Recent developments in creationist cosmology offer an elegant explanation of the distant starlight question which is consistent with the Genesis account of creation and is based on recent astronomical observations and Einstein’s General Relativity equations. Whilst a detailed explanation of this new cosmology is beyond the scope of this Feedback article, it is explained more fully in Harnett’s article “Has dark matter really been proven?” http://www.creation.com
This article provides a framework for understanding the answer to the distant starlight question. The key elements are time dilation, the recent observations showing that we live in a galactocentric universe, and the Scriptural references to God ‘stretching out the heavens’ on Day 4 of the Creation Week.
An experimentally verified prediction of Einstein’s General Relativity Theory is a phenomenon called gravitational time dilation. It has long been established that gravity affects the rate at which time flows in any particular location in the universe.
Another mechanism for time dilation is a rapid acceleration of the fabric of space in an expanding universe. This is explained more fully in Hartnett’s article referenced above.
We live in a galactocentric universe: Standard Big Bang theory has it that the universe has neither a centre nor an edge which is an assumption, called the Cosmological Principle, designed to avoid the earth being a special place. If the Earth was special in any way, it would imply design and thus a Designer which flies in the face of atheistic evolutionary belief. When Edwin Hubble discovered the redshift in the spectra of stars and galaxies and interpreted them as distance (known as the Hubble Law), he was horrified at the implication that the Earth could be in a special place. He wrote: ‘Such a condition [red shifts] would imply that we occupy a unique position in the universe … But the unwelcome supposition of a favoured location must be avoided at all costs … [and] is intolerable … moreover, it represents a discrepancy with the theory because the theory postulates homogeneity.’1
Recent surveys3,4 have measured the galactic redshift for around 250,000 galaxies and have revealed an over abundance of galaxies at certain redshifts in which the data departs from the expected theoretical distribution in a series of large spikes. A straightforward interpretation of this data is that the galaxies are distributed with a spherical shell-like symmetry with the Milky Way galaxy at or near the centre! Such a result is entirely consistent with the biblical picture but is at odds with standard big bang beliefs and is not consistent with the Cosmological Principle.
In at least 11 places, the Scriptures speak of God ‘stretching out the heavens’ (e.g. Job 9:8, Isaiah 40:22 and 42:5, Jeremiah 10:12, Zechariah 12:1) and in Genesis 1:15 the words ‘And it was so.’ are recorded in connection with the events of Day 4 of Creation Week, implying the completion of the events described on that Day. It is a reasonable conclusion to draw that God stretched out the heavens to the vast extent of the observable universe in just one 24 hour day and then ceased the action of ‘stretching out’. This is more rational than the inflation fudge of big bangers discussed above. That is, where the universe just happened to expand much faster than light, although there is no known physical cause for starting or stopping this superluminal expansion.
We should also note that God created the Earth first before the sun, moon and stars (and by inference the planets etc) so it would seem reasonable to assume the universe was stretched out with the Earth at or very near its centre. Furthermore, Psalm 147:4 and Isaiah 40:26 imply that there is a finite number of stars in the universe. So, the Bible seems to teach that we live in a finite universe that has, at the very least, our Milky Way galaxy at its centre.
We now have the keys to understanding how starlight can reach us from such vast distances in just a few thousand years of Earth time. The days of the Creation Week were recorded from the point of view of an observer on the earth so the time reference in Genesis is Earth time. On Day 4, as God commenced stretching out the heavens, the mass of the universe (presumably including the ‘waters above’ which were separated out on Day 2) would have been confined to a much smaller volume of space than is the case today. Assuming the Hartnett–Carmeli theory is correct, the Universe rapidly expanded with massive time dilation as a result of very rapid acceleration of the fabric of space on Day 4. By the end of Day 4, when God completed his work of creating the sun, moon and stars, and had stretched out the heavens to their vast extent, billions of years of cosmic time could have elapsed at the outer edges of the cosmos in just one 24 hour earth day. There would have been more than enough time for the light from distant stars to have reached the earth so that when Adam gazed at the night sky on that sixth night he would have seen much the same as what we see today.
6,000 years have passed since the Creation Week. If the models outlined above are correct, the light we see today from any star that is greater than 6,000 light years away from the earth will have originated on Day 4 itself. This would include most of the visible stars, all of which are part of the Milky Way galaxy. We are effectively looking at God’s creative activity on Day 4 as we gaze into the universe!
So what do we make of supernova 1987A? At 170,000 light years away we are looking at an event that occurred on Day 4 but whose light did not reach us until 1987.
Is an exploding star consistent with a perfect creation? God said that the stars were created to be for signs and seasons (Genesis 1:14) and God foreknew all that would happen right from the very beginning. What to us seems to be destruction is actually just a physical process which does not necessarily denote any lack of perfection in the original creation. Importantly, there is no loss of biblical life involved (the creatures affected by death brought about by the Fall were those the Bible calls נֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה (nephesh chayyāh)).6
Another excellent resource on the light travel dilemma is previewed in the video below.
When Jesus rose again from the dead, He defeated death!
Death died when Christ rose. Easter was the death of death.
Of all events in history, there’s none more significant than the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave. When Jesus came to this earth, lived a perfect life, died a perfect death, and rose again from the dead, He changed everything.
This selfless act was for me, for you, for everyone.
Imagine the disappointment the disciples felt when Jesus was murdered and taken away from them. But He promised that He would rise from the dead.
The women who went to the tomb together to anoint His dead body were not expecting to see a risen Lord. But an angel told them, “Don’t be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Look, this is where they laid his body” (Mark 16:6 NLT).
Jesus changed everything. That’s the meaning of Easter and the reason for my unshakeable hope.
The resurrection of Jesus teaches us our hope goes beyond the grave.
Jesus took death on and defeated it. When Jesus came back from the dead, hope came with Him. This hope is for everyone, especially the broken.
Jesus rose in an actual body in a physical world in a tangible way.
The Bible tells us, “But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died. So, you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man” (1 Corinthians 15:20–21 NLT).
The resurrection of Jesus assures me:
I am accepted by God. Romans 4:45 says, “He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.”
I have all the power I need to live a Christian life. Romans 8:11 says, “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”
I will live forever in Heaven and receive a new body like His. Colossians 3:4 assures us with these words. “When Christ, who is our life, appears, you shall be like Him.”
I will have resurrected relationships. “Since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died” (1 Thessalonians 4:14).
Article extracted from presentation by Greg Laurie, pastor of Harvest Churches California.
Hundreds of different programs are used by cells to function efficiently. Who designed and created these programs? And what about all the manufacturing units and distribution machinery in every cell the programs control?
Mass media, YouTube, and the modern form of (mis)education
Much of the indoctrination in evolution, defined as litter → LUCA (Last Universal Common Ancestor) → Laureates, is currently being conducted through mass media and YouTubers. Very few read or are qualified to understand, the primary evolutionary literature. Middlemen produce interpretations, having a veneer of vague, conceptual plausibility, with a generous sprinkle of technical terms thrown in.
One YouTuber who has engaged in many online video debates with creation scientists and Intelligent Design supporters reviewed Maury’s paper and educated his followers with the missing details for how amyloids supposedly led to the modern genetic system. Disturbingly, more people see videos like these than are critically evaluating the primary literature.
With supreme confidence, the YouTuber explained:
“And ATP is another naturally occurring energy source near hydrothermal vents. So, we know that amyloids have ATPase activity they can utilize the energy of ATP to do work. And once you develop this interaction between amyloids and ATP, it’s only a matter of time until you start having refinements into the information storing system. The stringing of ATP and different triphosphate nucleotides together into DNA and RNA, the incorporation of lipids which are again found naturally at hydrothermal vents and which spontaneously formed bilayer membranes; as well as the creation of protein enzymes to do specific function.”
Addressing all the errors in this one paragraph alone required a full paper (Truman, R., Amyloids and ATP fictitious chemistry)
Our concern is that careless wording by evolutionary scientists and those embellishing and passing on errors are seriously misguiding many.
Evolution theory and the influence of science fiction
Norbert Wiener, the founder of Control Theory, showed that information is a real entity and that reality can only be understood by considering the effects of matter, energy, and information. Downgrading the meaning of information instead of using well-understood concepts to describe matter leads to serious mistakes. Not only is what philosophers call a category mistake created, but a tendency is increasing in the origin of life community to replace hard scientific work with vague imagery.
If design is so readily detectable outside science, and if its detectability is one of the key factors keeping scientists honest, why should design be barred from the content of science? Why do Dawkins and Crick feel compelled to constantly remind us that biology studies things that only appear to be designed, but insist they are not designed? Why couldn’t biology study things that are designed?
