DFO 2288 10/86 —And What's the Firmament?—The New Heaven's Children!—Chapter 39!

1. DO YOU KNOW WHERE WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO PUT THE WATERBELT?—AROUND THE WHOLE SOLAR SYSTEM! Now, I believe we can rule out the distant stars because, well, I want you to look at that first Chapter of Genesis. The one I missed was when He says in the 7th & 8th Verses He put the waters above the Firmament, & He called the Firmament Heaven! Now have you got that? Now jump past the creation of Vegetation down to the 14th Verse: "And God said‚ 'Let there be lights in the Firmament of the Heaven'"!

2. I WAS ALWAYS CONFUSED ABOUT THAT, I'm sorry to say. I was just talking to the kids then when we were having that class & I didn't have time to really look it up. I was in a hurry, sad to say‚ but we're going to have to revise some. I don't think too much, but I'm really going to have to go over the text of that Heaven's Children Chapter 22 because I'm really mixed up! I'm sorry! (Fam: No, that's good! It worked out for good!)

3. HE SAID IN VERSE 14, "LET THERE BE LIGHTS IN THE FIRMAMENT", & in 15 it says, "For lights in the Firmament of the Heaven." So the Sun & the Moon & the Planets—which to them were stars in those days because they didn't know the difference—that puts them all—the whole Solar System—inside the Waterbelt! So that shows the possibility of perhaps their having life at some time & maybe in the future on those other Planets! But anyhow‚ let's not get into that yet!

4. "AND HE MADE TWO GREAT LIGHTS; the Greater Light to rule the Day" (the Sun), "and the Lesser Light to rule the Night" (the Moon), & then it just says‚ "and He made the stars also". (Gen.1:16)Now actually, to the naked eye, the biggest stars are the Planets, the ones you see up there in the sky, so you could say that's the Planets, & He put them inside the Firmament! Verse 17: "And God set them in the Firmament of the Heaven"! So‚ we were wrong! I've got to straighten that out with the kids! Thank God I don't think we've sent that Chapter out yet, have we? I am surprised that someone hasn't jerked me up on that! Ha! (They finally did!)

5. I CAN'T QUITE CONCEIVE OF THE IDEA OF THE FIRMAMENT BEING OUT BEYOND THE FURTHER STARS. It doesn't seem to me like it would do much good so far away. But I can conceive of it being around the Solar System, right? Those are nearby stars in a way, because they look like stars to the people. And it doesn't say that all the stars were inside the Firmament necessarily‚ it just says‚ "And He made the stars also."

6. THEN WE CAN CONCEIVE THAT HE WAS TALKING ABOUT THE SUN‚ THE MOON & THE NEARBY SO-CALLED STARS—actually Planets—by the 17th & 18th verses: "God set them in the Firmament of the Heaven to give light upon the Earth, & to rule over the Day & over the Night". So which ones rule over the Day & the Night the most? (Fam: The Sun & the Moon.) Right, & the nearby Planets. Actually He had already divided the Light from the Darkness, remember, back earlier in Verses 3 to 5. So we've got to change that Waterbelt! I'm sorry about that! I'll have to change a lot of that text in Chapter 22, & that diagram!

7. I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN A LITTLE CONFUSED ABOUT THAT FIRMAMENT! But I finally really studied this & asked the Lord about it, & it came to me that it specifically says that He put the Sun & the Moon inside the Firmament! So that puts the Waterbelt at least outside the Sun & the Moon! Now I don't know whether that includes the stars or not, but let's say it at least includes the Planets‚ which look like stars, they're the brightest stars that we have, if it includes any stars also. He says in the 16th Verse, "He made the stars also". Then it says in Verse 17: "And God set them in the Firmament (Space)." I think He's talking mostly about the Sun & the Moon, & I would say maybe including the nearby bright stars like the Planets.

8. I CAN SEE THE WATERBELT GOING AROUND THE SOLAR SYSTEM, can't you? But I can hardly conceive of it going clear out there outside all the distant stars! What do you think? (Fam: I think it's really plausible , it's really good!) It's sort of like, "your guess is as good as mine"! I just believe that that would be the more logical, sensible explanation. He set all these brightest lights in the Firmament—the Sun‚ Moon & the nearby stars. Okay, we've got some of the stars in the Firmament, we've got the nearest Planets, & they all look like stars to the naked eye, but the distant stars, we'd have to leave them outside the Waterbelt. I don't think they're as far as the scientists & astronomers say, but I'm not going to argue about that right now!

