Biblical Creation and Evangelism

Throughout history, sentinels have been posted to protect people and places. When someone approaches or a situation changes, they issue challenges or sound an alarm. Lighthouses have been called sentinels because of providing alerts through light and sometimes sound. We need sentinels in spiritual matters. Approaching the sentinel of the Big Sauble Lighthouse on Lake Michigan Even some animals have guard duty. Darwin's disciples disagree about why this happens because survival of the fittest essentially relies on selfishness. It is not a safe duty because the watcher can be the first one picked off by a predator and is further from safety. For that matter, evolutionists have their own kind of watchers, ready to warn the faithful that evil creationists are applying science, logic, reason, and theology against naturalism. Those of us who accept the realities of the Bible and biblical creation need to sound the alarm about false teachings. We also need to be willing and able

It may come as a surprise to many people that a number of those involved in biblical creation science ministries had quite different views before becoming biblical creationists. Some were atheists, others theistic evolutionists, and some like Dr. Brian Thomas held to an old earth view. Credit: StockSnap / Lauren Mancke One problem people like Dr. Thomas and others have is that they are only aware of one side. Many do not even know that other — superior — interpretations even exist, and have never heard of biblical creation science. Brian's faith in long ages was challenged by several factors. He could not reconcile the old earth narrative with observed evidence, and most importantly, he saw that secular interpretations of the facts did not fit the truth of the Bible. A student recently asked what I believe about the age of the earth. I replied that at one time I felt absolutely certain that the world was billions of years old. I even wrote a song that mentioned “the age of

Quite a few Christians are buffaloed by the claims of Darwinists who tell us that the parade of hominid ancestors is an accurate representation of evolution. Some Christians have tenuous faith and want the claims of evolutionists refuted. There are some very basic things that everyone should know. That parade is strictly imaginary. While anthropologists have assembled images from bones and such, they have mostly conjecture about the appearance of the apes and ancient humans — nor did they have any scientific reason to presume that our alleged ancestors became white Europeans to rule the world. The links are missing, but evolutionists use apes, imaginary creatures, and humans. Our faith is in the Word of God, not the atheistic interpretations based on naturalism. A recent survey showed that the most persuasive argument for evolution comes from the iconic drawing of the apes-to-man parade. This popular picture illustrates ape-like animals evolving into a human. If this image refle

As biblical creationists, we want to be able to share the truth of creation, help equip Christians, and to ultimately share the gospel message. There is clearly abundant evidence refuting evolution and affirming special creation. We also provide evidence for the Genesis Flood. Why do unbelievers reject the truth? Credit: Cropped from Pixnio / Adrian Pelletier There are many reasons. I have long maintained that they reject the truth because they do not want it, preferring instead to embrace materialism as well as justify their rebellion against God. Also, they are under the control of their master down below (1 Cor. 2:14, 2 Cor. 4:4, John 8:44), which supports the idea that it is a spiritual matter and not about evidence. Remember, it is not our job to save anyone, and not every discussion will lead to a commitment to Jesus Christ. We do our parts and leave the rest up to the Holy Spirit. Then there is the matter of pride. Atheists and other evolutionists want the approval of ot

There is a term use about a biblical principle that may seem scary to some people. It is called the dominion mandate. It may sound like one of those political doctrines for the abuse of power like the divine right of kings or eminent domain , but the dominion mandate is a term for our Creator's command to understand and care about the world he has given us. Credit: Unsplash / Dylan Sauerwein Shortly after God created Adam and Eve, he told them, essentially, "See this nice planet I gave you? Reproduce (critters are to do this also), fill the earth, and get it under control". He did not tell them to run rampant and trash the place so he could be like a modern parent and clean up after his spoiled offspring. No, we are responsible to our Creator for how we care for the world. To do that, we must also learn about and understand many things. It is interesting that Jesus indicated this aspect as well! It’s noteworthy that this was God’s first commandment to the man an

A common way of insulting God is to attack his work (including dysteleology, the idea that things like the human eye were poorly created), and to attack created things. Attacking Christians and creationists is like catnip to atheists and anti-creationists, who deny that we are created in God's image. One mystical belief involves the water drop concept. Credit: Pexels /  Sourav Mishra Similar to the self-refuting Omega Point philosophy , this modified Eastern idea is that drops of water converge and lose their identities in the ocean. It came from Hinduism, which uses evolutionary concepts. However, we know from the Creator God's Written Word that he not only calls each star by name (Psalm 147:4), and he knows his people (John 10:28). Even drops of water have individual characteristics, and we are worth far more than drops; the Creator of the universe took the form of a man, was crucified, died, buried, and bodily arose. For you and for me. When skeptics criticize bibl

Some people get on the prod and want to attack God, the Bible, creation, and Christians. It seems they just want to watch the Bible burn — and to shake our faith. Others, however, have serious inquiries and we can help remove stumbling blocks. What follows is helpful for Question Evolution Day . Credit: Freeimages / Marek Vesely It is not uncommon for an unbeliever to come roaring with accusations against God and the Bible, and some say, "Prove to me scientifically that God exists". That one is the logical fallacy known as the category error , and is irrational. In other cases, use your discernment and use the principle of Proverbs 26:4-5. That is, do not allow the unbeliever to put you on the defensive and make the rules, but show how his or her views are erroneous. As we have seen before, we need to ask questions. This can be a mite disconcerting for someone who is looking for a fight, but it also shows that you are listening and can be a possible bridge to a discus

A word that is common among Bible-believing teachers is edify. (This word has the same root as edifice .)These days, it generally means to instruct and build up people spiritually; a major part of The Question Evolution Project is to edify Christians, for example. Evolutionism hinders the edification of Christians. Credit: Pixabay / WikimediaImages Climb up on yonder hill for a bigger perspective. Modern science was built on biblical principles , but Christians ceded science over to secularists when Darwin and Lyell came on the scene. In a comparatively short time, it was unfashionable to believe the Bible and to understand it properly. People didn't want to look ignorant, so they tried to mix the Bible and current trends of atheistic science views. Bad idea. Today, people are confused and do not realize that they are damaging the core of the gospel message, and that compromising on the truth of creation is ridiculous because the evidence for recent creation is on the side

People tend to believe in an old earth and accept evolution, often shying away from scientific evidence to the contrary and affirming recent creation. To stand for creation and the young earth invites ridicule from folks who think they are "scientifically literate" and smarter than the rest of us. This is an impediment to evangelism. Credit: Good Free Photos Christians should know that people need Jesus. We are to preach repentance and faith for salvation, but when we compromise on the authority of Scripture and reject creation, we are tacitly admitting that we do not fully believe the Bible. Adding long ages and evolution to evangelism is detrimental to the gospel message. Evolutionary ideas have religious implications. The atheistic notion that nature creates itself—from the Big Bang to the diversity of life on Earth—is contrary to the biblical truth that God created nature. Last month we saw how this strikes at the very doctrine of God. Evangelism deals directly

The natural response of those who believe in salvation through Jesus Christ aone is worship. It should not be necessary to consider who or what God is, we should  know that God is our Creator and Redeemer. When people in the Bible were in the presence of the Almighty, they were overcome with a sense of their own unworthiness, reverence, and tremendous awe. They worshiped him. Credit: Unsplash /  Diana Simumpande Indeed, ancient Christian creeds like the Apostolic and Nicene begin by affirming that God is our Creator. Unfortunately, too many professing Christians have chosen reject biblical authority. They ride the owlhoot trail and try to mix long ages and evolution with biblical Christianity. This contaminates true worship. It also demonstrates ignorance of the Bible's plain teachings as well as adding atheistic interpretations of modern science philosophies to their worship. How confused is that? God is not weak and did not need  millions of years to cause life to evolve,

We read in the Bible hear sermons, and read articles that mention the glory of God. It is actually a very involved concept, beyond just "making God look good" . Other people and I want to glorify God in our lives and what we write. It is a fair question to wonder if biblical creation science glorifies God. Credit: RGBStock / Archbob A big part of God's people giving him glory is reflecting his attributes. We must not steal his glory by proclaiming falsehoods instead of the truth, such as compromising on deep time and evolution when his Word clearly shows us otherwise. Recent creation glorifies God because it acknowledges His accuracy as a divine Author. By accuracy I mean telling it like it is. What kind of God would inspire His prophet Moses to record “For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day” if in fact nature made the heavens and the earth over billions of years? And if God failed to f

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen There are people who say that God was too severe with the Genesis Flood. Atheists use this as a way to set themselves up to condemn through their own self-righteous "morality" to judge God (that they claim doesn't exist anyway!) with a fallacious argument from outrage (see Job 40:8). Many professing Christians are not a whole heap better. The Deluge / John Martin, 1834 Let's be direct. God's Judgment is not a pleasant subject, whether it is Hell, the Flood, or other forms. People get a mite uppity, forgetting that God is our Creator and is holy and just. His actions and character are not evil simply because we do not like what he says and does. When Adam sinned, he began blamestorming even though he was told that in the day he ate of the fruit, he would die. Literally, " dying you shall die ", as the process began and his sin affected all of creation (Rom. 5:12, Rom. 8:22). I wonder how many times Adam saw what was hap

While professing Christians claim to believe the Bible, far too many put atheistic interpretations of modern science philosophies into a magisterial position. That is, Scripture is interpreted through the spectacles of long ages. This is backwards. Credit: RGBStock / rkirbycom Some who compromise with secular views put down biblical creation with the falsehood that it hinders evangelism , so they ride for the old earth brand. (Did you ever notice that these folks usually deny the global Flood of Genesis in one way or another?) Bible believers teach the hard truth of sin, Judgment, repentance, and redemption. People may shy away from the Flood because of old earth beliefs, but also because it describes judgment against the wicked people of the day. It is referred to in the Bible, and Peter even likened the Flood to the coming final Judgment (2 Peter 3:5-6). Discussing the Genesis Flood is actually helpful in evangelism. Some Christians claim that insisting on a literal Genesi

Since we are bombarded at every turn with assertions of evolution and millions of years as a fact, many Christians try to reconcile the days of Creation with long periods of time. Expressions like, "Well I  think the days are God's  days, and we can't know how long they really are!" Some are sidewinders who know precisely what is going on and deliberately corrupt God's Word. Background image credit: freestocks.org / Joanna Malinowska To be blunt, it doesn't matter what you or I think. The important thing is what God said in Scripture, and that too many professing Christians are uninformed about the Bible they claim to believe — especially at the foundation, the first chapter of Genesis. Some misquote 2 Peter 3:8, "One day is like a thousand years", which does not help much because it would make creation week six thousand years long, unhelpful for deep time. Also, the verse cancels this idea out, "...and a thousand years like one day".

Something that has puzzled readers of the sixth chapter of Genesis is the use of the term gopher wood. Footnotes often say that the "Hebrew term is uncertain", and Bible translations differ — "I know what that means, Cowboy Bob! Noah commanded his sons, "Shem, you gopher water, Ham can gopher more pitch, and Japheth can gopher wood". No. Anyway, Bible translations differ. Many use the term gopher wood, and using the translations in my copy of theWord Bible Software , Coverdale (1535,) Geneva (1587), and Tyndale (1526) translated it as pine. The NIV translates it as cypress and adds the "uncertain" reference. The KJV, NKJV, NASB, HCSB, ESV, WEB all render the term as gopher wood. Credit: Wikimedia Commons /  Cimerondagert  ( CC by-SA 4.0 ) An excellent possibility is that God was not specifying a particular tree that has disappeared since then, but that Noah was to use hardwood. Getting into the Hebrew language, we see the root word tha

Biblical creationists have some challenges to meet in order to remain faithful to Scripture. One of those is with fundamentally flawed dating methods used by secularists as well as religious compromisers. In this case, a Triassic tumor dated to be 240 million years old. Pappochelys rosinae reconstruction image credit: Wikimedia Commons / Rainer Schoch We maintain that the Bible says what it means, and to change the plain reading to accommodate long-age owlhoots is unfaithful to the text (Prov. 30:6, 1 Cor. 4:6, Isaiah 40:8). But what of radiometric dating that puts critters back millions of years, and some of them had cancer? Despite the claims of secularists, radiometric dating has serious flaws . This includes wildly disparate results — including for rocks of known ages . Fact is, the Genesis Flood is a more rational description for what is found in geology. Compare faulty claims of deep time to Scripture, where God said his creation was very good (Gen. 1:31). It beggars r

On Resurrection Sunday, most Christians celebrate the bodily Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the Dead. While the man Jesus began his earthly life in Bethlehem, God the Son has always existed. He made himself known in several places in the Old Testament. These are called theophanies . Abraham Receiving the Three Angels by Bartolome Esteban Murillo, 1667 There is disagreement among scholars about the nature of theophanies. In the broadest sense, they were encounters with God. There is some debate about the identity of the angel of the Lord (although the text indicates that this was the preincarnate Christ ). God was active in human history before he (our Creator) took the form of a man, lived a sinless life, died on the cross, was buried, and rose again the third day. This is one of many reasons to humble ourselves and rejoice. As Easter approaches, we tend to focus our reflections on the life, death, and glorious resurrection of Christ. We even mark the timeline of history

It is a sad fact that many professing Christians do not have a solid understanding of what the Bible teaches. This tempts them to abandon good teaching so they can ride the Owlhoot Trail of false doctrines. Related to this is the opinion that origins and recent creation are irrelevant. While they are not essentials for salvation, recent creation and origins are extremely important to the gospel message. Image source: RGBStock/ rizeli53 Atheists, old earth proponents, theistic evolutionists, compromisers, and other enemies of the Word of God exploit this ignorance. They come along with sciencey pronouncements and Scripture twisting, plus a heapin' helpin' of hostility and ridicule toward those of us who believe that God means what he says (including name-calling and labels such as " YECism "). People are timorous when it comes to standing for biblical truth, and when you mix in ignorance with intimidation, folks put the blinders on and join the crowd. Incident

Bible believers know that God made every kind of critter. Some of those we think are ugly or creepy (they probably have unflattering thoughts about us as well), or even downright scary, take some people a bit of time to appreciate. (My wife isn't fond of when I talk about fascinating traits in reptiles.) Some creatures we think of as monsters . Credit: RGBstock /  Adrian van Leen It's a fair question to ask why God would make monsters. He has his plans, and many things we consider to be monsters are not dangerous after all, while other cute and pretty things can be deadly. In the beginning, there was no predation; T Rex  may have been a fierce melon eater! Aside from movies and television shows showing scary monsters, actual monsters are a matter of perception. There is another kind of monster to consider: that taniwha on the inside of us, prompting us to sin, be imprisoned by our fears, and more. We have that sin nature, you see, the product of living in a fallen wor

When discussing Creation, atheists and other anti-creationists will ridicule it since they do not approve of viewpoints that do not include Darwin. It's who they are and what they do. It is indeed unfortunate that many professing Christians will file Genesis under "nice story" or "allegory" (and even say that God used the Big Bang for creation — which shows their ignorance of both Genesis and evolution.) In reality, Genesis is essential to a proper understanding of the gospel. Credit: Unsplash / Aaron Burden No, we are not saying that believing in creation is essential to salvation, but it is a gospel issue . If you read the Bible carefully, you will see that creation is proclaimed all the way through to the end (see Rev. 14:6, 3:14, for example). What we believe controls what we think, and therefore, what we do. Christians need to have a high view of Scripture, which is God-breathed (2 Tim. 3:16 NIV). Rejecting creation leaves the gospel incomplete. M