Program 11: The Earth: Round? Or Flat?

Scriptural (and spherical geometry) reveal the true shape of the earth.

Welcome to WLC Radio, a subsidiary of World’s Last Chance Ministries, an online ministry dedicated to learning how to live in constant readiness for the Savior's return.

For two thousand years, believers of every generation have longed to be the last generation. Contrary to popular belief, though, Christ did not give believers “signs of the times” to watch for. Instead, he repeatedly warned that his coming would take even the faithful by surprise. Yahushua urgently warned believers to be ready because, he said, “The Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” [Matthew 24:44]

WLC Radio: Teaching minds and preparing hearts for Christ's sudden return.

* * *Program 1: The Earth: Round? Or Flat?

Miles Robey: I want to welcome our listeners to today’s program. I’m your host, Miles Robey. With me is Dave Wright.

Dave Wright: Hello! We’re glad you could join us. We’ve got a lot to cover today. By the time we get through, you may very well be questioning our sanity, but I want to remind you of what we’ve said before: don’t take our word for anything! Study these topics out for yourself. The truth is there. We don’t need to twist your arm to get you to believe anything. The evidence is there if you’ll just study it with an open mind. We just want to give you a starting point, let you know where there’s more truth to be had.

Miles: Before we go any further, I just want to insert really quickly for our first time listeners that you’ll notice we don’t refer to the Creator by the titles of “God” or “Lord”. We prefer to use His actual name, Yahuwah, or Yah. And the name of His Son is Yahushua.

Dave: Right. Thanks, Miles. A while ago, an old school mate and his wife were in the area, so my wife and I invited them over for dinner. It was fun to see them again and catch up with what’s going on in their lives.

So, we’re almost through dinner, and Nigel says something. He just drops this bombshell right there at the dinner table. He told us he believed the earth is flat!

Miles: I beg your pardon?

Dave: Yeah! That’s what I said!

Now the thing you’ve got to understand about Nigel is that he’s smart. Brilliant, really, but he was also always a bit of a prankster. In school, he was the type that used his intelligence for cutting up and getting into mischief.

Miles: Yeah. I knew a few of those myself.

Dave: Sure you weren’t one of them yourself?

Miles: Well, now. That would be telling. So, was he just trying to get a rise out of you or something?

Dave: Well, I thought at first he must be. But he wasn’t! He honestly believes that the earth is flat. And then he started sharing why. Now that, that was interesting.

Miles: Yeah? You want to share with us some of it?

Dave: Yeah, that’s what I want to talk about today. And I know that this is, to most of us, a ridiculous topic. A flat earth? Really.

Miles: I know what you’re saying. Just as soon as I hear the words “flat earth” I immediately envision someone walking up to the edge, peering over, and whoops! Falling forever through space.

Dave: I think most of us have that mental picture of a flat earth and that’s why we find it such a ludicrous idea. But it’s also an incorrect idea. Just because (I now do believe) the surface of the earth is level—ish. I mean, there are mountains, of course.—But just because the surface is level does not mean you can actually walk up to the edge and hop off. That’s not actually possible.

Miles: Well, that’s good!

Dave: There’s actually quite a bit of science to back this up, but we were never taught it in school. The theory of a globe earth was simply grandfathered in. It was never proven, but it is now accepted as fact.

Miles: Well, can you give us an example? Because I have to say, Dave, that of everything you’ve ever shared, this is the most “out there.”

Dave: All right. In school, we were taught that the circumference of the earth is . . . what?

Miles: Uhhh . . . that would be . . . over 40,000 kilometers. Am I right?

Dave: Right. And for you stubborn Americans out there who haven’t yet figured out the metric system, that’s almost 25,000 miles.

Miles: All right.

Dave: So, if the earth is round, as we’ve been told, and if it is 40,000 kilometers around at the equator, than it’s a simple math equation to figure out how far you’ve got line of sight before the earth curves and you can see it start to drop. Right?

Miles: Sure. That makes sense. I’ve never actually been far enough up to see the earth’s curvature, but yeah. If we know what the curvature is, it’s simple enough to figure out how far you can see before it drops out of sight.

Dave: But you have been high enough to see it.

Miles: Huh? No, I haven’t. I’ve never seen the curvature.

Dave: Right. You haven’t. And because you haven’t, you’ve just assumed you weren’t far enough away. But you’ve flown before, haven’t you?

Miles: Well, sure.

Dave: When you’re flying, on a clear day, you have seen far enough to see the curvature – if it were there to see. The only reason you haven’t seen it is because it is not there to see since the surface we live on is flat.

Miles: What do you mean?

Dave: If the earth is 40,000 kilometers around at the equator as we’ve always been told, you can measure the curvature!

By using spherical trigonometry, it figures out to 20 centimeters of curvature per 1.6 kilometers, squared. Or, using the Imperial system, that’s 8 inches of curvature for every mile, squared. The kilometer and the mile are squared.

So, for 2 miles, you’d have 32 inches of drop. For three miles, you’d see 72 inches of drop. That’s 1.82 meters of drop, in just 4.82 kilometers! And it only goes up from there.

Miles: Seriously? That’s a lot of drop! You’d be able to see that from a tall mountain. Certainly from an airplane.

Dave: Precisely. It’s just math. See the problem?

Miles: Yeah, I do.

Dave: Take commercial airline pilots. If the earth were curved, they’d have to take that into account when flying long distances. If the earth is curved, than when you’re flying 1,000 kilometers, you would see a drop of 78.3 kilometers! Pilots would have to keep the nose of the aircraft tilted downward at a slight but steady angle if they didn’t want to fly off into space. And yet they don’t!

Miles: You’re right! They don’t!

Dave: There’s a lot there, but most people laugh it off before they look at the evidence. They don’t even give it a chance before just dismissing it.

And, to be fair, there is so much conflicting information out there, it can be hard to know what to believe. In a future episode, I’d like to cover more of the science of a flat earth, and the history of the cover up. But for today, I’d like to start with what the Bible says about the earth.

Miles: Oh, come on! You can’t mean to tell me that the Bible has anything to say about whether the earth is flat, or a globe spinning through space!

Dave: No, but it does!

Miles: Really?

Dave: Really. And it’s not just one verse, either. Doctrine, remember, is established in the mouth of two or three witnesses. So, it is with this. There are lots of Bible verses that establish the earth is stationary—it’s not moving through space—and that the sun is revolving above its flat surface! In fact, there are fully 80 Bible verses discussing this.

We’re not going to have time to go into all of them, but let’s get started on a few, shall we?

Miles: Sure! I want to hear this.

Dave: All right. To start with, read Isaiah 11, verse 12 for us.

Miles: Isaiah 11:12. “And he shall . . . gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.”

Dave: Now go to Revelation 20, verse 8.

Miles: All right. It says: “And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth.”

Dave: Revelation 7, verse 1?

Miles: Revelation 7:1 says: “After these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth.”

Dave: If you cut a round ball in four pieces, are there corners?

Miles: Not really.

Dave: No. You can’t do it. It can’t be a ball and have corners!

All right. Now, what about the earth’s rotation around the sun? Let’s turn over to the Old Testament. Read First Chronicles, chapter 16, and verse 30 for us.

Miles: All right. First Chronicles 16:30 says: “Fear before him, all the earth: the world also shall be stable, that it be not moved.”

Dave: Good. Notice: “It shall not be moved.” Now, Psalm 96, verse 10.

Miles: “Yahuwah reigneth: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved.”

Dave: And Psalm 93:1.

Miles: Psalm 93, verse 1 . . . “Yahuwah is clothed with strength, wherewith He hath girded Himself: The world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved.”

But isn’t this just, I don’t know, poetic license?

Dave: Well, we’ve always dismissed it that way. But when you start looking at the science of it, and you add in all these Bible verses, it takes on a completely different appearance. After all, the Bible is, really, our sole source of ultimate authority, isn’t it?

Miles: Yeah.

Dave: All right, so we need to start looking at these verses as factual. Listen, if there had been just a single verse in Scripture that spelled it all out, don’t you think the devil would have found it an easy matter to have that lost in translation? Covered up?

Miles: Of course.

Dave: But by scattering the verses throughout Scripture, here a little, there a little, it wasn’t possible for him to hide them all. The best he could come up with was a dismissive: “Oh, that’s just poetic license.”

But you take a second look at the science, than you come back to the Bible, you start gathering together all these scattered verses, and you get a completely different understanding.

