Pantheism is the belief that is current in the heathen world to-day. It asserts the eternity of matter. It declares that mind and matter are one. It declares that there is no God apart from nature or the universe. The pantheist believes that he himself, the flowers that grow in the field, the fruits on the trees, the water that flows to the ocean, the ocean itself, the elephant, the cow-in short, organic and inorganic matter are all God, immanent and inherent as part of the Supreme Being.
But the very first verse of the Bible contradicts this idea. We read, " In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth " (Gen. 1:11In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. (Genesis 1:1)). It is clear that if God created, He existed before He created. Pantheistic theology is about as sensible as if I were showing you a table, and told you that the carpenter, who made it, was not only in the table, but that the table was the carpenter himself, that you could not distinguish between the carpenter and the table he made.. Dr. Paley's well known illustration of a watchmaker and the watch he made, that the watchmaker existed a good many years before he made the watch, and that he existed apart from the watch, still holds good. A table requires a carpenter; a watch requires a watchmaker, and surely this earth needs a Creator. So we read in the sublime words of Moses, " In the beginning GOD created the heaven and the earth," words unmatched by any description of the creation in the writings of the ancients. GOD existed before creation. He is apart from creation. His almighty power brought it into being, and sustains it.