December 13, 2015

Since Paul is talking in our text about his ministry, I thought about titling this message, “How to be a Good Minister.” But I was afraid that if you saw that title in advance, you might think that it was a good week to skip church! Being a good minister may be interesting for seminary students or a group of pastors or missionaries, but what relevance does being a good minister have for those who are not in “full time” ministry?

The answer is, “It is extremely relevant for every Christian!” If you know Jesus Christ as your Savior, then you are just as much a minister of Christ as I am. The word translated “minister” (Col. 1:23, 25) means “servant.” Every Christian is a servant of Jesus Christ. Every Christian has been given spiritual gifts to use in serving the Master. “Church benchwarmer” is not one of the gifts! Every member of the body has a ministry to fulfill.

But maybe you’re thinking, “Okay, but I’ve never been to seminary and I’m not a full time Christian worker as you are. I can’t devote the time to serving the Lord that you do.” True, but the apostle Paul never went to seminary. And he made tents to support his ministry. But he saw his ministry as a stewardship given to him by God. He knew that he would give an account to God for the ministry that God had entrusted to him. And so he worked hard to be a good minister. He wanted to serve Christ well.

So should you. Perhaps you’ve never thought about it before, but the question, “How can I be a good minister (servant) of Jesus Christ?” should be on your mind often. One day soon you will stand before the Lord for judgment of what you have done with what He entrusted to you (Rom. 14:10; 2 Cor. 5:10). How did you use your time? How did you manage the money He allowed you to make? How did you use your spiritual gifts?

But perhaps you’re still thinking, “But my gifts are pretty insignificant. I never could prepare and preach a sermon, as you do every week. I’m not gifted as an evangelist. I don’t have millions of dollars to give to the Lord’s work. So I don’t have an important role in the Lord’s work.”

If that describes you, then you must be especially careful! In Jesus’ parable of the talents (Matt. 25:14-30), the master gave five talents (a “talent” was a large sum of money) to one servant, two to another, and one to the third. The man with five invested them and made five more. The man with two made two more. But the man with one hid it and gave it back to the master. The master called him a wicked, lazy, worthless slave and threw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

The clear warning of that parable is that the servant with one talent is in the greatest danger of not using it for the master’s purpose. Not serving Christ at all is a sign that you don’t belong to Him. So even “one-talent Christians” should be vitally interested in the question, “How can I be a good minister or servant of Jesus Christ?” How can I serve Christ well? Paul’s answer here is:

We serve Christ well by exalting Him in every way.

Paul was writing against the backdrop of the false teachers who were infecting the Colossian church. They diminished the person and work of Christ, so Paul has exalted Christ as preeminent over everything that is. The false teachers no doubt knew that Paul had trained Epaphras who had brought the gospel to them. But to build themselves up, they probably tore Paul down. Perhaps they were saying, “If Christ is the Sovereign Lord of the universe and if Paul is His servant, then why is Paul in jail? Don’t follow a jailbird; follow us!”

So in verse 23, Paul mentions that he was made (or became) a minister of the gospel. In Colossians 1:24-29, he expands on that topic, showing how he exalted Christ in his ministry. In so doing, he shows us how we can serve Christ well in whatever He has given us to do for Him. I can only work through verse 27 in this message. Paul shows us how we can exalt Christ in trials (Col. 1:24); in our service (Col. 1:25); and in our message (Col. 1:26-27).

1. We exalt Christ in our trials by enduring them joyfully for His and His church’s sake (Col. 1:24).

Colossians 1:24: “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.” This is a difficult verse for two reasons: It’s difficult to explain and it’s difficult to apply.

When you come to a difficult verse, the principle for interpretation is, always interpret the difficult verse in light of the clear. The difficult verse will never contradict the clear verses. And it is clear both in Paul’s writings and in the entire New Testament that Christ’s suffering on the cross was complete and sufficient for the salvation of all who trust in Him.

Jesus Himself proclaimed just before He died (John 19:30), “It is finished.” The atonement that He procured for sinners was complete. In Colossians 1:12-14, Paul makes it clear that in Christ we have an inheritance, we have been rescued from Satan’s domain of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of Christ, and we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. In Colossians 2:10, Paul says, “In Him you have been made complete.” He goes on to show that the death and resurrection of Christ resulted in all our sins being forgiven and in Christ’s complete victory over the powers of darkness. Many other verses in Paul’s writings and in the Book of Hebrews could be piled up to show that in terms of salvation, nothing was lacking in Christ’s sufferings. So this verse does not mean that somehow Christ’s suffering on the cross was insufficient for our salvation so that Paul or anyone else needed to complete it.

Paul isn’t talking here about salvation, but rather about service. The word translated “afflictions” is not used elsewhere in the New Testament of Christ’s sacrificial sufferings for our salvation (J. B. Lightfoot, Saint Paul’s Epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon [Zondervan], p. 166). So Paul does not mean and the New Testament never teaches that in some way we by our suffering must add merit to Christ’s sacrificial death that paid for our sins.

Then what does Paul mean by this statement? Many views have been suggested, but I think that two offer the best explanation. First, Jesus taught that His followers must suffer because of their identification with Him. He told the disciples (John 15:20-21),

“Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me.”

In the Olivet Discourse, Jesus prophesied that before He returned, there would be a time of unprecedented suffering for His followers (Matt. 24:9, 21-22). In Revelation 6:9-11, the apostle John saw the martyrs in heaven, who were crying out, asking God how long would it be until their blood was avenged. The Lord told them (Rev. 6:11) to rest for a little while longer, “until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also.” So there is a sense in which Christ’s sufferings must be filled up or completed by His body, the church, before He returns. Because the church is His body, when any member suffers for His name, Jesus also suffers. As Paul learned on the Damascus Road, when he persecuted the church, he persecuted Jesus Himself (Acts 9:4).

But also, Christ’s sufferings do not need completion in terms of propitiation, but rather in terms of propagation. Christ’s death provided perfect atonement for all who believe, but people can’t believe unless Christ’s followers go everywhere proclaiming the good news. As Paul put it (Rom. 10:14), “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?” (John Piper develops this explanation in Desiring God [Multnomah Books], 1996 ed., pp. 223-238).

William Barclay offers a helpful illustration (Flesh and Spirit [Baker], pp. 80-81). He affirms that the work of Christ is done and completed. No one can add to it. But he supposes a great scientist or surgeon who has spent his life and ruined his health to find some cure for a disease. That discovery remains useless unless it is taken out of the laboratory and made available for people all over the world. Those who take it to others may have to sweat and toil and risk their lives to do it. They aren’t adding to the scientist’s work. But it may be rightly said that they are completing the sufferings of the scientist by taking his discovery to the far corners of the earth. The thing lacking in Christ’s afflictions is not the full salvation He secured on the cross, but the price that His followers must pay in the struggle against the powers of darkness to take the salvation Christ offers to every person.

But if that is Paul’s meaning, it is still difficult to apply to us American Christians because very few of us know what it means to suffer for the gospel of Christ. Our brothers and sisters around the world know it very well, as you are aware if you read “Voice of the Martyrs” magazine. The way things are going in this country, we may soon get our turn. But in addition to praying for and helping those in other countries who are suffering for Christ’s sake, how can we apply this here and now?

First, note that Paul is not only talking about suffering for Christ’s sake, but suffering joyfully. He was in prison and he tells the Colossians (1:24), “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake.” Paul rejoiced that his sufferings for Christ would help the new Colossian church to stand firm when they suffered. Our Lord also told us (Matt. 5:11-12):

“Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

His words give us a hint for how we can apply this short of being imprisoned or beaten or dying for our faith. If it comes to that, I trust that the Holy Spirit will give us the power to rejoice. But in the meantime, we should rejoice when people insult us and falsely say all kinds of evil against us because of Christ. Perhaps you’re teaching Sunday school or you’re on a worship team or you’re working behind the scenes to serve, and someone criticizes you or they even lie about you. They gossip to others, maligning your motives. What do you do?

I’ve seen wounded Christians quit serving the Lord. Some have even dropped out of church and in a few cases, stopped following Christ. I’ve seen pastors leave the ministry because of criticism. But what should you do? You may need to talk to the critic to try to get things cleared up and to be reconciled in your relationship. But first, you need to rejoice! Count it a privilege that you have been considered worthy to suffer shame for Jesus’ name (Acts 5:41). In some small way, you are filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions! When you endure trials joyfully for Christ’s sake and for His church’s sake, you exalt Him.

2. We exalt Christ in our service by doing it in the power of His Spirit as stewards appointed by Him (Col. 1:25).

Colossians 1:25: “Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, …” Twice (Col. 1:23, 25) Paul says that he was made or became a minister. How did this happen? Did Paul take an aptitude test where the results indicated, “You’d be good as a minister”? No! In Galatians 1:15, Paul says that God had set him apart from his mother’s womb.

In Acts 9 we read how it happened. As Paul approached Damascus where he planned to persecute and imprison Christians, a light from heaven flashed around him, he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying (Acts 9:4), “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” Saul asked (Acts 9:5), “Who are You, Lord?” The Lord answered (Acts 9:5b-6), “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do.” Then the Lord told Ananias to go and lay hands on Paul so that he might regain his sight. When Ananias expressed concerns about doing that for a known terrorist, the Lord replied (Acts 9:15-16),

“Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.”

