He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and in fire. Matthew 311-13.

I ask this question as I think about the thief on the cross. How many baptisms are we supposed to endure?

That came off rather pessimistically and I have experienced far too much religious tradition, but it's a rhetorical question anyway and I am not expecting an answer. Undoubtedly, we will likely find out.

This next section in Matthew's gospel is entitled

“The Baptism of Jesus.”

John, the Baptizer, had effectively told the religious Jews that the Messiah was here and that He would clean house, something that none of them would like.

“I indeed am baptizing you in water on a profession of repentance; but He who is coming after me is mightier than I: His sandals I am not worthy to carry for a moment; He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and in fire. His winnowing-shovel is in His hand, and He will make a thorough clearance of His threshing-floor, gathering His wheat into the storehouse, but burning up the chaff in unquenchable fire.”
(Matthew 3:11-12 Weymouth)

John said that his baptisms, in water, were for the profession of repentance, but He (Jesus), who is coming after me, will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and in fire. Those are two completely different baptisms, and it appears that John's method would be set aside once Jesus took over, and He did.

“Just at that time Jesus, coming from Galilee to the Jordan, presents Himself to John to be baptized by him.”
(Matthew 3:13 Weymouth)

“ Just at that time.” What time was that?

At the time that John was there (conveniently placed there by God because God had arranged an appointment), either at the river Jordan or another water source within the Jordan Valley. Considering that Jesus had been up by Galilee, He could have been as much as 70 miles north. With no good way of communicating or setting up this appointment, Jesus begins walking south at a precise time in order to have John baptize Him.  

Notice that the verse tells us that Jesus presented Himself to John to be immersed by him.

Having looked intently, trying to find the commandment that instructs someone to baptize people, and not finding it, it occurs to me that there may have been additional reasons on Jesus' mind, such as having John witness the Holy Spirit coming upon Him, or for John to acknowledge Him and pronounce that there should be a public acceptance of Jesus' ministry.

This may help you to understand where I am coming from.

This makes me think of church, where someone is publicly ordained (Do you know what that word ordained means in religious circles? The connotations are decreed, appointed, consecrated, and dedicated – before you, the audience.) The psychological effect on the audience is to give the person being ordained a obligated and automatic level of acceptance, something that may not happen to the “stranger, even though they have been part of the church for a while. It took me a long time to figure out my calling. You might ask why I would even tell you that, well, there is a tremendous amount of manipulation involved with organized religion, as the church leadership will try to convince you to be a missionary in Zambia or a street evangelist on skid row in Los Angeles, Ca. (I can tell you that none of that appealed to me.)

As a young man, a few years before I got married for the first time, I had a very vivid dream / vision. I say it that way because of how real it seemed. Jesus stood at the end of my bed (although I could not see His face) and told me, with precision, my entire life. When He was finished, I thought, I need to write this down. I did not, because I was thinking while He was talking that I would remember every word and I could write it down later; I merely went back to sleep (I had been asleep, but in the dream, I was wide awake and thinking). When I awoke that morning, I knew Jesus had been there, but all I could remember was being filled with great joy at how the account ended. Having lived my life, I can tell you it has been far from joyous. I suppose that means that there is an unending joy yet to come.

Sometime later, I was doing some Bible reading and came across this bit of information, Moses had a sister.

Why is that important?

Because his mother put him in a thatched basket and set him in the river, hoping that someone kind would find this new male baby alive and provide for his well-being. That person was Pharaoh’s daughter. The sister of Moses, quite possibly Miriam, watched until the baby was pulled from the water and then offered Pharaoh’s daughter a “woman” that could nurse the baby. Pharaoh’s daughter agreed with the understanding that she would come and collect the baby back to herself once he was weaned.

(If you feel that you must challenge me on what I have just said, then I suggest that go back and reread Exodus chapter two. The Amplified Bible adds the name Miriam in italics as a proper name is merely a logical assumption.)

There is some argument about how long this weaning period lasted, as some women continue to breastfeed their children well beyond a couple of years. 

Why are we even talking about this?

Because forty years later, we are told that Moses, who had been educated in Pharaoh's courts, suddenly seems to realize that he has a non-Egyptian ancestry (although, at this point, they are known as the Hebrews.) No, the Bible does not give us all that detail; instead, the narrative moves Moses from the basket in the water to a life of royalty, privilege, education, and celebrity to the point where he kills an Egyptian on behalf of a Hebrew, one of his kinfolk. 

