how our bodies, when we accept God's gift of salvation through Christ, become temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16 & 6:19-20). During this journey God searches, heals and purifies our hearts and inner most beings so that we can enter into the Holy of Holies and His Shekinah glory more and more. As part of this process, He removes our hearts of stone and gives us new hearts and spirits (Ezekiel 36:26).