The biological community’s response to these questions has been to resist design absolutely, which is absurd.
Dr. Scott Todd, an immunologist at Kansas State University, said: “Even if all the data point to an intelligent designer, such a hypothesis is excluded from science because it is not naturalistic.” Ref: Todd, Scott C., correspondence to Nature 401, num. 6752 (September 30, 1999):423
“For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.”For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.” Romans 1:19-23
The author of this article is Marlon De Blasio. He is a cultural apologist, Christian writer, and the author of Discerning Culture: Knowing the Depths of Scriptural Christianity in a Culture of Scriptural Indifference.
The Christian faith claims “The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth … his understanding is unsearchable” (Isaiah 40:28). How can this be verified to the satisfaction of an inquiring mind? Even committed Christian thinkers know that the cliches, “by faith,” “by experience” or “by biblical analyses,” do not necessarily satisfy questioners. Nevertheless, I believe the Eternal God can be known personally and intellectually to satisfy rational thought.
Perhaps some expect me to provide a concrete reference that explains God’s origin. I must genuinely submit that this expectation is not reasonable. Even if I were to prove indisputably that “A” brought God into existence, the skeptic would then ask who/what created “A”? These demands could continue ad infinitum into absurdity. They lead to a fallacious line of thinking.
Knowledge does not require an explanation for its explanations to be true. For example, aviators know how much fuel is required to reach a destination and this workable knowledge is true without an explanation of where the computational values originated. We could attempt to investigate the origins, but only after we have acknowledged the computational values.
Likewise, a questioner must acknowledge God’s existence before asking where He came from. If God does not exist, the question is senseless. “Where did God come from?” is a question that is committed to His existence. In other words, a sincere questioner seeks an answer that informs about God and not about whether or not He exists. The question does have a correct answer, and even if one were to reject it that would not negate the actual existence of God.
Further, the Design Argument is often challenged by the question, who designed the Designer? Note that this question does not refute the argument. The argument is compelling and so the question is an attempt to avoid the conclusion by conflating the issue into confusion. The explanation that something is designed can be true regardless of what we know about the designer. I can understand why such an irrelevant question is asked because the questioner doesn’t like where the conversation is going.
Knowledge of the Christian faith is always rigorously challenged. Unlike other knowledge, concessions to a tenet of Christianity could entail moral accountability. Christian thinkers offer explanations that are often compelling, and so a skeptic who wishes to escape accountability often spins the content. Confusion is then deemed as a warrant for unbelief.
In Christian theology, God is eternal. He is without beginning and without end. He is the ultimate ground of reality. That is why we refer to Him as God. The question of “Where did God come” from is purposeless unless it’s asked with theological curiosity. As a young Christian, I remember asking a pastor what God was doing before He created us and the universe. The pastor explained that we don’t know, and although it was a fair question it had no bearing on our relationship with Him as He has decided to reveal Himself to us. Since then, I have grown to understand that in a human lifetime, there is no way we could understand everything about God.
Limited knowledge of God does not equate to His non-existence. On the contrary, it means that our knowledge of God is finite as we are finite beings grappling with the One whose “understanding is unsearchable.” Theologically and philosophically, it’s reasonable to believe and conclude that reality has an ultimate ground. For a Christian, there is a consciousness of God’s presence within (Holy Spirit) that is also informed intellectually. We experience and understand God exactly as the biblical writers revealed: “Your throne is established from of old; you are from everlasting” (Psalms 93:2). What was understood and experienced of God thousands of years ago has been real to subsequent generations of believers, as well as to us today. We comprehend meaningfully that, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).
A questioner is sincere only if committed to exploring the attributes of God, and then making up one’s own mind about personal salvation in Christ. Isn’t it reasonable to consider that God is the ultimate ground of reality? It makes philosophical sense; otherwise, we regress into absurdity. All the evil, selfishness and ill will we encounter have a remedy in Jesus Christ. It’s a fact that throughout history the Gospel has transformed countless lives, and continues to do so today. Isn’t it intellectually honest to read and investigate this Good News for oneself? Questions are meaningful only when we are genuinely open to considering the answers.
I have a question for the skeptic who asks, who created God? That is, if you somehow discovered that the Christian faith is true would you become a Christian? If you were to answer, no, then you should shift focus on why you would answer, no. It will reveal a great deal about your own questions.
$1.2 Trillion Bill Funds Teen Trans Programs and Abortion to 22 Weeks
A sprawling, $1.2 trillion U.S.A. government funding bill includes funding for abortion facilities, as well as LGBTQ activist centers that carry out transgender injections, target minors, hold drag shows, and help illegal immigrants who identify as gay or transgender gain U.S. citizenship — a bill one congressman calls “a total, total abomination.”
$400,000 requested by Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) for Briarpatch Youth Services in Fitchburg, Wisconsin. The group promises to hide minors’ struggle with gender dysphoria from their parents while indoctrinating teens in extreme gender ideology. Its “Queer 101 Training” promises to teach “an intersectional understanding of queer oppression” and aims “to demonstrate how limiting the ‘male’ and ‘female’ binary is.” The organization offers “individual counseling services” for children “ages 12-17,” in which a “[c]ounselor can work with children on exploring identity, resiliency, and creating a Gender Support Plan for school support and advocacy.” The group’s website says, “Youth do NOT need parent/guardian permission to join Teens Like Us. We understand not all youth are at a point in their lives where they can safely and confidently ‘come out.’” (Emphasis in original.) The group’s “Queer 101 Training” aims “to demonstrate how limiting the ‘male’ and ‘female’ binary is.”
$400,000 requested by Senator Bob Casey (D-Pa.) for the Mazzoni Center in Philadelphia, which carries out transgender hormone shots, clears the way for transgender surgeries, advertises transgender services for minors, and holds drag show fundraisers. Mazzoni carries out cross-sex hormone injections and provides medical letters for transgender surgeries. The center begins targeting teens with its Pediatric & Adolescent Comprehensive Transgender Services (PACTS). Its “Youth Drop In,” which is held each Wednesday night, is aimed at teens “ages 14 to 24” and notes, “Patients under 18 can receive confidential care regarding sexual and mental health without parental permission.” The Mazzoni Center both contributes to and profits from the LGBT movement. Mazzoni invited donors to mingle with “a wide range of acts that include drag queens, drag kings, trans-identifying, burlesque, and burlesque performers” at its December 3 Code Red fundraiser. “In December, fundraising for Mazzoni Center truly was a drag,” the center cracked. “Drag entertainer Cherry Pop and her fabulous friends united for the 10th annual Code Red fundraiser, a drag/variety show,” which it described as a “powerful night” for a “vital cause.”
$1,808,000 requested by Senators Sheldon Whitehouse and Jack Reed (both D-R.I.) for Women and Infants Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island, which carries out first- and second-term abortions at its Family Planning Clinic. “If you need to discuss abortion care for pregnancy, please feel free to contact the Family Planning Clinic,” states its website. Its “services” include “[s]urgical abortion under general anesthesia in the operating room for people up to 22 weeks pregnant” and “[m]edication abortion (the ‘abortion pill’) for people up to ten weeks pregnant.” The facility will also implant a potential abortifacient inside women after the abortion, advertising a “[p]ost-abortion IUD or contraceptive implant.”
$780,000 requested by Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) for Amador Health Services in Las Cruces, New Mexico, which boasts that it “can provide transgender/gender non-conforming (GNC) health education, therapeutic counseling and referrals, and additional LGBTQ+ support that puts your safety and comfort first. If you’ve felt rejected by family and loved ones, isolated from your community, or are just in need of an ear to listen, we’re here.” It also decries the “social stigma” surrounding “undocumented immigration” (e.g., illegal immigration). “[W]e’re working every day to eliminate that stigma and make all feel like they belong.”
$146,000 requested by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) for Apicha Community Health Center, for facilities and equipment. Apicha’s two locations in Manhattan and Queens advertise “transgender and gender-affirming services” — specifically “initiation and maintenance of hormone replacement therapy,” “letters of support for gender-affirming surgeries” and “help with name change process.” They also distribute potential abortifacients Plan B and IUDs.
$850,000 requested by Rep. Ayanna Pressley, and Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) for LGBTQ Senior Housing, Inc. (“The Pryde”), in Massachusetts, a controversial funding provision that House Republicans stripped out of a Transportation funding bill last year.
Adapted from an article by Ben Johnston in the Washington Stand, March 22, 2024
This government will bring down further judgement by God on the nation and only signals Jesus’ return to restore righteousness is imminent. But first He will rescue the Saints and then pour out His wrath upon an unrepentant world with the Trumpet (Revelation 8) and Bowl (Revelation 16) judgements.
In an era when biblical narratives are often relegated to the realm of mythology, the “Ark and the Darkness” documentary seeks to reframe one of history’s most debated tales: Noah’s Flood.
“There are a lot of misconceptions about the flood. Hollywood not only doesn’t represent the true biblical account, they add a lot of mythologies and a lot of themes that are just clearly not biblical. … The two biggest misconceptions would be mythologizing the flood, saying it’s an allegory, it didn’t really happen. The other one that’s actually within Christian circles is, ‘It was just a local flood, God’s judgment was only pertaining to the people living in Mesopotamia Valley.’ … Our movie shows it wasn’t an allegory; it happened in real-time just thousands of years ago, and it was a worldwide event.”
“The Ark and the Darkness,” from Sevenfold Films in collaboration with Genesis Apologetics, bridges the gap between various scientific disciplines — geology, paleontology, the study of fossils, ancient civilizations, volcanic activity, and Earth sciences — all pointing unanimously to the reality of Noah’s Flood.
The documentary features experts, including scientists from Answers in Genesis and Liberty University, like Dr. Andrew Snelling, paleontologist Dr. Gabriela Haynes and researcher and speaker Dr. Terry Mortenson, who uncover the factual basis of Noah’s Flood.
The film hit theaters on Wednesday and Thursday.
Biddle pointed to a variety of scientific findings he said corroborate the biblical account, including the discovery of bioorganic materials in dinosaur bones, which suggests they were buried rapidly and relatively recently.
“There’s no way that these tissues could have lasted for millions upon millions of years,” he said.
The documentary, directed by Ralph Strean, explores the Morrison Formation, a geological site spanning 13 states in the middle of America, which contains a vast number of dinosaur fossils intermingled with marine life.
“How could you take a 13-state zone region and bury land creatures and marine creatures together over that much of an expanse?” Biddle asked. “The answer has to be a worldwide flood.”
Beyond presenting physical evidence, “The Ark and the Darkness” also delves into the implications of Noah’s Flood for understanding the state of the world today. Drawing parallels between the days of Noah and contemporary times, Biddle highlighted a perceived increase in lawlessness and moral decay, echoing biblical prophecies of the End Times.
“We just look around the world today, and it seems like a stage is being set for some interesting things,” he said. “I’m not a doomsayer, I’m not a sensationalist, I’m not even really a prepper. But I would just say that most Christians nowadays can look around the landscape and say, ‘Yeah, there’s a lot of shift going on.’ It’s not a time to be fearful. It’s a time to trust in the Lord, to run in our lanes, and to trust Him for both our short-term lives and what’s going to happen in a longer play. Jesus Himself draws that parallel between the flood and End Times, and so we do the same thing in the movie.”
The film counters evolutionary arguments, suggesting that Noah’s Ark could indeed have housed representatives of all animal kinds necessary to repopulate the Earth post-flood. Biddle challenged the notion that the ark’s capacity would have been insufficient, proposing that only around 7,000 animals were needed to account for the biodiversity seen today.
“One of the most popular allegations is … there’s no way that Noah could have taken all of those different species on Earth today on the ark because there are millions and millions of species. … But that’s one of the things that the Bible addresses straight out of Genesis and chapter one,” he said.
“The experts at Answers in Genesis believe that you only need 7,000 animals total on the ark to reproduce all the different species and all the different breeds that we see today. So that would be one aspect of how we go against evolution theory in the movie,” Biddle added.
Biddle also expressed concern over the growing trend among Christians to interpret the story of Noah’s Flood as allegorical rather than historical.
“We hear a lot of people say they’re just New Testament Christians,” he said. “If that’s true, please explain to me the Gospel without citing Genesis, and no one can do it.”
Biddle stressed that understanding the Gospel’s message of salvation is impossible without acknowledging the reality of sin introduced through Adam in the Garden of Eden. According to Biddle, denying the historical truth of events like Noah’s Flood undermines the entire biblical narrative, including the teachings of Jesus and the writings of New Testament authors who referenced the flood as a factual event.
“It really cripples the Gospel message to say that either the garden or Adam or the flood was a myth,” he said.
Biddle hopes viewers, regardless of their religious or scientific background, reconsider the historical validity of Noah’s Flood.
“I think every person who watches this movie, from a hardened, licensed geologist who’s a complete atheist all the way to a homeschool Christian who believes every word of Scripture, … will be shifted, shifted towards believing more about historic Christianity,” he said. “It would be really hard to sit through an hour and 52 minutes worth of this avalanche of evidence and not come out believing, ‘My gosh, I think they have a case.’ And, we do.”
Great message from Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis. Make sure you visit their website http://www.answersingenesis.org. He omits what is next for this planet hence my addendum.
In an attempt to accept evolutionary ideas about the age of the earth (millions of years), many Christians try to add long ages somewhere into Genesis. Sometimes Christians will argue that the days of creation were not literal 24-hour days, that there was a time gap between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2, or that Genesis is just poetry. But any attempt to put millions of years into Genesis puts millions of years of death, suffering, and disease before sin—and that’s a big problem!
The Bible teaches that God’s original creation was “very good” (Genesis 1:31) and that death is the consequence of Adam’s sin (Genesis 2:17). Death did not exist in creation until after Adam’s sin.
“Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” Romans 5:12
“For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” 1 Corinthians 15:21–22
Although those passages refer specifically to human death, they are also discussing death in general. Other passages like Romans 8:22 make it clear that the whole world is groaning because of sin, and this includes the animal world. Taking Scripture with Scripture, it’s obvious there was no death, disease, or suffering of human or animal (nephesh) life before sin.
This is a big problem for those who believe in millions of years because those long ages supposedly come from the rock layers and fossils. Now, fossils are, of course, dead things, so if those rock layers are millions of years old, there’s been millions of years of death beforeAdam and Eve. And not just death, but also, millions of years of diseases and suffering, animal carnivory (but in God’s original creation everything was vegetarian, see Genesis 1:29–30), and thorns and thistles (a consequence of sin, Genesis 3:18).
Millions of years is incompatible with the Bible’s teaching about death!
Death is not a natural part of creation; it’s not something that has existed for millions of years—it’s an enemy (1 Corinthians 15:26), an intruder into God’s once “very good” creation.
As Christians, we cannot accept millions of years and remain faithful to the plain meaning of Scripture. So how old is the earth? Well, God created everything in six days, and then Genesis 5 and 11 give us detailed genealogies that allow us to determine how many years passed between Adam and Abraham (about 2,000 years). We know about 2,000 years passed between Abraham and Jesus, and then 2,000 more years gets us from Christ to us today. So, starting with the Bible’s history, the universe, earth, and life is only about 6,000 years old.
Yes, we live on a young earth impacted by death because of sin. But someday Jesus will return and create a new heavens and a new earth where death and suffering will be done away with and everyone who has placed their faith and trust in Jesus will live with him forever.
Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying, Ken
A great message from Ken Ham except he left out the 1000 years Jesus will rule over the nations on this Earth with some, if not all of the glorified Saints. We have had 6000 years of Satan’s dominion over the Earth, next is Jesus’ Millennial Kingdom, and only then will this Earth be destroyed. The second resurrection of all of the dead will take place followed by Jesus’ White Throne judgement. It is only after the White Throne judgement that John sees the new Heaven and new Earth.
“Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened…Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.” Revelation 20:11-12
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.”Revelation 21:1-3
Christians are at risk of being branded “extremists” under the UK government’s new definition of extremism published this week, a campaign group has warned.
The new definition says that “extremism is the promotion or advancement of an ideology based on violence, hatred or intolerance, that aims to” among other things “negate or destroy the fundamental rights and freedoms of others.”
Christian Concern said that Christians who are pro-life, gender-critical, or have traditionalist beliefs about marriage might fall foul of the new definition.
Christians who are pro-life could be seen as being opposed to an ‘assumed fundamental right’ to abortion and thus to be intolerant and hence extremist. It is already the case that being anti-abortion is on a Prevent list of ideologies.
Prevent is a national program “that aims to stop people from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism seen as potential extremism”, the organisation said.
Christian Concern said that the new extremism definition was “vague” and could lead to Christians being excluded from influencing government policy.
Andrea Williams, chief executive of Christian Concern, said the definition was “not fit for purpose” and that she expected to see more Christians being reported to Prevent.
“It is absurd that Christians could be deemed ‘extremist’ for believing in real marriage or for being pro-life,” she said.
“Christian Concern has supported Christians referred to Prevent for expressing their Christian beliefs. The new definition of extremism should have ensured this would not happen again.
“Sadly, I now expect to see more referrals of Christians to Prevent, not less.”
She called on the government to clarify that ‘fundamental rights’ do not include abortion, same-sex marriage, or identifying as the opposite sex.
“Without this clarification, Christians who express their legitimate belief that marriage is between a man and a woman would risk being deemed ‘extremist’ by the government,” she said.
Over the eight years, I have been posting on Living Eternal Now persecution of Christians has been escalating and many other end times prophecies are being fulfilled. Thank goodness, God has told us what will unfold as we approach the time of Jesus second coming. Jesus told us it would be like the days of Noah when God poured out His wrath upon the earth for the first time; godlessness and lawlessness will abound.
The American Bible Society will be closing down its Faith and Liberty Discovery Center, around three years after the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based museum, which cost around $60 million, had opened.
The museum held its grand opening ceremony in July of 2021, coinciding with the city’s annual Wawa Welcome America Festival, with the ABS proclaiming that “guests can explore 25,000 square feet of interactive gallery space featuring groundbreaking technology.”
The press release cited “structural limitations,” the impact of the COVID-19 lockdowns, and “other factors impacting sustainability” as the reasons for closing.
The center struggled from the onset, receiving only around $54,000 in ticket sales for the tax year of July 1, 2021, to June 30, 2022, while reporting total expenses of around $11 million, according to a statement of revenue.
The new Bible Society CEO Jennifer Holloran said, “The Faith and Liberty Discovery Center has served as a place of exceptional learning and inspiration since its doors opened.” and “We look forward to reimagining what the future of content could look like through a publicly accessible, digitized format,” she added. I suppose she had to say something positive.
The Faith and Liberty Discovery Centre Executive Director Rob Wonderling was quoted in the press release as saying that it had been “an honor to serve the Faith and Liberty Discovery Center and witness the many ways it has spurred inspiration, engagement, and personal discovery over the years at the heart of Independence Mall.” “The center was an innovative vision for sharing the importance of Scripture and I’m proud of the role our dedicated staff played in its mission,” Wonderling continued.
Opened in May 2021, the center was located on Philadelphia’s Independence Mall and sought to educate people of all religious views about the impact of Christianity on American history. The fact it has closed just 3 years after opening is a sad indictment on the Bible Society and no doubt the reason it now has a new CEO.
It is also clear from the lack of interest in the Faith and Liberty Discovery Centre that the USA no longer honours God’s Word. “IN GOD WE TRUST” is on the USA currency but the nation no longer believes God is in control of world events, and Gen Z does not believe that He even exists.
Over the past several years, the Family Research Council has been tracking acts of hostility against churches in the United States. Between January 2018 and November 2023, at least 915 acts of hostility occurred. The types of acts include vandalism, arson, gun-related incidents, bomb threats, and more.
In 2023, the Family Research Council identified 436 incidents—more than double the number identified in 2022 and more than eight times the number identified in 2018. These findings suggest that hostility against U.S. churches is not only on the rise but also accelerating.
From January to November 2023, there were at least 315 occurrences of vandalism, 75 arson attacks or attempts, 10 gun-related incidents, 20 bomb threats, and 37 other incidents. Seventeen incidents fell into multiple categories. Criminal acts of vandalism and destruction of church property may be symptomatic of a collapse in societal reverence and respect for houses of worship and religion.
Although the motivations for many of these incidents remain unknown, the rise in crimes against churches is taking place in a context in which American culture appears increasingly hostile to Christianity. Criminal acts of vandalism and destruction of church property may be symptomatic of a collapse in societal reverence and respect for houses of worship and religion—in this case, churches and Christianity. Americans appear increasingly comfortable lashing out against church buildings, pointing to a larger societal problem of marginalizing core Christian beliefs, including those that touch on hot-button political issues related to human dignity and sexuality. Attacks on houses of worship may also signal a discomfort with religion in general.
We should not be surprised because all three Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke record what Jesus told the disciples about the intense persecution of Christians that will take place before Jesus returns, first to rescue His Saints, then pour out His wrath upon the unrepentant, and finally to restore righteousness during His Millennial reign on this Earth.
“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” Matthew 24:9-14
“And brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death. And you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” Mark 13:12-13
“You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. You will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives.” Luke 21:16-19
LIVING ETERNAL NOW 