LIE: Heaven is not connected to earth

Lie: Heaven is not connected to earth

Truth: Heaven and earth are integrated

I sit at my table under an endless blue September sky, and as with every vista, I see two fundamental things: the land and sky. The earth is endlessly variable, and so apparently is the sky. I never tire of these scenes, even the familiar scene of my own backyard.

And while the earth is relatively stable with its slow vegetational growth and change of seasons; in contrast, the heavens are constantly in motion. We normally call this variation of the sky, ‘the weather.’ And unless you live in a place like San Diego, where the weather rarely varies, the weather is impossible to ignore. I for one, usually wake up and look at the sky and wonder what ‘the weather will be,’ and so invariably ‘check the weather.’ I know I’m not alone.[1]

But why — why this fascination with the weather?

For one reason, perhaps it’s the fact that, while we can somewhat control our little piece of earth, mowing our lawns, building our homes, and tending our gardens; yet, we have no control over ‘the weather.’ And what we cannot control, we tend to obsess over, vainly trying to wrest a small illusion of ‘control’ by prior knowledge and preparation.

Maybe you’ve never thought of it this way, but the earth depends on and is controlled by the heavens. Without the sun, wind, and rain, the earth, including all plants, animals and even us humans would soon perish. That should be self-evident. But conversely, the earth is also controlled and its destiny determined by the extremes of the heavens: hurricanes, floods, tornados, drought, etc. So either way, we’re at the mercy of heaven.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. — Genesis 1:1

In the beginning God created two things: the heavens and the earth, and these two things encompass the entire creation. We know the earth, our terrestrial home, or at least we know quite a lot about it. But the heavens we know almost nothing.

In this article I hope to describe ‘the heavens,’ to peel back some of its mysteries, how the heavens are critically misunderstood, and how the ‘heaven’ of space encloses us in a false reality that disconnects us and removes us from the nearness of God and from our own significance.

The heavens versus ‘space’

For most Christians today, ‘the heavens’ that God created includes the vast emptiness of space — of stars, galaxies, quasars, black holes, etc, of which the Genesis account offers only the briefest of accounts: ‘ . . he made the stars also . . ’ (Genesis 1:16).[2] But is ‘space’ – how it’s commonly understood now – what Genesis is referring to by ‘the heavens?’

Do you want to hear a secret? The biggest lies are the ones that create entire false realities, and ‘space’ appears to be one of them. If it is, it surely is one of the biggest lies of all time since most Christians have been fooled into believing it, including me.

There are three key words used in the Genesis creation account that we need to learn at this point:

firmament — Heb: raqia. an extended surface or expanse. It’s used nine times in the first chapter of Genesis and so is an important and meaningful concept to grasp. It’s from the word raqa – to beat, hammer, stamp, beat out, or spread out. So raqia, the firmament, is something solid that is beaten or hammered and thus spread out across the sky.

heavens — Heb: shamayim, heaven or sky. It’s used ten times alone in Genesis chapter one and so is also obviously an important concept. In the Hebrew it’s always plural and should be translated ‘heavens,’ or ‘the heavens.’

These two words are then combined after Genesis 1:8 to form the phrase: ‘the firmament of the heavens’  four times. The firmament of the heavens is the place where:

• the waters above are separated from the waters below
• the lights (sun, moon and stars) are affixed, 1:14–17
• birds fly across its face, 1:17

waters — Heb: mayim, waters. It’s used eleven times in Genesis chapter one. In the Hebrew it’s always plural and is translated ‘waters,’ or ‘the waters.’

Notice the word for waters, mayim, is actually part of the word for heavens: shamayim. We say heavens for the same reason we say waters, or the seas. That’s because both waters and the heavens have unfathomable depths and heights that are unknown to us. They are not hospitable to humans. Yes, we can survive in the water and the sky for short periods with the right equipment, but because we’re not native to them, like fish or birds or seals, if left in the waters or the sky, we would die. The waters’ depths are largely inaccessible and mysterious to us and can only be fathomed at great expense and effort. The same is also true of the heavens.