Miles: It’s like the scattered pieces of a 2,000-piece jigsaw puzzle, isn’t it? You don’t see anything that makes sense with this single piece, or that individual piece, but you bring them all together, you start to see the pattern.

Dave: Right. And you keep going and before too long, you start to see the complete picture. That’s what we’ve got to do here. And what we’ve seen so far is that the earth has corners, and according to Scripture, it cannot be moved.

Can a globe earth:

• Rotating once every 24 hours at a speed of 1, 673 kilometers an hour;
• Revolving 940 million kilometers around the sun;
• Spinning around the center of our galaxy at an estimated rate of nearly 720, 000 kilometers an hour . . .

. . . Tell me, Miles, can that be described, by any stretch of the imagination, as being stable and unmoving?

Miles: No. No, it really can’t, can it?

Dave: And if it’s not moving, if it’s stable and stationary, just as the Bible says, than it’s got to be resting on something. Take a look at First Samuel 2:8 and tell us what it says.

Miles: First Samuel 2, verse 8: “The pillars of the earth are Yahuwah’s, and He hath set the world upon them.”

Dave: Good. He hath set the world upon pillars. Now flip over to Job 9:6.

Miles: Okay. Job 9, talking about the power of Yahuwah here. It says: “Which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble.”

Dave: Now read Psalm 75:3 for us.

Miles: Psalm 75, verse three . . . “The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved: I bear up the pillars of it.”

Dave: So you see, according to the Creator, the earth is resting on pillars. You can’t rest a ball on pillars very well and have it be stable, can you?

Miles: All right, so what keeps you from being able to fall off the edge? You said before that’s not possible.

Dave: There’s a lot of information on the Internet and we don’t have time to go into it all here, so basically, I’m just going to tell you what to search for. This topic is too big to get into and still cover the Bible verses in one program. But from all accounts, there is a wall of ice.

If you want to know what the surface of the earth really looks like, look up an image of the UN flag. They’ve got it right on their flag! The continents are surrounded by water, which in turn is held in by what we call Antarctica. But Antarctica is not a continent so much as a rim. US Rear Admiral Richard Byrd, a highly decorated naval officer, renowned for his explorations of both the north and south poles, went on record in an interview stating that there was far more land beyond the south pole than we’ve ever realized.

I don’t want to get too far off track from our focus on the Bible verses, but Google it. Look up “flat earth + ice wall.” There’s a lot of information out there.

Miles: So there’s an ice wall. Couldn’t you just, I don’t know, climb to the top and jump off?

Dave: You’re really wanting to make that leap, aren’t you?

Miles: What can I say? It’s an odd concept after believing all my life the world is a sphere.

Dave: It is. No, you can’t jump off because the earth is enclosed by a clear dome. There’s speculation as to what the dome is made of, but it is enclosed.

Miles: Does Scripture talk about this dome?

Dave: It does! In Job 37, young Elihu is encouraging Job. He’s not one of the older men, the “miserable comforters.” He’s a young guy, and in encouraging Job to continue to trust in Yah, Elihu asks Job: “Hast thou with Him [Yahwuah] spread out the sky, which is strong, and as a molten looking glass?”

Now how can empty space be “strong”?

Miles: That’s a good question! I want to hear some more about it but we’re going to take a quick break.

Stay tuned because when we return, Dave’s going to tell us more about the dome.

Don’t go away!

* * *

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* * *Part 2: The Earth: Round? Or Flat?

Miles: So Dave. You were literally blowing my mind with this idea that the world is not a globe, but that the surface is actually flat and enclosed with a dome. Now, I know this time we’re focusing on Bible texts that support a flat, enclosed earth, rather than a spinning, rotating one. Hopefully, sometime in the near future, we can go more into the science of it.

Dave: And the history of the cover up as well. The Jesuits have been very active in keeping this information hidden.

Miles: Yeah, I’d like to hear more about that some time. For now, though, before our break, you were saying that the earth is covered with a . . . um . . . a dome? Do you find that in Scripture?

Dave: Actually, you do. Again, there’s more information on this than we can cover in just one program. So, if you’re listening and want to grab a pen and paper, I’ll be giving more Bible texts than we have time to cover. I really wanted to be able to give multiple Bible verses to back up each point I cover.