That’s how Paul became a minister of the gospel: he was not a volunteer for Jesus; he was a conscript! It wasn’t Paul’s chosen career path. Rather, the crucified and risen Lord laid His hand on Paul and said, like the old Army posters, “I want you to serve Me!” Paul didn’t join God’s army; he was drafted!

Maybe you’re thinking, “Wow, I’m glad that the Lord hasn’t called me into the ministry!” But as I said, if you know Christ, He has called you into the ministry. He has called you to serve Him with whatever spiritual gifts, time, and resources He has entrusted to you. It may not be a calling to preach God’s Word, as Paul’s calling was. But whatever your gifts and calling, you can learn something from Paul’s statement that he “might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God” (literally, “make full the word of God”). In Romans 15:18-19, Paul refers to what Christ had accomplished through him in the power of the Spirit and then adds, “so that from Jerusalem and round about as far as Illyricum I have fully preached [or, ‘fulfilled’] the gospel of Christ.” In 2 Timothy 4:17, he tells how the Lord strengthened him “so that through me the proclamation might be fully accomplished.”

So the idea is, however God has gifted you, you will only fulfill your calling if you rely on the power of the Spirit and trust the Lord to accomplish His work through you. As Jesus said (John 15:4-5), it is only when we abide in Him as branches in the vine that we can bear much fruit. So view yourself as a steward appointed by Christ to do whatever He’s given you to do. Then do it joyfully in reliance on His Spirit, seeking to glorify the Lord who bought you and rescued you from the domain of darkness. Your ministry is not about fulfilling you, but about exalting the Lord.

So we serve Christ well by exalting Him in every way. We exalt Him in our trials by enduring them joyfully for His and His church’s sake. We exalt Him in our service by doing it in the power of His Spirit as His stewards because He appointed us.

3. We exalt Christ in our message by proclaiming God’s revelation about the indwelling Christ and the hope of glory for everyone who believes (Col. 1:26-27).

Colossians 1:26-27: “that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

Paul calls his message “the mystery.” Probably he was playing upon a term which the false teachers used. They taught that you had to be initiated into their inner circle to understand the mysteries or secret truths which they would reveal to you. Paul says that the gospel message, especially that the Gentiles could be full partners along with the Jews, is a mystery; not in the sense that it is known only by a select few, but in the sense that it was formerly unknown, but now God has revealed it. The Old Testament predicted salvation for the Gentiles. But God had to reveal the previously unknown truth that the Gentiles would be fellow-heirs with the Jews, one body in Christ with them.

When Paul says, “Christ in you” (Col. 1:27), he means, in this context, “Christ in you Gentiles.” For Paul, this was a glorious truth, but I fear that we don’t appreciate it as much as we should. Before the cross of Christ which opened the gospel to both Jews and Gentiles on equal standing, Gentiles were at best second-class citizens in the kingdom. Gentiles could become proselytes to Judaism, but they could only enter into the court of the women and Gentiles in the Temple. They could not go into the inner court where the Jewish men went. There was a waist-high wall of partition which separated them. Before his conversion Paul was at the forefront of perpetuating this discrimination.

But once he was saved, God revealed to him that the Gentiles are fellow-heirs of the gospel with the Jews. The wall of partition is removed in Christ (Eph. 2:14). As he writes in Colossians 3:11, “there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.” Christ is in every believer and every believer is in Christ! And the church should be the place where those cultural walls of prejudice are torn down as a demonstration of the power of the gospel. We exalt Christ in our message when we proclaim that the glorious riches of the indwelling Christ are for every person from every race. Racial prejudice has no place in the church.

Paul says that the riches of the glory of the gospel is, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” I know that you all know that if you have believed in Jesus Christ, He dwells in you and you’re going to heaven. I know it, too. But do we really know it?

If we really knew that the living Christ was in us this past week and that we will soon be with Him in glory, would things have gone any differently? Would we have been impatient, frustrated, angry, grumbling, or depressed if we had stopped to consider that Christ is living in us and we’re destined to share His glory? Would we have spent our time as we spent it if we had been aware of His holy presence in our hearts and thought about being with Him in glory? Would we have grown cold in our devotion to Him and lacked the motivation to read His Word and to pray if we had felt the reality of Christ dwelling in our hearts and had our hope set on the glory ahead? Christianity is not primarily rules or religious ideas; it’s a personal relationship with the living, indwelling Christ, who has called us to share His glory. We exalt Him when we experience and proclaim that message.

Conclusion

Ever since my college days (many decades ago), I’ve had a recurring dream where it’s the end of the semester and I realize that I haven’t been going to a class or doing the assignments and it’s time for the final exam. I panic! It’s a nightmare!

If you know Christ, you’re enrolled in the course called “ministry.” There are assignments and there will be a final exam! Maybe before this message, you didn’t even know you were enrolled in the course. But now you know. Your grade will be based on, “Did you serve Christ well by exalting Him in every way?” Did you exalt Him in your trials by enduring them joyfully for His sake? Did you exalt Him in your service by doing it in the power of His Spirit as a steward appointed by Him? Did you exalt Him in your message by proclaiming that Christ indwells you and will indwell every person who trusts in Him and that He promises glory for every believer? Remember, you’re in the ministry now!

Application Questions

1. Should every Christian view his job as “tent-making” to support his ministry? Why/why not?
2. How should a new believer discover where God want him or her to serve?
3. How should we respond when we’re serving the Lord and catch criticism? What steps should we take?
4. Practically, how can we gain a deeper sense of Christ’s indwelling presence and of the hope of glory?

Copyright, Steven J. Cole, 2015, All Rights Reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition © The Lockman Foundation

January 3, 2016

We live in a time of unprecedented widespread deception. The past year saw 750 documented data breaches, stealing the private information of 178 million Americans. When identity thieves get your credit card numbers they can print up phony cards and take out cash or run up bills in your name. When they steal your Social Security number, they can file a tax form and steal your tax refund.

Telephone scammers prey on everyone, but especially on the elderly. The biggest scam is fraudsters who pose as agents of the IRS, telling people that they will be arrested or their property seized for back taxes if they do not pay up immediately. Another popular scam consists of people posing as employees of tech companies who tell you that your computer has a virus. They need remote access to your computer and your passwords so that they can “fix” the problems. And, for a fee, they will provide a year’s worth of “tech support.” (These statistics and examples are from an AARP email, 12/23/15.)

While these schemes can cost people financially, spiritual deception can result in a person’s eternal ruin. Satan has been employing his deceptive lies since the Garden. Warning the Corinthians about not receiving a false Jesus or a different gospel, the apostle Paul wrote (2 Cor. 11:3), “But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.”

Satan has used the false teaching of the cults to lure many away from the true gospel that the apostles preached. Invariably, these groups prey on unsuspecting, untaught people in evangelical churches. They use the Bible and claim to believe in Jesus as Savior and Lord. But they deny the trinity, including Jesus’ deity. They deny the gospel of Christ’s substitutionary atonement and salvation by grace through faith alone. Tragically, they lead their followers into eternal damnation.

As we’ve seen, false teachers were threatening the new Colossian church. They probably had not yet gained many followers—at this point Paul was still “rejoicing to see [their] good discipline and the stability of [their] faith in Christ” (Col. 2:5). But these wolves were mingling among the flock, so Paul was concerned. In our text, he gives them a dose of preventative medicine. He wrote these things “so that no one would delude [them] with persuasive argument” (Col. 2:4). To be forewarned was to be forearmed. Since the eternal destiny of precious souls is at stake, we need to heed his counsel on how to avoid spiritual deception. To sum up:

We avoid spiritual deception by being committed to a loving, Christ-centered church.

Before we explore Paul’s counsel, I mention that these verses could be expounded in a different direction. Paul is continuing to talk about his ministry (Col. 1:24-29). In Colossians 1:29, he said that he was striving according to God’s mighty power. In Colossians 2:1, he uses the same Greek word to tell his readers that he had a great struggle on their behalf, which he goes on to describe. So we could develop these verses along the lines of some vital principles for ministry:

(1) Heartfelt love and concern for the spiritual well-being of the church (including these people whom he had never met); (2) prayer (“struggle”) undergirding everything; (3) a strong emphasis on teaching the truth along with loving relationships; (4) being Christ-centered and Christ-exalting in such teaching; (5) warning newer believers about the danger of being carried away by false teachers who like to prey on the flock; (6) encouraging others to be disciplined and stand firm in Christ.

But you’ll have to work on those points on your own. I want to pursue the theme of avoiding spiritual deception, because it is no less a threat in our day than it was in Paul’s.

1. To avoid spiritual deception, recognize that it is a serious danger.

Over 40 years ago, Marla and I were mugged at gunpoint as we walked from our car to our apartment in Dallas, Texas. After that traumatic event, I never made that short walk without looking around for potential danger. I often saw women standing near where we were mugged, chatting together without a thought that they may be in a dangerous place. But after we were attacked, I was always alert and on guard. Even to this day, if I venture outside in a public place after dark, I keep my eyes open for possible attackers. If you’re unaware of potential danger, you’re more likely to fall prey to it.