“Now it came about in those days, when Moses had grown up, that he went out to his
brethren and looked on their hard labors; and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. So he looked this way and that, and when he saw there was no one around, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.”
(Exodus 2:11-12 NASB)

The book of Acts tells us that Moses, at age forty, flees for his life and spends 40 years in the wilderness working as a shepherd with Jethro and living with Zipporah, his wife.

“Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters; and they came to draw water and filled the troughs to water their father's flock. Then the shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and helped them and watered their flock. When they came to Reuel their father, he said, "Why have you come back so soon today?" So they said, "An Egyptian delivered us from the hand of the shepherds, and what is more, he even drew the water for us and watered the flock." He said to his daughters, "Where is he then? Why is it that you have left the man behind? Invite him to have something to eat." Moses was willing to dwell with the man, and he gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses.”
(Exodus 2:16-21 NASB)

What eventually happens is that Moses is told by God that all those who wanted him dead for the murder of the Egyptian are now dead.

At this point Moses is now 80 and there is NO mention of children or of Miriam.

"Then you shall say to Pharaoh, 'Thus says the LORD, "Israel is My son, My firstborn. "So I said to you, 'Let My son go that he may serve Me,'; but you have refused to let him go. Behold, I will kill your son, your firstborn."'" Now it came about at the lodging place on the way that the LORD met him and sought to put him to death. Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son's foreskin and threw it at Moses' feet, and she said, "You are indeed a bridegroom of blood to me."
(Exodus 4:22-25 NASB)

If this is all we get (“Now it came about at the night’s resting place on the way that the LORD met him and sought to put him to death”) as an explanation for why Zipporah cut off the foreskin, there is a severe lack of communication. By the way, I always thought Moses cut off his child’s foreskin. But, unfortunately, it seems Zipporah went on a verbal rampage, at the least, after she circumcised Gershom, the first son, who may have been a young man by this time.  

After this incident, we NEVER see Zipporah again. 

Why is that? 

I have struggled to understand the answer to that question, but it is evident that women had no rights. Facing the possibility that Moses took action against her changes the imagery that Cecil B. DeMille helped to create when he made the movie The Ten Commandments. 

What we do see down the road is Jethro, Zipporah’s father, coming to give Moses some wisdom about managing his time and all the demands being placed upon him. 

Moses demands that the new Pharaoh let God’s people go. Once the people gained their freedom from Egypt, Moses, under God’s mandate, ruled God’s people for 40 more years. In a relatively short time after their liberation from Egypt, Miriam reappears and does so as a prophetess.

Exodus 15:20  “And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances.”

Who pronounced her a prophetess, I don't know. But watch this mutiny that suddenly ensues.

“Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married (for he had married a Cushite woman); and they said, "Has the LORD indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us as well?" And the LORD heard it.” (Numbers 12:1-2 NASB)

I don't know if this played a role in the conversation, but I have been told that the Cushites were very dark-skinned. I do not suggest that you allow your racism to run rampant here or anywhere else, as God looks upon the heart, and He can also see your heart. What might have played a role is that Moses already had a wife.

God had a response for Aaron and Miriam when they started bad-mouthing Moses.

Numbers 12:4-15 NASB

(4) Suddenly, the LORD said to Moses and Aaron and to Miriam, "You three come out to the tent of meeting." So the three of them came out.

(There will be several of these short thought insertions.) The fact that they were inside the tent tends to mean that this was a private shouting match.

(5) Then the LORD came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the doorway of the tent, and He called Aaron and Miriam. When they had both come forward,

Just pointing out that they had eventually come forward demonstrates a hesitancy on the part of Aaron and Miriam, perhaps to own their “sin.”

(6) He said, "Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, shall make Myself known to him in a vision. I shall speak with him in a dream.

Ah, and now we are back to the dream I had. If that dream made me a prophet, what am I supposed to do with this calling? 

I am a tremendous fan of Biblical men like the prophets Samuel (who hacked up King Agag) and Elijah (who boldly called down fire from heaven on multiple occasions. Of course, things like this make for great action movies, but causing a widow’s food supply to never end, or bringing a woman’s son back to life, an act which restored her financial security and provided for her future care in an age where social security did not exist; those are positive life-changing events and also done at the hands of prophets.

