![]() Genesis 1:25 “And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.” The author Gilbert Keith Chesterton had some wise things to say on the subject of evolution. While he would not be classed as a Bible-believing Christian or a young earth creationist, he certainly spotted many of the flaws behind evolutionary theory, of which he was highly critical. One of his more well-known anti-evolutionary quotes is to be found in his book Orthodoxy, in which he wrote: Darwinism can be used to back up two mad moralities, but it cannot be used to back up a single sane one. The kinship and competition of all living creatures can be used as a reason for being insanely cruel or insanely sentimental; but not for a healthy love of animals. Chesterton asked his readers to consider their reactions to a tiger. Evolution might lead one to suppose that humans and tigers are close. We are both mammals. We are both warm blooded. Therefore, we get over-sentimental about them, simply admiring their beauty and ignoring their claws. Another evolutionary response, however, sees tigers as examples. They tear apart their prey, so we, if we are to be as successful as tigers, may do likewise. Chesterton labels both responses as “mad”. He said, “The essence of all pantheism, evolutionism and modern cosmic religion is really in this proposition: that Nature is our mother.” The biblical approach is to recognize the tiger’s beauty, which comes from God, but not to imitate it because we are created for better things. creationmoments.com/sermons/the-morality-of-a-tiger/?v=7516fd43adaa ![]() I love the Bible’s teaching about the Pre-tribulation Rapture. I have studied it for nearly half a century, and have no doubt that it is a Bible doctrine and that it is a fundamental doctrine. It is not based on any one verse; it is based on the totality of the Bible’s teaching on prophecy. If you interpret Bible prophecy in a consistent normal-literal manner, which is the only proper way to interpret it, you land on the clear distinction between the church and Israel, and you understand the 70 Weeks of Daniel 9 and Revelation 5-18 as Israel ground, not church ground. You understand that the doctrine of imminency, which is clearly taught and hugely emphasized throughout the Epistles (e.g., Ro. 13:12; Php. 4:5; 1 Th. 1:9-10; 5:4-9; Tit. 2:13; Jas. 5:8-9; 1 Pe. 4:7; Jude 1:21; Re. 1:3), demands that church-age saints be Raptured before Israel’s program is brought back to the fore. The Lord is at hand! As far as I’m concerned, the matter is settled. I have made the effort to look at all sides of the issue and the Pre-tribulation Rapture has resonated with me ever more strongly through the years. The first Bible course we published in the 1980s was on prophecy. In more recent years we have published Understanding Bible Prophecy ; The Future According to the Bible ; Jews in Fighter Jets: Israel Past, Present, and Future ; and other prophecy studies. Dispensationalism, as a system of theology, began in the 19th century, but the literal interpretation of prophecy and the imminent return of Christ and the distinction between Israel and the Church and the literal fulfillment of Israel’s covenants are clear Bible doctrines that were taught by the apostles and believed by the early churches. The Spirit of God restored this doctrine to prominence in the 1800s and it impelled a great spiritual revival of holy living and zeal for evangelism and world missions. The imminency of Christ’s coming has great practical implications for Christian living and ministry. It preaches holiness, watchfulness, and encouragement, and keeps a church’s focus on the Great Commission. We are seeing great fruit from preaching it, and I will do my best to keep the influence of preachers who reject the Pre-tribulation Rapture away from our church and family. I definitely consider it to be a separation issue. (Friday Church News Notes, January 17, 2020, www.wayoflife.org [email protected], 866-295-4143) ![]() Genesis 1:20 “And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.” I remember watching a kingfisher, sitting on the branch of a tree, overlooking the pool beneath one of the waterfalls in Neath Valley in the heart of Wales. Its eyes were transfixed on the movements in the pool below. It was watching and waiting, and it had incredible patience. Then, it flew, diving down into the water, and emerging with a fish in its beak, back to the branch where it had previously been perched. It proceeded to beat the fish against the branch. Then it flew off to I know not where, along with its meal! This common kingfisher was distinctive – blue upperparts and orange underparts, along with its characteristic long bill. And it was doing what we expect kingfishers to do – catch fish! But not all kingfishers live on fish. One of the largest kingfishers – the kookaburra – lives in Australia and doesn’t tend to eat fish, preferring to eat mice and small reptiles, and even the young of other birds. The most well-known feature of the kookaburra is its characteristic laughing call. There are over a hundred species of kingfisher, many of which have bright plumage and are among the most beautiful birds that you will see. So how many kingfishers would God have brought to Noah to take on the Ark, considering there are so many species? The answer is just two. One pair of kingfishers, into which God had placed genetic information for a wide variety of adaptations. creationmoments.com/sermons/kingfishers-and-kookaburras/?v=7516fd43adaa ![]() Scientists are trying to understand the language of the human nervous system to develop a new generation of medical implants. The heart pacemaker and deep brain stimulators for Parkinson’s disease are examples of preliminary efforts. The field of bioelectronics studies the electrical signals and chemical messages that control all of the major organs and tissues in the body in an attempt to interface with them to monitor health and deliver treatments through the stimulation of specific nerves. The problem is the incredible complexity of the neural network. “But neural data is incredibly noisy and complex. The human heart does not exist alone, its function is affected by other factors and messages coming from other organs, such as how fast you’re breathing, what you’ve just eaten and so on. To accurately decode all this information, we need more neural data and better interpretation techniques so we can listen to the right words needed to understand the language of the human body. Scientists have turned to a form of artificial intelligence known as machine learning to help them do this” (“How hacking the human heart could replace pill popping,” BBC, Dec. 17, 2019). Note that the human nervous system is called the “language of the human body,” and it is such a complex language that the most brilliant scientists stand in awe of it and can only understand it in a very rudimentary manner. For those who have not willfully closed their eyes, this is clear and irrefutable evidence for divine creation and against Darwinian evolution. (Friday Church News Notes, January 10, 2020, www.wayoflife.org [email protected], 866-295-4143) ![]() We need to pray for America in these evil, dangerous times. Almighty God, who is in control of all earthly authorities, has specifically instructed His people to pray for their governments. Surely, we can pray such a prayer in perfect faith that He will answer and help us. “Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain” (Psalm 127:1). “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty” (1 Timothy 2:1-2). (Friday Church News Notes, January 17, 2020, www.wayoflife.org [email protected], 866-295-4143) ![]() A study by the parenting app Jiminy published this month found that 15% of 8-year-old girls with smartphones are exposed to sexting, 24% by age 10, 37% by age 13, and 44% by age 16. Nearly 25% of 13-year-old children either requested or were asked to send nude photos of themselves (blog.jiminy.me). The report warned, “Sexting is quickly becoming a normative form of sexual exploration among preteens and teens. As such, parents should expect the real possibility that their children may be approached by others, known or unknown, or approach others in a sexually explicit manner.” Of course, biblical wisdom would teach any parent that no child should have a smartphone, iPad, laptop, or gaming device that has any connection whatsoever with the Internet. “Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners” (1 Corinthians 15:33). “The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame” (Proverbs 29:15). (Friday Church News Notes, January 10, 2020, www.wayoflife.org [email protected], 866-295-4143) ![]() Genesis 1:16 “And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.” “Big fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite’em” begins the nursery rhyme. “Little fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum.” Does this sort of approach extend to objects in the Solar System? Does the Earth only have the Moon? “How many moons does the Earth have?” asked TV presenter Stephen Fry on the BBC comedy panel show QI. The obvious answer “One” caused the klaxon to sound. The correct answer, it seems, was “two”. But then he asked the same question again a couple of years later when the correct answer had changed to “three”. But when he asked a third time, the answer was supposed to be “zero”. The asteroid Cruithne is often considered to be Earth’s second moon, but it is not orbiting the Earth – it is merely influenced by the Earth’s gravitational pull. But one researcher was thrown by his four-year-old son who once asked “do moons have moons”? Throughout the Solar System, no such system has been found. Yet we know, for example, that the dwarf planet Pluto has at least five moons. Yet Pluto is smaller than the Moon – that is, our Moon, the one that orbits the Earth. Why could the Moon not have its own Moon? The child-like simplicity of such a question and yet the absence of a good answer for it underlines how much we have yet to discover. God has made a wonderful universe, and it is exciting that He has given talents to people to investigate it. creationmoments.com/sermons/many-moons/?v=7516fd43adaa ![]() “A mother has opened up about the consistent pressure she received from doctors to abort her baby son, even at full-term, just because he has Down’s syndrome. Cheryl Bilsborrow wanted to speak out after figures published last week revealed that the number of babies born with Down’s syndrome has dropped by 30% in NHS hospitals that have introduced new non-invasive prenatal tests. Speaking to The Sun about her experience, the clinical reflexologist said: ‘These tests and the scary, negative way in which the results are currently framed are leading pregnant women to abort their much-wanted babies. My two-year-old son Hector is the most wonderful baby. He’s got beautiful white hair and blue eyes, and he is always smiling and laughing, blowing kisses and coming for hugs. But when I was pregnant I was made to feel like his life would have no value and that I should abort him. Why? Because he has Down’s Syndrome.’ Cheryl was 43 years old when she fell pregnant with her fourth child. Because of her age, she was encouraged by doctors to have a screening test for Down’s syndrome. Cheryl said that from the start the doctors’ perception of the condition was negative and that she was encouraged to have an abortion every time she had a midwife appointment. ‘There was no offer of counseling, no discussion about how my life might be enhanced by this baby. Abort and get rid seemed to be the only answer.’ ‘Even, at 38 weeks, when I went for a scan, the sonographer said: You do know we abort babies full term with Down’s syndrome. The message came loud and clear: babies with Down’s were of no value. Now, having had Hector, I know there was nothing to be frightened of. It breaks my heart to think that so many babies, like him, could be robbed of their chance to live happy lives.” “Mother offered full-term abortion because her son had Down’s syndrome,” Right to Life UK, Dec. 24, 2019 ![]() Genesis 1:16 “And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.” As a child, I was so enthralled by the Apollo moon landings. For many people, interest waned after Apollo 11 reached the Moon in 1969; not mine! I followed the adventures of every one. So it is of great interest to me that scientific news is still being made by researchers looking at rocks from the Moon gathered by the Apollo astronauts. Recent news has concerned a rock sampled by the astronauts of Apollo 14, who traveled to the Moon in 1971. Much of the interest, however, has concerned the supposed age of the rocks. One rock – sample 14321 – has been dated by the rubidium-strontium method to 4.1 billion years old. This method – similar to the uranium-lead method – relies on measuring the relative amounts of radioactive rubidium-87 and stable strontium-87. Rock 14321 has a piece in it that contains minerals that lunar geologists think do not normally occur on the Moon but do occur on the Earth. Therefore, they suppose that an object striking the Earth 4.1 billion years ago chipped a little piece of Earth away, which floated through space until it landed on the Moon. They further suppose that this little piece was re-melted by being struck by a meteorite. The whole cosmic game of pool described sounds far fetched but is the sort of story that can be woven in order to explain difficult observations. For our part, we accept that the Earth is, in fact, older than the Moon – by three days! creationmoments.com/sermons/a-rock-from-the-earth-from-the-moon/?v=7516fd43adaa ![]() The Catholic bishops of Germany have proclaimed that homosexuality is “a normal form of sexual predisposition” and it should not be changed. On December 5, the German Bishops’ Conference announced the findings of its Commission for Marriage and Family, which included “bishops, sexologists, moral theologians, dogmatic theologians, and canon lawyers.” The only thing missing was the born again theologians who believe the Bible. The press release said, “There was also agreement that the sexual preference of man expresses itself in puberty and assumes a hetero- or homosexual orientation. Both belong to the normal forms of sexual predisposition, which cannot or should not be changed with the help of a specific socialization. For this reason any form of discrimination of those persons with a homosexual orientation has to be rejected.” This contradicts the 1992 Catechism of the Catholic Church, which states that homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered” and “contrary to the natural law” (CCC 2357). The Bible condemns not only homosexual acts, but also homosexual lusts. Romans 1:24-27 describes same-sex “lusts” and “affections” and “burning in lusts” as unclean before God. (Friday Church News Notes, January 10, 2020, www.wayoflife.org [email protected], 866-295-4143) ![]() Isaiah 33:15-16 “He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.” Many people assume that carbon dating is used to date rocks and fossils. It is not. Carbon dating is specifically used to provide a date for material which was previously part of a living organism, and even if such ages were possible, does not give an age of over 100,000 years. Many geologists will rely on uranium-lead dating to find the age of a rock. This technique involves measuring the amount of the uranium isotope U-238 in a rock and also the stable isotope lead-206, into which U-238 decays. It is important to emphasize that neither this technique, nor any other, actually directly measures the age of the rock. Rather, the age is calculated from the measured amounts of uranium and lead, using three assumptions:
So all three assumptions under-girding uranium-lead dating are suspect. Better to trust the Bible’s account of where rock came from. creationmoments.com/sermons/uranium-lead-dating/?v=7516fd43adaa ![]() “Last week, The Daily Wire reported that author J.K. Rowling was smeared as a “transphobe” and threatened with being “cancelled” because she spoke out in support of researcher Maya Forstater, who was fired from her job with the Centre for Global Development for saying that while transgender individuals can change their outward appearance, male-to-female transgenders remain male and can never be, biologically, ‘women.’ Forstater’s case is particularly egregious. Not only was she terminated from her position for articulating scientific facts, but when she brought a case against her former employer to a tribunal in the U.K., which found not just that CGD was justified in firing Forstater, but that Forstater’s basic beliefs--that men can never become biological women--was harmful, even if Forstater was simply saying what she believed. ‘Paying due regard to the qualified right to freedom of expression, people cannot expect to be protected if their core belief involves violating others’ dignity,’ the court said. Forstater’s ‘absolutist’ views on the subject of gender were actually violent, the court found, and her opinion ‘violates their dignity and/or creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment.’ Rowling met with a torrent of abuse for her statement, with LGBTQ+ activists and their allies across the spectrum, threatening Rowling’s livelihood, and demanding that she apologize and admit that she was in error when she spoke out in support of someone who merely acknowledges biological and genetic reality. On Friday, the pro-LGBTQ rights group GLADD put out a statement blasting Rowling and challenging her to meet with transgender activists and cherry-picked scientists in order to expand her worldview. In other words, Rowling should submit to indoctrination and bullying until she agrees that male-to-female transgender individuals are, indeed, women. Rowling herself ignored them. Her representatives declined GLAAD’s offer of re-education.” “GLADD Tried to Force JK Rowling to Apologize for ‘Transphobic’ Comments,” The Daily Wire, Dec. 23, 2019 ![]() Genesis 1:1-2 “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” If there was a Big Bang, where did it happen? By asking such a question, we are not accepting that the Big Bang happened. It is contrary to Scripture. But it is a logical question to ask of those who believe the theory. One recent article has attempted to answer that question by stating that the Big Bang happened everywhere at the same time. It is sometimes forgotten that Big Bangers do not envisage an explosion at one point in space which expanded into space. Instead, they suppose that the whole of space itself existed in the original singularity. So, therefore, the Big Bang happened everywhere because everywhere is in one spot. Nevertheless, this explanation still lacks something. It can only explain matters if the universe started expansion from a super-hot state. Yet, a quantum event would have caused a singularity with no energy. Indeed, the article states: “Where the Universe begins expanding and cooling from this state according to the laws of General Relativity”. This means that before that state, the universe did not obey the laws of General Relativity. Simply stating that these well-established physical laws did not apply does not, in fact, offer an explanation that is any better than suggesting it all happened by magic. Genesis tells us that the Spirit was hovering over the deep at the beginning of creation, so there was a clear source of all energy, which was God Himself, and this is a much more scientific explanation. creationmoments.com/sermons/where-was-the-big-bang ![]() “A woman who was ousted from her job for writing on Twitter that men who identify as transgender are not women has lost her case before an employment tribunal that said her views are ‘not worthy of respect.’ In a highly anticipated ruling, an employment tribunal decided that Maya Forstater, formerly a senior researcher at the London office of the think-tank Centre for Global Development, was not fired without just cause. Forstater was fired from her job earlier this year for tweeting on her personal account that ‘men cannot change into women.’ She was also critical of a decision to place a convicted pedophile and rapist who goes by the name Karen White--a biological male formerly known as Stephen Wood--in a women’s-only prison because he claimed to identify as female and subsequently sexually assaulted female inmates. Judge James Tayler wrote in the 26-page ruling Wednesday, ‘I conclude from the totality of the evidence, that Forstater is absolutist in her view of sex and it is a core component of her belief that she will refer to a person by the sex she considered appropriate even if it violates their dignity and/or creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment. The approach is not worthy of respect in a democratic society.’ Forstater and many others were stunned at the result. That stating basic biological facts were upheld as legitimate grounds to be fired. Voicing her support for Forstater, J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, tweeted Thursday: ‘Dress however you please. Call yourself whatever you like. Sleep with any consenting adult who’ll have you. Live your best life in peace and security. But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real? #IStandWithMaya #ThisIsNotADrill.’ Commenting Thursday on his blog at The American Conservative, author Rod Dreher noted that the decision is indicative of political efforts in the U.K. ‘This is exactly what LGBT activists want here in the U.S: people like Maya Forstater--who doesn’t appear to be any kind of conservative, but rather a feminist--to be fired and silenced. What is it going to take to wake people up? This is a totalitarian movement. It honest to God is. It has colonized the minds of the liberal establishment,’ he said.” “Woman ‘not worthy of respect,’” The Christian Post, Dec. 19, 2019 ![]() 2 Timothy 3:16-17 “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” Carbon dating does not give ages in excess of 100,000 years old. If time would have allowed such ages, the amounts of carbon-14 would be too small to detect. In practice, even old earth believers do not use carbon dates much above 60,000 years – the length of ten half-lives. The Bible tells us that the Earth is just over 6,000 years old. The majority of artifact dates should be less than 4,500 years old – the approximate date of the Flood. So, while we are right not to accept such inflated dates, we find that carbon dates of less than 4,000 years can be remarkably helpful to us. For example, in 1947 the well-known Dead Sea Scrolls were found by a Bedouin boy in a cave. These scrolls featured texts from the Bible, reading almost exactly the same as texts today. So scholars at the time decided that the scrolls must be about 500 years old, as this fitted with their assumptions regarding the dating of various Old Testament books. However, the scrolls were wrapped in linen. This linen – a plant material – could be carbon dated. The carbon date was calculated to be between 150 BC and 70 AD. So these scrolls were about a thousand years older than any previously known Hebrew biblical texts! This carbon date, together with the fact that the text was virtually unchanged in that 1,000 years, is consistent with our acceptance of the divine inspiration of Scripture, and not with the attitudes of the so-called higher critics. creationmoments.com/sermons/carbon-dating-can-be-our-friend ![]() Psalm 148:7a, 9 “Praise the LORD Mountains, and all hills; fruitful trees, and all cedars:” How old is a tree? It is commonly assumed that the age of trees can be found by looking at a cross section of the tree trunk and counting the rings. Tree rings are produced by differential growth that occurs during the seasons of a year. Therefore, we can assume that one ring is produced every year. However, this is not always the case. Occasionally, adverse weather patterns will be seen by the tree procuring more than one ring a year. This has implications for dating methods because tree patterns of living trees are correlated with patterns from dead or even fossil trees to extend the timescale back, and this tree ring dating is used to correct or “calibrate” known inaccuracies in carbon dating. However, California’s bristlecone pines present a major problem as they appear to show 8,000 years of growth, while the Flood was only just over 4,000 years ago. We cannot explain this by multiple tree rings, as they seem to have been stable for 3,000 years, meaning that they would have had to produce five rings per year regularly for the first 1,000 years of their lives. Some scientists have shown, however, that perturbations may affect different trees of exactly the same age in different ways. The migration of these perturbations could affect rings hundreds of years into the tree structure, and, when compared, these effects could produce a false correlation, leading to scientists thinking the trees are thousands of years older than they are, so that, in fact, they did grow after the Flood. creationmoments.com/sermons/bristlecone-pines-are-too-old Christianity Today Editor Calling for Trump's Impeachment Called God a "Divine Drama Queen"1/8/2020
![]() “My late friend Vic often referred to Christianity Today as ‘Christianity Astray.’ Indeed it is. The Christianity Today article [by editor-in-chief Mark Galli] has also been the topic on almost all liberal news outlets such as CNN. What most Americans and Christians may not know is that back in 2010 Mark Galli wrote what can only be described as heretical and blasphemous. While the article was removed by Christianity Today, the place holding of the article page still exists along with a note by Galli stating that the article has been removed because apparently most Christians have missed the point of his blasphemous article. My friend T.A. McMahon wrote an article about Galli’s blaspheming of God on August 1, 2010. All of this leads us to Christianity Today's senior managing editor, Mark Galli, and his article of July 15, 2010, titled ‘Divine Drama Queen,’ which is his characterization of the God of the Bible. What Galli has written is CT’s latest installment of corrupting the faith, generated from decades of undermining the Word of God and distorting the God of the Bible. Gallie: ‘I like a tranquil, even-keeled, self-controlled God. A God who doesn't fly off the handle at the least provocation. A God who lives one step above the fray. A God who has that British stiff upper lip even when disaster is looming. When I read my Bible, though, I keep running into a different God, and I’m not pleased. This God says he “hates” sin. Well, he usually yells it. Read the prophets. It’s just one harangue after another, all in loud decibels. And when the shouting is over, then comes the pouting. Take his conversation with Hosea. This God is like the volatile Italian woman who, upon discovering her husband’s unfaithfulness, yells and throws dishes, refuses to sleep in the same bed, and doesn’t speak to him for 40 days and 40 nights. We may think this a crude depiction, except that Jesus—God with us—seems to suffer the same emotional imbalance. He rants about Pharisees and Scribes—or “snakes” and “hypocrites,” as he calls them. So upset is he over sacrilege in the Temple, he overturns tables and drives people out with a whip. This God knows nothing about being a non-anxious presence. This is a very anxious God, indeed. I’d rather have a God who takes sin in stride. Why can’t he relax and recognize that to err is human. I mean, you don’t find us flawed humans freaking out about one another’s sins. You don’t see us wrathful, indignant, and pouting. Why can’t God almighty just chill out and realize we’re just human? It’s that little phrase, “we’re just human,” that may be the rub with God. Sin seems to be a big deal to God because apparently we’re a big deal to him. I much prefer reasonable religion with reasonable expectations, and a God who doesn’t get bent out of shape every time his people trip up. But then again, I don't love as God loves. Not God. Not others. Not myself.’ T.A. McMahon: ‘So, are we to suppose that Galli was just trying to get our attention with his blasphemies for effect? Did we misunderstand Galli’s “literary cleverness”? No. What he paraded before us was a mockery of God akin to what Jesus suffered from those who gathered to watch Him being crucified and to what every God-hating humanist has since voiced.’” “Christianity Today Editor-in-Chief,” worldviewweekend.com, Dec. 20, 2019 ![]() Genesis 7:20-21 “Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered. And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man:” We have mentioned carbon dating quite a few times in Creation Moments because there is such a lot of misunderstanding about the technique. Carbon dating is often mistakenly thought to date the ages of rocks and fossils. In fact, it is only used for organic matter that has previously been alive. It is quite a good technique for dating cloth, wood, paper or skin, so long as the dates concerned are small. Like all radiometric dating methods, carbon dating relies on assumptions. Radioactive carbon-14 is produced in the atmosphere when nitrogen atoms are bombarded by thermal neutrons, caused by cosmic rays. The experiment does not actually measure the date. It measures the amount of carbon-14 compared with stable carbon-12 in a material. The date is then calculated, using a number of assumptions. One assumption is that the ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 in the atmosphere must have been constant, during the timescale for which dates are calculated. We have often commented that the biblical history of the worldwide Flood affects such uniformitarian calculations. The Flood would have buried a great deal of biomass, as witnessed by worldwide coal deposits. This would have considerably diluted the C14:C12 ratio in the atmosphere by hundreds of times. Therefore, a carbon-date calculation from the post-Flood period, assuming a uniformitarian C14 concentration, would be very much older than the true age of the material. The reality of the biblical Flood must be factored into our thinking. creationmoments.com/sermons/carbon-dating-and-the-flood ![]() In the advertisement for its 2020 conference, Hillsong Australia claims that over 20 denominations are represented at its annual conferences, including Anglican, Apostolic, Baptist, Brethren, Catholic, Church of Christ, Assemblies of God, Foursquare, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, Seventh day Adventist, and Uniting. Latter Rain ecumenism is a major Hillsong theme, one of the most prominent producers of contemporary worship music. The goal is to unite “the greater church” for the expected “latter rain” miracle revival outpouring. This is a heresy nowhere taught in Scripture. New Testament prophecies of the end of the church age describe terrible apostasy, not revival. See 2 Timothy 3:1-5; 4:3-4, for example. The “signs and wonders” that are described for the end of the age are not true apostolic signs as per 2 Corinthians 12:12. Rather, they are false signs. See Matthew 24:24; 2 Thessalonians 2:9. Hillsong’s “signs” are such things as gibberish tongues, failed prophecies, spirit slaying, holy laughter, shakings, electric shocks, word-faith confessions, and failed healings, none of which do we see in the ministry of Jesus, Paul, Peter, James, John, or Jude. Hillsong’s annual conferences are party extravaganzas that breathe of worldliness rather than biblical holiness and the fear of God. Take away their rock & roll, and there would be nothing left. In 2020, Hillsong Australia’s conference is scheduled for the Qudos Bank Arena, the largest entertainment arena in Australia. “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables” (2 Timothy 4:3-4). (For more about Hillsong, see “Darlene Zschech and Hillsong” in the Directory of Contemporary Worship Musicians, available as a free eBook at www.wayoflife.org.) (Friday Church News Notes, January 3, 2020, www.wayoflife.org [email protected], 866-295-4143) ![]() Deuteronomy 33:15 “And