Currently there is a debate in our country as to the teaching of ‘intelligent design’ along with the theory of evolution in public school classes. Those who study such things know that our universe is both expanding and decelerating, meaning time can be measured backward almost to a beginning point.

If the Bible is absolutely, one hundred percent true, then no true fact of science can or will stand in opposition to the word of God. Rocks exist which empirically prove through magnetization that the earth has experienced an axial shift at some time in the past. Mountain ranges exist in the bottoms of the oceans which roughly follow the contours of the shoreline on either side. The fossil record proves the existence of prehistoric life forms.

Does the Bible leave space for such things? Yes it does, and this article will explore one of those theories. I am not dogmatic about this subject because there may be other reasonable explanations. One theory about these things is called the greenhouse effect, i.e. that at the beginning there was a vapor canopy surrounding the earth which reduced the effect of the sun thus leading to the very long life spans recorded early in the Bible, and this canopy remained in place until the flood of Noah. The other theory is called the gap theory and it places a gap between the first and second verses of the Bible. Most people who argue these different theories do so on a mutually exclusive basis, mainly because they base the argument on young earth vs. old earth beliefs and whether the six days of creation were twenty-four hour days or if those days could have been of some other duration.

I am definitely not a scientist thus I cannot address these things on a scientific basis, so this study will focus on the word of God. It is my opinion that if the young earth/old earth argument is dropped from the contention, the two theories could both be true (although I do question how the sun and moon could be used to measure time, assuming they could not be seen through this vapor canopy). The Bible gives us genealogies of the early people of earth, and using them we can understand that it has now been about six thousand years since the creation of Adam. This proves how long man has been on the earth, but it in no way proves the age of the earth itself, which could be considerably older.

Gen 1:1-2 says, "In the beginning God created the Heaven and the earth. 2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." The gap theory is this: there is a gap of an undetermined period of time between those first two verses of the Bible.

God is a perfect creator who creates perfection. He does not start by creating something imperfect then perfecting it. The proof is in the Biblical record of the creation of Adam. He was created as an adult man, he had language (he communicated with God), he had intellect (he named all the animals), he had moral understanding (he was expected to obey God and communicate his commands to Eve). Man did not emerge from some primordial slime and through a process of evolution become the creature he is today. Instead, God is a perfect creator who creates perfection.

The Bible is clear that the earth will be judged and destroyed in the future. II Pet. 3:10 says the current heavens and earth will be destroyed by fire, and Rev. 21 states that there will be the creation of a new heavens and earth which will not have seas or oceans. We believe that the new creation will be perfect. If God is a perfect creator who creates perfection, it would be reasonable to assume that this present earth also did not have oceans at its original creation. What happened?

Satan has a role to play in this discussion. In Gen. 3:1 he is introduced in the Biblical record as "the serpent". In the Bible the word ‘serpent’ can mean snake, but the word is also used for Satan and his underlings. Rev. 12:9 identifies Satan as "that old serpent", i.e. the one who showed up in Eden. The word "serpent" is not so much a description as it is a title. It is derived from a Hebrew word which means 'to hiss' - as he certainly does, especially when he's hissing some condemnation or temptation in your ear!

So we might ask, did God create Satan as Satan? No he did not. Even Satan had a perfect and good beginning. Eze. 28:12-19 is a passage written about the king of Tyrus, but it speaks of something much larger than a mere man, and is believed to refer to Satan.

Ezek 28:12-19 "Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. 13 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. 14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. 15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. 16 By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. 17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. 18 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. 19 All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more."

Notice he was created as something spectacularly beautiful and as a musical instrument. When Satan appeared in Eden he was not the anointed cherub that covers, he was the serpent, which indicates that his corruption and fall occurred before his appearance in Genesis, which occurred, according to Eze. 28:15, when iniquity was found in him.

Isa. 14:12-23 is another passage that addresses Satan through the person of someone else and it identifies Satan’s great sin.

Isa 14:12-23 "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. 15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. 16 They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; 17 That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners? 18 All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house. 19 But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcase trodden under feet. 20 Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people: the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned. 21 Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities. 22 For I will rise up against them, saith the LORD of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant, and son, and nephew, saith the LORD. 23 I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water: and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the LORD of hosts."

Notice the past and present tenses used in vs. 12: are fallen - present tense; did weaken - past tense. He did something in the past that resulted in his current fallen condition and judgment, and that act was the weakening of the nations. This means that nations (something much broader in scope than the Garden of Eden) had to exist in order to be weakened and these nations had to exist prior to Lucifer's fall. In Luke 10:18 Jesus said, "I beheld Satan as lightening fall from heaven." Jesus SAW this happen.