So the waters and the heavens, the heights and the depths mirror one another. A calm lake literally mirrors the sky. The depths of the sea and the heights of the heaven reveal the symmetrical nature of creation and the beauty of God’s design.

But the big question is — did God create a firmament or not?

Clearly it’s described as a solid thing that divides the waters above from the waters below. But are we now sufficiently enlightened by science and know better?

If we’d be honest, here’s what I think most Christians would say:

“What the author of Genesis meant to say, but couldn’t because he couldn’t have known (and that we must now forgive or explain away), is that God must have used the Big Bang to create the entire universe of space and all celestial objects. The sky only appears to be a vaulted dome that revolves around us, but it’s actually not. In short the author was mistaken, and we now know better. But we shouldn’t lose faith in the Bible, because, after all, it’s not a scientific book, but a religious one. These are just stories that illustrate theological truths . . . blah, blah, blah.”

But we don’t want to admit that because we don’t really want to believe it, yet we feel there’s no other alternative.

NO!

There is an alternative: it’s believing what the Bible actually says, despite the protestations and ridicule of NASA and the world.

I don’t have time to go into the problems with the space agencies, NASA in particular, but suffice it to say that NASA was born out of the occult and represents man’s desire to ‘ascend into heaven . . . above the stars.’[3] Sound familiar? It should:

“How you are fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning!
How you are cut down to the ground,
You who weakened the nations!
For you have said in your heart:
‘I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will also sit on the mount of the congregation
On the farthest sides of the north;
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will be like the Most High.’
Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol,
To the lowest depths of the Pit.  — Isaiah 14:12–15

Isaiah here describes the fall of Lucifer, the fallen angel who is now known as the devil and Satan. His same ambition to ascend above the stars of God seeped into us humans in the garden of Eden when the serpent, animated by Lucifer, lied to Eve: “has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’? . . . Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die . . . ”

But at least let me give you a few facts about NASA and the space programs that may cause you to think:

• rocket trajectories arch down to the ocean.
• astronauts’ helmets fill with water
• the Apollo moon landings are rife with questions and problems
• some Mars landscapes are identical to earth landscapes
• horses were spotted on Mars
• SpaceX rockets apparently hit the firmament
• International Space Station recordings show ‘green screen’ fails
• some ‘dead’ astronauts are still alive
• the continents of globe ‘pictures’ significantly vary in size
• photos of planets and stars are retouched and don’t look like the real thing
• here’s a big one: there are no real images or videos of ‘space!’
• and many more!

Now let’s compare the heavens and space and see which one rings true:

The heavens	Space
enclosed	no enclosure / infinite
created by God	result of the ‘Big Bang’
domain of living beings	dead, empty, void
abode of God	no god
above the earth	swallows and demotes earth
integrated with earth	no special relationship with earth
transcendent and immanent	‘transcendent’ only
mirrored in the waters	mirrored in nothing
glorifies God	glorifies Nature[4]

The root and fruit of believing in ‘space’

At this point you may be saying something like . .

. . . you must be crazy . .

. . . how could the government lie about this?

. . . but the grandeur of space glorifies God . .

. . . why would they do this?

To that I say:

I’m not crazy for believing what the Bible clearly says; and I’m also not crazy to think that governments have a long history of deception, thievery and butchery. But let’s look deeper at the effects — whether intended or not — of believing in space.

First, to the question: ‘why would they do this?’ there are at least four reasons:

To imply that God is remote, cold and indifferent. In such a vast, cold and randomized universe, a personal, intimate and loving God doesn’t make much sense. Yes, God is transcendent, but at the same time he is close and immanent. The heavens above accurately reflect the reality that God is both immanent and transcendent, not the emptiness of ‘outer space.’

To construct a false reality. Such a false reality would be useful to dark powers so that the very world in which we live is contrived and can therefore be endlessly manipulated. This constructed reality quite plausibly conforms to a vast, empty, random universe, which then corresponds to a godless, random, meaningless world view.

To contradict the creation of the world as a special creation of God. Genesis describes a God who purposely creates the earth and the heavens to produce a life-filled world in which humanity can thrive. But space says the opposite. It supports the idea that the world, creation, and mankind is insignificant, meaningless, and not special — just a random speck in a vast and empty universe.

To that point Carl Sagan, astronomer and author said:

Who are we? We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people.

Since Nicholas Copernicus, astronomers and cosmologists have moved the earth from its unique and central position to an ‘average’ position. The so-called Copernican Principle states that, “humans, on the Earth or in the Solar System, are not privileged observers of the universe.” It’s even now considered by some to be ‘the threshold test for modern thought’ and that ‘no well-formed and rational person can imagine that the Earth occupies a unique position in the universe.’[5]

To substitute Nature as God. Space elevates and expands the significance of Nature to a degree that it appears to rival God himself. Space needs to be vast enough to rival God and at the same time to ‘demote’ him.[6]

Now the effects of believing in space:

We become susceptible and vulnerable:

To glorify Nature as God.

To devalue humans.

To believe, accept and even adopt the emptiness and randomness of life, the meaninglessness of life, and mediocrity. We become what we behold.[7]

To believe that God is either non-existent, synonymous with nature, or remote, aloof, inaccessible and uncaring.

To accept heaven as virtual, remote, and place-less. Our growing familiarity with virtual and augmented reality helps to condition us to a remote and virtual, abstract ‘heaven.’ This feeling of placelessness extends even to earth. The philosopher Charles Taylor attempts to describe the feeling:

First, there is a fundamental extension of the cosmic environment — in space and time — that is uncanny, unheimlich, displacing, such that we no longer feel that we “fit” into a cosmos as a cosmic home. Instead we see ourselves adrift and cast into an anonymous, cold “universe.” Reality in all directions plunges its roots into the unknown and as yet unmappable.

Heavenly portals on earth

My major point here is that the heavens are not placeless; the heavens are not abstracted as some kind of ‘virtual experience’ from earth; the heavens are directly above the earth. But I would be remiss if I did not also point out that the heavenlies transcend place, at least as we understand it. For us earth-bound humans, place and distance and therefore travel time, are directly related, but I don’t think this is strictly true for spirits. Travel time to go from one place to another is not restricted by human means. So in human terms, if I were to walk from Indianapolis to Chicago, it would take me approximately 60 hours. But what is the native form of ambulation for spirits, that is, for demons, angels or archangels? — obviously no one knows for sure. Perhaps it’s not instantaneous but surely their ambulation is a lot faster than human walking.

If that’s true, that means the heavenlies can temporarily invade earth in the form of heavenly representation, both celestial and infernal. I believe this has happened throughout history in large and small, visible and invisible ways. One example of celestial invasion is the phenomenon known as revivals, that is, spontaneous, unplanned, sovereign disruptions such as the Asbury Revival, Welsh Revival, Azusa Street Revival, the Jesus Movement, etc.[8]

If you study these revivals, you’ll find that they were preceded by a small group of Christians who faithfully prayed for the Spirit of God to be poured out, to save and transform souls in their locality.[9] Then at some point, whether during a church meeting or some other time, the Spirit of God ‘broke out’ on a gathered group of people. And whether they were seeking God themselves or not, everyone was affected by the ‘atmosphere’ of spiritual powers, causing them to repent, weep, confess their sins, testify, sing or pray.

