CHURCH AS JESUS INTENDED

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Returning to a no-frills practice of following Jesus will be good for all of us. We will remember what our faith is all about. This is why in the last days before Jesus returns He needs to purify His church. Apostasy in denominational churches is rife as demonstrated by the acceptance of gay marriage and homosexual pastors. They no longer believe in the inerrancy of God’s Word. Like the world, they have been caught up in the evolutionary myth of billions of years of Earth’s history. They no longer believe that God judged mankind with the worldwide flood of Noah’s day and yet it is the only explanation for the existence of billions of dead things buried quickly all over the world, including the fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas (the result of buried forests). They have discounted both Noah’s flood and the short timescale of Scripture determined by Genesis 1-11. When you study geology from a biblical standpoint and use the geological model of the Flood to connect the real-world observations of geology you discover it is superior to the prevailing old-earth frameworks in explaining the data. (Biblical Geology 101 by Michael Oard and Robert Carter 2021).

An exciting training development, one which could help us prepare for church without buildings, has gained great popularity in the body of Christ over the past several years by readying people for possible service on the mission field, particularly among Muslims. TOAG, or “Training Ordinary Apprentices to Go,” (Global Mobilisation Network). It seeks to teach people to “do church” in small group settings, away from large worship gatherings that will not be available abroad. Participants spend ten months learning how to reach unreached people groups and develop an authentic community in a small group setting. Families with children are welcomed in, and future workers for Christ are much better prepared than earlier generations of believers. I’ve heard from a few that have participated in TOAG that it is difficult, yet rewarding. The method’s founders state the goal of the training: During TOAG, interns learn to be a Kingdom Community without including Western structures that often hinder movements. They experience life in community with other interns, something more akin to the Book of Acts. By taking them out of present ecclesiastical structures, which include powerful (& professional) music, well-crafted homilies (by highly trained professionals) in safe, comfortable surroundings (expensive buildings), interns experience first-hand what is and is not required for believers to be a ‘Kingdom-Community,’ experimenting with simple, organic structures capable of sharing the life-changing power of God’s Kingdom and reproducing into movements. … These are just some of the reasons why many Americans benefit from the hands-on learning experience of TOAG.

We need to prepare for the prophesied persecution that is coming and expect God to grow us through it as never before. Literally, millions of Christians around the world can testify to this truth, as Paul testified clearly in this Scripture.

“We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” Romans 5:3-5:

Whether you use TOAG or some other training method you need to get with like-minded believers who understand the times and get into step with what God is calling us to do in these last days to make sure we complete the Great Commission in the community where God has placed us.

Check out http://www.lastdaysovercomer.org for the free ebook Prepare for the Last Days – Fulfilling God’s Purposes at the End of the Age.

SOCIETY DIVIDED: PRIVILEGED V. VICTIMS

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What they are promoting in our universities and colleges: Critical Theory insists that societies are oppressed by a hegemony of powerful ruling interests. People can be divided between those who are complicit with the hegemony and those who resist it. God does not exist. He is not a consideration. Evolution and billions of years did away with God and His Word. Take away the Creator God who made man in His image. the origin of death – man’s sin of rebellion, then who needs a Saviour? Who needs Jesus?

Humanity is viewed as divided between powerful privileged groups and powerless victim groups (and their declared allies).

‘Resource equity’ is the phrase used to demand equal outcomes between groups. In terms of knowledge, only those who have lived experience of suffering oppression can claim true knowledge of that oppression. In academic circles, this is referred to as ‘standpoint theory’. Different people have access to different truths. Those deemed to have multiple layers of privilege may be stripped of any right to comment on the position of those with less privilege. They are not allowed to question their claims.

They may be banned from speaking in public (‘Noplatforming’ is barring someone from speaking because they do not agree with certain views). People without privilege may need to be protected from hearing any opinions which damage them. The only option for those with privilege is to declare themselves to be allies of those without privilege (i.e. accept their accounts of ‘truth’). Proponents of critical theory know that their claims can’t be exposed to external critique. They have the ‘hidden knowledge’ of lived experience.

MULTIPLE TRUTHS

In 2017, Evergreen College in Washington State in the USA hit international headlines. The socially progressive president had been encouraging students to oppose any perceived discrimination, and he had an informal system of labelling faculty as either allies or enemies.

One of the teaching staff, Professor Bret Weinstein, asserted in an email: On a college campus, one’s right to speak — or to be — must never be based on skin color. But Weinstein was told by colleagues that ‘there are multiple versions of “truth” that exist at once’. And he was warned to accept the experience of minority students without question: If our students are telling us … that they are experiencing a hostile environment, we must take our students at their word. On one level, there’s still the belief that there’s no universal truth. But some activists imply that those without privilege have access to a truth that the privileged can never enjoy. The only hope for the privileged is to sign up as allies of those without privilege.

A free society should ensure equal opportunities. All human beings made in God’s image should have the opportunity to flourish. But human beings are different. There will always be a wide variety of abilities, competence, energy, motivation, and integrity. Enforcing equal outcomes demands social engineering on a vast scale. It assumes state intervention in every aspect of life. It signals the end of a free society.

God’s Word tells us that this would be the state of the world prior to Jesus’ second coming to restore righteousness. We are yet to see it, but we are heading for a one-world government, the Antichrist and the Mark of the Beast.

