Flat Earth Society and the Kepler Telescope

In the past, scientific studies have been one step ahead of the views of organized religion. This is clearly seen in the issue of dinosaurs: the church long denied their very existence. Well, they had to face the facts; all those bones don’t lie. They now admit they were wrong but it certainly did not happen overnight. After a thorough study of the Bible it has been demonstrated that the Bible not only teaches that they existed but when their demise came—at the flood. There is another study in the science world that has scientists very excited; however, as we have seen in the past, the religionists of the day are not too comfortable with these new discoveries. They just do not know what to do with the information.

The scientists are now not only looking into the earth but heavenward. This is a little ironic because those who believe the Bible should be more than happy with what the scientists are proclaiming; the religious world has claimed that God is in the heavens. However, those who espouse the Bible have not changed much; they still think the universe revolves around them. How could there possibly be life on other planets in the universe? “This cannot be so” is the echo in the religious circles of today. Not all espouse this view: there are many Christians today that recognize that this planet we call home is not the only planet in the cosmos that has life on it. Furthermore, they claim there is good Bible to back this up.

From the 14th through the 17th century a scientific revolution began in regard to the cosmos. This revolution paralleled the time frame of the Protestant Reformation; this was no accident. Freedom of thought and speech in the religious realm birthed a scientific revolution, which gave way to an industrial revolution; both are alive and well to this day. This was due primarily to the likes of John Wycliffe (1320-1384), Martin Luther (1483-1546) , and clear through to John Wesley (1703-1791) in the religious world. The science revolution involving the universe took off with Nicholas Copernicus (1473 – 1543), Galileo Galilei (1564 – 1642), and Sir Isaac Newton (1643-1727).

For centuries the organized church taught that the earth was at the center of the universe. Copernicus disproved this with his study of the heavenly bodies. This discovery by Copernicus was carried forward by Galileo and Newton. Those who followed his thoughts on the universe turned the then religious world upside down. In finding that planets including our earth actually revolved around the sun, he shot yet another arrow into the heart of the established traditional views of the churches of his day.

The mainstream churches were now fighting on two fronts, the reformers on one side and the science world on the other. Copernicus and Newton found themselves in conflict with their own churches. These churches fought long and hard against these formidable forces. Some of those discoverers of scientific truth met with the same fate as did the Protestant Reformers in connection with the Roman Catholic Church, to the extent that those who taught and accepted these new ideas of science were excommunicated and even jailed. Another belief held up until Columbus (1492) was that the earth was flat. In fact, “Before 1450, nearly everyone thought that the earth was flat and that wheels drove the sun, stars and the moon. People also thought that the earth was the center of all stars which were stuck in some giant awning that covered the earth. Then along came the astronomer Nicholas Copernicus who proved that the sun was the center of the solar system and that the sun, earth and the moon were all shaped like round balls.”

Most are totally unaware that the Bible held the secret of the shape of the earth all along. The following statement was penned nearly 2800 years ago: “It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in” (Isaiah 40:22).

We now have the Hubble telescope taking snapshots of this limitless universe that is beyond our comprehension. The size of the known universe is more than our finite minds can grasp, let alone the unknown universe. I know people who believe the Bible to be God’s Word, and deny what the Hubble telescope is telling us—the universe is more incredible than we could ever imagine. I have spoken to some of these people about this, and it is their opinion that these scientists are making all this up.

Some religionists are going to the extent of saying that those pictures the Hubble telescope is sending us are a fabrication. Is it any wonder why thinking human beings are trading in their belief in a Creator God for something that actually has some flesh and bones? Those pictures are real, the universe is real, all the stars are stars, and those billions of galaxies with their billions of stars do exist: let’s admit it. Well, it is getting tough to deny it these days; it is out of the bag. The question is how can we make sense out of all this information that is coming in on a daily basis? I submit to you that it is easy. This God of the Bible is more powerful than we can grasp, but that does not mean that we stop trying to grasp Him.

As science is striving to understand our place in the universe, the NASA Research Center is at the forefront. They have a new tool at their disposal—the Kepler Telescope–which is telling us some very incredible things: there may well be life out there in the universe. In fact, to deny this one would have to play the role of those who have gone before us in the religious world. Let’s not do this; let’s open our eyes, ears, and minds to see what modern science is telling us. It just may harmonize with the Bible. If it does not, Houston, we have a problem. Through the centuries the Bible has been overlooked as a source for scientific information in regard to the universe.

We do have a problem but it is not with Houston; it is with those who claim to believe the Bible, surprise, surprise! Most people are totally unaware that the Bible clearly teaches there is life elsewhere in the universe. The Bible calls it the Kingdom of Heaven. To have a kingdom you must have subjects. Please notice, the Bible does not proclaim the Gospel of Earth but the “Gospel of the Kingdom.” What Kingdom? The “Kingdom of Heaven.” Don’t miss this (See Matthew 3:2; 24:14). “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your Kingdom come. Your will be done on Earth as it is done in heaven” (Matthew 6:9, 10).

There are far more inhabitants out there in the great beyond than we can imagine. In fact, the Bible indicates that there are unnumbered inhabited worlds out there in this vast universe in which we live. Science is now supporting what the Bible has been telling us all along. I encourage you to view this NASA video showing that there are many planets in the universe that are located in the “Habitable Zone.” Some in the science world claim there may be tens of billions, yes, tens of billions of planets within the Milky Way galaxy alone—our cul-de-sac in the cosmos–that may be located in what is called the “habitable zone”. Billions of planets in our own back yard may be located in the zone where life as we know it could exist. The Kepler telescope is specifically looking for planets located in this area, also called the “Goldilocks Zone”: not too hot and not too cold, just the right location for supporting life—where liquid water would exist.

I recorded a presentation called “The Kingdom of Heaven” demonstrating that the Bible teaches there is life on many planets—unnumbered planets in the universe.