Verse 13 begins God’s indictment of Satan: "thou hast said in thine heart." He didn't even speak the words out loud, which supports the Bible fact that God looks on the heart and considers what is found there to be just as real as physical acts that we do with our physical bodies. Five times Lucifer says in his heart, "I WILL!"

I WILL ascend into heaven. In order to ascend into heaven he had to be beneath heaven, which indicates the existence of a place other than heaven and that Lucifer was in that other place.

I WILL exalt my throne above the stars of God. Lucifer had a throne which indicates he had ruling authority which indicates the existence of something to rule over. The stars of God may have been other angels or they could have been the inhabitants of earth. His throne was at least on the same level as these stars of God because he intended to exalt his throne above them.

I WILL sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. There was a congregation which had or was represented by a mountain in heaven.

I WILL ascend above the heights of the clouds. He was located beneath the clouds which indicates the presence of an atmosphere.

I WILL be like the most high. And here we have it: he was after God's own position. Lucifer was the first ever to be guilty of claiming equality with God and in this sin he ruined the perfection that God had created.

The result of Lucifer's sin was the creation of hell.

In a free society there are two types of laws: permissive laws might consist of the ‘thou shalts’ and carry no limits; and prohibitive laws might consist of the ‘thou shalt nots’, i.e. they set limits. A simple example would be: thou shalt eat roast beef, mashed potatoes and corn for dinner; thou shalt not eat cookies and ice cream before dinner. Both laws are for the benefit of man, but there is a penalty for breaking the prohibitive law.

In Eden God gave Adam a permissive law and a prohibitive law: "And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (Gen 2:16-17). After the creation of Eve God gave further permissive laws: "And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat." (Gen 1:28-29)

There is no penalty for breaking a prohibitive law until that particular law exists: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were not under the penalties of breaking the law of Moses, but the Jews who lived after Moses were. Prohibitive laws are not enacted until there exists a demonstrated need for them. The people of two hundred years ago would have laughed at a 55 m.p.h. speed limit law. In 1680 Sir Isaac Newton stated that he believed in the end times men would actually travel at a much higher rate of speed, possibly as fast as fifty miles per hour. Eighty years later Voltaire retorted, "See what a fool Christianity makes of an otherwise brilliant man! Here a scientist actually writes that men may travel at a rate of 30 or 40 m.p.h. Has he forgotten that if man would travel at this rate he would be suffocated? His heart would stand still!" (Signs of the Times; pg. 27-28; H.L. Wilmington; Tyndale House; 1982)

Again, in a free society prohibitive laws are not enacted until there exists a demonstrated need for them. Up until Lucifer's fall there was no need for a place of eternal judgment because all was perfect. Hell would not have been needed or understood.

Hell was not created for people but people can go there if they want to. Jesus said, (Matt. 25:41) "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels." According to Jesus, hell was prepared for THE DEVIL and HIS angels: not for Lucifer, not for the anointed cherub that covers, not for man. For the devil and his angels. Hell was created AFTER Lucifer became Satan.

According to Eze. 31:16 hell is located in the depths of the earth. A good map will show underwater mountain ranges in the oceans that follow the contours of the various continents. The continents themselves look like disjointed puzzle pieces. If you were to cut a map apart you could put the pieces back together without the oceans, and if you do this, you will end up with a smaller earth, a perfect earth without any oceans (Rev. 21:1). If mass is added to an object of a certain size the object will expand. But since dirt doesn’t expand, I believe it simply cracked and separated causing catastrophic earthquakes, resulting in the current map of the earth.

ISAIAH 24

Isa 14:12 stated that Lucifer was ‘cut down’ after he had weakened the nations, so there had to have been nations in existence at the time of his fall. Isa. 24 describes near-total destruction of the earth and the passage contains elements of Noah's flood, the judgment that occurs at the second advent of Jesus and the future destruction of the earth by fire, but it does not entirely fit any of these judgments. Isa. 24:1 says, "Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste (NIV ‘ruin its face’), and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof." To 'ruin its face' indicates a drastic change in the topography. Seas (Gen. 1:10) and mountains (Gen. 7:19-20) existed before Noah's flood, so this is not the flood.