(7,8) "Not so, with My servant Moses, He is faithful in all My household; With him I speak mouth to mouth, Even openly, and not in dark sayings, And he beholds the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid To speak against My servant, against Moses?"

Many will tell you that God is not bringing justice to evil people during this time of grace. The question you have to ask yourself is, does God change? The answer is no, but He has, as in the case of Jonah's declared judgment against Nineveh, that God asked him to deliver; God relented (or postponed) in carrying out that announced judgment. Jonah whined about God's decision and never got to see how that worked out for Nineveh, and we may not either when it comes to dealing with the disgusting swamp of a government we have, both locally and nationally. Oh, and by the way, God frequently uses people (sometimes radically insane people) to carry out his judgment. Some of us can see this as handing people over to Satan for the destruction of their flesh to preserve their souls. Read 1 Corinthians 5:5 to know how the Apostle Paul handled this.

(9,10) So the anger of the LORD burned against them and He departed. But when the cloud had withdrawn from over the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, as white as snow. As Aaron turned toward Miriam, behold, she was leprous.

This shows the immediacy with which it attached to her.

(11,12) Then Aaron said to Moses, "Oh, my lord, I beg you, do not account this sin to us, in which we have acted foolishly and in which we have sinned. "Oh, do not let her be like one dead, whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes from his mother's womb!"

(13) Moses cried out to the LORD, saying, "O God, heal her, I pray!"

(14, 15) But the LORD said to Moses, "If her father had but spit in her face, would she not bear her shame for seven days? Let her be shut up for seven days outside the camp, and afterward she may be received again." So Miriam was shut up outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on until Miriam was received again.

How does any of this relate to baptism?

I do not see a necessity for anyone to get water baptized, and having a baby sprinkled does nothing except give you some internal comfort, which buys you nothing. If you, as an adult, wanted to demonstrate the serious nature of your commitment to Christ, perhaps getting baptized is the thing for you to do, but I must tell you that I know several people who shed tears and got water baptized and then lived for the devil. Obviously, this is not the way with everyone.

Then which baptism is the one that we, as believers, should be pursuing? 

The baptism that Jesus encouraged, the baptism in the Holy Spirit with fire. It seems odd to use the word encouraged as what He said came across more like a command. In Luke 24, some of the disciples, unnamed except for one we are not familiar with and a disciple named Cleopas, had been walking on the road to Emmaus when Jesus appeared to them and walked with them. During this walk, Jesus directed them to gather in Jerusalem and stay put until the Holy Spirit and the fire from God came upon them. 

“And behold, I am sending the promise of My Father upon you. But remain in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
(Luke 24:49 BSB)

Clothed is intriguing as very few translation dictionaries direct you to the Greek word enduō. The NASEC and Mounce's dictionaries are the only resources I have that address the word clothed.

Does that make clothed an improper choice?

Hardly, as the word enduō give us the idea of being “clothed with (in the sense of sinking into a garment.).” The King James Version expresses it this way “but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.” It’s the same Greek word, but suddenly the resources are many. One I like to use is the Word Study Dictionary; it conveys this definition “To put on as a garment, to cause to get into a garment, to clothe, dress in, to be clothed; to clothe oneself.”

At Jesus' command the disciples (now equaling about 120) began gathering in Jerusalem and in the upper room.

“And having met with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to await the promise of the Father which you heard from Me. For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
(Acts 1:4-5 MKJV)

Were they waiting for the infilling of the Holy Spirit or for Jesus to leave and the Holy Spirit to come?

I seriously doubt they understood what was happening, but having lost Jesus once they did not want to lose Him again. The wisest thing they could do was to follow His instructions.

What were they waiting for?

• Power from on high.

• Baptism in the Holy Spirit.

• Fire, but what did mean.

• “And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.” Acts 2:3 

____________

The Holy Spirit was not a foreign subject to the disciples, but thanks to King David, it was an accepted and integral part of their lives that they did not think about. For the disciples, it was wisdom.

• Jesus tried to explain that the Holy Spirit was no less a part of God than He was.

• He told them that Holy Spirit would comfort them in ways that I still don’t fully understand.

