News you won't see in controlled mainstream media.

-Preaching Genesis
-By: Henry Morris III, D.Min.
-
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.

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.

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.

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.

* Dr. Morris is Chief Executive Officer of the Institute for Creation Research.

Cite this article: Morris III, H. 2011. Preaching Genesis. Acts & Facts. 40 (9): 22.

-Does Genesis Really Matter?
-By: Jason Lisle, Ph.D.
--- ---
Does the creation versus evolution debate matter today? Perhaps you have heard people say, “With all the problems in today’s world, we really shouldn’t bother arguing about how it all began. We need to be concerned about the future, not the past.”

Our world faces enormous problems—violence, war, crime, disease, famine, economic collapse, natural disasters, and much more. We’re seeing attacks on the sanctity of human life and attempts to redefine marriage. We have witnessed a decline in Christian values worldwide, but it’s perhaps most disappointing that the United States—a nation founded on Christian principles—is losing its Christian base at an alarming rate.

How can these things be? Our nation is saturated with Christian bookstores, radio stations, television programs, and schools. And yet for all of this Christian influence, it seems that the United States is rapidly becoming a pagan nation. It’s tempting to think that we should be fighting social issues and not waste time on “academic” topics like origins.

But what if there is a connection between origins and all these social issues? I suggest that there is, in fact, a very strong connection. The social issues many Christians find distressing are not problems in themselves, but rather symptoms of an underlying root cause—the loss of biblical authority stemming from attacks on the book of Genesis. Christian values cannot exist in isolation; they only make sense in light of the history recorded in Genesis. So as society increasingly rejects Genesis in favor of evolution or an old-earth creation view, it is a natural consequence that we will experience the decline of Christian America.

Where do Christian doctrines such as “marriage” originate? This doctrine goes back to Genesis. God instituted the family unit. He created Adam and then Eve from Adam’s side; and this was the first married couple. Genesis 2:24 tells us that this historic event is the reason for marriage. The Bible defines marriage as one man and one woman united in God for life. Jesus affirmed this in Matthew 19:4-6, and He quoted Genesis to prove His point.

But if the history in Genesis were not true, then why would marriage have to be so defined? Why not a man and a man, or a man and a rock, for that matter? Without the foundational history in Genesis, marriage is reduced to simply a cultural trend—one that is subject to the shifting winds of human opinions and feelings. It’s not surprising that marriage is under attack today, since its foundation in Genesis is being undermined by evolutionary dogma.

Likewise, the sanctity of human life, human freedom, laws, and justice—all of these have their foundation in the literal, historical understanding of Genesis. And yet, Genesis continues to be attacked throughout our culture. We are told that millions of years of evolution resulted in all life on earth. And as more people reject biblical history, the more we will see the decay of Christianity. Individuals may believe in evolution and still behave in a Christian fashion, but their belief and behavior remain logically inconsistent. People will tend to act on what they believe. And the more people believe in evolution, the more they will behave as those who reject God as Creator.

If we are ever going to see America turn back to God, we must faithfully teach and defend the Bible—starting with the creation account in Genesis.
---------
* Dr. Lisle is Director of Research at the Institute for Creation Research and received his Ph.D. in Astrophysics from the University of Colorado.

-All the Fountains of the Deep

"In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened." (Genesis 7:11)

Our text describes the primary physical causes for the Flood of Noah's day, as well as the primary sources for the vast waters which covered the earth. The first source is very interesting from a geological point of view, and to grasp some semblance of its meaning is necessary if we would understand the Flood.

As the "deep" in Scripture usually refers to the ocean (i.e., Genesis 1:2), so the "great deep" which was "broken up" evidently speaks of great subterranean reservoirs or chambers deep inside the earth, all of which spewed forth their contents at the same time. This breakup continued all over the earth for 150 days (see Genesis 7:11; 7:24; 8:2).

The reference to "broken up" merits attention, for it implies a wrenching of the earth's crust, a great tectonic event. The same word is used in Numbers 16:30-33 to describe the supernatural opening up of a great pit into which the rebellious Korah and his followers and their families fell, thereby squelching their mutiny against Moses's leadership.

Any such breaching of the earth's crust results in earthquakes and if occurring under water, results in devastating tsunamis (sometimes called tidal waves) traveling through the water at speeds approaching the speed of sound.

Continued pulsation of these fountains all over the earth for 150 days would totally restructure the surface of the earth, demonstrating God's hatred for the sin of the antediluvian world.

Coupled with the other factors involved in the Flood, it is no wonder that "the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished" (2 Peter 3:6).
--ICR/JDM

--BEFORE THE
BEGINNING ~

-Genesis 1
---
O Father, glorify Me
together with Yourself,
with the glory which
I had with You
before the world
was.--John 17:5
---
WHEN he was a teenaager, my son asked me one of those questions that make you earn your pay as a parent. "Dad," Steve inquired, "If God has existed for eternity, what was He doing before He created the universe?"

So, what was happening in the eons before "God created the heavens and the earth"? (Gen. 1:1). For one thing, we know tht there was "wisdom" before creation itself, which came from God's character. Wisdom, personified in Proverbs 8:23, said, "I have been established from everylasting, from the beginning, before there was ever an earth."

Also, we know that God's salvation plan of grace was in the works before the world was hung in its place. In 2 Timothy 1:9, we read that grace "was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began." Likewise, Titus 1:2 says that eternal life was promised "before time began." We also know that Jesus was glorified and loved in God's presence "before the world was" (John 17:5; see also v.24).