The problem with spiritual deception is that it’s always more subtle and conniving than an armed, frontal attack. Paul warned that Satan disguises himself as an angel of light and his servants as servants of righteousness (2 Cor. 11:14-15). Satan doesn’t come in a red suit with horns and a pitchfork, laughing wickedly as he promises to take you with him to hell. He comes offering greater “light” on difficult issues. His servants are not outwardly, obviously evil. They pose as servants of righteousness, promising freedom, while inwardly they are enslaved by various lusts (2 Pet. 2:18-19). Jesus warned about wolves in sheep’s clothing (Matt. 7:15). Their disguise enabled them to mix among the flock, but their aim was to destroy for their own gain.

In our text (Col. 2:4), Paul warns about those who would “delude you with persuasive argument.” They were promising “deeper knowledge of mysteries” and “secret wisdom” that would help you in your Christian life. But they were promoting a message that appealed to the flesh. They claimed to have a deeper philosophy than the simple gospel of faith in Christ. They claimed to be holier than the apostles because of their self-abasement, rules, and severe treatment of the body (Col. 2:23). But they were promoting a religion that feeds pride, not the message of the cross.

It’s amazing how many different false teachings and teachers continue to prey on the Lord’s flock in our day. I recently saw an article on a “Bible study” group in Colorado where everyone smokes pot (which is legal there and coming here soon!). The members testified that studying the Bible in traditional churches had always been boring to them, but when they smoke pot, they see new insights and the Bible is much more interesting. And a local pastor is helping them study the Bible without confronting their drug use!

Beyond that, the cults are as active as ever, going door-to-door in our neighborhoods and recruiting people by appealing to their “strong family emphasis.” Among professing evangelicals, there are “churches” that gather in bars and sip cocktails while they discuss the Bible and current topics of interest. Seeker sensitive churches avoid mentioning anything negative, such as sin or judgment, which might make seekers feel uncomfortable. Rather than explain and apply the Bible, they show movie clips and give self-help messages about how you can succeed in your marriage or career. They picture God as our Good Buddy on the journey, a “life-coach” who is there rooting for us, even when we sin. If we’re oblivious to these and many other deceptive schemes of the devil, we’re more likely to fall prey to them.

2. To avoid spiritual deception, be committed to a loving church.

Let me be quick to add that “loving” isn’t the only criterion! The cults draw people in by showing them “love.” Perhaps the most egregious example was the Children of God cult, where the women used sex to lure unsuspecting men into the group. But other less flagrant examples abound, where the cults offer lonely people a sense of belonging and fellowship. So love is not the only necessary quality to look for.

But it is an essential quality. Paul’s heartfelt love and concern for these believers whom he had not even met is evident. Although not directly stated here, his concern for them is similar to his concern for the new Thessalonian believers, where he compares himself to a gentle, nursing mother and to a loving, concerned father (1 Thess. 2:7, 11). In Colossians 2:2, he expresses his desire or prayer for these dear people, along with the believers in Laodicea, “that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself ….” That reminds me of Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians (3:16-19):

… that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

In both prayers, Paul connects spiritual apprehension of God’s blessings in Christ with being a part of a loving fellowship of believers. F. F. Bruce observed (The Epistles to the Colossians, to Philemon, and to the Ephesians [Eerdmans], p. 95), “Paul emphasizes that the revelation of God cannot be properly known apart from the cultivation of brotherly love within the community.” N. T. Wright (Colossians and Philemon [IVP/Eerdmans], pp. 94-95) explains, “Living in a loving and forgiving community will assist growth in understanding, and vice versa, as truth is confirmed in practice and practice enables truth to be seen in action and so to be fully grasped.” Our text implies three qualities of a loving church:

A. A loving church is a praying church.

Although it’s not directly stated, most commentators think that Paul’s great “struggle” for these believers whom he had not met was his struggle in prayer. He uses the verb related to that noun when he refers (Col. 4:12) to Epaphras, who is “always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers.” We get our word “agonizing” from this Greek word. It was used of wrestlers, straining every fiber in their bodies as they struggled to defeat their opponents. In Colossians 4:2-3, Paul specifically calls this church to prayer: “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; praying at the same time for us as well ….”

There are two things to take away from this. First, if you love people, you will pray for them. If they’re on your heart, you take them often before God’s throne of grace, asking Him to keep them from the many snares of this world and to help them to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. I encourage you to pray through our church directory. Even if you don’t know these people (Paul didn’t know the Colossians or Laodiceans personally), it puts them on your heart. When you meet them, there is an instant bond of fellowship if you’ve been praying for them.

Second, the word “struggle” implies that praying for others is not easy. If you find praying for others to be difficult, welcome to the process! As Paul says in Ephesians 6:12, we are doing battle against “the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

B. A loving church practices heartfelt concern for one another.

Paul’s heart of concern for these new believers oozes through this text, and he wants their hearts to be encouraged or strengthened as they are knit together in love. True Christianity is a matter of the heart or inward person. It’s not about outward conformity or appearance, but about love for God and one another from the heart. It’s not about keeping up an image or veneer of righteousness by rules, but rather about how we think and live when others aren’t looking.

C. A loving church seeks the highest good of each person, namely, to know Christ and grow in Him.

As we saw in Colossians 1:28, Paul’s aim was to present every person complete or mature in Christ. Love seeks the highest good of others, which is, that the person knows Christ in a saving way and that he or she is growing in Christ. Since sin always destroys people, love means that if you see a brother or sister in sin or straying from the Lord, you go to them in a humble, gentle spirit and seek to restore them to the Lord (Gal. 6:1). If you hear a fellow Christian saying things that are contrary to sound doctrine, you talk with him and try to reason from Scripture to show him his error.

So to avoid spiritual deception, be aware of the danger. Be committed to a loving church. There is safety when you’re in the fold with the other sheep. If you venture out on your own, the wolves are waiting!

3. To avoid spiritual deception, be committed to a Christ-centered church.

In chapter 1, Paul has shown that as the creator of the universe and the head of the church, Christ is supreme over all things. He said that the riches of the glory of the mystery that God has now revealed is, “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27). In Colossians 2:2b-3, probably countering the false teachers who emphasized their secret knowledge of the mysteries of God, Paul comes back to that theme and says that he wants these believers to attain “to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” He also (Col. 2:5) commends their “good discipline and the stability of [their] faith in Christ.” Clearly, Christ and the gospel must be the center of a solid church. Note five things:

A. A Christ-centered church is a Bible-centered church.

The Bible is our only source of divine revelation about the person and work of Jesus Christ and the Bible is Christ-centered. The Old Testament points ahead to Jesus. As Alec Motyer asserts (A Christian’s Pocket Guide to Loving the Old Testament [Christian Focus], p. 19, 25), “Without the Old Testament, we could not know Jesus properly…. Without the Old Testament we would not understand our New Testament properly.” The Gospels tell us how God took on human flesh in the person of Jesus Christ. The rest of the New Testament interprets and applies the person, teaching, and work of Christ. The final book of the New Testament, the Revelation, points to His second coming in power and glory.

So if a church is not centered on the Bible, it is not centered on Jesus Christ. If a church does not teach the Bible on a consistent basis, you will not be equipped to withstand the deceptive schemes of the devil. In a genuinely loving church, you will receive sound teaching, both from the pulpit and from mature believers. Sometimes, sound teaching will confront where your life is not in line with God’s revealed will. Don’t dodge that! It’s easy to find churches that tell you what you want to hear to make you feel good. You need a church that, like a good doctor, tells you what you need to hear for spiritual health and growth (2 Tim. 4:1-5).

B. A Christ-centered church is a spiritually discerning church.

Discernment is a scarce commodity in modern evangelical circles. If you advocate discernment, you’ll be accused of being judgmental or intolerant. When I first came here 23 years ago, one of the elders told me that I was arrogant because I had titled one of my sermons, “What the Bible Says About Abortion.” When I asked him to explain, he said, “You can’t be dogmatic. You can’t say what the Bible says about anything. You can only state your opinion, but be open to other views.”

I agree that there are some secondary matters where we must not be dogmatic and I agree that we must be kind and gracious when we defend the truth (2 Tim. 2:24-26). But I disagree strongly that we must be tolerant and accepting of diverse views on clear biblical doctrines and moral issues. Without sound doctrine and biblically-based discernment, God’s people will be “carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming” (Eph. 4:14).

C. A Christ-centered church is growing to understand all the treasures of wisdom and understanding that are in Christ.

Paul says that full assurance comes from understanding and knowing God’s mystery, which is Christ (the best manuscripts omit, “of the Father”). When Paul says that Christ is God’s “mystery,” and that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are “hidden” in Him, he does not mean that these things are reserved for an elite, insider few. Rather, he is countering the false teachers, who appealed to people with their inside secrets. By “mystery,” Paul means truth that formerly was concealed, but now is plainly revealed for all to see. The Old Testament promised the coming Redeemer and King, but the specifics were blurry until Jesus came on the scene, much like we’re fuzzy on the details about end time prophecies that have not yet been fulfilled.

By saying that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are “hidden” in Christ, Paul is reflecting Proverbs 2:4-5, which says of wisdom, understanding, and discernment:

If you seek her as silver
And search for her as for hidden treasures;
Then you will discern the fear of the Lord
And discover the knowledge of God.

It takes some effort and diligence to mine out the riches that are in Christ. But the point is, He is our all-sufficient treasure for our every need. As W. H. Griffith Thomas states (Studies in Colossians and Philemon [Kregel], p. 78), “The only safeguard against error for the Christian is a full knowledge of Christ.”

D. A Christ-centered church practices unity on essential biblical truth, and loving tolerance on non-essentials.

“Knit together” sometimes means “instructed.” But it also means “knit or held together” (see Col. 2:19), which is probably the meaning here. But note that the unity is not divorced from understanding and true knowledge of Christ. As Paul states in Ephesians 4:13, 15, we are to attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God as we speak the truth in love.

There are core biblical truths that we must understand clearly and be willing to fight for and, if necessary, divide over or even die for. To compromise these truths would be to deny the gospel of Jesus Christ. There are other areas of doctrine and practice where godly people differ. While some of these areas are important for how we live, they do not jeopardize the gospel. We may debate these issues vigorously, but we must always regard the other person as a brother or sister in Christ and treat him or her with love.

E. A Christ-centered church is disciplined and stable in its faith in Christ.

“Good discipline” and “stability” picture a military unit that is disciplined in its fighting order, that has closed ranks so that the false teachers cannot break through. Sam Storms (samstorms.com) writes:

The word translated “good order” points to the well-ordered behavior of the Colossians. He has in mind lives that are aligned with biblical revelation, daily habits of life that reflect the values of Jesus, unwavering obedience to the will of God, no matter how unpopular or “unsuccessful” that may prove to be.

“Stability” is the opposite of trendy, flashy, or sensational. Stable churches don’t chase after the latest fad or church growth techniques. They don’t keep people hyped up with speculations about how close we may be to the rapture (because we can’t know exactly when Jesus will return). They don’t promote the latest self-help insights on how you can have a successful life, marriage, or career. Stable churches, frankly, are kind of boring! But we are to be stable in our faith in Christ. The biblical gospel is a sure foundation to guard us against spiritual deception.

Conclusion

In The Truth War [Thomas Nelson, 2007], John MacArthur argues that faithfulness to Christ demands that we fight for the truth of the gospel. But the modern evangelical church, swayed by the worldly emphasis on tolerance and “love,” has become apathetic to the whole concept of truth. In the introduction, he states (p. xvii), “Church leaders are obsessed with style and methodology, losing interest in the glory of God and becoming grossly apathetic about truth and sound doctrine.” He adds (p. xviii, brackets in original), “What we desperately need today are ‘shepherds according to [God’s] heart, who will feed [believers] with knowledge and understanding’ (Jeremiah 3:15; Acts 20:28-31).”

That’s what Paul was arguing for in our text. The enemy has many servants who are trying to delude you with their persuasive arguments to water down the truth about Christ. But you can avoid spiritual deception by being committed to a loving, Christ-centered church.

Application Questions

1. Most people join cults because of relationships or feelings, not doctrines. What are the practical implications of this?
2. Why are churches that emphasize love often weak on doctrine and vice versa? How can we lovingly hold firmly to the truth?
3. Discuss: Is it arrogant to believe that you know the truth on specific biblical issues?
4. How can we differentiate a major doctrine worth dividing over from a lesser doctrine where we need to show tolerance?

Copyright, Steven J. Cole, 2016, All Rights Reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition © The Lockman Foundation

Definitions to know for this study:

·         “Creation” is defined simply as the work of God in bringing all things into existence. Only God is eternal—everything else in the universe had a beginning. True creation is creation ex nihilo (out of nothing) and is not merely a reworking of materials already in existence.

·         “Evolution” is defined, in its broadest sense, as the theory that all things have been derived by gradual modification through natural processes from previous materials. According to this concept, all forms of life have developed from earlier, simpler forms, and even life itself spontaneously came into existence through a complex organization of previously nonliving chemical molecules.

Day One Study

Read Genesis 1:1-19.

1. Reread Genesis 1:9-13 (third day). Through separating and gathering again, how does God give more form to the earth during the first part of Day 3?

2. What more information do the following verses give to us about His work?

·         Job 26:7-10—

·         Job 38:8-11—

·         Psalm 104:7-9—

·         II Peter 3:3-5—

So, how might the Earth have looked midway through Day 3?

3. After forming the earth and space, God began filling it to take away its emptiness. Describe what He did next.

4. Give some examples of the types of plants described here.

5. Why were plants created? See also Genesis 1:29-30 and 2:9a.

Scientific Insight: Plants do not generally grow on bare rock. When God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation,” whatever was necessary for plant life to grow occurred. Yet, the generation of soil from rock supposedly takes many years. If you could go back in time to this point on the third day of creation, the earth would appear to be very old. This appearance of age is required for a mature creation to be fully functioning from the beginning. Yet, it definitely skews “age-dating” methods that rely on observation of present processes and the rate at which soil is now being produced.

6. God repeated the phrase “after/according to their kinds” 10 times in Genesis 1. Any phrase repeated that often is repeated for emphasis. What could the phrase mean? What is God trying to tell us in terms we are supposed to fully understand and not get wrong?

Scientific Insight: According to evolution, seed plants didn’t “evolve” until after bacteria, invertebrates, fish, amphibians and some land animals. Once again, the Days of Genesis cannot be matched up with the theoretical Geological Ages.

Day Two Study

7. Read Genesis 1:14-19 (fourth day). With what does God fill the sky?

8. How and why did God create the lights in the sky? See what these verses say about it.

·         Genesis 1:14-18—

·         Psalm 33:6—

·         Psalm 148:3-6—

·         Isaiah 40:26—

·         Jeremiah 31:35—

9. Considering pagan worship, why might God have waited until Day 4 to create the sun, moon and stars? See also Deuteronomy 4:19; 17:2-5.

Think About It: Did you know there is no scientific proof that the sun is billions of years old? “There is no evidence based solely on solar observation that the sun is 4.5-5 x 109 years old. I suspect that the sun is 4.5 billion years old. However, given some new and unexpected results to the contrary, and some time for frantic recalculation and theoretical readjustment, I suspect that we could live with Bishop Ussher’s value for the age of the earth and sun. I don’t think we have much in the way of observational evidence in astronomy to conflict with that.” (Dr. John A. Eddy, Astrogeophysicist, Solar Astronomer at the High Altitude Observatory at Boulder, CO)

Bishop Ussher (~1600 AD) calculated the earth/sun to be ~6500 years old based on Gen. 1-11.

Appreciation Application:

10. God didn’t do a halfway job. Everything mentioned thus far was fully formed and functioning, each ready to do its preordained job. We’re not going to get all our questions answered although most do have logical answers already supplied through Scripture. Using Hebrews 11:1-6, discuss the role of faith in reading about God’s creation.

11. If God’s work on Days 3 and 4 happened as written, what evidence in the world would you expect to find?

Think About It: Scriptural compromising does not impress evolutionists. T. H. Huxley, who actively labored for evolutionism and against creationism, sarcastically comments: “If we listen to many expositors of no mean authority, we must believe that what seems so clearly defined in Genesis…as if great pains had been taken that there should be no possibility of mistake…is not the meaning of the text at all…A person who is not a Hebrew scholar can only stand aside and admire the marvelous flexibility of a language which admits of such diverse interpretations.” (Quoted from God Spoke to Moses, by O. T. Allis, 1951, p. 158)

Day Three Study

Appreciation Assignment:

12. On a dark night, spend some time outside, perhaps lying on sleeping bags or blankets with the rest of your family, watching the stars while reading Psalm 104 by flashlight. Note for sky watchers: Meteor showers are fun to watch. Check with your local planetarium for the dates to watch these. If you like to study constellations, also read Amos 5:8.

13. Ponder the marvelous diversity and complexity of plant life in general as well as their many functions in serving us—food, shade, enjoyment, etc. What are your favorite plants and why? Meditate on the Creator’s loving hands fashioning these for you.

Deeper Discoveries:

·         Read “Creation Answers: Age of the Earth” following this lesson.

·         Go to www.answersingenesis.org. Enter and choose SEARCH. Enter a word or phrase from today’s passage such as evolution, plants, starlight, etc. Select an article to read or video to watch. Also visit www.icr.org and search.

Creation Answers: Age Of The Earth

“No Harm in Killing Time”

The information below is adapted from resources found on www.icr.org and www.answersingenesis.org.

Let’s address the biggest hot button first—the age of the earth and universe. We’re going to kill some time. There’s no harm in killing time. Where do we get the idea that the earth is billions of years old? Not from the Bible. But, from the world’s teaching, using man’s theories to reinterpret God’s word.

Remember that true science is repeatable, testable, and falsifiable. We have the revealed Word of One who knows everything and who was there!

·         No one can prove creation or evolution.

·         Anyone can look at the historical record & build a model. Then examine facts in light of that model.

·         When what is presented as facts doesn’t agree with the model, there may be a problem with the model or the facts (how they were derived).

The Biblical Model

Three past events that affected earth history from a scientific viewpoint and one event that affected the history of the nations:

·         Creation—6 days, the celestial objects, land and sea, plants, animals, and man

·         Curse—ground, pain and death, food chain, poisonous and nuisance creatures, affected the whole creation according to Romans 8:20-22

·         Flood—affected the planet surface entirely for > 1 year, afterwards man’s diet changed to include eating meat; also the animals’ diet.

·         Dispersion from Babel—the existing population was divided into language groups that spread out and repopulated the earth, taking the accounts of Creation, the Curse, and the Flood with them.

Question #1: Is It Really Radical To Believe In A Young Age For The Earth?

A warning light goes off in your head. How can I believe in a young age for the earth? Haven’t scientists proven that the earth is very old—billions of years? What about all the evidence that the earth and universe are billions of years old? It’s just too radical to believe in a young earth.

This is the answer: what evidence? There is more verifiable evidence that the earth is less than 10,000 years than that it is very old. Did you know that? Here is some evidence that kills time. There’s no harm in killing time. But first…

Why is there such an insistence in the science world and media that the universe and earth are billions of years old? Think about it. If you eliminate God and any divine aspect to creation, then you depend strictly on naturalistic processes. And, there’s the key—TIME! Evolution, if true, needs a long time for it to take place. So, the evolutionary scientist looks for any way to “prove” lots of time has passed.

What’s the prevailing theory? About 15 billion years ago (BYA) compressed matter exploded with a Big Bang. As this explosion took place, the elements in the periodic table cooked their way into existence and were hurled outward. They began to condense and to cool, galaxies were formed as well as nebula. Out of one of these spiral nebulas, a solar system condensed and in this particular solar system, the planet earth spun out of a molten fireball about 4.6 BYA. Where do they get 4.6 BY for the age of earth? Meteorites! Supposedly the sun and its planets condensed at the same time. Some meteorites are thought to be remnants of a planet that broke up after condensing. Therefore, meteorites are the same age as the earth. That’s the pet theory of the majority of evolutionary scientists.

What questions should you ask? What did God ask Job in chapter 38? “Were you there?” How did that compressed matter suddenly appear out of nothing? We’ve already looked at what God said He did and how. The biblical model is easier to believe. That God created everything mature and fully functioning from the beginning.

Okay, let’s talk about the evidence that evolutionary scientists use to “prove” that the earth is very, very old. They use 2 things—rocks and fossils. Here are some things you need to know.

·         Neither rocks nor fossils have birthdates stamped on them when they are collected.

·         Fossils are dated by the false assumption of evolution. The idea of evolution demands old age.

There are two basic ways to date rocks: 1) by how evolved the fossils in them are and 2) by radioactive minerals present in the rocks.

Dating By The Assumption Of Evolution

Rocks with fossils in them are dated by the assumption of evolution. Remember, the idea of evolution of amoeba to man demands long periods of time for it to take place. Where does this fossil fit on the evolutionary development scale? Primitive or advanced? The answer to this question often depends on the rock in which it is found. Those at the bottom of a sequence are considered to be greatly older than those at the top of a sequence. Fossils in the bottom layer are assumed to be older in evolution than those at the top. So, it’s circular reasoning.

Dating By Process Clocks

You observe and measure a present process. Assume it acted the same way in the past. Calculate the time necessary to produce the present state.

Some Process Clocks Give A Younger Age For The Earth

There are about 100 “process” dating methods recognized. Nearly all of them (95%) suggest much younger ages for the earth and life than billions of years.

·         Rate of decay of the earth’s magnetic field—Measured since 1829. The magnetic field’s strength decreases by half ~1400 years. Upper limit is ~20,000 years. Oops. Not enough time for evolutionists. Can’t use that one.

“Unless the earth’s magnetic field has been altered or energized by an unusual magnetic event in the past, about which we know nothing, the present decay rate yields an upper limit of 20,000 years or so for the age of the earth…Since this chronometer is based on worldwide measurements, monitored for a long time, and showing a dramatic trend, it perhaps represents the very best application of uniformitarian principles. The weight of the evidence is on the side of the young earth, not on the side of the old earth.” (Dr. John Morris, The Young Earth, p. 83)

·         Counting supernova remnants—There’s not enough for an old universe. Only evidence for about 7,000 years worth. Evolutionists definitely can’t use that one.

·         Measuring mud on the sea floor or salt in the sea—There’s not enough of either for a billions year old earth.

·         History is too short—We only have written records spanning 4000-5000 years with fully functioning language from the beginning. The Biblical time scale is much more likely.

Radioisotope Dating As A Process Clock “Gives” An Older Age For The Earth.

The process clock that gives the oldest “time” is radioactivity. Method known as Radioisotope Dating. Only rocks that contain radioactive elements can be used for Radioisotope Dating. That’s usually rocks that were once molten—like lava or granite. Not usually those with fossils in them. Fossils can be used for a different type of radioisotope dating, but we’ll get to that later.

Before the discovery of radioactive minerals last century, there was already a belief in millions of years. But, the use of radioactivity to date rocks suddenly gave scientists “old ages” and “proof” that the earth is older than the biblical 6,000 years—billions of years older. The news media promotes this “proof.” So, let’s look at it more closely.

The radioactivity clock starts when the rocks are cooled and hardened. How many of you remember studying radioactivity in chemistry or physics or maybe earth science? This is what it looks like using the best-known example. Radioactive uranium (parent) decays to nonradioactive lead (daughter). Measure time it takes for half of the uranium to become lead. Called a half-life. The half-life for uranium is ~4.5 billion years. Find a rock. Measure the amount of Ur and the amount of lead. Figure out how long it has taken for that amount of lead to be produced from the uranium.

The radioisotope method for obtaining age of a substance formed in prehistory is theory but presented as fact. Four major assumptions are involved in the radioisotope method, assumptions that will lead to the conclusion that the researchers want. Each is questionable.

ASSUMPTIONS 1). Known Initial Concentrations—no lead was present in the rock when it was formed. 2). Closed System—neither uranium nor lead leached in or out of the rock over the years. 3). Constant Decay—that the decay rate was constant over time. 4). Enough Time to Produce Present State through Measured Processes— Evolution demands old age. An evolutionary scientist uses the dating method that gives the desired date for the sample.

QUESTIONS ABOUT THEM 1). Some lead occurs naturally in rocks when they are formed. 2). The uranium isotope can be leached out of, and the lead can migrate into, many rocks over the years. 3). The decay rate can perhaps be changed by neutrino bombardment and other causes. 4). Time is history, and history cannot be observed scientifically. There is no way for a scientist in the present to come up with an age for things of the past without written historical record!! Creationist or evolutionist.

How Does It Work?

Several different tests are performed on a sample rock. The results may look like this:

·         Uranium-Lead Method says the rock is ~500 million years.

·         Potassium-Argon Method says the rock is ~700 million years.

·         Rubidium-Strontium Method says the rock is ~325 million years.

Once the results are returned to the researcher, dates are discarded that do not coincide with the expected “age” of the rock. This is how it works. We should not be concerned about such “proof.”

Conclusion: The radioisotope method for obtaining age of a substance formed in prehistory is theory. Rocks and fossils don’t come with birthdates on them. An evolutionary scientist uses the dating method that gives the desired date for the sample.

What’s The Evidence? What Do We Find?

Examples Of Radioisotope Failure On Rocks On Known Dates

We know that radioisotope dating does not always work because we can test it on rocks of known age. Someone actually watched these rocks form.

·         1986 Mt. St. Helens lava dome—a rock sample gave K (potassium)/Argon ages between 0.5 million and 2.8 million years old. Proves that significant Argon was present when the rock was formed. So, assumption #1 is wrong.

·         Sunset Crater, Arizona—the volcano erupted 1065 A.D., lava flows dated by Indian records and tree-rings. Indian artifacts and relics are found within the rocks formed by the eruption. K/Ar method: 210,000-230,000 years old.

·         Mt. Ngauruhoe, New Zealand—the volcano erupted in 1949, 1954, and 1975. Rock samples from the lava flows dated at 0.27–3.5 million years old.

·         Hualalai Volcano, Hawaii—the people on the island watched the rock form during a volcanic eruption in 1801. 12 dates were taken which ranged from 140 million years to 2.96 billion years. The average date was 1.41 billion. If this happens with known rocks, then why could this not also be the case for other dates?

·         Mt. Kilauea, Hawaii—erupted recently. K/Ar method: 21 million years.

Here’s what a geologist says:

“It seems that whenever igneous rocks form today, they usually have daughter elements already present and already appear to be somewhat ‘old.’ If this assumption doesn’t work on those times when we can check it, how can we be confident that it works on those occasions when we cannot check it?” (Dr. John Morris, The Young Earth, page 56.)

Examples Of Radioisotope Failure On Rocks Of Unknown Age

Another form of dating called isochron dating involves analyzing four or more samples from the same rock unit. Instead of counting atoms, it uses ratios and graphs. It does not depend on the Initial Concentration being zero. Scientists using this method should be able to analyze the whole rock sample and the individual minerals within the rock and come up with the same age. Most often, they aren’t even close.

·         Example #1: Scientists took samples from two lava flow formations in the Grand Canyon—the Cardenas Basalt and the western Grand Canyon lava flows. Researchers used the most current and accepted techniques, had them analyzed by several unbiased commercial labs that knew nothing of the source rocks. The one on the top repeatedly dated older (by 270 million years up to a billion years) than the one on the bottom. That’s impossible. Once again, the results call into question the technique. Something is terribly wrong.

·         Example #2: Another interesting example that shows to what extent scientists will go to get the desired age for a sample: Apollo 11 brought back some moon rocks. The rocks were dated using 4 different methods at almost 4-billion years. Apollo 16 brought back some moon rocks that were dated at 18-billion years. To fix the problem they subjected those rocks to acid to melt out the lead and then re-dated and got 4.5 billion years. (Mike Riddle, quoting from Science magazine Jan 30, 1973)

R.A.T.E. Team Discoveries

There are hundreds of credible scientists who are not evolutionists. A team of very highly trained, very credentialed scientists, who also happen to be creationists, has been examining this issue for 10 years through something called the R.A.T.E. project. They examined every dating method for its validity without evolutionary bias. This is what else they’ve discovered:

Too Much Helium In Granite Rocks.

Most granites contain the black flakey mica mineral called biotite. Embedded within these black biotite flakes are tiny zircon crystals. Zircons are very hard and have a very high melting point so are pretty permanent once crystallized. The embedded zircon crystals contain radioactive uranium atoms. Over time, the uranium nucleus ejects an alpha particle (2 neutrons and 2 protons combined). When the zircon crystals are large, the alpha particles stay within them and become helium atoms. Uranium/Pb (lead) decay produces lots of helium because alpha particles are ejected 8 times. Helium wiggles through crystals and leaks through cracks easily. It bonds to nothing and heads for the atmosphere. The decay of U/Pb is a slow process. Since helium migrates out of rocks rapidly, there should be very little to no helium remaining in the granite. But, it’s filled with helium, and 58% of the helium still remains in the granite.

Lots of samples were taken from many locations deep within the earth up to the surface and analyzed by unbiased commercial labs. One explanation is that sometime in the past the decay rate was greatly accelerated so much that helium was being produced faster than it could escape. Here’s the conclusion:

“Based on the measured helium retention, a statistical analysis gives an estimated age for the zircons of 6000 ± 2000 years. This age agrees with literal biblical history and is about 250,000 times shorter than the conventional age of 1.5 billion years for zircons. The conclusion is that helium diffusion data strongly supports the young-earth view of history. (Donald DeYoung, Thousands…Not Billions, p. 76)

There’s Not Enough Helium In The Atmosphere.

Because of radioactivity, helium is being added to the atmosphere at 13 million atoms / square inch / second! Assuming no initial Helium in the atmosphere, the maximum age of earth could only be 2 million years. Not enough time for evolution.

Creation’s Tiny Mystery—Radiohalos.

When the zircon crystals are tiny, the alpha particles are ejected out into the surrounding biotite flakes. The ejected alpha particles are like tiny “bullets” which damage the surrounding biotite leaving discoloration outlining a beautiful, multi-ringed halo because it decays in a number of steps. Eight of the isotopes in this ‘decay chain’ emit alpha particles when they decay, forming eight rings. It’s a bit like a sequence of guns, each of different power, firing an eight-gun salute. When this salute or decay chain is fired millions of times in every direction, the bullets from the different guns make eight concentric rings. When you cut through that sphere and look at them, it looks like halos around the central atom. Granites around the world contain dark uranium halos. It has been determined that to fully form a dark uranium radiohalo requires a billion alpha particles or about 100 million years of radioactive decay at today’s present rate.

Next to the uranium halos are often found “orphan” halos from 3 daughter isotopes all Polonium—Po-210, Po-214, Po-218. In 1981, the Deputy Director of the USGS, Brett Dalrymple, described these in court testimony as “a very tiny mystery.” Here’s why: these 3 polonium isotopes only last from less than 1 second to 3 minutes to 138 days so they had to form very rapidly.

But, the uranium has to deliver 100 million years’ worth of alpha particles BEFORE there’s enough polonium to decay to form its own halos. So, at least 100 million years’ worth (at today’s rate) of uranium decay has to occur within days to form the polonium radiohalos. Coexisting uranium and polonium radiohalos in many granites around the world had to form at the same time and so are observable physical evidence that this abundant nuclear decay had to have occurred at an accelerated rate—in the past. And, the granites that host these radiohalos also had to form at the same rapid rate. The rock had to form almost instantly for the radiohalos to be preserved, basically created, whereas conventional geology maintains granitic rocks crystallized and cooled over millions of years. The evidence does not support that. There is no other satisfactory explanation.

These radiohalos prove two things: 1) in the past, nuclear decay rates were greatly accelerated and 2) rocks with radiohalos in them had to harden almost instantaneously, or within less than a year.

Conclusion: Radioisotope dating has not been disproved. It has been called into question, flaws in its foundation exposed, and its results shown to be inconsistent. According to John Morris, author of The Young Earth, radioisotope dating is in trouble, but it is still a very formidable concept in the minds of many. In fact, few labs are doing the K/Ar method anymore because its results are so wrong. Bible-believing Christians don’t need to be intimidated by rock ages of billions or millions of years supposedly proven by radioisotope dating.

Carbon-14 Dating

You may have heard about C-14 dating. Carbon-14 is a radioactive isotope of carbon, also called radiocarbon. Cosmic rays from the sun bombard nitrogen in the upper atmosphere turning it into carbon with 2 extra neutrons—C-14. Ad lib about being radioactive. This mixes with the regular stable C-12 in the atmosphere and eventually finds its way into all living organisms. Once an organism dies, the clock begins.

The C-14 in the dead organism decays back into nitrogen. The isotope has a half-life of 5730 years. Meaning half the original C-14 decays to nitrogen in that time. After another 5730 years, only 1/4 of the original remains. After 60,000 years, no measurable C-14 should remain at all. That’s the theory. It can be used only on materials containing carbon—bones, shells, wood, and coal. Not used to date the age of the earth or rocks.

Radiocarbon dating measures the amount of C-14 in a fossil. Only the amount of C-14 changes over time. If a fossil has a lot of C-14, it’s young; if it has very little, it’s old. One still has to take into consideration the same kind of assumptions embedded in the other radioisotope dating methods:

1. Constant Decay Rate—This is testable and observed to be constant in the present. The half-life measures at 5, 730 years. In the present. Not testable for the past.

2. Closed System (no leaching in or out of C-14 or N)—Once again, this is not testable unless you are sitting there watching it.

Some recent anomalies found using the C-14 method on living creatures—

LIVING CREATURES 1) Freshly killed seal 2) Living clam shells 3) Snail shells

C-14 ANALYSIS OF “AGE” 1) It died 1300 years ago. 2) 2300 years old 3) 27,000 years old

Conclusion: Environmental conditions affected the C-12/C-14 ratio in these of known age. When testing a sample of unknown age from a largely unknown environment, how can we exclude similar sorts of effects?

3. Known Initial Concentrations of C-12/C-14—assumes the ratio of C-12/C-14 in the atmosphere and biosphere has always been the same throughout the years.

The assumption is that the amount of C-14 produced in the atmosphere is used up by organisms at the same rate. This is called equilibrium. This is a critical detail because it gives the starting amount of C-14 in the fossil. The current ratio of C-12 to C-14 is 1 trillion to 1. So, when an animal dies today, it has 1 trillion C-12 atoms for every 1 C-14 atom in its body.

But, there’s a problem: the inventor of the C-14 method (Dr. Willard Libby) discovered that C-14 is being created in the atmosphere 25 percent faster than it is being used up. He shoved this aside as experimental error. Years later, other researchers repeated his experiments and came up with the same conclusion. So, the basis for C-14 dating, consistent ratio between C-12 and C-14, is false. Assumption three is false. So, scientists have no basis to know the initial concentration of C-14 in any sample except a living sample today. And, even that doesn’t work.

4. Time—Anything older than 60,000 years on an evolutionary time scale should have no detectable C-14 at all. Anything over 1 million years in age should have not one single atom of C-14 in it. If it does, it’s good evidence that it is not millions of years old.

Some Recent Anomalies Found Using The C-14 Method:

·         Example #1: carbonized wood from Glen Rose. Same layer as dinosaur footprints (99 million years old). The C-14 analysis showed the wood to be ~12,000 years old.

·         Example #2: In May 1989, an Allosaurus was excavated near Grand Junction, CO. It was located in a rock layer supposedly 140 million years old. These bones, heavily blackened, contained 3% carbon and were tested to show a C-14 date of < 16,000 years.

·         Example #3: An Acrocanthosaurus dinosaur found near Glen Rose, Texas dated at < 10,000 years ago. Yet, the rock in which it is found is supposedly ~99 million years old.

·         Example #4: Skeletons from 11 ancient humans dated at ~5,000 years or less.

·         Example #5: In 1993, scientists found trees buried in lava flows (69 feet deep) Wood was C-14 dated at 44,000 years. The lava was dated at 37 million years. Can’t be. Should agree.

R.A.T.E. Team Discoveries

·         Fossils from every level of geologic time have measurable Carbon-14, even after all possible contamination from the current environment was eliminated. This discovery was already well documented in the standard scientific peer-reviewed radiocarbon literature before the RATE project even began. But, the general public is never given that information. Not only that, but all of the samples had about the same amount of C-14 in them. The C-14 is there, quite simply, because it hasn’t had time to decay yet. The world just isn’t that old! No harm in killing time, is there?

·         Coal samples spanning a large fraction of the fossil record have similar amounts of measurable C-14 but should not have. Statistically, they saw no difference in the C-14 levels from the youngest to the oldest samples. This suggests the plants all grew on earth at the same time and were buried at the same time.

·         Here’s one other bit of information: C-14 has been detected in diamonds; scientists say diamonds formed 1-3 billion years ago deep within the earth. Diamonds are practically impossible to contaminate. Not one atom of C-14 should be there unless the earth is young.