• And the Holy Spirit would teach them, lead and guide them into all truth.

  This speaks to me about all the voices (preachers, pastors, evangelists, Bible teachers, and internet “personalities” that all think you have to listen to them). To be honest, listening to all these talking heads can get your head to spinning. I have 55 Bibles, and about 40 commentaries on my computer; some are fairly solid resources and some are just bizarre. I can use information from a variety to convey what needs to be said, but it is the Holy Spirit that is guiding what I write to you, not the collection of talking heads that created the translation or transliteration of the Bible you are looking at. All of them have issues, so don't let some bully tell you that you can only use the King James version.

  While we are on this earth, and especially in these last moments that we have on earth, you have to learn to trust and follow the Holy Spirit.

Jesus led by example; in that regard, they saw the Holy Spirit in action daily.

Jesus knew things about people and situations, and that is one of the ways that the Holy Spirit works.

If you watch the series The Chosen, watch the faces of the disciples as they try to figure out how He knew certain pieces of information, especially when no one said anything about what was coming next.

I tried to share this with my wife and she asked me a question, What is the fire?

If it was something that would painfully burn us to ashes, well then, I don't think I want that at all. Thankfully, we saw that the fire was LIKE cloven tongues of fire. If it is my tongue on fire, then praying in the Holy Spirit helps to define this fire for me.

Example: One Sunday morning, in the little church, the worship music was awesome. I judge awesome based upon how it moves my spirit into spiritual warfare mode. This particular week, the pastor that I could not stand to be around chose to sit on the front row, directly in front of me. I believe that he values the Holy Spirit and he had joined in dancing before the Lord on occasions. It seems like the song had the words “let it rain, open the windows of heaven.” I just poured my spirit out before the Lord and began praying down the rains of warfare as I prayed in tongues. I could not tell you what I was praying about but I know this, God was splitting the heavens on my behalf. That pastor turned around and stared at me for several seconds. I was not in the mood and I kept it up for the length of the song.

That morning was fire for me.

One of the frequent discussions I hear centers on this phrase, “as it was in the days of Noah.”

 One of the frequent discussions I hear centers on this phrase,

“as it was in the days of Noah.”

This comes from Luke 17:26, where it says, “And [just] as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the time of the Son of Man. (AMP)” 

Those that speak on this subject talk about how people just went about their business, getting married and having birthday parties, as though everything was good for their level of advancement (instead of merely banging two rocks together.)

What I just brought up doesn't even come close to assessing how bad the world was at this time. So let's start in Genesis 6:1-2 and see where this takes us.

“When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose.” (Genesis 6:1-2 ESV)

• “When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them,”

  It is not the multiplying part that creates the problem; there was plenty of land. It was this next aspect that God was paying close attention to.

• “the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose.”

Who were the sons of God?

They were angelic beings, and though there are both righteous and fallen angels our focus is on the fallen ones. Jesus in trying to explain a twisted and unusual question to some Jews, spoke of the angels that did not fall, when He said,

"... For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven." Matthew 22:29-30 NKJV)

What can I make of this? 

That the angels, that remained subject to God and heavens laws, do not participate in sexual activity.

One of our primary pieces of evidence that these were fallen angels comes from an interaction between God and Satan, found in the book of Job.

“Now there was a day when the sons of God (the righteous ones) came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. The LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason?”
(Job 1:6-9 ESV)

Some obvious things you might have picked up on, as Satan - who the Revelation describes as being thrown out of heaven, is meandering about in the heavenlies with the angels that did not fall, is that he is there and nothing no one is doing much to challenge him. 

Satan doesn't seem to care if he is welcome or not, and so what do we see? 

Satan shoves himself right up near the throne to get God's attention.

God asks Satan a question.

Does God ask questions because He is lacking answers?

Never, and so we can think of these inquiries as forensic – as He is studying the words you say and the manner in which you respond. You cannot lie to God.

How did Satan respond to God's question, Have you considered my servant Job?

Well, of course, he had, and it was probably the basis for his being there in heaven, among the sons of God, of which he was still considered to be one. Consider the response of the disciples after being sent out. (This sending happened on two occasions: In Mark 6:7, it was only the twelve, but in Luke 10, the number being sent out was seventy. On both occasions, they were sent in pairs.)