INJUSTICE MULTIPLIED

Critical Legal Theory: Use the Law to Right Past Wrongs: Ideas like ‘equality before the law’ and ‘justice is blind’ were part of the ‘hegemony’ of power by which the privileged kept victims oppressed.

Critical Legal Theory: New Injustices Perpetrated If someone is part of a victim class, their crime may be excused if it is thought to result from their disadvantage. We are no longer equal before the law.

‘Hate’ legislation means that if an alleged victim (or someone else) ‘perceives’ that hate has motivated a crime, then the sentence can be heavier. The law is a means by which to advance the ‘progressive’ agenda (e.g. abortion rights, same-sex marriage, or self-declaration of gender). Justice is no longer blind. Judges take on too much power when they create laws rather than applying laws.

A BREAKDOWN IN THE LOGIC OF CIVILISATION

Critical theory aims to dissolve the universe of meaning by denying the existence of objective universal truth.

If we can’t appeal to reason and logic there can be no reasoned debate. On what shared basis can civilisation continue? Such a society is vulnerable to tyranny. The subjective judgements of the loudest voices win. Those who resort to violence and intimidation are given a free pass. The great political philosopher Edmund Burke observed: Rage and frenzy will pull down more in half an hour than prudence, deliberation, and foresight can build up in a hundred years. Burke was writing in the context of the French Revolution. The dream of equality led straight to the ‘reign of terror’. Once universal truth has been denied, discrete groups claim their own ‘truth’ (aka experience of oppression) which others cannot comprehend. Reasoned debate is not an option. Violence is the only possible means to the end of perfect equality. That threatens the basic logic of civilisation.

Fortunately, Christians can affirm with confidence that there is such a thing as objective universal truth. And we are able to communicate with others, whatever their group identity because all human beings have been given the priceless gift of reason by their Creator.

“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 24:12-14

HOW CRITICAL RACE THEORY HAS DESTROYED WESTERN CIVILISATION

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As confidence faded in the bogus claims of modernism, you might hope there would be a turning back to God (the external authority who defines reality and truth). But that would mean submitting to God’s moral demands. By nature, we rebel against those demands and think that real freedom comes from doing what we want. Given the choice between submission to God or freedom without boundaries, the false utopia of unlimited liberty proves irresistible.

Western civilisation was built on the biblical worldview: respect for the individual as created in God’s image; the rule of law (rulers are accountable to God); and the creation patterns of family and work. Unprecedented numbers of people across the globe had been liberated from the grinding poverty of subsistence economies. Wealth creation had been made possible by the encouragement of innovation as well as the Christian work ethic. In a world made up of human individuals, respecting individual freedom won’t ever achieve exact equality of outcomes. Freedom allows for natural variation in competence and motivation. And there will never be perfect justice in a fallen world. But in countries influenced by the Christian worldview, inequalities have been mitigated by the Christian virtues of generosity, compassion, and social responsibility. Injustices have been challenged, and often addressed, by a variety of reform movements.

Rather than continuing such campaigns for reform, radical activists of the twentieth century set out to subvert, and ultimately destroy, Western civilisation. They regarded it as irredeemably corrupted with ideas that sustained unequal outcomes. Marx believed that workers needed to be liberated from capitalism by means of violent revolution (which would also destroy the married family, the church, and sovereign states, i.e. those institutions which propped capitalism up). By the 1920s, outside of Russia, efforts to incite violent revolt had failed. A long-term strategy of changing hearts and minds was needed.

ENTER CRITICAL THEORY TO DESTABILIZE HIERARCHIES

In the 1930s, Critical Theory developed in the Frankfurt school from scholars such as Horkheimer and Adorno with an emphasis on examining and deconstructing fascism and mass media.

Horkheimer and other radical thinkers downplayed the need to smash capitalism by means of violent revolution. They set out, instead, to undermine the ideas which propped up the establishment. Any beliefs incompatible with revolutionary thought must be silenced. Calls for ‘free speech’ would be re-defined as a repressive effort to prop up the status quo. But how do you get people to repudiate the old ideals of freedom and dignity? Get them to question the concept of truth and the meaning of language. Tell them that ‘freedom’ and ‘dignity’ are ‘just words’ and ‘words have no universal meaning’. Persuade them that those transcendent ideals are a fraud exploited by the powerful elites (the ‘hegemony’) in order to sustain their own selfish interests. Prompt them to think that believing such stuff is ‘false consciousness’.

During the twentieth century, first universities, then all the institutions of Western society, were invaded by the ‘virus’ of radical doubt built upon the theory of evolution that argues the Cosmos derived from the Big Bang. Critical theory hijacked certainty about everything. This theory was built on a lie. It began with the false premise that there is no transcendent reality – no Creator God.

From that, they concluded that the world of perception is a product of human activity. We make our own reality. As Horkheimer considered the ‘authoritarian structure’ of capitalist society, he and others concluded that the problem with liberalism (free societies) was that people were free to sort themselves into the ‘illusory harmonies’ which allow natural inequalities to exist (because of the distribution of various abilities).

According to critical theory, all hierarchies are oppressive.

