Preaching Genesis, by Henry M. Morris III

Perhaps if pastors and Sunday school teachers spent more time teaching the Lord’s people about the absolute truths of Genesis, we would have less difficulty UN-teaching the errors that abound in our churches.

Evangelicals are slipping more and more deeply into hybrid theologies and doctrines that seek “the praise of men more than the praise of God” (John 12:43).

The “emerging church” movement has “Christianized” the damnable error that absolute truth does not exist, and it is leading hoards of “seekers” into the mouth of hell. Popular Christian author Rob Bell is preaching that Love Wins in his book about the ultimate salvation of all humanity. Peter Enns, known for his disbelief in biblical truths such as a literal Adam and Eve, a literal Fall, the historical accuracy of Genesis, etc., has just published a Bible curriculum for homeschool children.

Darrel Falk and a growing number of “Fellows” at the BioLogos Foundation are insisting that the idea of an inerrant Bible is foolish and that “creation by evolution” is the best way to understand God’s “message” in Genesis.

We are immersed in a secular culture, bombarded with an ever-increasing vitriol and hatred. In bestselling books such as The God Delusion, God Is Not Great, Breaking the Spell, and The End of Faith, well-known atheists are advocating an all-out culture war to remove any vestige of Christianity from the public arena. Christians are blatantly branded as the enemy, a scourge to be eliminated.

How can we break this powerful onslaught against God and His people? May I humbly suggest that we teach our people the historical foundations in Genesis?

The Foundation of History—the “Beginnings” of Everything

Genesis is not just the first book of Scripture, it is the foundation for the rest of Scripture. If you do not understand Genesis, you cannot fully understand the person and attributes of the Creator Himself—Jesus Christ.

Genesis reveals the beginnings and foundations of reality—of our very existence. Without a clear understanding of these basic concepts, we are sorely lost among today’s plethora of conflicting ideas concerning the origins of:

• The universe, solar system, earth
• Life, man, marriage
• Language, government, culture
• Nations

The Foundation of All Biblical Structure and Theology

All of biblical structure and theology is set in the book of Genesis. If Genesis is not accurate history, then the rest of Scripture is little more than “tradition” and “viewpoints” that were written by ignorant sages of times past—and is therefore irrelevant today.

Origin of Evil: If the Fall of man recorded in Genesis 3 is not true, then the gospel is both foolish and unnecessary. In fact, if man did not rebel against his Creator, then the death of Jesus Christ is nothing more than an idealist’s martyrdom—not a total substitutionary atonement and reconciliation of God with man.

Origin of Death: If Adam’s sin is not an actual event, then death is nothing more than a “natural” means to weed out the unfit. Indeed, the evolutionary system insists death is good. In Scripture, death is a judgment and an enemy that will be eliminated.

Origin of Chosen People: The Old Testament is mostly a history of Israel. Why such a selective record if not to inscribe the supernatural protection of the Messianic line and the unique fulfillment of the hundreds of prophecies focused on Jews?

Origin of Many Descriptive Names of God: As the great history of the world unfolded, God revealed His attributes to early patriarchs through the majestic Hebrew terms used to describe God’s dealings with men. He is the Elohim of creation; the El Shaddai of power and might; the ever-present El Elyon, the Most High; the One who sees, the El Roi; the Owner and Master, Adonai; and the eternal El Olam.

(Reposted from Henry M. Morris III, Preaching Genesis, Acts & Facts, September 2011, Institute for Creation Research)

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Proving for Muslims That Jesus is God (and Lord)

If God did in fact reveal Himself, either through the preserved teachings of Jesus, or the preserved teachings of Mohammed, which was true? Let us consider Jesus from the evidence of the Bible, the Word of God.

Jesus Himself said He was God in John 8:58. Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!" On several occasions the scribes and Pharisees wanted to stone Jesus because He claimed to be God.

On other occasions the scribes and Pharisees wanted to stone Jesus because He claimed to be God. From a leper Jesus accepted worship (Matthew 8:2), the women at the tomb worshipped Jesus, clasping his feet, in Matthew 28:9, God sent the wise men to worship Jesus (Matthew 2:2), and we should worship too.

Jesus made Himself equal with God. He said we are to honor the Son just as we honor the Father (John 5:23)

Jesus had authority, for he said, "You have heard it said, … but I say to you" (Matthew 5:21-22, 78-78)

Jesus can meet our needs in a way that only God can. "If any man is thirsty, let Him come to Me and drink" in John 7:37.

Only God can forgive sins, and Jesus forgave sins against God, then Jesus was showing that He was God in Matthew 9:2-6; Mark 2:5-12, and Luke 5:20-23.

The Old Testament also had many names for God, and this section proves the New Testament applied these names to Jesus. Both the Father and the Son are called:

Creator
Bridegroom
First and Last
Every knee will bow to…
Forgiver of sins
Giver of bread
Giver of life
Gives living water
God
Healer
Holy One
Husband
Judge the living and the dead
Judgment seat
King
Life
Light
Lord
Lord of Lords
Mighty God
Must believe in
Our hope
Purifies us
Raise the dead
Ransoms us
Redeemer
Righteous One
Rock, Stone
Ruler with a scepter/rod
Savior
Shepherd
Sovereign and Lord
Sword-holder
Worthy of praise & honor

Even the enemies of Christianity bear witness that Christians worshipped Jesus as God. Pliny the Younger (governor and persecutor of Christians in 112 A.D.) "They [Christians] were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, when they sang in alternate verses a hymn to Christ, as to a god, and bound themselves by a solemn oath, not to do any wicked deeds…"

Conclusion. Early Bible manuscripts show, and the writings of followers and even foes of Christ confirm, that Jesus taught that He was God, demonstrated He was God, and accepted worship. The evidence stretches from c.112 A.D., up through Mohammed’s time, when ‘Aisha reports that Mohammed was taught the Gospels in Arabic (Bukhari vol.4:605; Sahih Muslim 1:301 p.98). Jesus was taught the Gospel according to Sura 3:48, and Christians are the people of the Gospel in Sura 5:46.


(excerpted from Proving for Muslims That Jesus is God (and Lord))

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Give Jesus One Week

From the time Padina was 4 years old, she followed every rule of Islam in an attempt to grow closer to Allah. But Padina could never reach Allah. "I never felt peace," she said. "I would cry for hours to Allah, saying, 'I am so far from you. I can never go into your presence." She felt depressed and hopeless.

So she made a plan to end her suffering. She and her terminally ill mother would take pills, turn on the gas in the kitchen and enter the presence of Allah as honored Muslims.

As Padina started to turn on the gas, she heard her mother's TV in the living room. The words of a pastor on an illegal Christian satellite program grabbed her attention: "Why do you want to kill yourself tonight? Our God is so powerful that he can change your life. Give Jesus one week!"

Repulsed, Padina came up with a plan. "I will pretend to invite Jesus for one week in my life;' Padina thought. "I can embarrass Jesus and embarrass Christianity for the false religion that it is. In one week, I will call this television program and kill myself live on the program. That will disgrace the God of the infidels."

The next morning, Padina awoke to something she hadn't seen in months. Her formerly disabled mother was up and walking. Padina rushed her to the hospital for testing. The doctor was astonished. "This is a miracle!" he said. "She is cured! Which imam did you pray to?"

Padina paused. Could she say it was Jesus? Could she admit to following the same man she had hated? Was she willing to make a choice that could get her killed?

Today, Padina faces the possibility of imprisonment and death every day. "In Iran, if you accept Christ privately but never witness, you don't have a problem," she said. "But the person who accepts Christ and begins to minister in Iran, their life is being threatened constantly. Many times we have been about to get caught by the government. Many times they have captured my leaders and churches. Our lives have been threatened many times."

But Padina's hardships no longer matter because she knows she will spend eternity with the Jesus to whom she gave just one week.

To learn about Padina's decisions and to see how she became one of the most wanted Christians in Iran, view the Padina International Day of Prayer video included in the 2011 IDOP Church Resource kit from Voice of the Martyrs.

(from Voice of the Martyrs, October 2011 prayer letter)

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The 'Tranquil Flood' theory, an early try to sidestep the Bible

To imagine our whole planet being gently smothered by a “tranquil” flood is as silly as the idea of serenely dropping a “tranquil atomic bomb” on Hiroshima or Nagasaki.

Here's how the tranquil flood theory became one of the first trojan horses of Evolution back in the 1800's:

a) The Tranquil Flood theory asserted that earth never experienced a global catastrophe that violently destroyed the earth’s geomorphology and its natural vegetation, but it does assert that the earth is eons old.

b) The theory holds that the Bible does not clearly describe a catastrophic global Flood, and never provides chronological data that negate the earth being eons old.

c) Thus, the Tranquil Flood theory does not suggest that the Bible is untrue.

d) In the Tranquil Flood theory, the Bible’s information was not loudly bashed as false; rather, it was casually sidestepped (and then ignored) as scientifically irrelevant.

Here was an example of a conflict-avoidance strategy - to promote the idea that a particular new theory did not “disagree” with the Bible because the new theory addressed a scientific topic not governed by biblical revelation. Thus, the theorist could argue, in effect, that his idea didn’t clash with Scripture because it addressed a topic not covered in Scripture.

People knew that if the new theory clashed with the information of Scripture, a conflict of authority would exist. However, skirting the informational conflict offered them escape from biblical accountability. The Bible, it was maintained, was simply not “relevant” on the topic.

Present day astronomer and big bang/old earth advocate Dr. Hugh Ross argues for a local flood. On the other hand, his contemporary Dr. Norman Geisler, also an advocate of the old earth,  insists that the Bible clearly taught a global, worldwide Flood. But Geisler says it did not do the geologic work claimed for it by young-earth creationists. He held that it must have destroyed all the pre-Flood human inhabitants, but left little geologic trace on the planet. It rose, covered the world, drowned all of life on land, and then simply drained off. No rocks, no fossils. I asked how he could hold such a position, since even the minor, local floods of today do tremendous geologic work. How could a flood, which he admitted was much larger and more dynamic than any observed flood, do no geologic work? Thus, he proposed a tranquil Flood. He is back to the position of the 1800's.

Not only did the Tranquil Flood theory deny that the Genesis Flood account was authoritatively relevant for interpreting the rock layers of the world, that theory effectively denies that the Genesis Flood account was historically true. By asserting a supposed earth history that contradicts the one described in Scripture, the Tranquil Flood theory effectively denies that the Genesis Flood account is true.

God punished sin and His judgment was not at all “tranquil.” Only Noah and his family accepted God’s redemption. Scripture describes the Genesis Flood as a violent judgment of our planet because of the unprecedented and unsurpassed violence on the earth—quite the opposite of “tranquil.”

Many names over the centuries have supported the Tranquil Flood theory: Charles Lyell, Carolus Linnaeus, John Fleming, William Buckland, J. Laurence Kulp, and Norm Geisler. But Moses did not, and it was he whom God chose to prophetically record the account about what happened during the one and only worldwide catastrophic Flood.

(Based on James J. S. Johnson, Biblical Devastation in the Wake of a 'Tranquil Flood', Acts & Facts, September 2011, Institute for Creation Research)

References (selected)

1. Morris, J. D. 2009. The Young Earth: The Real History of the Earth—Past, Present, and Future. Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 128-129.

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Muslims told him "you are too obese to pray to God"

Imagine being told you were too obese to pray to God. For Waled*, a college student in the Middle East, this was his reality when he went to the local mosque to pray with his Muslim father.

Because of a prolonged illness Waled's weight had been an issue for most of his life. His mother, a strong believer, came to know Christ eight years prior through two missionaries. She faithfully prayed for God to heal her son. But when Waled was sent away from the mosque, God opened a door for him to see the unconditional love of the one true savior. Upon returning home, Waled asked his mother if Jesus would let him pray to him even though he was obese.At this delicate time, Waled's mother was able to share the gospel with him and several months later, Waled came to know Christ.

Pray that God will continue to work through missionaries and those who have come to faith in the Middle East as the establish churches in the Middle East

(from a Christian prayer letter, September 2011)

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