“The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.”
(Luke 10:17-18 ESV)

Satan didn't just trip and fall out of heaven, he was thrown out.

“A war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels were fighting against the dragon and its angels. But the dragon lost the battle. It and its angels were forced out of their places in heaven and were thrown down to the earth. Yes, that old snake and his angels were thrown out of heaven! That snake, who fools everyone on earth, is known as the devil and Satan. Then I heard a voice from heaven shout, "Our God has shown his saving power, and his kingdom has come! God's own Chosen One has shown his authority. Satan accused our people in the presence of God day and night. Now he has been thrown out! Our people defeated Satan because of the blood of the Lamb and the message of God. They were willing to give up their lives. The heavens should rejoice, together with everyone who lives there. But pity the earth and the sea because the devil was thrown down to the earth. He knows his time is short, and he is very angry." When the dragon realized that it had been thrown down to the earth, it tried to make trouble for the woman who had given birth to a son. But the woman was given two wings like those of a huge eagle, so that she could fly into the desert. There she would escape from the snake and be taken care of for a time, two times, and half a time. The snake then spewed out water like a river to sweep the woman away. But the earth helped her and swallowed the water that had come from the dragon's mouth. This made the dragon terribly angry with the woman. So it started a war against the rest of her children. They are the people who obey God and are faithful to what Jesus did and taught. The dragon stood on the beach beside the sea.” (Revelation 12:7-18 CEV)

So the life-changing question that people ask is, When did Satan get thrown out of heaven?

Logic would tell you that this happened somewhere between Genesis 1:1 and the serpent showing up in the garden.

Genesis 2:2 indicates that God felt everything was done and good, but it was good once before and then not. The prophet Isaiah tells us that God made it perfect, to begin with.

“For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it empty, he formed it to be inhabited!): “I am the LORD, and there is no other.”
(Isaiah 45:18 ESV)

So when I read a verse like Genesis 1:2, I can see that something cataclysmic happened.

“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.”
(Genesis 1:2 ESV)

Well, Genesis 1:2 may have been the result of Satan's being tossed to earth.

Were there any people other than Adam and Eve on earth?

The answer is a strong maybe. Look, you put a young, naked man and woman in the most spectacular of settings, and they will find a multitude of things to explore ( if you get my hint.) Didn't you ever notice that God said to Eve, after the fall, now you will have pain in childbirth?

Why would He say that if she had never had children?

Give me a break; they had many. And, if all they knew was what Adam, their papa, said and acted like, then they, too, were Godlike. I know this opens a large “can-o-worms,” but try not to let your mind melt over this.

Then why didn't the serpent – Satan go after one of the others?

Because, in the long run, Satan was going specifically after “God's” creation,  those who had been given dominion over the earth, Adam and subordinately, Eve.

“And 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 fowl of heaven and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that crawls upon the earth."”
(Genesis 1:26 AFV)

Dominion is the Hebrew word râdâh and means to tread down, subjugate, have dominion over, prevail against, and most importantly, have rule over.

Adam had been given command over this planet, and just like Jesus, he only did what the Father told him, except for that moment in the garden.

In that brief moment of time, he handed the entirety of the planet over to Satan by following his wife's lead.

Now, if you read Genesis 1:26 attentively, you noticed that there is a plurality inferred, and you would be right, but God does not put a body on the man until Genesis 2:7, and then He only formed one of the two; so conversations about making humanity was all in the spiritual mode until He put flesh on them. All the instructions pertaining to this dominion were given specifically to the man, who, in time, informed Eve once she had been made.

If you can understand what I have just told you, then you will better understand what took place when the Serpent said to Eve, did God really say that?

Satan was trying to put a rift between God and Adam, Adam and Eve, and eventually all humanity that could never be repaired. In that masterful move, Satan sowed seeds of doubt, deceit, lying, and an unending heap of trust issues.

Oh, about that rift that could never be repaired. 

The laws that make this universe run are moral laws created and put in place by God himself. Therefore, the only one who could pay the price that justice demanded was God himself, and He did so by sending His Son, Jesus. He also bypassed an inherent problem we have had since the garden, and that is our built-in sin mode. Jesus did not have that, as He was not a creation of either man or woman and was, therefore, sinless. Jesus, being sinless, is the thing that Satan did not count on. So this irreparable rift was not too big of a problem as long as you have a sinless God-man to take your place, and Jesus did just that.