The pseudo-stability of Western capitalism disguises the rotten reality. Multitudes are psychologically oppressed by inequality. This stability can only be shaken if the ideas underpinning it are challenged. Everything must be questioned. There are no universal ‘truths’. All is relative. ‘Natural privileges’ must be forcibly eliminated in order to iron out inequality.

In 1950 Adorno published The Authoritarian Personality. The traditional family was painted as a repressive institution that brainwashed people into giving up individual liberty, and conditioned them into accepting ‘father figures’. They were then softened up to demonstrate blind patriotism and acceptance of dictatorship. Adorno presented traditional ideas about family, religion, or patriotism as pathological. Capitalising on a revulsion against Hitler’s atrocities, Adorno and his colleagues labelled all authority as ‘fascist’. For the American audience, Adorno packaged the demand for revolution in the language of democracy. If you control language, you control the debate. In order to shift popular thinking from belief in absolute morality to acceptance of relativism, he redefined the concept of ‘phobia’ (an irrational fear) to make it refer to moral disapproval of certain behaviours. He associated ‘phobia’ with ‘bigotry’. People with traditional and authoritarian ‘phobias’ (against homosexuality for example), he suggested, needed re-education. That tactic was spectacularly successful. By the end of the twentieth century, many clergy refused to proclaim biblical morality because they were scared of appearing ‘bigoted’.

The Establishment then agreed that the current state of society could justify ‘strongly discriminatory tolerance on political grounds’ including the ‘cancellation of the liberal creed of free and equal discussion’. Tolerance must be withdrawn from ‘regressive movements’. There should be ‘discriminatory tolerance in favor of progressive tendencies’.

This is the pretext by which you can get rid of any who believe in absolute moral standards. This is the justification for censoring those who advocate such ‘repressive ideas’ as marital fidelity, gender as fixed, heteronormativity, or childhood innocence.

Let’s summarise five of the claims of critical theory, all of which undermine confidence in any authority, whether in the home, the lecture room, the workplace, or in society.

1. ‘TRUTH CLAIMS ARE POWER GRABS’ They aimed to persuade people that truth claims are grabs for power. Words don’t ‘mean’ anything, they are ‘tools’ to achieve what the writer or speaker wants. Critical theory was influencing many university humanities programmes by the 1980s. Students were expected to assess texts, to see if the author demonstrated sexism, racism, or homophobia. Critical theory could be used to deconstruct every subject on the curriculum, as the idea of truth itself was radically undermined.

They say, we can never know any truth about the past, and say that historians have constructed the past to suit their own (usually privileged) agenda. History has been used as a tool of oppression and it can be deconstructed, or ‘un-made’ to progress the cause of liberation.

2. ‘UNIVERSAL EXPLANATIONS ARE SUSPECT’

The next step was to label ‘universal’ human values (metanarratives) as deceptive ploys to keep powerless people from rising up. ‘Metanarratives’ are narratives about narratives; overarching explanations of events. According to this thinking, rather than respecting tradition, history, faith or moral codes, we need to consult individual stories and especially non-privileged stories. The multiplicity of these experiences opens the prospect of multiple (contradictory) truths. Take the statement ‘heterosexuality is natural’. This assertion is classed as a ‘discourse’, a power grab on behalf of the heterosexual majority in order to oppress the gay minority. Critical gender theory claims that binaries such as male/female, or fact/fiction, or reason/ emotion, are used to prop up the hegemony. They must be challenged, or at least blurred. To insist on fixed categories of anything is regarded as suspect. The ‘metanarrative’ of universal human nature is challenged. There is no way of accessing a truth that is true for everyone. The claim is that powerful groups use metanarratives to oppress the powerless. Christianity is viewed as a metanarrative, and God’s moral law is regarded as a major force of repression. Denying the validity of universal morality, we are left with my story, your story, and their story.

3. ‘REASON, LOGIC, AND SCIENCE ARE TOOLS OF OPPRESSION

Asking to test truth claims by means of science or evidence is disallowed, as it’s playing the game by rules set by the privileged. ‘Tools’ used by the privileged (science, rational argument, evidence), it is said, should be replaced with the lived experience of people in oppressed groups. Authentic knowledge is achieved within different communities. People outside those groups don’t have access to that knowledge. For example, if one particular cultural group uses ‘traditional medicine’ (including witchcraft or magic) if someone outside that group wants to test that medicine scientifically, that could be viewed as cultural oppression.

The foundation of Western culture is rational (‘straight line’, logical, scientific) discourse. This was denounced as ‘male’ thinking. The bias of male thinking, the ‘rape of our minds’, must be eliminated. All human thought, it was claimed, had been communicated from the male viewpoint, and was distorted.

The universal acid of critical theory cannot be contained. By the twenty-first century, it had dissolved the category ‘woman’. Women’s studies had to be replaced by gender studies. Now there’s fierce debate about what ‘gender’ means, and whether it’s a valid concept at all. In fact, Critical Theory can be used to subvert any academic discipline.

4. ‘DON’T QUESTION MY EXPERIENCE!’

Each person is to seek their own ‘authenticity’. Everyone can decide for themselves what is right for them. Individual experience is all-important, not an external moral or religious code.

The authentic experience of each individual must be unfettered by external rules. Increasingly, propositions are assessed, not on their rational merit, but on the status (privileged or not) of the person making the claim. Ultimately, only those who are victims, or self-proclaimed allies of victims, have the right to speak at all.