We’re not going to have time to read through them all on air, but if you get a pen and paper ready, I’ll at least give them to you and you can look them up later for yourself. Just know that there is a lot of support for this in the Bible. We’re just going to be barely scratching the surface.

Miles: Sounds good.

Dave: All right. The dome. The first mention of it is in Genesis 1. Now, you’re probably thinking: “I don’t remember reading about a dome in Genesis 1!”

Miles: You’re right! I was thinking just that.

Dave: Well, it’s one of those terms I don’t think the translators quite knew what to do with, so the meaning has been lost in translation a bit.

But it’s there. Turn to Genesis 1 and read verse 6 for us, would you, please?

Miles: All right. Genesis 1:6 says: “And Yah said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.”

Dave: The word “firmament” comes from the Hebrew: [raw KEY ah]. It means an expanse that is fixed and steadfast. It carries with it the connotations of being spread out.

Now. Take a look at Isaiah 44:24. What does it say?

Miles: “I am Yahuwah that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself.”

Dave: This concept, interestingly enough, is found in ancient Sumer as well. The Sumerians were excellent astronomers and mathematicians. We get applied mathematics from the Sumerians. The fact that there are 360 degrees in a circle was first established by the Sumerians when they averaged the length of the solar year, with the length of the lunar year and assigned one point on the circle for every day of the year, averaging between solar and lunar time.

Miles: So what you’re saying is, they were really smart.

Dave: Oh, yeah. Really smart. And they, too, taught this idea that the heavens were spread out, or hammered, if you will. If I remember the direct translation correctly it was a “hammered bracelet.”

Miles: That’s interesting.

Dave: Amos 9:6 contains another reference to the dome. It says: “It is he that buildeth his stories in the heaven, and hath founded his troop in the earth.”

The word “stories” has the same connotation it does in modern English. It refers elevation.

Next, tell us what Psalm 18:9 says.

Miles: Okay: “He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under His feet.”

Dave: It says the same thing in Second Samuel 22:10. We’re not going to take the time to look it up, but you can jot that down if you want to look it up later for yourself. That’s Second Samuel 22:10.

Now, for something to be bowed, means there is some curvature involved.

Miles: True.

Dave: The word “bowed” comes from the Hebrew word, [naw TAW]. It means to spread or stretch out and stretch down. It implies bending something. So the heavens are bent around us, a dome covering a flat surface. You can’t spread out by rolling into a ball, which is what you’d have to do if the earth were a round globe. Spreading out and rolling into a ball are mutually exclusive terms.

Only a stretched out, bent down dome, safely enclosing the flattened surface of the earth, captures the essence of what is being said here.

Miles: Kind of plays with your mind to look at it from that perspective.

Dave: Here’s what’s interesting. Once you start looking at the earth as having a flattened surface, enclosed by a protective dome, all of these passages in Scripture that we thought were nothing but poetic license start to make sense.

For example, when Zophar the Naamaphite was trying to describe to Job the wisdom of the Creator, as opposed to weak, puny man, he said: “Can you fathom the mysteries of Yah? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than the heavens above—what can you do? They are deeper than the depths below—what can you know?”

Then he adds: “Their measure is longer than the earth and wider than the sea.”

Miles: Where’s that found?

Dave: Job 11. So here, in these few verses, we’ve got height, and width, and length, and breadth. Again, that makes more sense when you’re talking about a flattened surface covered by an arching dome, than a mere ball, spinning through space.

Miles: It really does. Some of it just doesn’t make sense if the earth is really a ball and that’s why we’ve always just dismissed some of these passages. And yet, as Paul said, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of Yah.”

Dave: It really is. And we’ve been arrogant (and ignorant) to dismiss these as being written by ignorant sheepherders that didn’t know any better.

Turn over, now, to Isaiah 48 and read verse 13 for us.

Miles: All right . . . give me just a minute to find it here. Isaiah 48:13 says: “Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the heavens.”

Dave: As we’ve already shown, you can’t have a solid, immovable foundation, on a ball earth that is spinning millions of miles through space!

Miles: No. It’s impossible.

Dave: You can’t do it. But there’s more. The word “spanned” is very interesting. It says “My hand hath spanned the heavens.” When you look up the word spanned, it comes from a Hebrew word that means to—are you ready for this?—to flatten out.