These outpourings actually happen all the time and are meant to be normative in small ways — in our personal prayer times, small prayer groups, counseling sessions, missions trips, church meetings, choir practices, or any place where Christians gather and do his will. This is a significant and visible answer to the Lord’s prayer: ‘ . . . thy will be done on earth as it is in the heavens . . ’

Somehow music, and especially vocal music, seems to facilitate these outpourings, perhaps because the heart of music is the worship of God, which is what is constantly going on in the heights of the heavens. Music is universally known and loved. Like nothing else, it’s a powerful, invisible, accessible, emotionally-moving, transformative and transcendent phenomenon, where we always have the opportunity to participate in this continual worship of God. Though there is no formula, some music seems to facilitate this worship more than others. Perhaps it’s hearing and participating in the music of the heavens through our own worship, and then translating or decoding that music into earthly music that can help spark these ‘portals’ of the heavens.

Conclusion

Jesus taught us to pray: ‘thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in the heavens.’ Originally the earth and heavens were created to be an integrated whole and earth was to reflect, even literally mirror, heaven. But the heavens are now infested by dark powers[10] and so Christ taught us to pray earnestly that God would restore the integrity of earth and heaven. Part of that prayer is believing that God’s created order is unified, contiguous, and makes sense (is not random). In the same prayer Jesus taught us to pray: ‘ . . . lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one.’

We humans are both earthly and heavenly creatures. We straddle both domains; our source is in both domains, but the earthly domain is and must be accepted as dependent on the heavenly. So we too must align ourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt us in due time. We must see that Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God sits at the top of the heavens for all time and has overcome the world, which is now beneath him.

. . . which [that is, God’s power] He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. — Ephesians 1:20–23

The false reality of space is intended to be a very basic (and hence invisible) assumption. For the world and most Christians, the only physical reality is the earth and space, not earth and the heavens. Space has replaced the heavens, and heaven is now relegated to an abstraction, a ‘spiritual dimension,’ completely removed from earth and therefore from our normal lives. The truth is, the heavens are directly above us, and when we gaze into the day or night sky we are looking through the transparent multi-layered heavens. Yes, our God transcends all physical dimensions, but he is not absent there either. He is Lord of heaven and earth (Genesis 24:3).

We cannot fully understand the extent of the damage to our faith that this lie, this false reality, has produced. It has made us Christians vulnerable to a wide array of related deceptions. This lie is not innocent. The extent that the lie has been normalized makes it difficult to see how it could be so bad. But the fact that the lie is so deeply entrenched should tell us that the effort expended to do that makes the lie very serious indeed. Do not give this lie a pass.

So what should we do?

Reject the lie of space, or if you’re not quite ready to do that, if you need more evidence, I suggest that you keep studying and be open to various sources. The truth and the lies are there and plain to see if you’re willing to see them.

But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore He says:

“When He ascended on high,
He led captivity captive,
And gave gifts to men.”

(Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.) — Ephesians 4:7–10

And Jesus’ final ascension:

Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven. — Acts 1:9–11

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[1] In August 2022, the website weather.com ranked twenty-seventh in the world according to https://www.similarweb.com/top-websites/ No mean feat for a commonplace topic like ‘the weather.’

[2] The words ‘He made’ are absent from the Hebrew and are provided by the translators. So a better translation may be from the New Revised Standard Version: “God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars.”

[3] See for example: https://www.supercluster.com/editorial/the-occult-history-behind-nasas-jet-propulsion-laboratory for a history NASA’s occult origins: Jack Parsons and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

[4] Nature is indeed glorious, but should not diminish the glory of God; it should only magnify it.

[5] See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copernican_principle captured on 29 Sept 2022.

[6] See my article: LIE: God is a vast, impersonal force.

[7] See my article: LIE: My life is meaningless.

[8] Other scriptures related to the heavens invading earth: pillar of cloud and fire in the wilderness, the Holy of Holies in the temple, being ‘seated with him in the heavenlies,’ are just a few.

[9] See for example the remarkable Asbury Revival of 1970. Official account: https://www.asbury.edu/academics/resources/library/archives/history/revivals/ and the behind the scenes account of the ‘spark’ of the revival: https://romans1015.com/asbury-spark/

[10] See for example Ephesians 6:12.