9. I THINK WE COULD CONCEIVE OF THE WATERBELT AROUND THE SOLAR SYSTEM to protect it from cosmic light. Oh, boy! I'm going to have to change a few things! But you know, when you make a mistake, you've got to confess it & you've got to make restitution! We're going to have to re-do some of my text & some of the pictures!

10. I'M SURPRISED NO ONE CAUGHT THAT! (Fam: Well, I don't think they will say anything about it because it's conformed to what was published in the "7,000 Years of World History".) Really? It put the Waterbelt just around the Earth? (Fam: Yes.) Well‚ I never noticed that! How about that! I went through that kind of fast because those guys wrote it, I didn't, so I figured I didn't have to be quite so careful. I tried to check anything I noticed, but since I had always been confused about that, I guess I must have thought, "Well, their guess is as good as mine, so if they think it's just around the Earth, all right."

11. BUT I WENT BACK OVER THE BIBLE TEXT THIS TIME & STUDIED IT CAREFULLY VERSE BY VERSE, & YOU READ IT, THAT'S WHAT IT SAYS! "He called the Firmament Heaven", it says in the 8th Verse, & in the 7th Verse He says, "the waters were above the Firmament". That thing He calls Heaven, that means the Solar Heavens at least‚ & in the 14th Verse, "He put those lights in the Firmament of the Heaven", in case you misunderstood. He still calls the Firmament Heaven, meaning Space, with the Solar Heavens. And He says distinctly in the 15th Verse, "And He set those Lights"—the Sun & the Moon—"in the Firmament of the Heaven"!—So the Waterbelt's gotta include the Solar System!

12. IT'S RIGHT THERE AS CLEAR AS DAY‚ how I ever missed it I don't know! These Days of Creation always just confused me. I can never remember what was which & what was created on what Day. I probably should have memorised it, but it was kind of complicated. I didn't understand that Firmament anyhow. But here in the 17th Verse He says it again, "God set them in the Firmament of the Heaven". He calls the Firmament "Heaven" in the 8th Verse, He calls it "Heaven" in the 14th Verse, He calls it "Heaven" again in the 15th Verse & in the 17th Verse. He says every time that that's where He put the Sun & the Moon, & we could say maybe at least some of the stars, like the Planets.—Amen?

13. IT WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN MUCH POINT PUTTING THE WATERBELT JUST AROUND THE EARTH, THE SUN & THE MOON! Of course it would have protected the Earth, Sun & Moon, but I'd say if we're going to allow a few stars, let's call them the Planet–stars, because they are stars at night, they look like stars. In the 16th Verse it just says‚ "And He made the stars also".

14. IN THE 17TH VERSE HE SAYS‚ "GOD SET THEM", now which "them" is He talking about? Is He talking about the Great Lights, or is He also talking about stars? Well, let's appease a few guys & let's put a few "stars" inside the Waterbelt, okay? In other words, since all the Planets look like stars, we could kind of stretch it a bit & put the Waterbelt just around the Solar System. Now I'm going to have to go back over all the text that talks about the Waterbelt! Ai-yi-yi-yi-yi!

15. SO HE'S ONLY GOING TO HAVE TO RE-CREATE THE AIR‚ WATER & VEGETATION, THAT'S ALL! IT'S ONLY GOING TO REQUIRE ONE DAY OF RE-CREATION! Maybe He could get the Water from the Waterbelt & the Air from the Plants! How about that? Now we've got the Waterbelt adjusted & that's it! So the only Day we need is the Day of Vegetation, Day Three! The birds & animals will come when Heaven lands & we turn them loose from our new Ark!

16. I'M SORRY ABOUT THAT MISTAKE ABOUT THE WATERBELT. We were really getting into technical stuff that the kids surprised me with & I hadn't really studied up on‚ but I've had time to go back & look at it & study up on it since then, & that's the only way it could possibly be. So I'm sorry, but it's better to admit our mistakes & correct them, than it is to let it go on & have everybody else correcting them! Amen?—God bless you! I love you!—Grandpa.

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family