The Butterfly Effect

The Butterfly Effect idea goes something like this: If a butterfly flapped its wings in one area of the world, it could cause a hurricane in another, by multiplication of the effect. That’s similar to what happened to Adam and Eve. By their one small act of disobedience, the entire future/history of the world was changed from what could have been love and beauty and life, to hatred and ugliness and death.

Our First Parents are the root cause of the destruction of the world two times. Their little misdeed not only kicked themselves offline from God, resulting in the destruction of the world by water, it also caused a chain reaction of evil to the end of time, when the world is destroyed and purified by a thermonuclear chain reaction. No trace of human occupation will survive the seething, worldwide ocean of fiery, molten lava. This is what some call Hell.

They’re not the only humans to make wrong decisions, though, and when enough time has passed, see the sad results. Most, if not all of us, have this experience. We can’t change the past, but we can start over. We can search the scriptures to find the weapons we need to combat the forces of evil trying to cause us to choose the wrong paths and break the commandments. We can find hope by believing the Word and choosing to obey it.

We can choose Life or Destruction.

Our decision will inevitably and without fail affect those around us: family, coworkers, friends, etc., in a ripple effect that will reach to the end of time. Picture yourself standing on the Sea of Glass, looking up at God. You’re holding a palm branch and singing a beautiful Song of Victory. There’s a ring of golden light encircling your head. The little points of light in the ring represent those you have pointed in the right direction by your acts of kindness and words of encouragement. If we don’t share the love of God with others, there will be empty spaces on the Sea of Glass.

Here is a story about the destruction of the world by water, caused by the failure of our First Parents to resist temptation.

Nowuh and the Great Flood

Copyright © 1987 by Gary Tjaden

Nowuh

Nowuh stood there, wife at his side, staring in disbelief at the scene before him. The entire area was strewn with wreckage, the gardens trampled, the cages and corrals smashed. “The Big Lizards did this!” Nowuh exclaimed when he saw their tracks.

“Wait here,” he told his wife as he went in to look around. He stopped a few times to shove some debris around, and when he was finished, he walked slowly back. “Our animals are all gone,” he said to her, “Either dead or escaped.”

For years, after he saw nature disrupted by disease and genetic tampering, Nowuh collected genetically pure specimens of plants and animals in order to preserve them for future generations, keeping them in the isolated valley where he lived. While he and his wife were collecting in another region, someone or something tore down the front gate. With the gate down, the big lizards came in and found a feast waiting for them.

It took most of the day to bury the remains of the dead animals and clean up the mess. When he finished, with the late afternoon sun on his back, he headed up into the forest-covered hills adjoining his land.

From a point on the ridge, he looked down into the valley where he lived. A light breeze rustled his hair, and in the distance he could hear a rushing stream. A black and red bird with a bright red and orange beak landed on his shoulder and pecked a friendly greeting on his cheek. “Hello bird,” he said, then it disappeared among the huge, five-hundred foot tall trees. He stood there a few moments longer, then followed an old trail down the other side of the ridge into dense tropical forest.

Eventually the ground leveled off, and there on the valley floor he could just make out the traces of an ancient stone path. He followed it, occasionally stepping around the undergrowth. Soon, he found himself standing in front of an ancient stone altar, thick with moss, partially hidden in undergrowth. He stepped up to it, laid his hands on the mossy rocks, and sighed deeply.

The Antediluvians

Nowuh recalled the stories of old about the beginning of this world and how the forces of evil came into it. From noble beginnings, men, with their great strength and powerful intelligence, corrupted their minds and used the riches of the world to satisfy only their own greed.

Forgetting the God of Creation and ignoring the voice of Adam, they invented their own religions and made imitation gods out of gold, silver, stone and wood. These they worshipped in scenes of pleasure and wickedness in the formal gardens and stately groves that surrounded their magnificent houses.

Instead of noble attributes, they gave their false gods deformed human characters and uncontrolled passions, defiling themselves as they grew more and more debased. Justice lay trampled in the dust as the wickedness of men became more open and daring. Whenever a man wanted his neighbor’s wife or possessions, he took them by force.

Animals were friendly to humans back then, but evil men delighted in stalking and killing them for pleasure. After they started eating the flesh of the animals they murdered, humans became even more blood thirsty and cruel. Finally, they even regarded human life with astonishing indifference.

Adam was gone now, and very few humans knew God or cared anything about him. Through genetic tampering, highly intelligent but evil-bent humans bred some of the bigger animals into merciless killers. By mixing human genes with animal genes, they also formed half-human monsters, and now, corrupted genetic material began spreading throughout the plant and animal kingdoms.

“If only their powers could be used for good,” thought Nowuh, “worshipping God and living in harmony with nature and other men.”

Extraterrestrials Warn Nowuh

Suddenly, a flash of light caught his eye. Making his way through vines and undergrowth, he found its source. Standing before him were two tall Guardians, powerful extraterrestrial beings blazing with light. Their fiery weapon whirled and flashed continuously in the subdued light of the forest, suspended in the air between them. Beyond them, nearly forgotten by men, lay the entrance to the mystical Garden of Eden, with wonders only two humans had ever seen.

Wordlessly the Guardians looked at the startled Nowuh and brought their weapon to rest. “Nowuh,” one of them said in a rich, polyphonic voice, “We bring a message to you from the One Who Makes All Things:

‘The humans I have put on this world have become wicked and degenerate and do only that which is evil. I am going to destroy them and their evil works with water from the sky and with water from below.

You must build an ark of cypress wood 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high, with a roof, a window in the top, and a door in the side. In it make lower, middle, and upper decks. I am going to destroy everything so that the riches I gave to this world will not be used for evil purposes again.

‘When the ark is completed, pairs of every kind of animal which I have chosen will come to you, so store every kind of food in the ark to be eaten by you and the animals. You, your wife, your three sons, and their wives will be the only ones left alive after total destruction takes place.’”

Astonished, Nowuh watched the Guardians bring their weapon back to life, then gaze ahead with unmoving eyes. Beyond them he could see just a little into the land where Adam and Eve once lived. Because they deliberately infected themselves with the deadly virus of evil, God banished them from the Garden. Deprived of enzymes from the fruit from the Tree of Life, hidden deep in its center, their lives gradually wore out. Nowuh longed to enter, but he knew it was not to be. He sighed again, turned, and began the journey home.

Building the Ark

The next day he laid out the dimensions of the ark in a clearing in his valley. “Look, wife,” Nowuh said, “the ship will have a boxy, house-like shape, but with an extremely sturdy hull, designed to withstand tremendous forces. I will have to cut and haul the main framing timbers from the other end of the valley.”

For the next few years, Nowuh made slow, but steady progress, even with hired help, because the wood was fine grained, nearly as hard as stone, and almost as difficult to shape. Grandfather Methuselah and his sons came to help when they heard of the project, and Nowuh’s sons joined in when they were old enough.

For many years, Nowuh faithfully warned others of the coming disaster. At first some took his words seriously, but as the years came and went, fewer and fewer believed, until he found himself nearly alone, a laughingstock for the whole world.

“There is not enough water anywhere close enough to float something of that size on,” people insisted. “Only an IDIOT would build a huge ship on dry land, too far from a lake or river large enough to hold it!”

“Nowuh is such a fanatic!” others scoffed. “Water has never fallen from the sky and never will, because it’s scientifically impossible. It’s too warm for water to condense beneath the overhead canopy, and its spherical force fields themselves are indestructible. It’s never rained, no river has ever overflown its banks, and the mists and dews have always arisen at night to water the land, and always will.”

Word spread that Nowuh was a dangerous religious crackpot. “Keep your children away from that man,” parents were warned, “because he is scientifically ignorant and his speeches are poisonous for impressionable young minds to listen to.”

The Ark is Finished

Despite opposition and ridicule, Nowuh and his crew worked faithfully, using all of his resources to fund the ark’s construction. After more than 100 years of labor, the day finally came when the last board was fastened in place and they applied a waterproof coating to the outside. “It’s finished!” the builders shouted jubilantly, but Nowuh’s family wasted little time celebrating.

“Let’s bring in the food we’ve stockpiled,” Nowuh ordered. Although there was room for many more people, only eight souls, Nowuh, his wife, his sons, and their wives, prepared to enter the ark for the long journey, just as God predicted. Earlier in the year Grandfather Methuselah, 969 years old, was laid to rest, much to everyone’s sorrow.

As they loaded their personal possessions, word spread around the countryside that the ark was finished. Soon, a group of sightseers arrived. “There it is, folks, the world famous Nowuh’s Folly, a three-story-high ship sitting in the middle of a forest!” the tour guide announced.

“Hey Nowuh,” one of the tourists yelled, “Whatta ya gonna put in that ugly thing anyway, another bloody zoo? Ha! Ha! Ha!” They were all a little intoxicated, and more wine was passed around amid their loud laughter.

The Animals Arrive

Suddenly the noisy spectators grew silent. From the mountains and forests, young animals of every kind began arriving, making their way to the ark as clouds of birds obscured the sun. Although most humans didn’t obey God, the animals did. After the initial shock wore off, the laughter grew even louder. “Hey! Look at all the trained baby animals! Nowuh’s got himself a floating circus!” They started stomping their feet, clapping in rhythm, and shouting, “NO-WUH! NO-WUH! NO-WUH! Ignoring their detractors, it took nearly a week for Nowuh and his family to get all of the animals settled in their quarters.

Seven days after the arrival of the first animals, a Messenger told Nowuh, “It’s time to enter the ark.”

On the great ramp on the side, which was also the door, Nowuh’s earnest voice rang out, momentarily silencing the amused onlookers. “Anyone who wishes to serve the Living God can join us inside the Ark and be saved!” he said.

The onlookers laughed and booed and rolled their eyes and told him to go shovel some more manure. “We’ve been listening to you say that stuff for a over a hundred years. Don’t you get it? We’ve heard enough. We’re here for some fun, not to listen to you preach.”

Noah Enters the Ark

Solemnly, Nowuh and his family entered the Ark. “Goodbye, Nowuh. Have a nice trip!” the crowd shouted and waved and hooted and clapped and whistled. “We’ve got a special celebration planned for you when you come out. Haw! Haw!”

That night a bright light appeared and hovered before the entrance of the Ark. “What is it Father?” one of his sons asked. Slowly the massive door swung up and shut, sealing the fate of those inside, and those remaining outside. “That, my son,” Nowuh answered, is a Messenger from the Land of God. No human can move that door. It is closed at God’s command, and will be opened at God’s command.”

Much to the delight of the crowds, nothing happened during the next week. It was their time of triumph. Ignoring all the signs of God’s power, they said, “See, Nowuh is just an old man suffering from delusions and hallucinations and a dangerous religion. There never was a flood, and there never will be a flood because floods are impossible. Even though the earth is very old, there’s no record of a single flood.” Meanwhile, those inside the ark were settling in for a long journey.

On the seventh day after entering, the crowd still waiting for Nowuh to come out decided to give him a special sendoff. Soon, a number of people started throwing fruit and vegetables and rocks at the Ark, making fun of those inside with viscious scorn. “Hey Nowuh!” someone sneered, “How does it SMELL in there?” followed by loud laughter.

When someone else yelled, “Listen, Nowuh, the Flood has arrived!” then threw a bucket of water at the massive hull, everyone screamed and laughed some more. One person did an excellent impersonation of Nowuh and made fun of him by calling down the wrath of God on the amused onlookers for minor offenses they committed. It was quiet after they all finally left.

During the night, a terrific blast shook the surrounding countryside, followed by a huge, dark mass rising from the mists, blocking the starlight as it climbed faster and faster. It was the Garden of Eden, completely enclosed in a force field, beginning its long journey to the faraway Land of God to be preserved for future generations of humans.

The Great Flood

On the eighth day, loud humming/snapping sounds came from high above, along with mysterious flashing lights. Large, intermittent drops of rain began to fall as small holes in the force fields high above the earth began to form, releasing some of the water suspended above the planet. As larger holes formed, warm air escaped the envelope and cold air rushed in, creating dark clouds that spread across the sky, obscuring the sun. As the clouds formed into massive towers, warning rumbles of thunder accompanied steady rains.

