Genesis 8:22
“While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.”
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   Our sun, though remarkably stable as stars go, follows an eleven‑year cycle of activity. Every eleven years the sun’s surface is torn by solar storms. These storms can send a hot blast of particles at the earth at a million miles per hour. When they hit the Earth, these particles can disrupt radio communications and electrical systems. During this peak, the sun’s magnetic field is at its strongest.
   Five and one-half years later, the sun is relatively quiet. During this quiet period, the sun’s magnetic field is at its weakest. As a result, the sun’s atmosphere develops leaky holes. These openings, called coronal holes, eject protons and electrons into space at two million miles per hour. Now two climatologists have collected data that indicate that during this quiet period, the sun may actively cool the Earth. They studied 20 years of temperature data from weather satellites and found that the Earth’s temperature average was lowest when the sun had the most and largest coronal holes. In 1995, the sun’s surface was covered with coronal holes and the Earth’s lower atmosphere averaged two degrees cooler than when the sun was most active. They theorized that some of the particles ejected from the sun enter the atmosphere and serve as nuclei for water droplets, increasing cloud formation and cooling the lower atmosphere.
   While we have much to learn about the sun, we can thank a loving Creator for giving us a uniquely stable sun that supports life.

www.creationmoments.com/sermons/can-the-sun-cool-the-earth-3/

Daniel 7:9
“I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.”

   There are some Christian leaders who have suggested that Genesis does not teach how old the Earth is. They argue that the main point of Genesis is to show that God created everything, and that we, as human beings, are central to His plans for the universe. Therefore, they say, the issue of the age of the Earth is not important. After all, God is described as the “Ancient of Days” in Daniel 7:9. A 6,000-year age for the Earth is not very ancient, compared to the millions and even billions of years of evolution, so surely these creationists have everything wrong at this point.
   In Britain, you will often see signs for places like Stonehenge  there are often labeled as “Ancient Monuments”, despite the fact that they may only be a few hundred years old. Yet, when you are inside them, you consider them to be ancient. Whether something is ancient or not depends on what you compare it with.
   Six thousand years is not ancient when compared to 4.5 billion years. However, it is our contention, from Scripture, that the 4.5 billion years did not exist. So, what is the point of comparing one age with a vast age that did not exist? It is like asking a toddler what they were doing in 1983. The question is meaningless.
   Six thousand years of history refers to ancient history. We do not define ourselves in comparison with millions of years that didn’t exist. Instead, we consider the eyewitness account that God gave us, and count it as just that.

www.creationmoments.com/sermons/how-ancient-is-ancient/

Genesis 1:12
“And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.”
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   My parents did not want dandelions in our garden. They are classed as weeds, and they have a tendency to take over large areas, especially in flower beds and also among the grass in a lawn. But when we came across them in the countryside, they were much more welcome. Pretty much every part of a dandelion plant can be put to some useful purpose.
   Dandelion leaves can be eaten as part of a salad. They have a mild, peppery taste. When I lived in England, I would collect together a woodland salad, with finely chopped dandelion leaves, wild garlic, and blanched nettle leaves.
   An infusion of the flowers in olive oil makes a fine remedy for aching muscles. A jar can be filled with flower heads, lightly pressed down, then filled with oil, sealed, and left for two to four weeks. Alternatively, the flowers can be treated with gently melted coconut oil, then solidified to make semi-solid balm.
   The roots can be cleaned and used in one of two ways. They can be finely sliced and saute as a vegetable. Or you can roast them on a very low heat. The dried roots are then put into a coffee grinder and powdered. The resultant powder is brewed like coffee, and tastes similar.
It has often struck me that God has made a lot of very useful plants for us, like the dandelion. It makes little sense to me to suppose that so many uses could all have evolved. This is an example of God’s creative power.

www.creationmoments.com/sermons/dandelions/

Genesis 1:21
“And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.”
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   As a child, I was a big fan of the TV show Thunderbirds. The series, featuring puppets, concerned a rescue organization operating five special rescue craft – some of which were like rockets – called Thunderbirds. However, it did not occur to me to ask where they had got the title from.
   It turns out that thunderbirds are legendary creatures that feature in stories by Native American people, especially in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Here is part of a story from the Sioux:
   One day, long long ago, before the white man came to America, a party of Sioux Indian warriors were out hunting. They had left their village far behind. Before they realized it, the group of braves found themselves alone in the bare and rocky badlands of the West. Suddenly the sky darkened…. There was a clap of thunder that shook the earth. Looking up in terror, the Indians thought they saw the shape of a giant bird falling to earth….
   Large flying creatures that cast huge shadows on the earth? These do not sound like ordinary birds. Indeed, they are probably not birds at all. First Nation people, from Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, report battles in the sea between thunderbirds and killer whales. These were clearly fearsome beasts with large wingspans.
   If the descriptions are considered in an unbiased way, the creatures described sound rather like pteradons – flying creatures, classified by evolutionists alongside dinosaurs. It seems at least possible that Native American people may have seen pteroadactyls and other extinct flying creatures. This would be consistent with what we read in the Bible.

www.creationmoments.com/sermons/thunderbirds/

Revelation 22:3a
“And there shall be no more curse:”
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   Without attempting to answer all the details of the book of Revelation, it is surely true that it looks forward to the end of this present world and a time when God makes a new heaven and a new earth which will be a place of perfection. In so doing, He will be undoing the effects of sin in the present world.
   God told Adam that the day he ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, that day he would “surely die.” This death is undone in Revelation 21:4, where we read “there shall be no more death”. Now, in the world to come, we assume that this means that no one will physically die at all. Nor will there be any sickness leading to death. Yet, if death in Genesis is only a sort of spiritual death and does not refer to real death, then we have a problem. There are inconsistent Christians who think we have to allow for millions of years of death and disease prior to human beings evolving, and yet, they want to believe in a world to come that has no death.
   God cursed the whole of creation because of Adam’s sin. In Revelation 22:3, He will undo this: “There shall be no more curse”. Yet, if the curse in Genesis 3 was only figurative, why would the undoing of that curse in Revelation 22 be real?
   Those of us who accept that Genesis teaches us the absolute truth about origins are better able to look forward to the world to come with confidence.

