Geocentricity: Joshua 10:8-14 March 24^th 2002 and Oct. 2003 in Toronto and Nova Scotia

(Many thanks to Dr. Gerardus D. Bouw for the material gleaned from his book: Geocentricity, published by The Biblical Astronomer 4527 Wetzel Ave. Cleveland, Ohio 44109 USA. See also: www.geocentricity.com)

 

Joshua 10:8-14,

    And the Lord said unto Joshua, Fear them not: for I have delivered them into thine hand; there shall not a man of them stand before thee. [9] Joshua therefore came unto them suddenly, and went up from Gilgal all night. [10] And the Lord discomfited them before Israel, and slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and chased them along the way that goeth up to Beth-horon, and smote them to Azekah, and unto Makkedah. [11] And it came to pass, as they fled from before Israel, and were in the going down to Beth-horon, that the Lord cast down great stones from heaven upon them unto Azekah, and they died: they were more which died with hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword.

    [12] Then spake Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. [13] And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day. [14] And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man: for the Lord fought for Israel.

 

INTRODUCTION: Discuss background of Amorites, God wanted them destroyed.

Discuss: Heliocentricity and the Copernican Revolution that opened the door to Bible criticism. It is Copernicus and not Darwin (as dangerous as he is) that opened the door to science “falsely so called” and Geocentricity.

 

Joshua was a great man of God.

He was Moses’ right hand man.

Moses prayed and the Red Sea parted.

Moses prayed in the manna that fell from heaven.

Moses prayed and fetched water out of the rock.

 

Now either this happened as recorded in God’s Word or it did not. Can we trust our Bible? …And God’s people said?…AMEN!  

 

What about our text today? (Joshua 10:8-14) Is this true? Did the earth stop rotating or did the sun stand still? Does the earth rotate or is it the sun that does the moving and the rising and the setting?

 

FOLKS I’M NOT ASKING IS THE WORLD FLAT I’M ASKING IF WE CAN TAKE GOD AT HIS WORD!!!

Psalm 93:1,

    The Lord reigneth, he is clothed with majesty; the Lord is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself: the world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved.

 

Stablish = stabilize.

Establish = to set up.

(The modern versions are wrong again. The NIV says ‘establish’.)

 

The English Standard Version (ESV) says, ‘Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved.”

 

Cf.

2 Peter 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 fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

 

The present world will be destroyed.

 

The Bible says the world ‘standeth’:

1 Cor. 8:13,

    Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.

 

The earth is stable:

1 Chron. 16:30,

Fear before him, all the earth: the world also shall be stable, that it be not moved.

 

And,

Psalm 96:10,

    Say among the heathen that the Lord reigneth: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved: he shall judge the people righteously.

There is not one verse in all the 66 books of the Bible that indicates an orbiting or moving or revolving earth.

 

The earth has a special place of its own:

 

Psalm 104:5,

    Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever.

 

The earth has a place not a path:

Job 9:6,

    Which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble.

 

Psalm 99:1,

    The Lord reigneth; let the people tremble: he sitteth between the cherubims; let the earth be moved.

 

Isaiah 13:13,

    Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the Lord of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.

 

Isaiah 24:19-20,

    The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly. [20] 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.

 

If the earth can be removed it must have a fixed place to begin with. The LORD speaks of coming judgement when the earth shall literally be removed from her place and burned up. God promises a new heaven and a new earth (Revelation 21:1).

 

If the earth is already orbiting and spinning and even wobbling (like a drunkard, see Isaiah 24:20!) then these verses have no future impact or prophetic significance.

 

The fact that the earth will be moved at a future date does not contradict the fact that God has founded the earth so that it does not move now.

There is a judgement coming:

Psalm 82:5,

    They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course.

 

But as it stands now the earth is fixed in space and is motionless.

What else does the Scripture say concerning Geocentricity?

 

Isaiah 38:7-8,

    And this shall be a sign unto thee from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing that he hath spoken; [8] Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down.

 

2 Kings 20:9-11,

    And Isaiah said, This sign shalt thou have of the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that he hath spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees? [10] And Hezekiah answered, It is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees: nay, but let the shadow return backward ten degrees. [11] And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the Lord: and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz.

 

2 Chron. 32:24,

    In those days Hezekiah was sick to the death, and prayed unto the Lord: and he spake unto him, and he gave him a sign.

   

    This was not an optical illusion. This was not a local event:

 

2 Chron. 32:31,

    Howbeit in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him to enquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart.

 

The sign of Joshua 10: 12-14 was seen and its effects witnessed all over the earth. India, China, and in North and South America there are oral and written accounts of this startling event. Just think, even in the computer space age in which we live if the sun did not set for several hours and our watches read 3 a.m. and it was broad day light we would tremble with fear. In North and South America they had a long night, in India and China the sun set but came back up above the horizon. (Refer to Immanuel Velikovsky, Worlds in Collision). When we read of different cultures and their flood traditions we sit up and take notice but how many have heard of the accounts of the Native Americans and the Chinese and there long day traditions. In Fiji they report a long sunset. The evidence is mammoth.

 

Just a note along the way for those who think the earth could have stopped spinning for a few hours to produce the same effect:

God’s Words are clear: So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven Joshua 10:13

 

Also, and I in no way want to limit God by what I am about to say, the centrifugal force of the earth spinning at 1000 mph is so great that to stop the earth suddenly would cause tidal waves so big that most of the earth’s inhabitants would have died (it’s like jumping into a bathtub too quickly- you end up with a wet bathroom floor). It would take many hours to slow down the earth gently enough to cause no ill effects. (I realize that God could do it in a split second with no ill effects.) All this aside, the Bible clearly says the sun and moon stood still!    

 

Let’s look at some symbolism concerning our LORD Jesus Christ:

 

Psalm 84:11,

    For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.

 

Psalm 19:1-7,

    To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.

    The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. [2] Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. [3] There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. [4] Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, [5] Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. [6] 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. [7] The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.

 

What is the LORD God like? Sun.

What is the sun likened to in Psalm 19:5? A Bridegroom.

Who is called the Bridegroom by John the Baptist?

 

John 3:29,

    He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.

Cf.

Rev. 18:23,

    And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.

 

Let us try and put this all together. If Christ is the Bridegroom then the typology must needs be consistent with the ministry or character of the Lord. Is the Lord sitting still now? You could look at it that way because the Bible says He is seated at the right hand of God the Father. But Psalm 19 is prophetic and speaks of Christ coming for His Bride!

 

Look at Psalm 19:5-6, Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. [6] His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it:

   

Christ is coming for His people. The sun is likened to the coming of the Lord for His bride! Look at the language used “run a race” and “circuit” (Webster’s 1828, ‘the act of moving or passing round’)

 

Jesus said, “I come quickly” (Revelation 3:11; 22:7, 12, 20)

The Bible says the sun moves quickly like a strong man running a race.

 

The sun moves in a circuit. THE SUN HAS AN ORBIT! (What does it say of the earth? The earth is His FOOTSTOOL-how many of you have used a footstool?)

While the Bible never says the earth moves or has an orbit the Bible clearly teaches the movement of the sun:

 

 

Isaiah 13:10,

    For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.

Judges 5:31,

    So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord: but let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might. And the land had rest forty years.

 

Malachi 4:2,

    But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.

(Another prophetic reference to our LORD.)

 

You can say what you want to: the sun moves, it moves quickly and it moves in a circle!

In a nutshell, the Earth does not spin, orbit or tilt. The sun orbits the earth every day –giving us day and night. The universe moves around the Earth in a yearly cycle as well –giving us the seasons. The movement of the sun, each year, follows a helix or corkscrew pattern which has the sun lower on the horizon in winter and higher in the sky in summer. Spring and Fall are marked when the sun passes over the equator, moving north and south respectively. All the planets, except the Earth, orbit the Sun. The stars follow the Sun in their movements which allows us to see almost the same stars all year round. The only body that moves similarly in both models is the moon.   

 

Matthew 5:45a,

    That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good,

And,

Mark 8:31,

And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.

 

These two statements: The rising of the Sun and The rising of the Son are both taught in the Bible. Jesus taught both statements as Divine Truth.

 

Acts 24:14,  But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets: