Program Review: Mission Imperative - Return to Genesis

Hi everyone, if you reading to this on the Sabbath, then I’d like to wish you a blessed Sabbath filled with worship and praise for our God.

This week, I was going to review a nature program about sea creatures, however, a series of events has led me to believe that the Lord led me to this program instead.

So our review is for, Return to Genesis, presented by Mike Snavely of the ministry Mission Imperative. The description says: Join Mike as he discusses the importance of the Genesis account and the importance of being able to defend your faith.

This program is well structured and compelling. It speak about:

• Our ability as Christians to be able to defend our faith

• How compromise happens slowly

• How the devil uses any means possible to take our focus away from God

• The importance of having the Bible as the foundation of our faith, believing and acting on the word of God

Which makes me think of James 2:14-26

14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! 20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? 22 Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? 23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God. 24 You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.

25 Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? 26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

Mike speaks about the dangers of accepting watered down truths, and asks how we would know it was watered down if we don’t study the scriptures.

Mike emphasizes that Genesis covers all of life’s topics, providing around fifteen examples. This is why I don’t understand why some publishers carry only the New Testament, when the whole Bible comprises of both the Old and New Testament. Jesus said on several occasions that the scriptures pointed to Him (John 5:39, Luke 24:25 and 44). The scriptures Jesus was referring to was the Old Testament as the New Testament had not yet been written.

Mike gives sobering testimonies about how some Christians are trying to combine Genesis and evolution. He gives a practical lesson on why compromised theories, such as the six days of creation aren’t literal, don’t work. He gives solid examples based on information in the Bible, using a clock to represent the billions of years evolution theory says the age of the universe is It effectively shows why the Genesis account and the billions of years theory can’t be combined.

There were two things that Mike mentioned that caught my attention as not being in harmony with scripture.

He mentioned going to heaven when he dies. I have talked about this in previous podcasts and have given Bible references that show that we remain dead in the grave (it’s also referred to as a sleep) until Jesus returns.

Mike mentions Sunday school, as opposed to Sabbath school. I have also spoken about the 4th commandment - the Sabbath, the holy day God put aside and blessed before any nations were created (Genesis 2:1-3 and is listed as the fourth commandment in Exodus 20:8-11).

Genesis 2:1-3: Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. 2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

I have spoken about the Sabbath in several podcasts and did an in-depth review of the book, Sabbath Light, by Vincent Wisely on 24th December 2022. You can find that on our blog, podcast and Youtube channel.

I have often thought - why do so many Christians look at the ten commandments and single out the Sabbath as not being necessary to keep - when the ten commandments is one eternal law of God - something Jesus did not speak of being changed when he walked this earth?

I have two theories:

1) People would rather obey human wisdom or tradition, which is what is behind the notion that the 7th day of the week (Saturday) was changed to the 1st day of the week (Sunday).

2) Although it is right there in black and white, in the Old and New Testament, people are blind to it. This reminds me of when I found myself asking God, yet again, why he didn’t lead me to His word earlier in my life, before December 2015. Then it occurred to me, He had! A friend had started sending me a Bible verse in the summer of 2012, which resulted in me downloading the Bible app myself. However, each day I read the Bible app verse, I made up my own interpretation of what it meant, instead of what it said in black and white. So it was my wisdom, not scripture, that guided me each day, which ended up in disaster. The truth is that I had been reading God’s word for 3.5 years, in a state of blindness, before God opened my eyes, then I truly read His word and let His word guide me each day.

So when I read about the commandments, I started wondering about the correct day of the week of the Sabbath - it didn’t take long to find the truth and once I knew the truth, I couldn’t pretend to have not seen it, no matter how many things I was used to doing on the Sabbath that would now have to be done either before or after the Sabbath. I have mentioned this before, but it is worth mentioning again - the first Sabbath I observed, in January 2016, was surrounded by a peace I cannot describe, except by calling it God’s presence. This reminds me of the verse in John 8:32, Jesus says: And you shall know the truth and the truth will make you free.

Now, am I sometimes ridiculed, shunned and even chastised for keeping the Sabbath - the 4th commandment of God? Sure! But Jesus said, 17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Matthew 5:17-20

Galatians 1:10: Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Moving on from there.

Mike goes on to give some extensive information about the core believes covered in Genesis. He references Genesis 1-12, putting them into main topics. I went ahead and reviewed those chapters, and learned new things, even though I have read these chapters before. That is what I love about the Bible - it’s a living book constantly teaching us the will of God, according to God’s timing. This is what Mike emphasizes too - Christians need to be focused on the Word of God so that we stand strong against the deception of evolution theory. Mike gives us some sobering testimonies about people who have left their faith, because they were not grounded in the Word of God.

I am reminded of this powerful verse of truth

“You are worthy, O Lord,

To receive glory and honor and power;

For You created all things,

And by Your will they exist and were created.” Revelation 4:11

Mike goes through what the gains (fruits) are of having the Word of God as our world view versus the evolution theory. He gives solid bible-based examples, and refers to this powerful verse from Psalm 33: 12 - Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.

I like how Mike emphasizes that it is a slippery slope when we start to doubt the Word of God, tinker with what is written in Genesis and listen to secular wisdom, above the Word of our Creator.

I like how Mike ends the program with the comment that we won’t know what is in the Word of God until we get into.

I’ll end this review with Psalms 1:1-2

Blessed is the man

Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,

Nor stands in the path of sinners,

Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;

2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord,

And in His law he meditates day and night.

I watched Return to Genesis on www.awesomescitv.com and the presenter’s website is www.missionimperative.org

Thank you for reading this review. Until next time - peace be with you.

Program thumbnail: www.awesomescitv.com