“Mother, Father, what’s happening?” worried children cried. Everyone looked at the clouds and rain in disbelief. As the sky grew darker and the clouds nearly reached ground level, lightning flashed almost continuously, thunder crashes merged into a deafening roar, and rain fell in torrents. Stunned, people watched their magnificent buildings, formal gardens, and stately groves ruined by huge bolts of jagged lightning. Bewildered animals surrounded the dumbstruck humans, pleading for help.

Suddenly, the earth shuddered as a terrific jolt rocked the planet. Giant trees crashed to the ground as entire forests were leveled. The surface of the earth heaved in great spasms, and it seemed as if the world were being ripped apart as the land began its return to the sea from which it was born. Subterranean rivers blasted through the surface, sending jets of water and rock hundreds of feet skyward. Water cascaded from the sky in great sheets like waterfalls as the force fields high above continued their collapse.

The storm increased in violence as a howling wind scattered trees, rocks, dirt, mud, and water everywhere. The few who made it to the Ark pounded on the sides and cried out into the roaring wind, “We’re sorry, Nowuh! Let us in, save us!” There was nothing Nowuh could do, even if he could have heard their pleas. “Then we’ll chop a hole in the side!” they screamed when there was no response. But all of their efforts were futile. As the surging waters rose rapidly and the Ark began to float, some tried to hang onto it, but they were all washed away or knocked off in collisions with rocks and trees.

Days and weeks passed, and still the waters rose higher and higher, and from the few remaining peaks, those still surviving outside of the Ark looked out onto a shoreless sea. Soon, even the highest peaks were under water, and the only humans remaining alive were safe inside the Ark. Many times Nowuh thought they were lost as huge waves surged over the top of the ark, throwing them violently side to side. Had it not been for God’s protection, they would have been lost, too.

At last, the storm subsided. “The rain has stopped!” they all exclaimed one morning, but for five long months the lonely ark drifted aimlessly at the mercy of wind and waves, a tiny speck floating about on an immense waterworld. Not infrequently, they could feel shockwaves through the hull of the ship as landmasses below shifted rapidly upward and the water began to recede. Eventually, the ark reached an area protected by mountain peaks as the water level continued to fall. “There’s that wind again,” Nowuh said as a fierce wind once again blasted across the surface of the planet, causing the exposed land to dry out rapidly.

After many days the wind stopped, the ark scraped bottom, and Nowuh sent a raven out into the blue skies. “Go on, bird,” Nowuh said, “You’re a smart one. Find some dry land.” It never came back, so he sent out a dove, but it returned soon afterward.

A week later he sent out the dove again, and it returned with an olive leaf in its beak. “Thank you, God!” the humans rejoiced, “It can’t be much longer, now.” Encouraged, Nowuh opened up a place in the roof to look out. “The mountains are all naked!” someone exclaimed when they looked out and saw large, bare rocky areas for the first time in their lives.

After the Flood

The day finally came when a Messenger of God opened the great door. Nowuh’s family stood there for a long time, gazing at the aftermath of destruction. “Look, there’s something green off in that direction,” someone said.

“Let’s turn the animals loose, now, “ Nowuh said. Gratefully, the animals and humans returned to their freedom outside. Even though it started to rain again, the next thing Nowuh did was build an altar of stones and offer sacrifices of thanksgiving to the Lord according to his instructions.

“Look Nowuh, up in the sky!” his wife cried out in astonishment. When he looked up, he saw a beautiful, multi-colored bow of light spanning the sky. “Since it’s raining,” Nowuh said, “I will call it a rainbow.”

“The rainbow in the clouds is a sign of an agreement between us,“ God said to Nowuh, “that I will never again destroy all living things by a flood. When I see the rainbow, I will remember our agreement and not send water to destroy the earth.”

After abandoning the ark up on the mountainside, Nowuh, his family, and all of the animals went down into a cold, uglified world where everything and everyone they ever knew were buried under deep layers of mud and debris. Nearly all of the animals, they noticed with sadness, suddenly became afraid of them and ran or flew off..

It was a unfamiliar, lonely planet, now, but it was up to Nowuh and his family to make a new life and avoid the mistakes of the old world. “If we obey God,” Nowuh said, “all will go well, but if we don’t, selfishness and evil will overcome us.” Someday, they knew, if they listened to God and followed his commands, they would live in a beautiful tropical greenhouse world again and meet their creator face to face. There, in paradise regained, they would live happily, forever.

Hope nobody minds me dropping the previous material in here. As you can see by some of the dates, I've had it around for a while. I hope you don't mind my sharing it with you.

A few more thoughts about Satan:

Satan, as one of the Seraphim, would have been one of the most powerful and intelligent of the created beings, a fiery serpent/dragon in his original form. The Seraphim may have the power to project their thoughts into other beings and take over their thoughts, temporarily, at least. Satan, then, would have the ability to possess other creatures at will, if they were willing. Thus, He could appear as one of the 4-faced 6-winged Cherubim, or, as one of the sun-faced angels, or even as a human. His fiery serpent body would probably be in a different location than the body he was possessing.

Here's a puzzle: Why did Jesus/Jehovah represent himself as a brass serpent lifted up on a pole to Moses and the people of Israel? Was Jesus/Jehovah originally one of the Seraphim before he gave up the fiery flying serpent body to become human? Was he capable of possessing other creatures, like Satan was?

Another thought: Maybe it was Satan himself who appeared to Eve in the Forbidden Tree. A flying serpent/dragon could have appendages to manipulate things or pick fruit. I recently saw a photo of the 6-winged flying serpent motif near the base of an Aztec temple in Mexico. The flying serpent had an important place in the horrific Aztec religion.

Why should I try to limit Satan's power? Perhaps he actually can change his form and appearance from a six-winged lizard to an angel, or even other transformations we know nothing about.

I've been wondering lately why details were left out of the Bible. Seems like there's something really important out there somewhere that we don't anything about. Maybe when Satan arrives as a sun-faced angel, he will impress nearly the whole world with semi-truth, unverifiable by humans. They will be dazzled by his highly advanced technology and accept his point of view unquestioningly.

Why would SDA's want to leave the denomination and others gladly choose to replace them around that time? As SDA's, some of us believe that there are other inhabited worlds out there. Seems like that might be an advantage. Our world is quarantined though, to protect other worlds from harm.

Why were the religious leaders bypassed when Jesus revolutionized religion and the new order arrived? Will SDA's lock themselves into some erroneous belief, as the Pharisee's and other religious leaders did? Will some high-profile scandal rock Adventism, causing denomination-wide embarassment and defection? Will new leaders arise to re-organize and redirect the church's mission?

It will be those Christians who know the Bible inside and out who can defend themselves against Satan's errors.


A number of writers of the NT said they were slaves of Jesus Christ. If we're supposed to be slaves of Jesus, also, what should we be doing that slaves do? Be willing to do the lowest, most menial, most laborious tasks, be willing to be ordered around, be willing to serve our master without complaining, and all the other things that slaves do without getting much in return, just a place to stay, a few clothes, a little food, along with a chance to live forever in a healthy and happy condition?

Are Christians destined to be slaves in the Kingdom of the Stars also? Is that what God is looking for, 100% willingness to serve him on earth so he can trust us to serve him in his Kingdom when his back is turned? We won't be mistreated, of course, and will love and honor our much-superior masters.

Christine, if no one has any input, you can go on to the next chapter, if you will.

I've been reading the posts here with interest. Don't have anything to add at this time. Things have been rather dicey with me of late and I'm not well.

I did read the chapter though.

Gary, Nico, I'm out of town. It'll take me a little while to read through all of this. Sorry I've been so slow.

Let's give this 2 more days. Maybe we'll (I'll) catch up by then.

Not there yet, but if you want to get the ball rolling again with Chapter 13, feel free! I'm away from my home right now, so I don't have my "favorites" to paste from.

Maybe someone else can get the thread going. Otherwise, it'll have to wait until Saturday night, I think.