Now tell me, Miles. even if we wrest Scripture to prove that the heavens were stretched out to cover a ball earth, how are you going to explain this verse? To flatten out the heavens?

Miles: Can’t do it.

Dave: Nope.

Miles: All right, but let me ask you something. We’ve all seen pictures taken from high altitude planes or weather balloons and you get out far enough into space, you definitely can see curvature there!

Dave: And the vast majority of those pictures are taken through a fisheye lens. What happens when you take pictures using a fisheye lens?

Miles: Even a straight line curves.

Dave: Right. But you look for them, you can find pictures taken from extremely high altitudes that show no curvature whatsoever. It’s just straight across.

Miles: Really.

Dave: Yep. In fact, you’ll find a lot on Youtube. There’s one in particular that’s really good. It’s called: “Shocking! High altitude balloon shows flat earth.”

Miles: I’ll have to look for that.

Dave: While you’re at it, look at several of them. There’s one that’s really interesting, taken through a fisheye lens, and as the camera spins, the horizon curves down, goes straight, curves up . . .

Miles laughs: It curves up?

Dave: It curves up. Then it straightens out flat again, the way the horizon really is, then curves down. It goes all over the place.

You see, the thing is, the horizon, which is actually always flat, rises to eye level. Always. The higher you go, the further you can see, but the horizon always remains at eye level because the earth is flat. If it were curved and you got to higher altitudes, you would see the earth dropping away below you. But you never do because the earth’s surface is flat.

Okay, let’s go on. We’re not going to get to every verse I wanted to, but let’s take a look at Isaiah 40, verse 22. What does that say?

Miles: Isaiah 40, verse 22 says: “It is He that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in.”

So . . . what does that mean?

Dave: Well, as with everything in Scripture, you can’t take one verse out of context. Taken out of context, you could picture this white-robed chap with this long, long beard sitting cross-legged atop a globe!

But, when taken in context with everything else we’ve been reading, it’s got to be referring to the dome which arches protectively over the surface of the earth.

Now, with that in mind, let’s take a look at Psalm 19. Read that.

Miles: Where do you want me to start?

Dave: Just start reading at verse 1 and I’ll interject some thoughts as we go along.

Miles: All right: “The heavens declare the glory of Yah; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them—“

Dave: Stop right there for just a moment. Their line is gone out through all the earth and the word to the end of the world. Where is the end on a ball? Can you even get to the end? Or do you just keep going in circles, round, and round, and round again?

Miles: There is no end. You just keep going round and round.

Dave: Right! Okay, keep reading. What’s next?

Miles: “In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.”

Dave: All right, thank you. That’s good.

The sun comes from the end of heaven. His circuit runs to the end of it. Now the word translated “circuit” comes from the Hebrew word meaning a revolution and includes the idea of the lapse of time. This is important because time is measured only by movement.

So what this piece of the puzzle is telling us is that the sun revolves, under the dome, above the surface of the earth.

It’s smaller and closer than we’ve ever been taught.

Miles: It would have to be, if it’s inside the dome.

Dave: Right. And look, I don’t expect anyone to take my word for it. But study it out for yourself! Don’t just scoff at it and refuse to consider it. There’s a reason the Jesuits have produced so many astronomers over the years. There’s been a massive cover up for the last 500 years!

If you’ve got time, go to our website. We’ve got a number of articles on the role the Jesuits played in hiding the truth about the real shape of the earth.

Okay, we’re almost out of time, so just really quick I want to run through these last verses.

A domed earth needs ventilation or we’d fry. Until we could get high enough, people really didn’t understand the jet stream. But those serve as cross ventilation to keep the winds of the enclosed earth circulating. In fact, Isaiah 24:18 speaks of the windows of heaven, so do other places. That’s Isaiah 24:18 if you want to read it for yourself.

Okay, read Jeremiah 49:36.

Miles: “I [will] bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them toward all those winds.”

Dave: Notice this text contains another reference to the four quarters, or corners. Again, you can’t have that on a ball shape.

All right, read Daniel 7:2.

Miles: “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me were the four winds of heaven churning up the great sea.”

Dave: And Revelation 7:1?

Miles: “I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth.”

Dave: So, here again, we’ve got four winds. Four corners of the earth. The more you study, the more you’ll see that all of these passages, like little pieces of a gigantic puzzle, are scattered through Scripture. Collected altogether and compared, they present a picture of the earth that is not as we’ve been taught. At. All.