5. ‘ALL AUTHORITY STRUCTURES ARE REPRESSIVE’

Politicians, clergy, teachers, and fathers, were derided as idiotic, or painted as villains. The culture of repudiation undermined those who had previously been esteemed.

‘Outdated virtues’ of respect and deference were derided as infantile grovelling. Student protests encourage violence against the police. They are accused of complicity in upholding capitalism, regarded as ‘an army of occupation’, and decried as ‘pigs’ who could legitimately be attacked, even killed.

Reading books with pictures of mummy at home and daddy going to work were deemed to be so offensive that they had to be banned in schools. Books depicting every kind of unhappy, abusive and dysfunctional home situation were introduced in their place.

In order to undermine employers one strategy was to persuade people that all wealth creation is greedy and all private property is evil. The State should control all production and own all property.

‘Smash Capitalism’ became a common rallying cry. Many of the revolutionaries also opposed sovereign nation-states. Patriotism was derided as un-progressive; nationalism was vilified as racist.

Today, a common-sense assertion, such as ‘a boy cannot be a girl’ can be denounced as an outdated truth claim. This is how far the chaos has come. It is unbelievable but when you cast off the truth of God and His values anything goes and that is what has happened to arrive at the blatantly absurd.

Biblical prophecy tells us that this would be the state of the world prior to Jesus’ return to institute His Millennial Kingdom on this earth. We are seeing the UN taking the world towards a One World Government in order to deal with the consequences of climate change, and pestilences, such as Covid 19. All leading up to the emergence of the Antichrist and the Mark of the Beast.

This article has been adapted from the book by Sharon James, Lies We Are Told, the Truth We Must Hold: Worldviews and Their Consequences . Christian Focus Publications. Kindle Edition. Another good book by this author is How Christianity Transformed the World. My only disagreement with the author is the extent to which evolution laid the foundation for critical theory in our educational establishments.

WHY YOU NEED TO SUPPORT C.M.I.

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In many ways, we live in a culture whose thinking is similar to those first century Greeks. Claiming to be wise, our society has become foolish (Romans 1:22); we have, by and large, traded belief in the Creator for the worship of evolution (and this has infiltrated the Church too). This is why Creation Ministries International (CMI), http://www.creation.com exists.

CMI’s ultimate goal is not to turn evolutionists into creationists (although that is part of it). Our vision is to see the Lord Jesus Christ honoured as Creator and Saviour of the world, yes, outside of the churches, but first inside the churches. How will others come to enquire about faith, if Christians in the churches do not believe their own book?

Once upon a time, many Western countries had at least some basic knowledge of the Bible. Our societies used to be predominantly Judeo-Christian. That is no longer so. With the advent of evolutionary ‘preaching’ at all levels of society and the ongoing suppression of biblical doctrine, all the heritage that was built upon Christendom is being eroded. Our countries have now turned into secular societies.

Just as we like to think we are enlightened here in the West, so the Greeks thought themselves wise. However, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight” (Proverbs 9:10). The Greeks, for all their interest in learning about new things, were blissfully unaware of who the Lord was, as we learn from the Apostle Paul’s trip to southern Greece (Acts 17:16–21).

Paul introduced Christ as the Creator and taught that all people stem from one man, Adam. Referring to statements by local poets, Paul demonstrated that all people are God’s direct offspring (Acts 17:28); not the most recent descendants from some evolutionary chain of being (compare Genesis 2:7)

Paul had to start by laying a biblical foundation for the people in Athens. They lacked the Genesis knowledge that was second nature for the Jews, Peter’s audience. Modern Christians often forget this critically important difference, so when they compare the results of Peter in Acts 2:41 (3,000 converts) with those of Paul in Acts 17:34 (“some … believed”), they wrongly think that Paul’s method and message were practically useless compared to Peter’s sermon. On the contrary. At CMI we realise that Paul’s accomplishment was an astounding result, miraculous even! Peter was sowing the seeds of the Gospel in good soil, but Paul had a huge challenge before him. He had to prepare the ground first, because, metaphorically speaking, it was hard (the Greeks had no Old Testament knowledge), overgrown with weeds, and littered with stumbling blocks (false knowledge, 1 Timothy 6:20)

Creation Ministries International is a missional Christian organisation. Their calling is to support the effective proclamation of the Gospel by providing credible answers that affirm the reliability of the Bible, in particular its Genesis history. Their magazines, website, and newsletters teach (make known) that other side. Our culture is biased when it comes to origins; everything must bow to evolution. CMI exists to try to balance the scales. You can help—by subscribing to, reading, and passing on Creation magazine.

This low-key form of (pre-)evangelism will help prepare people to be ready to receive—and understand—the Gospel. You could think of it as removing the weeds of evolutionary biology and the rocks of evolutionary geology! People need to realise that evolution and its millions of years are strongholds of false thinking that must be demolished (2 Corinthians 10:4–5). People will not readily understand the Gospel if they don’t know (and have confidence) that there is a Creator. He made a perfect world, but the universe was cursed because of Adam’s disobedience—it wasn’t full of carnivory and death millions of years before Adam’s existence. If people remain in ignorance (like the Greeks), they won’t grasp the key teachings of the origin of death and atonement for sin like the Jews did. They miss that biblical knowledge, so it’s ‘all Greek to them’!

