Authentic historical Christianity, that is Christianity in terms of its own founding documents of the first century, teaches that the revelation of God in the Bible and in the physical universe carry a basic agreement. The most direct statement in this regard is by the Apostle Paul to the Roman Christians –

is here in this context asserting the right of the Creator to justly condemn the human race for their rejection of Him because God from the beginning had revealed Himself to humanity in the universe visible to them (Rom.1:18-21).

Christianity in general continued to hold this position essentially until the 19th century.

During the 19th century, ideas spawned during the 18th were developed in two specific areas which directly brought into question the reliability of the Bible and the truth of its statements about human origins and history. These two were –

and both have had a permanent effect within the structure of Christianity concerning understanding the revelation of God in the Bible and in Nature.

It is important to remember that the more truth that can be contained within a misrepresentation, the more plausible/believable it becomes. This technique has been used frequently in military conflicts and continues today. Jesus described Satan as the 'father of lies' because his principle technique is deception (Jn.8:44), and in this the more verifiable facts that can be made part of the deception the more likely it is to accomplish its deceptive purpose. This holds true for both of the following.

As Jesus said with regard to the character of a teaching, as you can know a tree by its fruit, so you can know the character of a teaching by its result , no matter how persuasive it might seem. He said –

He had spoken this publicly in His rebuke of the religious leaders of His time, but the principle of identifying the character of an issue by its results remains.

In this regard, without acceptance of the ideology of evolution (applying the principles of animal husbandry to humanity) in the medical fraternity of Europe, and Germany in particular, the Holocaust of Nazi Germany and its fascist friends in France would have been an impossibility. The theory of evolution itself is full of precious truth regarding variation and survival of species, but its sociological effect is a statement to be remembered, and its effect on Christian confidence concerning Bible teaching on the causative effect today of human origins continues to damage perceptions of truth within the Christian Church.

This teaching is known from its formulation by Julius Wellhausen in his publications of 1876-1978, but the ideas had been spawning for some time over the century and have developed further since. The internal evidence in Holy Scripture, primarily the Pentateuch of the Old Testament, of more than one writer in a single document, as well as evidences of the incorporation of pre-literary oral transmission became 'proofs' of multiple authorship and compilation that had turned fireside Hebrew cultural tales into national myths utilized later for moral purposes by a priest-class. This presumptuously ignorant view was helped by Western ignorance of ancient literary forms but was part of a theoretical perspective of the evolutionary development of religion from animism to monotheism to atheism*, in direct opposition to the Bible's teaching of devolution from monotheism to polytheism and its attendant animist superstitions.

The influence of this evolutionary view of the Old Testament, in contradiction of the awesome New Testament view of textual inspiration of the Old Testament (in grammatical tense and spelling, such as in the Gal.3:16 comment on Genesis; and the Matt.22:32 comment on Exodus), in seeing it as story-telling anecdotes for social and moral purposes in Israel's history, spread rapidly in the field of Biblical Studies. The effect of this within the Christian Church was designed by Satan to break down Christian confidence in what is the basis of Christian authority, as it was to Christ in His own ministry ('It is written').

twin errors today, and the latter in particular, continue to contaminate attitudes in most theological seminaries and academic departments of theology, and consequently further the debilitation/emasculation of real spiritual leadership in the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

But God is faithful, and therefore the Holy Spirit, Himself the ultimate author of all authentic written and prophetic revelation of God, has continued to build up Christ's Church from within, in spite of betrayal of its character by many of its leadership. He, although described by Jesus as the Spirit of Truth, is not focused on doctrinal definition and understanding of origins. His focus is upon the character of relationships within the Family of Christ which demonstrate its uniquely identifying characteristic – Christ's love (Rom.5:5; 1 John 3:16; John 17:21).

This does not means that the above may continue to have its effect with impunity, for God is firstly a God of Justice arising from His character of love, and that which damages confidence in God, with its destructive effects, must be judged. And this will be so, as it has been at a national level in economic collapse and military devastation of specific communities, for the Throne of God is only a source of grace to the truly repentant.

the completed restoration of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ requires holding to account those of its leaders who have compromised the integrity of its authority and undermined the Spirit-directed confidence of God's people in His written Word.