This is the conclusion of one radiocarbon researcher:

“The troubles of the radiocarbon dating method are undeniably deep and serious . . . It should be no surprise, then, that fully half of the dates are rejected. The wonder is, surely, that the remaining half come to be accepted…While the method cannot be counted on to give good, unequivocal results, the numbers do impress people, and save them the trouble of thinking excessively.” (R. E. Lee, “Radiocarbon, Ages in Error,” Anthropological Journal of Canada)

Conclusion: Archeology is also affected by C-14 dating. Some artifacts of known age have been measured and plotted on a calibration curve that extends back about 5000 years since that is the age of the oldest carbon-containing sample of independently know age: an Egyptian mummy. Scientist measures C-14 in sample, plots on curve then reads age in years of artifact. Unfortunately, C-14 dates on objects don’t often agree with historically derived ages. Many archeologists, therefore, prefer to date an artifact according to what he/she believes it to be historically rather than rely on C-14 results.

Here’s what you need to remember about C-14 dating:

·         Three of the starting assumptions are false.

·         Fossils from every level of the geologic record have measurable levels of C-14.

One more thing: Scientists speculate that it would take about 30,000 years for an atmosphere with no C-14 to reach equilibrium. Earth’s atmosphere is still 25% away from equilibrium. Could that also be an indication that the earth is young?

Doesn’t Distant Starlight Prove An Old Universe?

From The Text:

It is clear from the text (both Hebrew and English) that God began His creation of the sun, moon, and stars on Day 4 and finished them on that same day— “it was so.” Some try to translate the word “placed” in Gen. 1:17 as “cause to appear,” however, this is a twisting of the Hebrew word, and the context does not support such a translation. So, the stars were seen on the first day of existence.

·         Actually, the creation of light before the sun is evidence of authenticity of Genesis 1. Only an eyewitness would dare to write such. Not likely to be contrived by later editors because it contrasted their own understanding of the world.

From Science:

·         Regarding star distance, the astronomer’s task of assigning a distance to heavenly bodies from earth is a complicated one and not without assumptions that may have “old universe” ideology built right in. Always question how those distances were derived. Shorter distances are generally measured by triangulation, and the limit for accuracy is for stars up to only 200 light-years away. Greater distances may be determined by the presumed sizes and intensity of stars, something called “red shift,” and many other factors, some questionable.

·         Regarding starlight, consider that the earth and universe were obviously created with the appearance of age and ready to function immediately according to design and need. The plants were brought forth from the earth mature with seed and fruit. The animals and mankind were capable of reproducing immediately. The heavenly bodies (the Hebrew word includes just about anything in space, including stars) were created with individual and collective functions—dividing the day from the night, serving as navigational aids, for illuminating the earth, determining the passage of time, to separate light from darkness. Notice “it was so” in Gen. 1:15. This means that even if the distances are correct, the stars would merely have given the appearance of having been here longer. Therefore, both the stars and the light beams connecting them visually to the Earth may have been created at the same time. Food for thought!!

·         Then, there are supernovas (violent star explosions), some of which are hundreds of thousands of light years away in distant galaxies. Yet, these are observed from earth as an occurring event. How? This has no easy answer. On the other hand, since supernovas supposedly happen about once every 25 years, there should be the remnants of over 2000 in our galaxy if the universe is as old as claimed. Only 200 are actually observed. Fits the young earth model better.

·         There are still a lot of questions about the speed of light in deep space, whether light has traveled at the same speed throughout the past, how light is affected by gravity of the heavenly bodies, etc. Scripture tells us that God stretched out the heavens in 15 passages (Job 9:8; Psalm 104:2; Isaiah 40:22; Jeremiah 10:12). Science also tells us that the universe is expanding. That would affect distances as well.

An early church father, Theophilus, had this insight for us today:

“On the fourth day the luminaries came into existence. Since God has foreknowledge, he understood the nonsense of the foolish philosophers who were going to say that the things produced on earth come from the stars, so that they might set God aside. In order therefore that the truth might be demonstrated, plants and seeds came into existence before stars. For what comes into existence later cannot cause what is prior to it.” (Quotation from Theophilus “To Autolycus,” 2.8, Oxford Early Christian Texts)

Conclusion

Five Facts To Remember:

1. The earth has not been scientifically proven to be billions of years old.

2. The Bible teaches a literal 6-day creation.

3. Many scientists believe in a literal 6-day creation about 6,000 years ago.

4. New evidence from nuclear decay supports a young earth model.

5. There are many scientific evidences for a young earth.

How To Interpret What You Read And Hear

Look for the facts. Discern facts from interpretation. Mark the facts. Then, mark the interpretations or assumptions. Question the assumptions used to derive the facts and/or interpretations. Consider the same facts with the assumption of Biblical history.

See “Creation Answers: Interpretation Practice” after the lesson “Creation: Humans, Home and Family, Part 2.”

Sources For Further Study

1. Thousands, Not Billions by The R.A.T.E. Project Team at Institute for Creation Research

2. The Answers Book (any volumes) by Ken Ham and associates

3. Dating Rocks and Fossils, video presentation by Mike Riddle

4. How Old Is the Earth? Eugene Sattler

5. “The Collapse Of ‘Geologic Time’”, by Steve Taylor, Andy McIntosh, and Tas Walker, Creation, September 2001

6. Radioactive ‘dating’ in conflict, Andrew Snelling, Creation, December 1997.

7. The Young Earth, Dr. John Morris

8. The Young Age of the Earth DVD

9. Starlight and Time, Dr. Russell Humphreys

Day One Study

Read Genesis 1:26-31.

1. What information is given about man’s creation in v. 26-27? Notice the use of the plural pronouns both here and in Genesis 3:22.

2. Image and likeness are synonymous in both the OT and the NT. What might being made in the “image of God” mean? Clues are in the following verses. Try to find other verses to support your answer.

·         Genesis 1:26-31—

·         Genesis 2:15-17, 19-20—

·         Colossians 3:9-14—

Think About It: We are to be walking, talking, living, free representatives of the image of the living God.

3. How many times does God use the word “created” in Gen. 1:27? Why is this significant? What information is He trying to get across to us?

Read Genesis 2:4 (middle)-17.

Scriptural Insight: Genesis 2—Where Does It Fit? “The Lord Jesus, when answering the Pharisees’ question about marriage (Matthew 19:4, 5), quoted from both chapters (Genesis 1:27 and 2:24) in the very same sentence! He who was Himself the Creator (Colossians 1:16-17) regarded the records of both chapters as not only harmonious but also as divinely inspired Truth…The second chapter of Genesis gives information about the creation week which is supplemental, not contradictory to the outline record of Genesis 1.…Further information is given about man’s original environment, and this is of such detailed character and so different from present conditions as to suggest quite strongly that the account was originally written by an eye-witness.” (Dr. Henry Morris, The Beginning of the World, p. 35-36)

4. Describe the Garden of Eden as God prepared it for Adam. What is growing there? [Note: shrub/plant of the field are those requiring cultivation.] What is the temperature? What about the watering system?

On the previous days of creation God said, “Let there be . . .” But the creation of man is different. Genesis 2:7 says, “The Lord God formed (means to shape and mold with loving care) the man…and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (literally, lives).” The name used for God is YHWH, the personal God, and He gave Adam “the breath of life.” Animals also had the breath of life in them, but God personally gave it to Adam as mankind’s representative.

5. What does this tell you about God’s relationship to man as opposed to the animals and the rest of creation?

6. What does knowing this truth mean to you personally?

7. The phrase “breath of life (lives)” is an interesting one. Read Job 12:10 and Job 34:14-15. What further information is given to us?

8. Why do you think God both made man and provided him with paradise on earth? Read Leviticus 26:12 and Acts 17:24-28 for more information.

Day Two Study

Read Genesis 2:8-17.

9. The Tree of Life is mentioned in other passages as well. Glean information given about it in:

·         Genesis 3:22-24—

·         Revelation 2:7—

·         Revelation 22:2, 14, 19—

Think About It: So, what was God’s intention by placing the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden? Although we don’t know it’s exact composition, we do know that it represented a choice. True love involves a choice. There has to be the possibility of rejection in order for there to be true love.

10. Discuss the location of the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil among the other trees in the Garden of Eden. [We will study the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil more thoroughly next lesson.]

Appreciation Application:

11. God created man and woman with intellect, emotion and a will through which mankind can choose to love and serve God. Contemplate this “endowment” from the Creator. We are not puppets nor are we programmed to do the same things year after year as the animals do.

a. In what ways are you thankful for this ability to choose?

b. How does it inspire you to pray?

c. What does it mean to you to be created in God’s image? How should knowing this truth affect how you feel about yourself? Read Psalm 8. How is God mindful of your life (v. 4)? Share with your group.

Day Three Study

Appreciation Assignment:

12. God prepared a beautiful garden for the man and woman, one in which they would both work and enjoy. Spend some time in a garden setting this week—garden, yard, or park—where you can enjoy the trees, various shades of color in leaves and flowers, fragrances, etc. A garden can be an inspiring place. Ponder the beauty of God’s creation. God made all those wonderful plants for you!!! How does a beautiful garden inspire you?

Deeper Discoveries:

·         Read “Creation Answers: The Fossils Says, No!” following this lesson.

·         Go to www.answersingenesis.org. SEARCH for “human fossils” or similar phrase. Select an article to read or video to watch. Also visit www.icr.org and search.

·         If God created man just as He said, what evidence would we expect to find? What do we find?

Creation Answers: The Fossils Say “No!”

“It’s Designed, Not Descended”

The information below is adapted from resources found on www.icr.org and www.answersingenesis.org.

Life In The Past

There are billions of dead things buried in rock layers laid down by water all over the earth represented by bones, shells, molds, leaves, teeth, skin imprints, footprints, dung. Scientists have been examining the fossils and the rocks in which they are found for almost 200 years now.

As a way of reconstructing evolution’s past history, scientists have set up a “Geologic Time Scale” where the rocks with the “most Primitive” fossils are assigned the oldest ages and the rocks with the “most Advanced” fossils are considered the youngest with various stages in between.

The “Geologic Time Scale” actually exists in only one place—textbooks. There is no place on earth where all the rock layers, with the kinds of fossils listed in the geologic time scale, are found in the sequence listed. The geologic time scale is a nice graphic, a way of explaining the past.

What Evidence From Life In The Past Would We Expect To Find If Evolution Is True?

·         Fossils that show a progressive change from one organism to another—the Transitional Forms.

·         Lines of descent from a few simple forms to the many complex forms of life that we see today.

What Evidence From Life In The Past Would We Expect To Find If Creation Is True?

·         Each basic kind would appear in the fossil record complete, with no incomplete ancestors.

·         Fossils similar to living forms, separate kinds possessing some variations.

What Do We Find In The Fossil Record?

1. Complex And Diverse Life Appears Abruptly In The Fossil Record.

So many kinds of organisms suddenly appear at the lowest level that it’s called the “Cambrian Explosion.” Thousands of very complex organisms suddenly appear in these rocks such as fish, sea urchins, and trilobites that have a segmented body and complex vision. No ancestral forms can be found for any of these. They appear in the fossil record fully formed and distinct.

No evolutionist can explain how this happened. They have dug deeper into “older” layers to hopefully find the “earlier stages of developing forms,” and it doesn’t get any better— for the evolutionist. Complex jellyfish and segmented worms were discovered. So, the evidence says, “It’s designed, not descended.”

2. Each Basic Body Style Has Been Present Right From The Start Including Vertebrates (With Backbones).

·         No new body plans have appeared from the start. Shells look like shells; eyes look like eyes. Makes no sense if evolution did occur.

·         For instance, clams are found in the bottom layer, the top layer, and every layer in between. There are many different varieties of clams, but clams are in every layer and are still alive today. There’s no evolution, just clams!! Designed, not descended.

·         Living Fossils—The existence of many ‘living fossils’ also challenges the supposed hundreds of millions of years of ‘earth history.’ A living fossil is one that is the same in fossil and living form. And, some of these fossils are missing from intervening strata that supposedly represent many millions of years of evolutionary time, again indicating that there were no time gaps. For example: “530 million year old” starfish, jellyfish, and snails look like those living today. A German creation scientist, Dr Joachim Scheven, has a museum with over 500 examples of such ‘living fossils.’

3. Transitional Forms Are Absent.

Darwin predicted that the fossil record would show numerous transitional fossils, yet millions of fossils later; all we have are a few disputed ones.

Dr. Colin Patterson of the British Museum of Natural History, an evolutionist, said, “there is not one…for which you could make a water-tight argument.” (Answers to the 4 Big Questions, page 10, note 4)

It would be hugely inconvenient for the creature anyway.

But, evolutionists are desperate for transitional forms and so are those who support them—such as National Geographic which frequently publishes articles claiming the latest transitional form has been found, having a nice artistic drawing on the front only to have to retract their statements in a short sentence tucked away in the back somewhere a few months later. Beware of what you read in magazines such as National Geographic. Always separate the facts from the assumptions. For example:

·         Horse evolution—Horses have always been horses. Evolutionists once believed that 3-toed horses evolved into 1-toed; small size evolved to big sizes today. Explain punctuated equilibrium. A NG photo inadvertently showed 1-toed and 3-toed horses had lived together in the past. Still have 1 and 3–toed horses today. Small and big horses in the past; small and big horses today. No transitions. No evolution. Just horses.

·         Dinosaurs to birds—Are you tired of the dinosaurs to birds propaganda? Artists have a design in mind for a transitional bird and don’t mind using it, regardless of the facts. Scales on reptiles are folds in skin; feathers are complex structures that originate in a totally different way, from follicles inside the skin in a manner like hair. There has been no report yet of a fossil showing scales turning into feathers or a leg turning into a wing. Every suspected dinobird fossil turns out to be just a dinosaur or just a bird. We’ll talk more about dinosaurs in a later “Creation Answers” page.

·         Fossil man—What about fossil man? Evolutionists are so anxious to discover the missing link that many hoaxes and misinterpretations have been publicized in the past 100 years. Some in the past few years as in “Lucy’s baby.” It’s an extinct ape. And, of the few bones actually found, most are used to build a hypothetical skeleton and model portrayed with bias as “primitive” to fit evolution’s expectations. I’ve given you some examples in your workbook. Man has always been man! Designed, not descended.

Psalm 100:1-3 says, “Shout our praises to the LORD, all the earth! Worship the LORD with joy! Enter his presence with joyful singing! Acknowledge that the LORD is God! He made us and we belong to him; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.”

We’re going to cover true human skeletons when we get to the Ice Age in a few weeks. Sounds a lot cooler, doesn’t it? Remember one thing. All we find is bones. Sometimes skin. Not the flesh. Beware of what you see in Natural History Museums. Don’t assume the skeletons are real fossils. Many times complete skeletons are reconstructed from 1-2 bones. Then, flesh is put on that skeleton based upon the artist’s evolutionary bias.

4. Extinctions Have Taken Place But Not Because Of Evolution. We’ll Talk Some More About This In A Few Weeks.

Someone said, “Evolution is the substance of fossils hoped for, the evidence of links not seen. The fossils themselves are evidence of rapid burial not slow deposition.

What Else Would It Take To Discredit Evolution Based Upon The Fossil Record?

“Out of Place” fossils would falsify the Geologic Time Scale and, thus, the sequence of evolutionary development. There are over 2000 such examples!!! Here are some substantiated anomalies in the fossil record:

·         An iron pot found in coal dated at 286 millions years old.

·         Pine pollen is found in the Grand Canyon in the lowest strata (Precambrian). Such plants did not supposedly evolve until the Permian. Pollen and spores are found throughout the fossil record in the oldest rocks although plants producing such did not “evolve” for millions of years later.

·         Fossil wood, dated by C-14 method to be 4000 years old, was found embedded in Precambrian rock in northern Canada. Likewise, fossilized palm wood, Tertiary “age,” was found in Jurassic rock in Utah.

·         Cambrian and Mississippian layers are found to alternate back and forth twice in the Grand Canyon. Since time cannot alternate back & forth, the portion of the geologic time table bounded by those two time periods is invalidated by this discovery.

·         Many examples also exist of entire formations of rock layers being out of place in the standard geological timetable. Precambrian rock is lying smoothly on top of Cretaceous rock on Chief Mountain at Glacier National Park in Montana, meaning that the alleged time span between the Precambrian and Cretaceous never existed. This is explained away by saying that the 300 square miles of rock was moved from one location to be placed on top of the younger rock by thrusting of the rock along a fault. Yet, the layers grade into one another smoothly.

·         Out in Franklin Mountains, El Paso, fossils from supposedly 500 million years ago are resting right on top of fossils only 125 million years old. Over thrust explanation is given, but no actual physical evidence has been discovered to prove it. No fault line, no crushed rock.

Fossilized footprints are even better than bones to falsify evolution because they cannot have been redeposited. Consider the following finds:

·         Prints that look identical to horse hoof prints are found in Devonian rock in the British Isles, 300 million years older than the horse’s supposed evolutionary appearance.

·         Mammal tracks are found in Permian/Pennsylvanian rock. Mammals didn’t evolve until 100 million years later.

·         A giant cat print found in the Cretaceous dinosaur layer at Glen Rose. It is not supposed to be there.

·         A human footprint found in limestone “dated” Permian, 250 MYO, near Socorro, New Mexico in 1929. In April 1992, the footprint was verified as human by a scientific team. It is called the Zapata I/Shockey footprint.

·         A human shoe print 10.5 inches long was found in shale of Cambrian age at Antelope Springs, Utah with trilobites imbedded in the heel and instep.

Evolutionist Albert C. Ingalls said, “If man, or even his ape ancestor’s early mammalian ancestor, existed as far back as in the Carboniferous Period in any shape, then the whole science of geology is so completely wrong that all the geologists will resign their jobs and take up truck driving! Hence for the present at least, science rejects the attractive explanation that man made these mysterious prints in the mud of the Carboniferous Period with his feet.”

Conclusion

It’s all about information and the evidence screams out “designed, not descended!”

Sources For Further Study:

1. Living fossils Q & A: www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/living_fossils.asp

2. Creation kinds Q & A: www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/kinds.asp

3. Videos: Incredible Creatures that Defy Evolution, Vol. 1 and 2, by Dr. Jobe Martin; Living Fossils by Dr Joachim Scheven.

4. Refuting Evolution, Vol. 1 and 2 by Jonathan Sarfati. One particular chapter examines fossils used to prove evolution at www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/re2/chapter8.asp

5. Creation: Facts of Life, Gary Parker. Book is completely online at http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/cfol/index.asp.