Back to this paragraph,

“the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose.”

Having established that these “sons of God” were fallen angels that fell when they followed Satan in his folly, then they were taking the daughters of men, anybody at any time, as they chose. And I don't think they cared about looks (even though the passage, as though the writer had interviewed them, says they noted the attractiveness of women) as they were trying to manipulate the human genome even further. Hold that thought for a moment. 

We live in a day when science is consistently modifying or attempting to modify the human genome. The American Department Of Defense (under the guise of DARPA) has been doing it for years as they try to create super soldiers. 

Since the ingesting of that fruit changed the human genome and instilled a propensity within us to sin, it permanently damaged the DNA strain that was the base origin of humanity. Every human from that moment forward has that same damaged marker. If that be the case, then when science began looking at DNA, they saw a commonality in every human strand compared. This damaged marker, for which they cannot find a purpose, becomes an expected marker in all of humanity.

I know most translations are using delicate wording so that you cannot easily pick up on the offense of the word "took." Perhaps we could say they were merely grabbing these women, or shall I say abducting, whomever, whenever, they wanted. These fallen angels may not have copulated with their victims in the manner to which we are accustomed, but the scriptures tell us that they did it.

Do we have anything bizarre like this happening today?

Unfortunately, yes, we do. If you are into the paranormal, a Christian brother named LA. Marzulli writes books and speaks at conferences about demonic abductions. By the way, those that have withstood these encounters have only done so because they possessed ownership of the name of Jesus Christ because they had accepted Christ into their lives at some point, and they used it against what was happening to them.

LA Marzulli, along with others, like Brian Forester, have pursued unexplainable oddities, such as elongated skulls – that have had their DNA tested, and, though in this case found in Paracas, Peru, had parentage leading the researchers back to the Middle East and NO known earthly being.

Let's assume that you don't believe me at this point. Let me ask you a question;

Can you accept the Bible as non-challengeable?

I am not talking about known errors or translation disputations, of which there are many, but I know that God's unchanging moral authority runs through the entirety of scripture. I also know that there is nothing of note in the New Testament that cannot be validated by prophetic words in the Old Testament. Our standard for proving this comes from the Law.

“One witness shall not rise against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin which he sins. At the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses a thing shall be raised up to judgment.”
(Deuteronomy 19:15 LITV)

So, no matter whether it is a law matter or the validation of God's Word, it can and should be validated by scriptural witnesses.

I brought up the possibility that Adam and Eve had other children. How do you explain that?

1. Time, as we understand it, began that day in the garden. If you wish to say the earth is only ten thousand years old, basing the presumption of time from the garden event makes all the sense in the world. Sin, death, and rebellion in the lives of humans all came out of the garden and the eating of that fruit.

2. What else happened that day? If you foolishly said that the plan of redemption began that day. To a degree, you would be right, but do you seriously think that God was caught off guard and had to come up with a plan now that the two people you have been close to for an untold amount of time will come to an end. Knowing that Satan would rebel and, in a way, take out God's man, Adam, the plan to recover His creation and entirely eliminate Satan came into being long before we were a thought – and based upon what King David said, you knew me before time began.

3. So children born outside of the garden do not fall under the category of sin, as sin, it would seem, became a genetic issue. The logical course would follow the change that began as the parents damaged their genetics and then passed that along to any children that followed.

   If they were outside of sin through genetics, then why would they have to be “judged” alongside everybody else?

   Good question, and maybe they are not. Consider that the fallen angels are given no recourse for their mutiny; perhaps those children which were not affected by tainted genetics sustained damage, just as the creation did and cries out for the day of their redemption.

   “All of creation waits with eager longing for God to reveal his children. For creation was condemned to lose its purpose, not of its own will, but because God willed it to be so. Yet there was the hope that creation itself would one day be set free from its slavery to decay and would share the glorious freedom of the children of God. For we know that up to the present time all of creation groans with pain, like the pain of childbirth. But it is not just creation alone which groans; we who have the Spirit as the first of God's gifts also groan within ourselves as we wait for God to make us his children and set our whole being free.” (Romans 8:19-23 GNB)

So, anyone born outside of the garden was still affected by what happened there, just as the entirety of the earth was. 