Usually, it takes time for a firmly established (but false) evolutionary worldview to erode. It’s no good building the Gospel on top of the rubble of someone’s confused ideas—a solid foundation needs to be laid first.

Surprisingly, there are even some people who know and understand the foundation in Genesis, and believe it, but they have not surrendered their lives to Christ to be born again. They accept creation, but have not (yet) knelt at the foot of the Cross in repentance. It’s a spiritual matter. The last chapter in the Creation Answers Book explains how one can be saved. However, as the saying goes: “You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink”. We can and should earnestly pray for the lost. Why not pray for someone you care about right now?

A SURPRISING ECOSYSTEM IN NORTHEASTERN GREENLAND SUPPORTS THE BIBLICAL ICE AGE

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Scientists have developed a new method for discovering which animals inhabited an area. This method analyzes the environmental DNA (eDNA) in the soil from plants and animals that once lived in the region. The method was applied to the Kap København Formation in northeast Greenland, where research has been conducted for nearly 40 years. The area today is a polar desert, home to just a few plants, hares, and musk oxen. Scientists had previously found macrofossils from coniferous boreal forest trees and rich insect fauna, but they were greatly surprised by what they discovered recently.

Scientists found what they believe to be 2-Ma-old DNA, which pushed back the occurrence of ancient DNA almost 1 Ma. They obviously do not accept discoveries of DNA in dinosaurs. Comparing the eDNA to a data bank of DNA from modern plants and animals, the researchers were amazed to find DNA from mastodons, reindeer, rodents, geese, and rabbits that inhabited a forest ecosystem of poplar, spruce, cedar, and yew trees combined with present-day polar vegetation. They identified 102 genera of plants, whereas earlier paleontologists had only identified eight. Some have disputed whether the mastodon DNA is truly from a mastodon or some other elephant.

Such an ecosystem requires much warmer temperatures than today. The present-day average temperature is –17°C. The researchers estimated it would have been 10°C warmer 2 Ma ago, but there are indications that it may have been even warmer since many of the plant fossils found do not grow on permafrost. No one predicted such an ecosystem, and there are no modern analogues. One researcher was quoted as saying: “Not in a million years would you expect a mastodon up there.”

Mastodon remains are found in forests in the United States but are never found in Greenland. And reindeer supposedly had not evolved by that time, as admitted by paleogeneticist Eske Willerslev: “Reindeers, according to paleontologists, should not have survived; they shouldn’t even exist at that time.”

Biblical interpretation

Creation scientists do not accept the date of 2 Ma but have no trouble accepting that this DNA would still exist since all of this eDNA is only thousands of years old. Two Ma lies at the outer edge of DNA’s theoretical shelf life. We have two choices in determining where the organisms fit into biblical Earth history. First, the organisms could be from the worldwide Flood of Noah’s day. A great number of warm-climate Cenozoic fossils exist in the polar areas of the Northern Hemisphere. For instance, trees typical of the southeast United States are found with alligators, crocodiles, large tortoises, and lemurs on Ellesmere and Axel Heiberg Islands, and are dated as early Cenozoic. However, these fossils indicate a climate that would be too warm for the early Ice Age. For instance, sea surface temperatures would have cooled too rapidly after the Flood to sustain the observed tropical and subtropical paleo flora. Moreover, winters would have been too cold to sustain them. Furthermore, the preserved leaf-litter sequences on Axel Heiberg Island are preserved as well at the bottom of each layer as they are at the top. This indicates rapid deposition during the Flood rather than prolonged exposure afterward. Therefore, these Cenozoic fossils are from the Flood.

The other option for the Greenland eDNA is that the organisms could be left over from the Ice Age. The oceans would have been warm early in the Ice Age due to the heat produced during the Flood. The Arctic Ocean could have been over 20°C, keeping coastal areas mild by onshore airflow early in the Ice Age. Plants and animals that preferred temperate climates could have lived comfortably for hundreds of years in the far north, especially along the coastal areas of the Arctic Ocean. Considering the eDNA evidence, the organisms from northeast Greenland are typical Ice Age animals, such as reindeer and mastodons. Thus, the evidence from eDNA for northeast Greenland, in contrast with that for Axel Heiberg Island, indicates a post-Flood environment. In other words, the fossils in the Kap København Formation were buried early during the temperate climatic conditions during the post-Flood rapid Ice Age, while the Arctic Ocean was relatively warm.

How did the mammals make it to northern Greenland?

There is the question of how the animals would have been able to migrate to northern Greenland across multiple straits, the last being the Nares Strait between Ellesmere Island and Greenland (figure 1). The large mammals could have swum, especially since the water would have been relatively warm. Mammoths made it to the Channel Islands off the southern California coast by swimming since there was no land bridge. Elephants are excellent swimmers: “My research shows that modern elephants are excellent distance swimmers, among the best of all land mammals, and skilled at crossing water gaps.” Or, the animals of northeast Greenland may have been aided by log and vegetation mats left over from the Flood that would have floated for many years on the post-Flood oceans. This transportation would be especially likely for small mammals.

To be aided by log mats, the animals had to first cross the Bering Land Bridge. This land bridge was more likely exposed early in the Flood when animals could more easily journey through Siberia into Alaska, when winters were mild, not at the end of the Ice Age, when winters were colder than today. Further evidence of this early Ice Age land bridge is the finding of Columbian mammoth fossils at the bottom of Ice Age debris in central British Columbia. These mammoths could only arrive at this location from the ice-free corridor and through the Peace River water gap before the mountain ice caps inundated the lowlands of British Columbia. eDNA evidence of animals in northeast Greenland also adds to the indirect evidence that the Bering Land Bridge existed early, but not late in the Ice Age. Moreover, some log mats would still have existed for transportation. Northern Canada also needed to be warm enough for forests to grow, which need not have been large for them to shed pollen and eDNA and for animals to survive in northern Greenland.

Conclusion

Researchers were amazed to find DNA evidence of a temperate ecosystem in the Kap København Formation in northeast Greenland. The most likely explanation is that these fossils were buried during the early part of the post-Flood rapid Ice Age but the world rejects God and His Word just as the Apostle Peter warns us they would in God’s Word.

“You should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these, the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.” 2 Peter 3:2-7

Article adapted from the Creation Journal Volume 37, Issue 2, 2023 by Michael J Oard. It is the Technical Journal produced by Creation Ministries International (CMI). The must-have journal from CMI is Creation Magazine. Check it out at http://www.creation.com

ROCKS DON’T LIE – BATTLING WORLDVIEWS

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Article in Journal of Creation Volume 37, Issue 2, 2023 by Carl R. Froede, Jr, and A. Jerry Akridge

Naturalists often confuse their worldview invoking eons of geologic time with empirical science. Many are so indoctrinated with the concept of deep time they overlook conflicting evidence. A recent article, published in the monthly open-access GSA Today, demonstrates this problem. The authors state: “Astronomy and geology require contemplation of time scales and length scales far outside those of human experience. Granitic plutons are intruded and crystallized at depths ranging from a few kilometers to tens of kilometers, over durations of 10–5 [100,000] to 10–7 [10,000,000] years, at temperatures comparable to the melting temperature of gold, from magmas at least 10,000,000 times more viscous than water. Human experience is not relevant to these conditions and can be highly misleading.“

This statement assumes the Genesis Flood never occurred and humans did not exist on Earth when granite formed in the subsurface or possibly later became exposed through the erosion of the overburden. Is this statement a matter of empirical science or the projection of a naturalistic worldview?

Flood-formed granites

The formation of granite and granite landforms has been studied by many young-earth creationists (figure 1). Creationist research indicates that water-enriched granitic melts can form, move upward through the crust, and crystallize in days to weeks. This occurred during Creation Week (most likely Day 3) and also during the Flood—two periods of Earth’s past when geologic intense activity is expected based on the outline in Genesis.

The rapid creation, mobilization, and crystallization of granite would have been enhanced by aqueous conditions associated with the breaking up of the fountains of the deep with the onset of the Flood. Entrained water within the rapidly heating rocks and sediments would have decreased the melting temperature, increasing melt mobility, and enhancing its rapid crystallization.

In some instances, remaining latent heat within subsurface granitic melts/crystallized masses generated during the Flood would have allowed them to continue as heat sources up to the present age timeframe (figure 2). Today, hot springs and other geothermal areas may indicate these features.

The biblical outline of Earth’s history allows for this conceptualization and provides a framework to test our worldview relative to the development of granite.

The naturalistic perspective

While not within a period of time compatible with the Bible, some naturalists acknowledge the rapid formation, ascension, and crystallization of granitic melts is possible over short periods of time (<100,000 years). However, with little water in the slowly forming melt, naturalists envision the entire granitic formation-to-crystallization process would extend over millions of years due to the slow-moving tectonic processes essential in melt generation, movement, and eventual crystallization. During this lengthy time interval, most of the water / hydrothermal fluids within the subsurface rocks and sediments would be driven off, thereby reducing its effectiveness in generating a more mobile granite melt at lower temperatures. The naturalistic worldview imposes limits in both the conceptualization of granitic development and the empirical methods used to test its ideas.

Interestingly, pegmatites that cross-cut granites (figure 3) are postulated by naturalists as having formed and crystallized rapidly—”in days to months, not in thousands to millions of years as previously believed.” This view is not isolated, as many other petrologists invoke days to months for the formation and development of pegmatites. There is no current naturalistic model that emplaces pegmatites in a water-depleted environment. They are always associated with water-enriched feldspars, quartz, and minor trace elements within a slowly crystallizing granitic melt. Missing is the reasoning to minimize water and other hydrothermal fluids from the original granitic melt.

Battling worldviews

Understanding the conceptual geologic history of granites demonstrates the differences in worldviews between naturalists and Bible-supporting young-earth creationists. This is not a battle over empirical science, but rather over the framework of our ideas (i.e. philosophy/theology). These foundational assumptions drive the investigation of geologic features like granites. Oftentimes these foundational assumptions impede scientific progress because they limit possibilities in designing appropriate models for further testing.

Conclusions

Ultimately, through scientific testing, a dominant theory for the origin, movement, emplacement, and crystallization of granite will emerge. The naturalistic worldview rejects everything but the physical universe and its many geologic concepts operating over millions of years. Most young earth creationists accept both the physical and the supernatural—as conveyed through Scripture—in the scientific investigation of geologic features found across Earth.