Isa. 24:2 speaks of a social order: people and priest - indicating a religious system of worship; servant and master - a social structure outside the home, or government; maid and mistress - social structure inside the home, family; buyer and seller - a market system which also indicates a work ethic because work must be done to have something to sell or to have money to purchase; lender and borrower - indicates an economic system; taker of usury and giver of usury - indicates a banking system. It is interesting that the social structure begins with the holy and ends with usury which later (much later) Israel was allowed to require from the stranger but was forbidden to require from their brothers.

There was government because vs. 21 mentions God’s judgment of kings, but missing from the list is any mention of a military or law enforcement class, judges or courts.

We know the people alive at that time were very happy because it is repeatedly noted that they lost their joy: in vs. 7 - the merryhearted sigh; in vs. 8 the mirth of tabrets, the noise of them that rejoice and the joy of the harp all cease; in vs. 11 all joy is darkened and the mirth of the land is gone. In light of Eze. 28:12-19 I find it interesting that these people apparently had a great deal of music.

Verse 5 gives us three reasons for the judgment. They have "transgressed the laws" (plural). I believe these would have been permissive laws such as those given to Adam and Eve, and these permissive laws (laws that make for an orderly society) were taken to excess. Verses 7, 9 and 11 all mention wine or strong drink. They have "changed the ordinance" (singular). One specific law that was to govern all life. I think it may have been "thou shalt have no other gods before me." Because the inhabitants of the earth were able to transgress the laws and change the ordinance, it is apparent that they were created with free will.

The third reason is where it gets interesting: they had "broken the everlasting covenant." They had an ‘everlasting covenant’ with God, and it was a covenant that they could break. The phrase "everlasting covenant" is found in scripture fifteen times and indicates three everlasting covenants established by God. The first (Gen. 6:19) was with Noah, when God said he would never again destroy the earth by flood. Man cannot break this covenant because man does not have the power to cause that type of catastrophic event.

The second everlasting covenant was established with Abraham and his seed (Gen 17:7) "And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee." In this covenant God gave the land of Canaan to Abraham and his descendants and instituted circumcision as the token of the covenant. Like the covenant with Noah, this was a covenant that man cannot break (no matter how hard they try). The land of Canaan belongs to the Jewish people. While God himself has moved them in and out of the land from time to time, the fact remains that God gave the land to them, and when God determines that the Jews should live in the land of Israel, as he did in 1948, no man can prevent this from happening.

The third everlasting covenant is established with the blood of Jesus. Gal. 3:15-17 directly states that Abraham’s seed is Jesus, and the everlasting covenant that God made with Abraham was actually made with Jesus. Heb. 8:6-13 states that the shed blood of Jesus overrides the temporary covenant that God made with Israel in the day that he brought them out of Egypt, i.e. the law. The everlasting covenant established between the Father and Son cannot be broken by man. Man can reject it, but he cannot break it or cause it to lose its effectiveness. While any person can reject this everlasting covenant for himself, he can not break this covenant on my behalf.  No man can declare the everlasting covenant null and void and cause me to lose my salvation.

The people in Isa. 24 had an everlasting covenant with God that they were able to break. We know this because vs. 5 tells us that they did so. The passage does not tell us what this everlasting covenant involved, but I think it may have been something along the lines of: "I am your God" and "we are your people."

Isa. 24:3 tells us the scope of the destruction: "The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the Lord hath spoken this word." This verse speaks of a total judgment and ruin. Vs. 18b-20 "for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake. The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again." I believe this describes the separation of the continents, and also appears to indicate that the actual orbit of the earth may have changed. I find it interesting that a perfect circle is three hundred sixty degrees, but the length of our year is 365.25 days. Close, but not perfect.

Vs. 21-22 switches over to future events and states that "in that day" (the millennium) the host of the high ones (we wrestle not with flesh and blood) and kings of the earth shall be punished by being gathered together in the prison for many days. Notice they were not jailed when the original insurrection occurred. Instead, their punishment would wait for a long period of time.

God does not punish without first warning that punishment will come, and the warning was not needed thus was not given before the fall of Lucifer.

In. Matt. 24:7 Jesus said that in the last days there would be earthquakes in various places. Isa 5:14 says, "Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure..." Isa 14:9 says, "Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming..." Hab 2:5 says, "...Who enlargeth his desire as hell..." It appears from these comments that hell can move and can increase in size. I believe the increase in earthquakes now in the end times is because hell is preparing to receive the great numbers of people who will go there during the tribulation.

Jer. 4:23-28 describes the aftermath of a catastrophe. "I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. 24 I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. 25 I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. 26 I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger. 27 For thus hath the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end. 28 For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black: because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it."

Vs. 23 is very similar to Gen. 1:2 but in this passage the earth is not yet flooded. Vs. 24 appears to be aftershocks of earthquakes. In vs. 25 all the birds had fled, which means they had to have existed prior to the event. Vs. 26 states that at the time of the event a fruitful place and cities had existed which indicates the existence of man. The phrase, "the fierce anger of the Lord" indicates that a rebellion against him had occurred and was being judged. Vs. 27 says "the whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end." If this event occurred between Gen. 1:1 and Gen. 1:2 then God did not make a full end: the earth, though utterly ruined, still existed.

II Pet. 3:5-7 says, "For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the HEAVENS were of old, and the EARTH standing out of the water and in the water: whereby the world (Greek: cosmos) that then was, being overflowed with water, PERISHED: but the heavens and earth, WHICH ARE NOW, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." During Noah's flood the floodgates of heaven were opened but the heavens were not destroyed. Those same heavens are still up there waiting for the fulfillment of II Pet. 3:10 - "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with a fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up."

MY THEORY

Gen. 1:1 records the original creation of the earth which was inhabited by a people who were ruled by Lucifer, the anointed cherub that covers. Lucifer purposed in his heart to exalt himself and his throne to (at the very least) equality with God. This was his own doing - no tempter existed. He was then cast out of heaven, some of the angels and the inhabitants of earth joined Satan in his rebellion, and the earth was then judged and destroyed by the creation of hell.

Which brings up the question of what may have happened to the earthlings. If hell was created as a punishment for the rebellion of Lucifer and not as a warning to prevent the rebellion, then it would also follow that any other life forms (pre-Adamic man for want of a better term) would also not be immediately sent there. God is fair. He does not pass down a judgment without prior warning that it could come. Noah was given a lengthy number of years to build the ark (and preach). Adam was forewarned about what would happen when he ate of the forbidden tree. We today have a whole Bible full of instructions and warnings. Prior to Lucifer's fall there was no tempter or deceiver (thus no temptation or deception) thus there would not necessarily have been a need for a warning against these or a punishment in place for those who refused to serve God. All was perfection thus the inhabitants of earth at that time were without excuse. Because of this, there is no salvation attainable for them.

So, if they still exist and are not consigned to hell, who are they and where are they today? In my opinion, they are the demonic beings we contend with today. The Bible gives some interesting information about demons. Whenever Jesus encountered someone who was demon possessed or oppressed, he always cast the demon(s) out, and other than that, he didn't bother with them. (This is our pattern - we should not be fearful regarding them because greater is he who is in us than he who is in the world.) From the example of Jesus we learn that demons need a body in order to manifest themselves and God doesn't want them inhabiting human bodies.

God is the creator. Satan is not a creator - he can only pervert or counterfeit the genuine things of God. Therefore God created demons, but not as demons. If God created demons to do what demons do, which is possess people, it would be the will of God for people to be demon possessed, and Jesus would have sinned on many occasions because he always cast them out. Since Jesus never sinned, demons must have had their origin as something else, and in that origin they may have had bodies, which they forfeited. It is my opinion that demons are the spirits of the 'men' that inhabited the earth before the fall of Lucifer. They are not in hell now, but they do know the day is coming when they will go there. Matt. 8:29 says, "What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? Art thou come hither to torment us before the time?"

I do not believe demons and fallen angels the same beings. When the New Testament refers to angels it usually specifies which angels are meant: it may say angels of God, his angels, or holy angels, and the reason is because Satan has his own angels. Matt. 25:41 mentions 'the devil and his angels' and Rev. 12:7 refers to 'the dragon and his angels'. The angels of God and Satan's angels are mentioned as being at war. It is a Bible fact that there are both holy and unholy angels.

II Pet. 2:4 speaks of fallen angels: "for if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment..." Jude 6: "And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day."

In Rev. 12 we see Satan and his angels at war: they are not in jail which presents us with the fact that some fallen angels went even further into sin than did Satan himself, and this sin was to not keep their first estate and leave their own habitation. Their first estate was as holy beings and their own habitation was the spirit realm. Scripture is clear that angels are spirit beings, yet have human form, and they can intervene in the material realm, which indicates they have substance.