Some would say, how would those born outside of the garden know about salvation? 

Well, first off, who was their daddy? Yep, Adam. Adam told Eve, and he also told them as well.

I told you that the garden and its sin were the basis of the world we live in. That moment in the garden initiated the prophetic insertion of Jesus into humanity and the plan of redemption's calendar.

Did you, as you read, pick up on the fact that the method of momentary relief from sin came through appropriate sacrifice?

God, on the same day as the conversation in which He told Eve that one of her seed would crush the serpent's head, killed animals - adequate enough to make appropriate coverings, and He showed Adam how to make sacrifice using those same animals. Do not assume that Adam had been stripped of his title; therefore, he was still meant to take dominion.

“for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” (Romans 11:29 NASB)

Testimony from the Old Testament.

“God is not a man who lies, or a son of man who changes his mind! Does He speak and then not do it, or promise and not fulfill it?” (Numbers 23:19 TLV)

That meant he was still in the chain of command for the redistribution of information. Since we DO NOT see any mention of those born outside of the garden, the most logical assumption is that they fell and went out of fellowship with God, as Cain did. 

If you can't handle the idea that there were others born outside the garden and wish to hold to a chronological reading of the scriptures, then where did Cain get the idea that there were others, as violent as he, waiting to kill him?

“Since You expelled me today from the face of the ground and I must be hidden from Your presence, then I will be a restless wanderer on the earth—anyone who finds me will kill me!”” (Genesis 4:14 TLV)

Another bizarre anomaly also follows Cain as he went to a city (?) and found a wife (?). Keep in mind that we are trying to follow a chronological pattern. So, Cain, then, would have to wait for Mom and Dad to produce a daughter that he could have. 

But who was next to be born? 

Seth, a “righteous” son. Try to imagine how long you might have to wait before a sister was born that you could have for a wife. A bizarre train of thought, but so is the logic.

Then Cain left Adonai’s presence and dwelled in the Land of Wandering, east of Eden. Cain was intimate with his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. And he was building a city, and he named the city after the name of his son, Enoch.
(Genesis 4:16-17 TLV)

Assuming that we have eliminated the possibility that children born outside of the garden could have been called the sons of God, then the only beings left, as we have pointed out when we looked at Job, are the fallen angels.

One of the boisterous arguments against the angels procreating with humans is that angels have no male organs and, therefore, have no sex. This is based on this passage, where the Pharisees, who were always trying to trap Jesus, brought up a scenario in which a woman is passed through the family members, much like a sex slave, to produce children with the family name.

“In the resurrection, when they (these family members who each had her) rise again, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife.” Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God? For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.”
(Mark 12:23-25 ESV)

Luke's gospel conveys this theme.

“In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife.” And Jesus said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.”
(Luke 20:33-36 ESV)

At the moment, we live in the age of grace; this age will come to an end with the removal of the church. At that point in time, those of us in heaven become a part of a term that I have come to despise, that “new age,” where we will be married to Christ, the groom. We will be like the angels in that they are eternal. We will be the Sons and Daughters of God that we were designed to be. Stop here. Our spirits are already eternal as we have been made in the image of God – an eternal spirit, and as such, we will merely go on living with our Father. Our relationship with Jesus moves us into what we call the body of Christ. So, in a sense, we are already married to the Lamb. The angels, who also have free will, for the most part, know their duties and place – and it does not include sex. Satan, his name was Lucifer, decided to supplant God, an act that exceeded the limits of his position. He managed to convince a third of the uncountable number of angels to follow him in this rebellion.

Did their spirits die?

No. Many of them were locked up in chains, as they, in their rebellion, became very dangerous. They will be cast into outer darkness, along with Satan and those who choose to follow him, to the place where there is gnashing of teeth, fire, and perpetual anguish.

The scripture leaves no one out, and the flooding killed everything that walked on land and breathed air, that includes half-breed angels, referred to as Nephilim. The giants died, but scripture tells us that they came back after the flood. 

"The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown." (Genesis 6:4 NASB)

This can be attested to by Joshua and Caleb's testimony upon their foray into Canaan and David's killing of Goliath. Because we have very few records of Titans upon the earth, anymore, then I would suggest that the fallen angels changed their techniques and game plan.

So, the question is, who will you willingly be married to?

There are only two options, Jesus or Satan.