Satan (the leader of a group of fallen angelic beings) wants to ensure humans leave God out of everything concerning the world he now controls due to Adam and Eve’s original sin. This is of cause absurd, Satan only rules because God has permitted him to do so within the parameters He allows. The Book of Job, given to us in God’s Word, is to show us that this is true. God has also given us the entire story of the world He created for His purposes, the Bible. Fulfilled Biblical prophecies, is all the proof we need, to know God has preserved its integrity.

We, therefore, know that God made us in His image, to be in a relationship with Him. We also know that God gave us free will and that Adam and Eve chose to disobey God giving us a fallen world with Satan and his minions controlling the lives of most of its inhabitants. God’s redemptive plan is amazing and it demonstrates how important we are to God. The second person of the Trinity, God’s son, Jesus, became a human to pay the price for our sin of rebellion, death on a wooden cross. We now have a way back into a renewed relationship with God the Father.

“Jesus said to him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

Have you accepted the wonderful offer of eternal life made possible by Jesus’ sacrifice?

Jesus made it possible for our Heavenly Father to send the Holy Spirit to indwell the spirit of all those who do accept His wonderful offer. The Holy Spirit enables believers to live a life devoted to doing the will of God. He is your counsellor, teacher, and comforter. He produces the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22) in your life and provides the gifts of the Spirit for ministry (1 Corinthians 9).

“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

LIFE HAS MEANING AND PURPOSE

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Life has meaning and purpose because there are solid, logical reasons why Super-Intelligence (God) is essential for building cell parts and us, and why evolution cannot do it. It is time to teach the true science of life. Atomic Biology is an emerging science that looks at the molecular world today. Ministries with Ph.D. scientists that address this foundational issue are Creation Ministries International (CMI) and Answers in Genesis. Check out their websites.

The Atomic Biology Institute presents the following video as a descriptive introduction to the book, “How We Are Amazingly Made” – by Dr. Jerry Bergman, Thomas W. Rogers, and Dr. Graham McClennan. Also as an introduction to the observable science of Atomic Biology featured in the book.

Evolution, by definition, having no intelligence, should now be officially out of the running as the taught cause of life.   In fact, those who are forced to continue teaching that evolution explains the origin and cause of life, are being forced to teach a lie.   This will become a growing problem for honest teachers, professors, and education leaders who do not want “Fallacy” to be their “Legacy.“

Another major factor is that because atoms have perpetual, controlled energy supplied, but not ‘Life,’ this has to be added in order for cells to live and function. Without the “breath of life,” cells could not live. Our forefathers understood by common sense, logic, and intuition that supernatural work is performed in creating humans and the food we eat.  This is why they gave credit to our Creator for His provision of food and His enormous careful works for each of us every day.

If man is not made in the image of God, nothing then stands in the way of inhumanity. If we are just products of chance and matter, then there is no purpose in history and nothing after death. This robs life of meaning and purpose beyond survival. British evolutionary biologist, and author of The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins (b. 1941) writes: Natural selection, the blind, unconscious, automatic process which Darwin discovered, and which we now know is the explanation for the existence and apparently purposeful form of life, has no purpose in mind … It has no vision, no foresight, no sight at all. If it can be said to play the role of a watchmaker in nature, it is the blind watchmaker.

No wonder we are seeing lawlessness on the increase. Jesus told us that prior to His second coming to earth to restore righteousness that lawlessness will abound and Christians would be persecuted.

“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 24:12-14

Paul also tells us that we need to watch for the coming Man of Lawlessness, the Antichrist.

“Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.” 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4

WHAT IS YOUR WORLDVIEW BASED ON?

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Armand Nicholi, the Harvard psychiatrist and the author of The Question of God says that our worldview informs our personal, social, and political lives. It helps us understand our purpose. Further, he said that our worldview determines our ethics, our values, and our capacity for happiness. It helps us answer the big questions of life: How did I get here? How am I to live? Where do I find meaning in life? What is my ultimate destiny? Basically, Nicholi is telling us that our worldview is more telling than perhaps any other
aspect of our lives.

Another way to understand our worldview is to see it as a map, a mental map that helps us navigate life effectively. As author Nancy Pearcey says, “…we need some creed to live by; some map by which we chart our course.” This is a worldview. In forming our worldviews, Dr. Nicholi says that we make one of two assumptions about life. The first is that we live in a godless universe; we are a product of nature that has evolved over time. This is a secular worldview that emphasizes scientific knowledge and its motto is “What do science and nature have to say?”
The second assumption is that there is a supernatural intelligence (God). He gives the universe order and life meaning. This is a spiritual worldview that is rooted in Biblical revelations. It places emphasis on spiritual truth and wisdom and its motto is: “What does God have to say about this?”

I have concluded that every person has an opinion on God and spiritual reality, even if it is a belief that He is non-existent. We all have a faith view of reality and it trickles down into our lives and influences the choices we make.

Author Tim Keller says, “How we relate to God is the foundation of our thinking because it determines the way we view the world. Whether you believe God exists or not, this belief is the foundation on which all of your reasoning proceeds. For instance, if you do not believe that God exists, it is a belief taken by faith and it becomes your faith view of reality. Whether you realize it or not, all your reasoning proceeds from this belief. You end up screening out all that does not fit with this view of life.”