So, what was the great sin of the angels who are currently jailed? The phrase ‘son’ or ‘sons of God’ is used in the New Testament regarding Jesus, Christians and of Adam in the genealogy of Jesus (Luke 3:38). Adam was created in the image and likeness of God but fell out of his position of sonship. Since the fall of Adam, it was not possible for a human to be considered a son of God until after the resurrection of Jesus. Still, we see the phrase 'sons of God' used five times in the Old Testament. It is used three times in Job (1:6; 2:1;38:7), and two of these refer to times when "the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord" and Satan came among them. The third reference speaks of the sons of God shouting for joy at the original creation. Since this was before the creation of man, these sons could not have been men. Since Satan, a fallen angel, came among them when the sons of God presented themselves before the Lord, it seems that Old Testament 'sons of God' were angels.

The phrase is used twice in Gen. 6 regarding the sons of God first marrying and then having children with the daughters of men. It is my opinion that this is why God destroyed the earth with Noah's flood. Except for Noah and his family, the human bloodline had been corrupted.

Gen. 6:9 says, "Noah was a just man and PERFECT IN HIS GENERATIONS..." It seems that Noah and his family were the only people left on earth who had not been physically corrupted. In Matt. 22 the Sadducees questioned Jesus regarding a woman who had been married to seven brothers: they wanted to know whose wife she would be in the resurrection. Jesus said (vs. 29-30) "Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven." Notice Jesus specified which angels he was referring to because there are two groups of angels and some of the fallen angels HAD married wives according to Gen. 6:2. These fallen angels who took themselves wives of all which they chose are the same ones which kept not their first estate and left their own habitation. Their great sin, which resulted in their being jailed until the day of judgment, was to pervert the human race by defiling the human bloodline. God had promised that Messiah would come through the seed of woman, and the events of Gen. 6 were an attempt to prevent or pervert the fulfillment of the prophecy of the coming of Jesus. The information regarding the differences between demons and fallen angels indicates that these are two separate groups of fallen beings.

The activity of the fallen angels is not limited to earth. Eph 6:12 says, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." The NKJV translates that last phrase as ‘against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places,’ i.e. outer space. In our day (and in fact down through time) there has been UFO activity with man, and it always involves occultism. Gen. 1:6-8 tells us that on the second day of creation God made a firmament which he called heaven and divided the waters which were under this firmament from the waters which were above it. In vs. 14 tells us, "And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years." This tells us that the firmament referenced on the second day is the outer space area. It is worthy of note that on the second day of creation the scripture does NOT say ‘and God saw that it was good.’ Why not? Because that realm was inhabited by a fallen life form.

In Gen. 2:8 Adam and Eve are told to REplenish the earth the same as Noah was told in Gen. 9:1. To replenish means to refill something that was once full and became empty. Other than man and animal life, the Hebrew says that God brought forth (as opposed to created) most of what we see in Gen. 1 and 2. If dinosaurs had existed between Adam and Noah, Noah would have taken two of each kind on the ark. If he had done this, it seems reasonable that some would still exist today. They don't. I believe dinosaurs were part of that other, pre-Adamic, creation and were destroyed at the onset of the ice-age, which would fit in after the catastrophe already described.

Occult writings are demonically inspired thus are not truth or trustworthy in any way. Having said that, these writings make much of the legend of Atlantis which declares that Atlantis was peopled by a super-race, their civilization was technologically advanced far beyond what we know today, their 'electrical' power was generated by a giant crystal, one day this giant crystal exploded due to misuse of power, the lost continents were submerged beneath the oceans (thus killing every living thing) and new land masses appeared. The legend of Atlantis is a demonic pipe-dream. Nevertheless, whenever a person allows himself to be inspired by demons or communicates with them, sooner or later Atlantis is brought up. If what is claimed to be Atlantis is really a civilization that existed before Adam, it may have been a wonderful place to live up until the rebellion, but it then became a hellish horror that God had to utterly destroy.

A Bible-believing Christian has nothing to fear from science. True science will never contradict the Bible because God is the creator and he witnesses factually to what he has created. True findings of science can be empirically verified and the person who looks into these things should be brought face-to-face with the fact that there is a personal God who created everything that exists and that he is separate and distinct from his creation. This should in turn bring us to a revelation of the day-to-day reality of the existence of our God and of his interaction in the affairs of life.

We should recognize that Satan and associates have been with us since before the creation of Adam and man has been dealing with the same demonic beings down through the ages. We should NOT be afraid of them because, as Christians, we are safely held in the arms of our Father. Their biggest weapon is lies upon lies upon lies, but Christians have the power of God himself living in us. We should not be afraid, but we should also not be stupid, thinking we can play with the devil and back off any time we want. He is a deceiver.

The bottom line is this: Christians should take very seriously the instructions and warnings found in the Bible because these things are the issues of life itself and they impact us everyday in this life we are living. P.S. - we win!