These tiny glimpses of God before He created the earth help us see a little of the essence and magnitude of our awesome, eternal God. We see His majesty and greatness. Amazing, isn't it? We worship a God who existed from the beginning...and beyond.

'Great God of the universe, we stand amazed that
You are the Alpha and Omega--the Beginning
and the End--and so much more. Thank You
that we can worship and magnify You, our Rock and Redeemer!'
----
The created world is but a small parenthesis in eternity. -
---(Sir Thomas Browne)
--ODB/DB

--The Whole Law

"Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the LORD." (Leviticus 18:5)

The absolute holiness of God is emphasized throughout the book of Leviticus, and this is the standard for all those created in His image. This is made clear, beyond question, when the today's verse is quoted in the New Testament: "But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them" (Galatians 3:11-12).

It is not enough that a man keep most of God's laws. "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all" (James 2:10). "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them" (Galatians 3:10).

It is obvious, therefore, that while "the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good" (Romans 7:12), no human being (except Jesus Christ) has ever been able to keep God's perfect law, and all are therefore under God's condemnation. "Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin" (Romans 3:20).

The widespread delusion that a person can be saved by good works is dangerous, and many are on the road to Hell smug in their supposed goodness.

To keep the law, however, the Creator Himself had to become man, and He did fulfill the law as our representative before God. Then, when He died, Christ "redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us" (Galatians 3:13). "Now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested . . . by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe" (Romans 3:21-22).

--ICR/ HMM

--Who Created All Things?
--By: Norman P. Spotts, D.D.

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).
----
The Scripture is dogmatic as to who created all things, yet some may become confused when reading the Bible to find there are three different proper names associated with this great work.

In each case the great work of creation is said to be uniquely and solely His, showing that there can be only one absolute Creator. The answer is as follows: God created all things. Genesis 1:1 is abundantly clear as to this fact. So is Hebrews 3:4: “For every house is builded by some man; but He that built all things is God.”

This is a cause and effect argument. Houses do not go up by themselves. A man must build them. Even so, creation did not come about by itself. God built all things in the beginning. God is said to be the sole author of creation. Jehovah (LORD) created all things. “Thus saith the LORD (Hebrew, Jehovah), the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker . . . . I have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded” (Isaiah 45:11,12). “For thus saith the LORD (Jehovah) that created the heavens,” (Isaiah 45:18). Now the Creator is said to be Jehovah, and author of creation. Jesus (the Word) created all things. “All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:3). “By Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible . . . all things were created by Him, and for Him” (Colossians 1:16). Jesus is clearly seen as the author of creation.

How can God, Jehovah, and Jesus all be said to be the absolute Creator of all things? The reason is this: Jesus of the New Testament is the Jehovah of the Old Testament. Whatever is said of Jehovah in the Old is said of Jesus in the New. Jehovah is God; Jesus is Jehovah; Jesus is God. Therefore, Jesus, who is God, created all things.

--ICR/NPS

--The Trinity In The Old Testament
--By: Henry Morris, Ph.D.

“Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord GOD, and His Spirit, hath sent me” (Isaiah 48:16).

It is significant that Biblical Christianity is the only Trinitarian religion—and therefore the only true religion—in the world. Most religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, etc.) are pantheistic and humanistic, denying the existence of an omnipotent God who created the space/time cosmos. There are two other major religions, however, that are monotheistic, believing in the God of creation and in the creation record in Genesis—Judaism and Islam.

However, these two fail to understand that the Creator must also be the Redeemer, and therefore they also become humanistic, believing that man must achieve salvation by his own efforts. Further, they also fail to acknowledge that God’s objective work of redemption must be made subjective in each person by the indwelling personal presence of the omnipresent Creator/Redeemer.

All this is beautifully revealed in the New Testament in the doctrine of the triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit— one God in three Persons, incomprehensible to human understanding, perhaps, yet very real (see John 15:26; etc.).

This wonderful revelation of the Godhead was foreshadowed in the very beginning—the Father creating; the Spirit moving; the Son speaking (Genesis 1:1,2,3). In our text above, again it is the Son (as the living word of God) prophesying about His coming mission of redemption, saying that “the Lord GOD, and His Spirit, hath sent me.”

Then, when He had finished His work and could return to the Father, He promised the coming of “the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name,” and that He would “abide with you for ever” (John 14:26,16).

--ICR/HMM

- ABRAHAM BELIEVED
-GOD....

--Romans 1:18-25
---
-Abraham believed
God...and he was
called the friend
of God.--James 2:23-
Abraham believed the Lord
and He credited it to him
as righteousness.
Genesis 15:6 -
----
-There are many evidences in favor of Christ's reality.

Ponder these ideas: The creation of the world shows there is a Designer behind the universe (Rom. 1:18-20). The conscience indicates a Lawgiver behind each human's sense of right and wrong (2:14-15). The creativity we express in music and art reflect the same attribute that the Creator possesses (Ex. 35:31-32).

Christ reveals what God is like in human form (Heb. 1:1-4). The communion or fellowship of the Spirit in the Christian heart manifests the reality of God (Gal. 5:22-23).

There will be those who deny the reality of God (2 Peter 3:4-6). But James reminds us of His reality and how an Old Testament believer befriended Him: "'Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteusness.' And he was called the friend of God" (James 2:23). