Amen to that. Well, good morning and welcome to another Sunday school hour here at Hancock Reformed Baptist Church. Very good to see you all. I had a very good two months off from teaching and it was a very good, restful, restorative time. And so many thanks to Pastor Dennis and Greg for what they did to be able to help me to be able to have that time off to rest and refresh and recharge. And I'm excited to be back here with another series for 2025 on the flood. And this subject has been really in my heart for a long time. I've wanted to teach a series on the flood for many years. It was a number of years ago that I first read this book called The Genesis Flood by Henry Morris and James Whitcomb. James Whitcomb's actually an Old Testament scholar from Indiana. But I read this book as part of Hancock Theological College's apprenticeship type program. Pastor Mark and Dr. Bill Lowry had that program where, you know, young men that were wanting to learn and develop, they would assign readings to those young men and then you would come in and they would quiz you, mercilessly quiz you on the content of the book and that would be the test. And that was basically the class. And so I read the Genesis Flood as part of one of those apprenticeship type trainings. And after reading it, I understand why Pastor Mark was so adamant that young men read this book. It is very Very, very powerful. John MacArthur actually says in the inside of it, he says, the Genesis flood by Morris and Whitcomb is one of the most important books of the past century. And then he goes on to kind of give his recommendation of it. But it's an incredibly important book because it came at a time in the 1960s when there was no challenge really, no notable, credible challenge to the uniformitarian evolutionary worldview. that has still today has risen to world dominance and is really unchallenged. But from a Christian standpoint, there was no real Christian challenge to it until this book came out. And we'll talk about the history of that in this class, but this book really gave rise to the creation science movement. you know, that has led to what we have today with Answers in Genesis and Institution for Creation Research and all these different organizations that I think are just wonderful. I'm so thankful that they exist. Because prior to reading this book, really, I believed the Bible, I was a Christian, but I didn't really understand how to grapple with the evolutionary worldview and all that's wrapped up in it. I knew the Bible was true, and I trusted in that. But I didn't fully understand what the Bible really says about our world and how it can be trusted and how it actually makes much more sense of the evidence that we see all around us than the evolutionary worldview even comes close to doing. So that's really what has, that was kind of the start of my journey towards understanding, delving into creation science and the study of God's Word and from a creation science standpoint. And that's really what drove me ultimately to one day want to teach a class on this subject. And so I just felt like as I prayed about what to do next, this was the subject that the Lord was leading me to. And so today, we're going to delve into this new series. And as you can see, I've got some slides. I've got a lot of slides. And once we really start getting into the flood and some of the effects of the flood and geology and things like that, there's going to be a lot of visuals that are, I think, going to be really helpful for this subject. that we've got in store for us. And possibly even on down the road, maybe once we get to the end, we'll we'll look at maybe a video of some videos of some kind as well to kind of reinforce what we studied in the class. So Before we get into the class, the other thing I've done is I've intentionally built in questions for you all in this slide presentation, because I want to be better about doing that in Sunday school. I want you all, I want to hear from you all. I want to know where you're at, kind of have pulse checks, see what you're thinking, and just make sure that we're driving towards the truth. And so I wanted to begin the series with a question to you all, kind of get the wheels turning, get you all thinking. And I guess the first question, that's the second question. The first question I'll ask is, how many of you have delved into the study of the flood and kind of this whole creation science movement? And are there any creation science buffs in here that have, in your own journey in the Word of God, and as he's taught you, the scriptures have come to this point where you've really delved into this and studied creation science. Anybody that's really jumped into it? We have a scientist in the room, so. I expected you probably had, brother. Okay. How many of you have been to the Ark encounter? Okay, a few hands, several hands. Creation Museum? Yeah, I haven't been to that one yet. I really want to go there. But yeah, so several of you have been there. So a lot of what you get through those institutions is what I've been taught and where I'm coming from. And so I hope to basically just delve into some of what you've seen there in a little bit more detail and into the scriptures in a little bit more detail in this class. And so with that, let me then ask you all this question. Why do you think, from what you've studied about the flood and you're, as a Christian, read your Bible and whatever you've learned from creation science and things like that, why do you think the Bible's account of the flood is so important, so vitally important? And there's no right answer. I just want to get your thoughts. Yeah, Terry. Yeah. Yeah, those are two big points. And those are two big points I'm actually going to make today in my introduction. But yeah, the veracity of the Bible depends upon, you can't pick and choose what parts of the Bible, based upon what man says, are true and which ones aren't. And then secondly, it disproves, it challenges that whole evolutionary worldview. Yeah, great point. Other hands? Yeah. You know, I put it in a creation museum in New York. the first 11 chapters of the Bible, they are foundational. I mean, if we don't believe in the creation, then, you know, how can we believe in the gospel? And that is true for the flood also. I mean, the Bible, you know, explains how the world came into being, how we came into being, why there is death and all of that. And the flood is important because, like I said, it is God's word. and all the evidences in the world prove that it is worldwide. Even if others say it is not worldwide, the Bible says it is worldwide, and the evidence proves it is worldwide, which only proves God's word is true. You guys are teaching my introduction today for me, so thank you. Yes, Marva? I think it shows God's wrath. He is all-powerful. Look what happened when those people didn't believe Him. you know, how big and, you know, He really is, that He can just do something like that. Amen. The greatness of God's wrath, the reality of that judgment, it is the greatest judgment and outpouring of the wrath of God in the history of the world up to this point. Yeah, and it speaks to His holiness and the greatness of sin, and how seriously He takes it. Yeah? You have to throw out the noi and cut them. as well, if none of that happened. And of course, every covenant that God makes with mankind follows through the entire Bible. So that would be a huge link. The covenants, yeah. The covenants are the backbone of the unfolding of the work of redemption in history. And yeah, the Noahic covenant comes in Genesis chapter 9, right there in the middle of the first 11 chapters. It's one of those foundational aspects of biblical revelation. Hey, you take that away, if that's not true, then what else is? I think it also teaches us a little bit about the attributes of God. Like in Romans 1.20 where it says, since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made. So it is part of that understanding. Yeah, that's a great passage. It really gets to that, you know, the whole presuppositional apologetics that, you know, men have truth that they are aware of, that they suppress, and that God has made the reality of himself so clear and so undeniable through the things that have been made, so much so that on the day of judgment men will be without defense, without excuse. And yeah, the attributes of God are that, I think, I forget, Paul puts it, they know that there is a God of eternal power and divine nature based solely on what has been made. And they willingly suppress that truth. Yeah, and the first 11 chapters is the creation account and talks about God as the creator and his, his separation from all that is created and his transcendence above it. And so, yeah, it gets to the attributes of God as well. Any other thoughts or anything about the importance of the flood before I? Yeah, brother. I'll take the other side of the argument and issue a challenge. I firmly adhere to it. I'll start with that. But why just 11 chapters for creation? And why just three chapters for the flood? Should that be our focus? That's a good challenge. Maybe we'll touch on that later. Yeah, and I don't know what I would say to answer that on the spot, but I mean, to me, the answer is that it's just foundational, and it doesn't take much to, and I think it gets to God's intention in his revelation, and he just, he wanted to give us what he wanted to give us, and that's what he gave us. He didn't feel the need to give us every answer to every question imaginable, but he gave us a foundation. But I would argue that those 11 chapters are of, I mean, what they talk about, is of such importance that, you know, and the rest, and we'll talk about this later, but the rest of the Bible assumes it. It's built upon that, and so, again, I would just argue that God gave us what he sovereignly chose to give us, and it's not that it's not important. Everything in the whole work of redemption that flows out of that is built on that, and built on that basic fundamental foundation of reality. And he gives us enough, and I would argue too, that he gives us so much in those 11 chapters. I mean, they are of the most profound, I mean, you could analyze them and analyze, I mean, there's so much that is in there that those 11 chapters have as much weight, I mean, in terms of worldview definition as anything in all the Bible. So, that would be where I would start, but again, that's just on the spot. But that's a good challenge, a good way to think about it. This is kind of an apologetics type of class. But you know, because again, we're dealing with the implications and we'll get into that in the introduction, the implications of this for that evolutionary worldview that is taken over the world. So any other last minute questions or comments or thoughts before I move on and kind of give us a little bit of an introduction? Yeah, no, I think that's that's yeah. Yeah. Yep. I think that's what we're going to be doing. So yeah, that's a good point. The foundation doesn't change. Yeah, amen. All right, so let's take out our outlines, and I'm going to talk through that. I just want you guys to know where we're going to go in the class. And so the first main section for this class is titled The Big Lie. As you can see there, we'll look at 2 Peter chapter 3. And what many believe to be Peter's prophecy of a great end-time movement that will deny the reality of the return of Jesus Christ, by essentially denying the historicity of the creation and the flood accounts in Genesis 1-11. And we'll consider how the rise of uniformitarian evolutionary science in the last 200 years perfectly fits with Peter's description of these end-time scoffers in 2 Peter 3. We'll also consider what I believe is God's blessing to his church in response to the big lie and that is the rise of the creation science movement. So we'll look at 2 Peter chapter 3, and then we'll look at uniformitarianism and the rise of the big lie, the rise and triumph of the big lie as I call it, and then we'll look at the rise of creation science movement as what I believe is God's blessing really to his church to protect her and give us confidence that his word is absolute. So the second and main part of the class then is titled A Biblical Geology. And this will be the main section of the class. And in it, we will consider what Genesis 1 through 11 tells us about the origins of the universe and the origins of the earth and of the universe. And with the help of some sound biblical scholars and creation scientists, we will look at the nine essentials of earth history according to the Bible, and then at the five periods of geological history And what we'll be focusing on, again, we're using the Bible as our framework to give ourselves a biblical understanding, a biblical geology, we could call it, because again, we'll see that the realm of the science of geology is where all of this has really arisen out of, this whole evolutionary worldview. And so we're going to look at these five periods of geological history, and what we'll be focusing on is the impact that these periods would have had upon the Earth. Because as we'll see, the big lie of uniformitarian evolutionary science claims the Earth is billions of years old, and that everything that we see must be explained by slow, natural, gradual processes acting over millions and millions of years. But what we will see when we look at the Bible's account of Earth history is that there were processes operating in the past and operating at rates or speeds that are much faster than anything that we see in the present. And what we'll see is that denying the Bible's testimony of Earth chronology and geological history and embracing this big lie leads to totally wrong conclusions about our world. And we'll also see how the Bible's account of creation, the flood, actually makes much more sense of the earth that we see than the big lie does. And so we'll consider what God reveals to us about the history of the earth that he created and the impact that each period would have had upon the earth. And so we'll look at period one, the first creative act. What impact would that have had upon the world as we seek to go out and observe what we see on the earth today. The first creative act. God created the universe out of nothing. And we'll read about God's initial creative act where he created the cosmos and the earth. What impact would that have had? Period two, the six days of creation. Again, God created the universe and formed the earth, created all things that exist in six days. What impact would that have had upon the world? that we look at today, as we look at the rocks, and the mountains, and as we look at the oceans, and the continents, and the structures, and the processes, and the layers, and the tectonic plates, and all of these different things. What impact would creating the universe in six literal days have? in our understanding of the earth. Period three, the pre-flood period. There's this long period of time from the creation of the earth to the flood, where Peter says that the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. There was a pre-flood world. What was that world like? What were the processes at work like? Was it the same as the earth, the post-flood earth? There's a lot that we can delve into with that. Then we'll look at period four, the flood. And we'll spend the bulk of our time in this class studying the flood. Of all events recorded for us in God's word, the global flood would have had the most significant impact upon the geology of the earth. Buddy Davis says, and you'll probably hear me refer to Buddy Davis many times in this class. He's from Answers in Genesis, and he's a prolific songwriter. He's written countless songs about creation and the flood. He writes them for children. He kind of sings like Johnny Cash. He's an old bluegrass kind of picking and grinning kind of player. Love Buddy Davis. He just passed away last year. My children love Buddy Davis. He's a blessing. But he writes a song about the flood and he says, if there really was a worldwide flood, what would the evidence be? And then he answers that question and he says, in the chorus of the song over and over again, billions of dead things buried in rock layers laid down by water all over the earth. And that's exactly what we find when we look at the earth. If there really was a worldwide flood, what would we expect to see? We would expect to see billions of dead things buried in rock layers laid down by water all over the earth. And that's exactly what we see when we look at the earth. How did they all get there? And we're going to consider the fossil record, along with many other evidences of the worldwide flood. But as we study the flood, we want to consider what God's word reveals to us about it. As we study, I think you will be struck, as I have been and continue to be, by the amount of detail. Again, Chad, back to your question, your challenge. The amount of detail that's given to us about the flood in those few chapters that it covers from Genesis 6 to Genesis 9. The amount of detail that God gives us about this great judgment of God upon the world really is staggering. And we've got some charts where we'll look at the different things about the flood. So again, I think God gave us this amount of detail because it's almost as if he knew that a time would come when these things would be challenged. And so he gave us enough detail to be confident in the veracity of his word. In our study of the flood, we will also consider what the Bible reveals to us about the ark, its size, its capacity, and its necessity. And then we'll consider the flood itself, its cause, its duration, depth, universality, and its effect. And as we look at the flood's effect upon the earth, we'll consider many of the evidences of the flood that are all around us. As Esther mentioned, such as the massive rock layers that show evidence of rapid formation with very little time elapsed between each layer. We'll look at the fossil records in the coal beds and what that indicates and what that means. And the fossilization process and the unique conditions that are required for fossilization to occur. And in coal beds, did you know that coal is basically fossilized vegetation? It's compressed vegetation that turns into coal. How did that get there? There's coal beds all over the earth and buried in these rock layers. How did that get there? And then thirdly, we'll look at the wide scale sheet and channel erosion. And I believe God gave us this evidence so that mankind could never look at the earth and rationally deny the reality of the flood judgment. And so we will consider the flood. And again, in all of this, we'll see how there were processes occurring at rates in the past that show the big lie of millions and millions of years rooted in the big lie of uniformitarianism to be the big lie that it is. And so next we'll consider radiometric dating methods, problems with radiometric dating methods, what many consider to be empirical evidence that the Bible's chronology is wrong and that the earth is millions of years old. And we'll see how these dating methods rely on calculations. that are based upon the false assumptions of the uniformity of elemental decay rates and how they cannot be trusted and are only as accurate as the assumptions that underlie the calculations. We'll look at the, it's a chemical analysis process and what they can empirically know when they test these rocks and these fossils, but then where the empirical data ends and where the assumptions and calculations begin. And that's what many people don't understand. They hear these dating methods and they just assume it's true. I just saw an article just the other day on CNN a couple days ago. Dinosaur bone found and dated to be a hundred and sixty six million years old. I can't even fathom, I can't even comprehend a hundred and sixty six, I can't even comprehend a million years. That's such a long time. let alone 166 million years, they claim to be able to dogmatically determine. So we'll look at that. And then finally, we'll summarize and include the class. And as I said, we might even look at a video that will kind of tie together some of what we studied. So any questions on the class and what we're going to cover? Questions, comments? I don't watch it. It was a yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, you gotta be careful. There's a lot of fake news out there. Yes, thank you. Don't watch CNN. Alright, so anything else before we jump into introduction? Yeah. Why is it a foundation? What changes about our salvation if we're wrong about creation? Well, I think when you get into creation, you get into origins and cosmology and all that kind of stuff. And you really get into the inevitable discussion about God himself and the nature and the attributes of God. And I mean, God is the only uncreated being, the uncreated creator. And that's what sets him apart from all that is created, right? There's God, and then there's everything else. And if, I don't know, I don't know how, I don't know how, Theism could function if God is not the uncreated creator. He's the uncreated one. He is the, and again, as he reveals himself to be in the Exodus to Moses in Exodus four, or three or four, I am that I am. Tell them I am has sent me to you, Yahweh. He's the, that's derived from the Hebrew verb that means to be. His name, Yahweh, when you say it, is intended to remind us of the fact that He is being itself. And, you know, you get into this whole, that's where you get into the theological discussions of absolute being. And we believe the orthodox view of God, the doctrine of God, is that God is the only one that possesses true and absolute being. Everything else is created and has a beginning and its existence is upheld by something outside itself. God is self-existent. And so you get into the whole matter of the origins of the universe and how did something come from nothing and the impossibility of that and this whole discussion around being and things like that. And I just think that that's why it's so foundational because it's so foundational to who God is, our understanding of God. Does that make sense? Yes. because it explains how man is and the origin of sin. Because it explains the origin of sin and the Gospels give us the salvation from sin, if you don't believe how sin came about, how can you believe what the Bible says, how you can be saved from sin? I guess my question would kind of segregate Adam's fall from creation. Six days, right? Yeah, you can believe whatever you want about what happened before that and still believe the gospel and all that to be true. Is that kind of? Yeah. Or maybe you wouldn't put it quite that that way. But yeah, you're wrong about six days. Yeah, we can't dispute what would change about our theology? Well, I'll get into it in the introduction, but I think that I don't, honestly, I don't think that any, I don't think that the Bible can hold together without the truthfulness of those first, um, that first chapter and really the first 11 chapters. Um, I think, I think it comes down to the trustworthiness of the Bible and we'll get, let me, let me get into the introduction and I'll kind of explain some of it. And then, um, But there's a lot of reasons, but I would say it comes down to the doctrine of God and who God is, our very understanding of God himself, and of the distinction, the creator-creature distinction, and then also the veracity of the word of God, the trustworthiness of the Bible. What we learn about six days of creation is not true. Yeah, that's what I would say initially. But let's put a pin in that and think about it as we go through the class. All right, so I wanted to kind of share by way of introduction some of my thoughts on why the Bible's account of the flood and really the entire first 11 chapters of Genesis are so crucial, so vitally important, and why I believe without that, the Bible falls apart, and the gospel falls apart, and the Christian religion and faith falls apart. And so I wanted to just share some of my thoughts about why I think, again, the Bible's account of the flood and the entire first 11 chapters of Genesis are so important. And there are really two main reasons, and there's more that I could give, but these are the two big ones. And we've already talked about them. You guys are already thinking about it. But first, it's because of its implications for rightly understanding the present geology of the earth, and then secondly, because of its implications for the trustworthiness of the Bible, and ultimately the trustworthiness of the gospel, and ultimately the eternal destiny of souls in the glory of God. And so first, I want to consider the importance of the flood in the first 11 chapters of Genesis, because of its implications for rightly understanding the present geology of the earth and thus really the true history of our world. That's important to know. The global flood is really the key to rightly understanding the evidence that we see around us. and to refuting the entire uniformitarian evolutionary system. The only observable evidence that evolutionary scientists have of biological evolution is the fossil record in what geologists call the geologic column. And to quote a secular scientist from Henry Morris's book, The Biblical Basis for Modern Science, quote, and this is a secular scientist, quote, although the comparative study of living plants and animals may give very convincing circumstantial evidence, fossils provide the only historical documentary evidence that life has evolved from simpler to more and more complex forms, end quote. Fossils in the geologic column provide the only historical documentary, and he means real, observable evidence that we can see that life has evolved from simpler to more and more complex forms. And we'll study this in more detail later, but when we dig down into the earth, we find these massive rock layers. And in these rock layers, we find billions of fossilized animals. Evolutionary scientists who are committed to uniformitarianism believe these layers were formed slowly over the course of millions and millions and millions of years and that in the fossils buried in these layers that they can see an evolution of life from simpler forms of life at the bottom layers to more complex forms closer to the top. And again, presumably the layers at the bottom are older than the layers at the top. And again, they assume that these layers have been formed over millions and millions and millions and millions of years. And that in looking at those layers, you can see an evolution of life from simpler organisms at the bottom, the older layers, to more complex forms at the top. However, creation scientists, trusting in God's word and knowing there was a global flood catastrophe, believe those layers were formed rapidly over the course of about one year. And that the fossils contained in them do not show the evolution of life. but the destruction of life from the ocean floor to the land as the floodwaters rose to cover the entire earth and rapidly laid down these layers of sediment. Again, they're looking at the same evidence, but they're looking at it through a totally different lens. And so the reality of the flood takes away the only observable evidence that evolutionists have of biological evolution. If the flood truly happened, then their entire worldview crumbles. the millions of years is not true. And as we go, I hope you'll begin to understand more and more how that is the case when we look at it. The other reason that the flood is so important is its implications, as I've already mentioned, for calculating elemental decay rates. We'll consider this later in the class, but radiometric dating methods depend on the calculation of decay rates of certain elements like carbon-14. And we know that elements can decay at a much more rapid rate during great catastrophic natural disasters like volcanic eruptions. Decay rates were tested at Mount St. Helens, for example, which happened one month before I was born in May of 1980. It's happened in all of our lifetimes, right? So we have a real scientific example that we can test of this. And new magma rock that was only a few years old was tested using these dating methods to try to corroborate the trustworthiness of them. And it showed that dates that were vastly older than they knew that the rocks actually were. Vastly, significant, 50,000 years, when we know they're only a couple years old. And why is that? Well, it's because the decay rates are not always the same. There are a number of factors that can speed up the decay rate, such as a great cataclysmic event. Creation scientists believe the flood was triggered by an unprecedented global plate tectonic catastrophe that would have involved unprecedented global volcanic activity, as the Bible tells us, of the fountains of the great deep breaking open. All the fountains of the great deep broke open in one day. And so we cannot even hardly fathom the power of this flood cataclysm that the Bible reveals to us. It would have made Mount St. Helens look tame in comparison. And so the global flood would have had a tremendous impact on elemental decay rates. And you ask any evolutionary scientist, if there really was a flood like the Bible describes, would that affect the decay rate? Oh yeah, we wouldn't be able to trust them. But there wasn't a flood, right? Uniformitarian scientists believe there is no evidence of anything like a global flood catastrophe that would have so impacted decay rates. And so they assume the elements have always decayed at the present slow rate at which they decay now. That's an assumption. And it's wrong. And we know it's wrong because we know God's word tells us what really happened in the past. And so again, the flood is critical in refuting these dating methods that many point to as, in addition to the geologic column, which they say shows the evolution of life from simpler to more complex forms. These elemental decay rates and the dating methods are the other great evidence that they point to as empirical evidence that we know the Earth is hundreds of thousands or millions of years old. And so that's the reason why the flood in the first 11 chapters of Genesis are so important. But the second reason is because of its implications for the trustworthiness of the rest of the Bible. And again, when it comes to the trustworthiness of the rest of the Bible, connected, I believe, inseparably to that is the trustworthiness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. and connected to that is the eternal destiny of souls. And so, again, this is why I believe that being right about what the Bible says, trusting what it says, is of critical importance. Many people today do not believe that they need the gospel of Jesus Christ because they believe the Bible has been shown by science to be untrue. And the key part that they believe has been proven to be untrue by modern science is the first 11 chapters of Genesis and particularly the creation and the flood accounts. Countless millions of people who trust the experts believe science has proven that the earth is billions of years old. That dating methods have proved it. They've believed that evolutionary science has told them that we can see in the rock layers simple life forms at the bottom and more complex life forms at the top and so we know evolution has occurred which takes millions and millions of years and so we know that the Earth has been around at least millions and millions of years for enough time for that to happen. We know that the universe is billions of years old and that it started out with a Big Bang and so science has disproved the Bible. There's empirical evidence of the Big Bang, right? And if what it says about the origin of the universe and the earth and its early history has been proven to be untrue and can't be trusted, then why would I trust anything else in it? Why would I have anything to do with this religion of Christianity that has grown out of it? Why would I believe what it says about sin and the final judgment if the flood judgment, the great judgment of the Old Testament, never actually happened? It's just a myth like all the other flood legends in the world are. And science has proven that no global flood ever happened, right? And so why would I believe anything that you preach to me? The thinking person would ultimately conclude. Why would I take seriously your warnings about this final judgment that you speak about? Why would I repent of my sins and believe in this person that the Bible claims is the Son of God incarnate who lived and died for my sin and rose again from the dead? Why does it matter if it tells me that he appeared to hundreds of eyewitnesses and there are four historical records of his life? If I know the first part has been disproven, then why in the world would I believe the second part, the last part? Why would I change my whole life and dedicate my whole life to a person whose story is built upon a foundation that science has proven to be false? And then you add to this, this delusion, this mass delusion caused by this big lie. Many who profess to be Christians who have compromised the first 11 chapters of Genesis in the flood account and try to harmonize it with the uniformitarian evolutionary worldview. Many of these professing Christians say things like, the first 11 chapters of Genesis aren't meant to be taken as literal history. They're poetic or allegorical, or they just reveal spiritual truths, but we aren't meant to believe that God really created the entire universe in six literal days. and that the universe is only 6,500 to 7,000 years old? We aren't really meant to believe that God made man from the dust of the earth and made the first woman out of his rib and that evolution never happened. We know it has happened. We have evidence that it's happened. We aren't really meant to believe that a flood covered the entire earth, are we? These are just stories that convey spiritual truths. But they aren't meant to tell us anything about actual earth history or convey any kind of scientific reality to us. The days of creation weren't days, they were long ages of millions of years. When God breathed life into Adam, Adam had already evolved from primates over millions of years. The flood wasn't really a global flood, it was a local flood in the Mesopotamian region where Noah lived. And on and on and on these efforts go to try to make the biblical account of creation and the flood fit with the claims of uniformitarian evolutionary science. Now the problem with this is that if we take this approach with the first 11 chapters of the Bible, then there is no reason at all why this approach cannot be applied to the rest of the Bible. If a day really means an age of millions of years, then why can't male and female really be two ends of a spectrum of genders? Why can't we read anything into the Bible that the world claims to be true? And the answer is that we can't. There is no reason at all Why, if we interpret the first 11 chapters of Genesis that way, about the origins of existence itself, that we can't do that with the rest of the Bible. There's none at all. But the bigger problem is that the rest of the Bible refers to Genesis chapters 1 through 11 as real history. Jesus, for example. referred to details from the first seven chapters of Genesis 15 times throughout the gospel accounts as real history. The first seven chapters. of Genesis, 15 times throughout the Gospels. Jesus referred to Noah or the flood five times in the Gospels as real historical events. And he compared his second coming to the flood of Noah. As in the days of Noah, they were eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage until the flood came and swept them all away. So will it be when the Son of Man comes. He believed it was a real historical event that wiped out the pre-flood humanity. The Apostle Peter referred to the Genesis creation and flood accounts in 2 Peter 3 in great detail as real history. The Apostle Paul referred to the Genesis creation and fall accounts as real history in Romans 5, 1 Corinthians 15, and 1 Timothy 2. And he based several crucial doctrines on the historicity of the Genesis account of the first 11 chapters. And so even apart, though, from these direct references to Genesis 1-11 as real history, the entire Bible is so interwoven with the historicity of Genesis chapters 1-11. Henry Morris wrote a book called Biblical Creationism, what each book of the Bible teaches about creation and the flood. where when he was a young man, he was wrestling with these theories, these theories like the day-age theory or the gap theory or theistic evolution. He turned to the scriptures, he went to the Bible, and he read through every single book of the Bible, looking for every reference to creation or the flood, and he found that every book of the Bible assumes the historicity of the creation and flood accounts, and he really shows how the entire Bible is built upon the foundation of the historicity of Genesis chapters 1 through 11, so that if you deny the historicity of Genesis 1 through 11, especially the creation and the flood accounts, They are foundational to the scriptures and they are interwoven so much so that if you remove them, it's like removing the heart from the body. It dies. The whole thing unravels. Jesus was mistaken. The apostles and the prophets and the psalmists and Moses were mistaken. And the Bible cannot be trusted. The Bible is a historical book. that includes real history about how God sent his son into the world to save it. And if the first 11 chapters about the origins of the universe and about the greatest judgment of God in history are untrue, let me just say that again, if the first 11 chapters about the origins of the universe, about the origins of existence itself, and about the greatest judgment of God in history are untrue, then none of it can be trusted. And that's what it boils down to. If the first 11 chapters of Genesis about the origins of the universe and of the earth and of mankind can be spiritualized, then all of the historical claims of the Bible, including the life and resurrection of Christ, can be spiritualized. And they have been. If we can read the world's explanation of origins into Genesis 1 through 11, then we can do that with anything the world claims with any part of Scripture. And so, again, the reason that the historicity of the flood in the first 11 chapters of Genesis is so critical, and I believe it is critical, it's not some, again, brother, as you put it, and it was a good challenge, but it's not some minor thing that we can just kind of be indifferent about and just preach the gospel to people. We're talking about the foundations of the gospel that we preach. And I believe if you're really thinking, the thinking person cannot trust the gospel, as I mentioned, if the first 11 chapters are mythological. When they claim to be historical, they undeniably claim to be historical. And so the reason the historicity of the flood in the first 11 chapters of Genesis is so critical is because the integrity of the entire Bible and the gospel of Jesus Christ and ultimately, I believe, the eternal salvation or damnation of souls depends upon it. How many, just think in your minds for a second, how many countless millions of people do you think, when somebody came to them with the words of life, they heard wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah. Evolution's proven it to be false. Why would I listen to the Bible? Everything that you tell me about Jesus is from the Bible. The gospel is built upon the Old Testament, which is built upon the creation account, which is just not true. It's mythological. Why would I listen to you? How many do you think have used that as their escape hatch from accountability to the call of the gospel to the world? And I would, I don't know, you don't know, but I would ask, if we were to know for sure, I would think it would be countless millions. It is the biggest lie that has been told since the Garden of Eden, when Satan said, if you eat the fruit, you shall be as gods. That's how big this lie is. And it has taken over every culture-shaping institution from universities to media to the natural history museums to educational system to media and movies and entertainment. You can't watch a nature documentary and just try to learn about the blue whale without being told about millions and millions of years. It is everywhere. I went to the Children's Museum over break with my children, and you go to the geology section, and they've got it placarded everywhere, millions of years old, 350 million years old. You go to the dinosaur section, and everywhere you look, millions of years ago. And here's the thing, this is what bothers me about this, and it should bother you too. is that behind the scenes in their academic journals and scientific discussions, they know the problems with dating methods. They know the problems with evolution. They know these problems. And yet to the public, oh, we, we, the science, no. And I'm not, listen, don't take this as anti-science. I love science. The first Christian, the first scientists were Christians. Christianity is a reasonable faith. And I love science. I love true science. But what we need to see in this, and this is what I hope you see in this class, is that evolutionary science, some of it is, you know, again, science, there's much truth out there, much benefit that we derive from it. But for as much benefit and truth that it provides, this whole evolutionary construct through which they deliver it is a lie. and they know that there are problems with it, and they disingenuously push it on our children. That's the third reason I would give for the importance of this, and we're out of time, but my children, they're gonna go out there into this world, and I need to equip them, and I need to prepare them, and I want them to believe that the word of God is true, because it is. They can trust it. They don't have to go to a call. You know, Ken Ham teaches young children in his lectures to them about creation and the flood. And he says, and I'll close with this, this is from the book of Job. When God spoke to Job and he said, and Job and his friends had spent the first 38 chapters or whatever of Job debating about why this happened and the justice of God and the problem of evil and all this other stuff. They're questioning God and questioning everything. They get to the end and God comes in a theophanic whirlwind display of His power, and He speaks to Job in a thundering voice. And the very first question that He asks him is, where were you? Oh, you who would question God. When I laid the foundation of the earth, where were you when I stretched out the line upon it? And of course, the answer is, I was non-existent. And Ken Ham teaches little children. He says, when someone comes to you, a scientist or a teacher, and starts talking to you about millions of years, here's what I want you to do. Raise your hand and politely ask them, were you there? And of course, the answer is, no, they were not there. And they do not know as dogmatically as they claim publicly facing to know. And they know that they don't. And so, beloved, we have the testimony of the only one who was there. And he has told us what has happened. And if that's not right, then we can't trust anything. So that's where I would end. Yeah. It's an eyewitness account. But we as Christians always want to talk about it as science. We can't run a scientific method to prove that our account is right. It's not recreatable, right? So we can look at the canyon in Washington and around St. Helens and say we know how it was created. But that doesn't mean that's how the Grand Canyon was created. We can study it, yeah. Our fight is, is never proving that our account is right. Our Christian scientific evidence is always trying to disprove evolution, which is only something that's occurred in the last 100, 150 years. So, you know, my proposal, my thoughts have always been, we need to create, we need to teach the first 11 chapters as faith. Faith in an eyewitness account from God. treat it that way it is easy for people to disprove it to But the where were you question is the one that fixes all. Yeah, and I think that's a great way to put it. And we both, and that's the thing, that's what I like about creation scientists, and we've got to stop, but they're at least honest about the fact that they have assumptions and presuppositions. It's that the word of God is true, and that it's accurate, and that it's right, and that whatever we find out there is going to be consistent with what God, the one that was there, tells us about it. And so they acknowledge they're starting by faith in the revelation from God and what he's told us. Evolutionists are rooted in presuppositions and assumptions and things like that as well. Faith as well. But they would act as though there's this divorce between science and faith and that you can only have one or the other. Faith is some kind of blind leap in the dark, but it's not. We have a reasonable faith. And so I guess the only difference that I would say, and it sounds like you were saying this, but is that we have to take, we can go to the world that we see with expectations given to us from God's word as to what he said happened, and expect to see things in line with that. And if someone is telling us that something totally antithetical to what God's word is what they see, then we don't just accept that. We challenge that and question it. Who do you trust? We trust God and we trust His Word. Yep. Yep. Man's Word. Yeah. Man's Word. It's man's Word versus God's Word. That's really what it comes down to. And so, again, I think we have to fight this fight because the truthfulness of the Word of God is at stake, and ultimately I believe the Gospel, and ultimately the eternal salvation of souls. So, all right, let's pray. Father, we thank you for this time, and Father, I do ask your blessing on this time. Give us the right your spirit and that we would understand and that we would think and use the minds you've given us and be totally guided and directed by your word. And I just pray that you'd bless this class, give us understanding, use it and teach us, Lord, that your word truly is wonderful and it could be trusted. And I thank you and praise you in Jesus name. Amen.