www.creationmoments.com/sermons/genesis-and-revelation/

Colossians 2:8
“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.”
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   The word philosophy has a huge variety of definitions in Webster’s dictionary online. In its broadest sense, the word can refer to “all learning exclusive of technical precepts and practical arts”. However, the definition which is probably most exclusive to the term is “a search for a general understanding of values and reality by chiefly speculative rather than observational means”. As such, it is often thought of as an unbiblical concept because its ideas exist within the the speculations of the human mind. In taking such a view, critics of philosophy would quote Colossians 2:8, which says:
   Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
   The Reformer John Calvin was not a man to entertain what he saw as anti-biblical ideas. Yet, in his commentary on this verse, he points out that Paul is not criticizing every form of philosophy, but only certain kinds. Indeed, he shows that the verse itself qualifies what type of philosophy Paul is referring to. He suggests that one could read the first phrase of the verse as: “Beware of [that kind of] philosophy which is nothing else than vain deceit”.
   God expects us to use our brains and our intelligence. The important thing is to exercise discernment as to what is empty deceit and what is wholesome and useful.
   Help us, Father, to test what we learn through the filter of Your word, taking captive every thought, so that we may bring glory to You. Amen.

www.creationmoments.com/sermons/philosophy-in-vain/

Ephesians 5:6
“Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.”

   When studying popular-style articles about evolution, it is as important, if not more important, to study their use of language as it is to check the science. It is frequently the case that such an article needs to admit that previous thoughts on the subject were all wrong, but they cannot admit this; otherwise, their support for evolution would be in doubt. It is so often assumed that the theory of evolution is a large edifice that has exact things to say on a variety of life forms, but, in practice, there is considerable confusion even over their own ideas, leading to much dissemblance in their use of language. We have mentioned before that one of the most common linguistic constructions used in such articles is what some have called “fuzzy words”. These are words and phrases, whereby the author manages to make an insinuation about evolution without committing themselves openly to where they stand.
   For example, a recent article about the possible evolution of bacterial viruses looked at how some viruses can alter the way that they attack their hosts, so that they can attack a different type of host. This would be how certain viruses can cross species. The article tried to describe how such viral innovation could have evolved, thus:
   Researchers have discovered evidence for a new path of evolution, and with it a deeper understanding of how quickly organisms such as viruses can adapt to their environment.
   This “deeper understanding” really means to rewrite all that they knew on the subject. Happily, God’s word never changes in this way.

www.creationmoments.com/sermons/wrong-on-viruses/

Psalm 104:6
“Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment: the waters stood above the mountains.”

   In one Laurel and Hardy movie, Stan Laurel answers a telephone, says, “It sure is”, and replaces the receiver. When Ollie asks what it was, Stan says it was a joke call. “The man just said, ‘It’s a long distance from Atlanta, Georgia’, and I said ‘It sure is’”.
   I have mentioned the Troutdale Formation before, relating how huge masses of stones were transported by large amounts of water under pressure. This forced the enormous quantity of stones to be rounded, but also left flattened, as they were gradually pressured into approximate horizontal rows.
   What we didn’t discuss at that time was that 20% of these stones are quartzites. Yet, there is no source of quartzite close to these deposits. The nearest quartzite sources are in the Rocky Mountains, so these stones must have been transported from the Rockies, about 300-600 miles away. Clearly, any supposed early version of the Sandy River could not have had the length or energy to transport stones so far. Besides which, the local topography shows Sandy River cutting through features laid down after the Troutdale Formation, indicating that this river did not exist to transport the quartzite. Moreover, quartzite is incredibly hard – nearly as hard as diamond. It can easily be transported over such distances without being ground into rounded flattened shapes, so the energy of the transporting must have been very great indeed.
   The only explanation for the transporting of the quartzite that makes any sense is to assume a vast, worldwide Flood, as recorded in Genesis. Without such high energy water, the Troutdale Formation would not have happened.

www.creationmoments.com/sermons/its-a-long-distance/

Genesis 1:9-10
“And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.”

   By the side of the Old Columbia Highway, and next to the Sandy River, is a large rocky outcrop, where  can be seen an interesting geological formation called the Troutdale Formation. We see 15 feet thickness of a conglomerate, consisting of rounded stones, set about a small, four feet thick rock layer. Above the conglomerate is another thin rock layer and another thick layer of rounded, cemented stones.
   The stones in the conglomerate are rounded. This indicates that they have been polished by being ground together. This process is indicative of flowing water. The water movement batters the stones together and polishes them, rounding them down. But there is another interesting issue about the shape of these stones. Not only are they rounded, but they are flattened. If these were found by a river, lake, or beach today, you would want to skim the stones, bouncing them on the water. This flattening, while rounding, suggests that the large mass of stones, 15 feet thick, was moved together by high energy water. Now, this fact is problematic for old earth geologists because it means that the water movement could not simply be a river ancestral to the Sandy River, but must have been an altogether bigger current. The formation is said to be 13 million years old, but the 15 feet thickness must have been formed at one time. So the 13 million years must be contained in the four feet of rock. Or the millions of years are lost. Or the whole formation was made quickly during the worldwide Flood.

www.creationmoments.com/sermons/lost-millions/