for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills,” There is a lot of misunderstanding surrounding what carbon dating actually is and does. For example, we mentioned in a previous Creation Moment that, contrary to popular opinion, carbon dating is not used to find a date for fossils because such fossils do not usually contain the original material of the organism. Carbon dating relies on an isotope of carbon with a mass of 14, whereas normal carbon atoms have a mass of 12. About one in every trillion carbon atoms is carbon-14. It is just as well that the amount of carbon-14 is so small because it is radioactive, having a half-life of 5,730 years. Carbon-14 is produced in the atmosphere by bombardment by cosmic rays. These rays produce thermal neutrons which crash into atoms of nitrogen (mass 14), dislodging a proton in a microscopic game of pool, thus producing a carbon-14 atom. As carbon-14 acts chemically the same as carbon-12, it gets into carbon compounds and enters the food chain. Both plants and animals are constantly both taking in and emitting carbon-14, so its quantity is assumed to remain constant. On death, however, the existing carbon-14 will simply decay, so the amount of carbon-14 left can be used to calculate how long ago it died. Used correctly, carbon dating is actually a useful technique, but it relies on the assumption that atmospheric bombardment has been constant. This is an unsupported conjecture, and the devastating effects and aftermath of the biblical Flood would have greatly affected calculated carbon-dates. creationmoments.com/sermons/what-is-carbon-dating ![]() In the most recent example of how a worldly love for rock & roll makes professing Christians absolutely nutty, Community Christian Church of Naperville, Illinois, has put the Christmas story to Beatles music. The pageant is entitled “Let It Be Christmas: The Gospel according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, George and Ringo” (“Beatles Music, Christmas Story,” Religion News Service, Dec. 18, 2019). It was advertised as a “magical mystery tour through the gospels to tell the greatest story of all time, with the greatest music of all time!” The nine shows at the multi-campus church played to sold out crowds. Beatles songs used in the performance include “All My Loving,” “From Me to You,” “We Can Work It Out,” “Taxman,” and “Love Me Do.” The Trinity is blasphemously depicted as an Engineer, a Carpenter, and a Blackbird (the latter is the title of a Beatles’ song). When Mary is informed that she will be the mother of Christ, she dances with the Blackbird. This is the vilest apostasy. The Beatles have done more to further the devil’s program in these last days than any other group. They were doubtless controlled by demons as they captured the affection of an entire generation with their “magical mystery” music and carried millions of young people along on their journey to moral relativism, free sex, unisex, eastern religion, atheism, drug abuse, and rebellion against established order. In his 1965 book, A Spaniard in the Works, John Lennon called Jesus Christ many wicked things that we cannot repeat and he blasphemed the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In the song “God” (1970), Lennon sang: “I don’t believe in Bible. I don’t believe in Jesus. I just believe in me, Yoko and me, that’s reality.” Lennon’s extremely popular song “Imagine” (1971) promotes atheism and a global New Age unity. The lyrics say: “Imagine there’s no heaven … No hell below us, above us only sky … no religion too/ You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one/ I hope some day you’ll join us, and the world will live as one.” How many millions of people throughout the world have followed John Lennon in this delusive dream? Death will prove that this “dream” is actually the most horrible nightmare imaginable. George Harrison was a Hindu to the day of his death and led many into this pagan darkness. As of April 2009, the two surviving Beatles headlined a benefit concert to promote Transcendental Meditation (TM) among children. “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them” (Ephesians 5:11). (Friday Church News Notes, January 3, 2020, www.wayoflife.org, [email protected], 866-295-4143) ![]() 1 Timothy 6:20 “O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called:” The majority of people do not understand how scientific dating methods work. It is common for populist evolutionists to refer to the carbon dating of fossils, for example, while serious evolutionists would never make that mistake. As creationists, we need to do better than this. I frequently hear creationists rightly questioning scientific dating methods, yet doing so for the wrong reasons. They assume that carbon dating has indeed been carried out on fossils and that it has proven inaccurate. This is not the case. Carbon dating, by its very nature, has not been carried out on fossils or on any rock. Carbon-dating is not a catch-all term that refers to all kinds of dating methods. It specifically refers to that type of dating that is applied to materials which contain carbon. These would specifically be organic compounds, contained in materials which have come from a previously living source. But fossils usually do not contain the original organic material. They are actually impressions, or casts, of the material made in sedimentary rock in a manner similar to a hardened imprint of a footprint, having been preserved in the hardening of wet cement. Given that, for example, fossilized dinosaur bones do not contain the original material, they are not dated by carbon dating. Serious evolutionists, to be fair, have not claimed that they have. As we explain why evolution could never have happened, it is important to do so with arguments that are both biblically and scientifically correct. creationmoments.com/sermons/not-carbon-dating ![]() In an interview with Jenna Bush Hager (President George W. Bush’s daughter) on the Today Show, rock star Bono of the band U2, said that his favorite Bible version, and the one he reads to his children, is Eugene Peterson’s The Message. He also said that his children read “mostly mainstream books,” including Harry Potter. He recommended LifeLines by Martin Wroe and Malcolm Doney, explaining, “It’s a book about faith but it’s not strict or in any sense sectarian or specific” (“Bono reveals the Bible translation he reads to his children,” Christian Post, May 21, 2019). This is Bono Christianity, and it is the Christianity of the vast majority of “evangelicals” today, which is why Bono is a modern hero of the faith even though he does not give evidence of biblical regeneration in his beliefs and rock & roll lifestyle. The late Eugene Peterson was a universalist who worshiped a false god of his own making, a promoter of Catholic contemplative mysticism, and this is reflected in The Message. It is not God’s Word; it has no sense of absolute truth and has zero convicting, sanctifying power. It says everything and nothing. Peterson took the Word of God and bent it like a nose of wax. The Message is the Bible of end-time, New Age Christianity. Consider a couple of examples: “You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule” (The Message, Matthew 5:3). “Jesus said, You’re not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation--the ‘wind hovering over the water’ creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life--it’s not possible to enter God’s kingdom” (The Message, John 3:5). (Friday Church News Notes, January 3, 2020, www.wayoflife.org [email protected], 866-295-4143) ![]() Genesis 1:24 “And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.” An article in Scientific American posed the question “How wrong can you be?” and gave a definitive answer. The answer is 15%. A well-crafted and well-targeted exam paper should see the average mark being 85%. If the average is higher, with a lot of people getting 100%, then the exam is too easy. This is good examination theory, and I remember studying how good exams and tests should be set as part of my teacher training back in 1983. However, the article goes on to suggest that some questions cause difficulty with a right-wrong analysis. The author suggests that if an idea is shown to be wrong, the advocates of that idea will not usually be persuaded to reject it, but rather adapt it by reinterpreting some of the words and phrases. The examples they give are religious in nature. I agree with his argument that reinterpretation happens, though I reject his example. A better example would be the theory of evolution. It is very common for evolutionists to reinterpret their foundational words and phrases if it is found that an evolutionary idea does not work. The biggest concept of all is what Darwin called the Origin of Species. Of course, one issue not covered by Darwin’s famous book is the actual origin of life. But when challenged on this fundamental lack, evolutionists usually answer that their theory does not cover the issue of the emergence of life. Of course, Genesis 1 covers this in detail! creationmoments.com/sermons/how-wrong-can-you-be ![]() Psalm 139:8 “If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.” A series of unlikely discoveries has scientists shaking their heads. They have discovered the smallest creatures ever seen three miles below the Earth’s surface, happily living where the temperatures go as high as 338 degrees. The creatures were discovered as part of the Deep Subsurface Microbiology Program. This scientific effort is searching for subsurface microbes which might feed on and break down underground pollutants. At 20 to 150 nanometers in length, they seem too small to be alive. A nanometer is one billionth of a meter. The average human hair is 10,000 nanometers across. Atoms average 3-5 nanometers in size. So a creature only four or five times the size of an atom doesn’t seem as though it should be alive. After all, a cell wall is five to seven nanometers thick. DNA alone is five to six nanometers thick. So, with just two cell walls and a little DNA, the smallest of these creatures – called “nanobes” – seem too small to be living creatures. For this reason scientists decided they can’t be alive. But after study, scientists have found that these creatures do indeed have DNA and are made of the elements of life – carbon, nitrogen and oxygen. And they do grow like other living things. Nanobes are another demonstration that nothing is too hard for God, nor is there anywhere He is not. This is a comfort for us since God has spared nothing, including the life of His own Son, to bring about our salvation. creationmoments.com/sermons/nanobugs-amaze-scientists-3 |
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