Miles: I can see that. Well! You’ve given me a lot to think about!

Stay tuned, folks. When we return, we’ll be taking some questions from our Daily Mailbag.

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* * *Daily Mailbag

Miles: Time now for our Daily Mailbag.

Dave: You know, I really enjoy this segment of our program.

Miles: I do, too!

Dave: It’s fun hearing from our listeners. What have you got for us today?

Miles: Well, let’s see. This first question comes from Kathleen in Bantry, Ireland. She says: “Dear WLC: Do you know when the doctrine of the secret rapture was invented? Because it’s certainly not Biblical!”

Hm. No, it’s not. She’s right. So, any words of wisdom for her, Dave? I’m not sure I know where that belief came from, either!

Dave: Well, it didn’t “spring into being” all at once. A lot of people point to John Darby as the originator for this belief. Darby was one of the original Plymouth Brethren and a founder of the Exclusive Brethren. He’s considered the father of modern Dispensationalism and Futurism. And, you know, he certainly popularized the concept in the 1830s, but that’s not where it started. To understand how the concept of a secret rapture first originated, you have to go back further, to the Reformation.

Miles: The Reformation? Did the reformers believe in a secret rapture, then?

Dave: No, they didn’t. And here’s what’s interesting. The reformers understood many of the prophecies of Revelation to be referring to the Roman Catholic Church.

And so, in order to nullify the preaching of the reformers, the Catholic Church had to come up with another interpretation of Revelation. And they did. Francisco Ribera, a Jesuit priest, taught that the prophecies of Revelation were yet future.

Miles: Ha! Good way to get the focus off the Catholic Church!

Dave: That’s exactly right. So, “futurism”, the idea that Revelation’s prophecies are in the future and have no connection to Catholicism, was part of the Jesuit counter-Reformation. Ribera also taught that the rapture would happen 45 days before the end of a three and a half year long tribulation.

The next step in the evolution of this belief was the idea that the rapture of the saints would occur before the judgments of Yah, or the seven last plagues. Cotton Mather, a 17^th century Puritan promoted this belief, although there were others as well.

The word “rapture” itself was used by Philip Doddridge and John Gill in their commentaries on the New Testament. They taught that believers would be caught up prior to the Second Coming.

So you can see how it really, sort of evolved over time, but that process began as part of the Jesuit-led counter-Reformation where the Catholic church could not silence the powerful reasoning of the Reformers and so tried to shift the focus, if you will, away from themselves and into the misty future.

Miles: Well, I have to admit, it worked. Even many Protestants believe they’ll be raptured out of the world.

Dave: It really is a diabolical delusion because they haven’t yet seen what they expect to see, they keep pushing off the “day of the Lord.” They keep saying it will be soon, but not yet. All because they are looking for an event that will never happen.

Miles: That’s really sad.

Okay! Next question. Kevin in Alaska, USA, writes—

Dave: Alaska, where the mosquitoes are the size of small birds!

Miles: So I’ve heard. Yikes. All right. Kevin says: “Yesterday, I got into a rather heated discussion with someone close to me over the correct interpretation 1 Timothy 2:11-12. What do you say is the correct way, in today’s world, to interpret 1 Timothy 2:11-12. We have both agreed to abide by your opinion.”

Dave: Oh, dear! Hope this isn’t a marital spat. Well, first, let’s take a look at the verse. Would you read it for us, please?

Miles: Sure! First Timothy 2, verses 11 to 12 says: “Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.”

Okay, Solomon! Divide the baby for us. How do we interpret this text in today’s world? Does it still apply?

Dave: That’s a fair question. There certainly are still very sincere people who believe that no woman should be allowed to preach in church, or even teach a class, and they base it on this text.

To begin with, it’s important to remember that Paul worked with several women in his ministry. Take, for example, Priscilla, the wife of Aquila. They were a married missionary couple who traveled around and labored with Paul.

In fact, in Romans 16, Paul wrote: “Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who risked their own necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles.”

Miles: Wow, that’s quite the endorsement.

Dave: It is. And then there was another woman named Phoebe who was also mentioned in Romans 16. Paul wrote: “I commend to you Phoebe our sister, who is a servant of the church in Cenchrea.”

Miles: All right, but a servant of the church isn’t really the same thing as being a leader in the church, is it?

Dave: Why not? In Matthew 20, Yahushua said: “Whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant.” Yes, Phoebe is referred to as a servant in Romans 16 – in our language – but in the Greek, it is the exact same word that, elsewhere is translated as “ministry” or ministration and comes from the word diakonos which is where we get our word, “deacon” from.

In 1 Timothy 3:8, we read: “Likewise must the deacons be grave, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre.” Again, it’s the same word, same concept.

So, before we say that Paul was saying women should never be teachers or preachers, we need to be aware that just because it translated the word as “ministry” in one place, and the root as “deacons” in another, but “servant” when referring to a woman, does not mean such differences of meaning existed in the Greek because they don’t. It was all the same meaning: basically, an attendant or one who served the flock.

The word translated “servant” referring to Phoebe can also be translated “minister” which should blow out of the water any idea that Paul was a misogynist that felt women should have no leadership roll among believers.

Miles: All right. Then what did Paul mean? Because, to our modern ears, it really does sound like he’s, well, telling them to sit down and shut up.

Dave: Well, it’s always a good idea to take into account the context in which any words of Scripture were said. Women, where Paul spent most of his time laboring, usually had very little in the way of educational opportunities. But they couldn’t learn if they were always talking or pushing themselves into leadership roles for which they had not had the teaching and the training to adequately fulfill.

Paul wouldn’t labor beside women, only to turn around and tell them to be silent. And that’s not what he’s saying here. In the original Greek, the work translates more accurately as “continually speaking up.”

There’s a difference between a qualified woman leading out, and a woman who’s never had the opportunity to learn constantly exerting her opinions.

Miles: Oh, sure. And it’s not just limited to women, either. I’ve seen it in both men and women. Someone will get some hare-brained idea and obstinately insist on having his or her own opinions hold sway.

Dave: I’ve seen it, too. And that seems to be more what Paul is condemning here. We have to remember, too, that there were many women helping Yahushua in His earthly ministry. It’s kind of hard to imagine that Paul would condemn the active participation of women in ministry when Yahushua allowed it.

Miles: That’s a very good point. Okay, well, remember: we want to hear from you as well. If you’ve got questions or comments, write us! Go to our website at WorldsLastChance.com and click on Contact Us. If we can’t address it on air, we’ll do our best to make sure it’s covered in the Q&As on our website.

* * *Daily Promise

This is Elise O’Brien with your daily promise from Yah’s word.

Every Christian knows and trusts the Saviour’s love. Toddlers lisp their first prayers to “Dear Jesus.” One of the first songs young children learn to sing is “Jesus Loves Me, This I know, For the Bible, Tells me so!”

This doesn’t change as a person grows in the Christian walk. Sermons are preached about the Saviour’s love and forgiveness. Hymns are sung of His birth, His life, His death. And yet, in all of this, the Father is too frequently over looked. Worse, the focus on the love of the son too often implies a lack of love on the part of the Father because, after all, it is reasoned, Jesus had to die in order for us to be saved. That implies the Father must be appeased, right?

Wrong! Yahushua was sent to reveal the character of the Father! Yahushua’s life, His teachings, reveal what the Father would do, how He would treat people, the words He would say, how He would react to insult, if He were a human!

John 3:16 tells us: “For Yah so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

It’s a real pity that more people do not know the very next verse, but I want to share it with you because it’s just as beautiful as verse 16. The next verse says: “For Yah sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved!”

The Father Himself loves you! He doesn’t condemn you! He wants to spend eternity with you! Believe in Him and accept salvation today!

We’ve been given great and precious promises. Go and start claiming!

* * *Part 3: The Earth: Round? Or Flat?

Miles: This has been a really eye opening topic today. I’ll have to admit, it’s one I’ve kind of snickered over in the past. Obviously, though, there’s more to it than I’d ever realized before.

Dave: There really is. As I said before, we get this image in our brains of a flat plate of an earth where you can walk right up to the edge and . . . Whoops! Careful! Don’t trip and fall over the edge!

But that’s not accurate.

Miles: Well, let me ask you this, Dave. This is just all so odd. What is the purpose of having such a large deception? Why would the devil work so hard to cover up the true shape of the earth? I mean, ultimately, it doesn’t really matter either way, does it?

Dave: No, but it does. It really does.

Miles: Why?

Dave: Well, when you start thinking about it, this understanding changes not only your perception of the shape of the earth, but the layout of the galaxy as well. The sun has been described as being at the “heart” of our solar system. But if it’s not, if the sun really isn’t 93 million miles away; if it’s smaller, closer, than what does that say about the rest of the solar system? Our galaxy? The universe?

Miles: Hmm . . . that would effect that as well, wouldn’t it?

Dave: Of course! Astronomers tell us that our Milky Way galaxy contains up to 400 billion stars. And that’s just one galaxy!

They also guesstimate that there are more than 170 billion galaxies in the observable universe.

Miles: And don’t forget, some astronomers are now suggesting that we aren’t just in a universe. But our universe is part of a multiverse.

Dave: Exactly. It just keeps going on, and on, and on, and on, at ever more mind-boggling distances and numbers.

UniverseToday.com says: “If you multiply the number of stars in our galaxy by the number of galaxies in the Universe, you get approximately 10²⁴ stars. That’s a 1 followed by twenty-four zeros. That’s a septillion stars.”

Miles: Whoa! I can’t even wrap my mind around a number that large.

Dave: I know! None of us can. And that’s the point. If we’re one of so many planets, literally lost in space, the result is to make you feel incredibly insignificant and small; and you’re going to feel that the Creator is far, far, far away. How many people are going to have the faith to grasp that Yahuwah cares about them—on an individual level—at all?

Miles: You’re right about that. My grandfather was a Christian his entire life. Kind man. But I don’t think he ever truly believed that Yahuwah was concerned about him as an individual, throughout his whole life!

Dave: That’s tragic and that is the net effect that this deception has on your emotions and beliefs.

However, when you take Scripture at its word, when you believe that the Heaven is Yah’s throne and the earth His footstool as He says in Isaiah 66:1, He suddenly becomes that much closer to you, doesn’t He? He’s so close! A footstool is right next to the chair. It’s not off across the room. He’s not somewhere through illimitable realms of space, unaware of insignificant you, on this teeny-tiny planet, hurtling through this immense galaxy, lost in the hugeness of space. No! He is so much closer than that. He’s keeping you close to watch over you. Because He loves you and He wants to help, guide, and protect you.

Miles: That’s an excellent point. As we’ve discussed on other programs, there is so much going on in the world today. Take just the number of so-called “natural” disasters! They keep increasing every single year! Millions are suffering.

Dave: Right! We’re each one of us going to need that assurance, that sheer confidence, that Yahuwah is watching out for us, individually; that He loves and cares for our families and us and is leading through every stormy trial.

Miles: Absolutely. Each one of us are going to need rock-solid assurance that Yahuwah loves us and is looking out for us. That, as psalms’ says, He is “near unto all them that call upon Him, to all that call upon Him in truth.”

Dave: That’s right. We’ve just barely scratched the surface of this topic. We didn’t get into any of the scientific reasons for it. I just wanted to put this subject out there as something people need to really consider seriously. Dig into for yourselves. Don’t take our word for it. There’s more and more information on the Internet. Look it up!

Miles: I’ve got to admit that the subject, at first glance, is really quite laughable. But I can see how that has become almost a programmed response. When we close our mind to anything, we stop looking at the evidence.

And now we need to know, more than ever, that Yahuwah is near us and watching over us. And on an enclosed earth, drawn so near His throne, He is certainly keeping us close.

Join us again tomorrow, and until then, remember: Yahuwah loves you . . . and He is safe to trust!

* * *

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This program and past episodes of WLC Radio are available for downloading on our website. They're great for sharing with friends and for use in Bible studies! They're also an excellent resource for those worshipping Yahuwah alone at home. To listen to previously aired programs, visit our website at WorldsLastChance.com. Click on the WLC Radio icon displayed on our homepage.

In his teachings and parables, the Savior gave no “signs of the times” to watch for. Instead, the thrust of his message was constant … vigilance. Join us again tomorrow for another truth-filled message as we explore various topics focused on the Savior's return and how to live in constant readiness to welcome him warmly when he comes.

WLC Radio: Teaching minds and preparing hearts for Christ's sudden return.