Your worldview will ultimately explain where life originated, what life means, and what we are supposed to be doing with the years we are given. English mathematician John Lennox says: “What divides us is not science . . . but our worldviews. No one wants to base their life on a delusion, but which is the delusion? Christianity or atheism? This is what God has to say about the issue.

“For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 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

EVOLUTION CAN NOT EXPLAIN THIS MARVEL

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THE MULTIPLICATION MYSTERY OF THE SOUTHERN MASKED WEAVER

THE MALE Southern Masked Weaver (Ploceus velatus) from southern Africa, some 12.5 cm (5 in) long, hangs upside down to finish weaving his elaborate nest. He is doing his part to produce the next generation.

With his strong, conical beak, he collects the materials he needs, such as strips of reeds and palm blades, and weaves these into the nest. He knows what to collect, and how to build the nest. He chooses where to attach it, how to affix the first strips of material, and the way to add the subsequent pieces.

The nest design is remarkable. It hangs like a large pear from a suitable support such as a tree branch, a bush, or even a wire fence. It has a downward-facing entrance and a ceiling inside to protect from rain. The woven construction protects from the sun, wind, and predators, and keeps the chicks warm at night. After the male has built the nest, the hen lines it with feathers or grass-seed heads to make it soft and warm.

It is interesting to consider the amazing knowledge, skills, and project management talent required. Creating the nest and the eggs, incubating them, and then caring for the chicks, is a cooperative effort between two individual birds, the male and female. The interdependence and complexity of the process is astounding.

The timing is one remarkable aspect. The nest must be finished when the female needs to lay her eggs—typically 2–5. She then sits on them for some 14 days until they hatch. After that, the female feeds and cares for the chicks until they leave the nest, which can take up to 21 days. Sometimes the male will help.

The question arises, where did these birds learn to weave their nesting masterpiece? How did they know when to begin building? Or how to care for the chicks? From the very beginning, these weavers had to be proficient in every aspect of parenting, or there would not have been a next generation. This is another mystery where the Bible makes sense of the world. The knowledge, skills, motivation, and instinct were provided by the Creator Himself at the beginning when He created birds on Day 5 of Creation Week (Genesis 1:20–23).

Our Heavenly Father loves it when we acknowledge His goodness, above all His goodness for sending His Son, Jesus to atone for our sins.

The penalty for sin is death, eternal separation from God. Think about it, all three persons of the Godhead play a part in our redemption, our Heavenly Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit that now lives inside the spirit of every believer to enable them to live the Christian life. Jesus said the Holy Spirit would be our counsellor, teacher, and comforter. How good is our God? He is worthy of all our thanks and praise.

MORE AND MORE EMINENT SCIENTISTS ABANDONING EVOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF INTELLIGENT DESIGN

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Foresight, by Dr. Marcos Eberlin, is about the design of life, the fine-tuning of the universe, and the inadequacy of naturalistic storytelling. It discusses the origin of life, the limits of natural selection, and the naturalistic bias that permeates the scientific community. It includes many examples of fascinating designs in living things and explanations for why evolution cannot reasonably be invoked to explain these features.

Marcos Eberlin has a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Campinas. He boasts an impressive career with many accomplishments. He founded the Thomson Mass Spectrometry Lab, was the president of the International Mass Spectrometry Foundation, and won the Thomson medal in 2016. Eberlin stands as a great example of a highly qualified scientist who does not believe in evolution and believes that the universe was created by a supernatural designer. This allows the book to stand out among Intelligent Design (ID) books, as it argues for the existence of a supernatural creator, and against the General Theory of Evolution.

The book is rather short but packed full of information. It contains nine chapters with roughly half the book focusing on the intricacies of life at the cellular and molecular level. These chapters focus on biochemistry, organelles, proteins, and DNA. The second half of the book focuses on multicellular organisms such as insects, carnivorous plants, birds, humans, and special features found in specific multicellular organisms and features shared among many multicellular organisms. The first half of the book is fairly technical. Unless you are already familiar with organic chemistry and cell biology, there is a good chance that you will need to consult a textbook or utilize an internet search engine.

Evolution has no foresight

This communicates the core argument of the book. Foresight is something not present in differential reproduction. The only things selected are physiological changes that provide an immediate and substantial increase in reproductive success. A mutation that notably increases root length could help with gathering essential nutrients from poor soil; a mutation that causes defective leaf development can produce thorns.Display footnote number:3 Both relatively simple changes provide clear costs and benefits without the need for a developing structure to be almost useless over millions of years.

This shows an issue with the ‘why’ in evolutionary storytelling. It is often easy to see how a certain feature is advantageous, and thus why it would evolve. However, this exercise in imaginative storytelling breaks down when you ask, “why would natural selection favour defective structures that would be a detriment to the species for generations?”

A good ID book, but still an ID book

The book contains many solid arguments in favour of intelligent design and does a great job of exposing the unscientific nature of evolutionary biology. While it does rise above the standard ID offering by identifying the designer as a supernatural, transcendent creator, he provides a flawed distinction between historical and operational science. The book still contains the typical shortcoming of books on ID. By ignoring the identity of the Creator, this book will have a limited impact in spreading the Gospel.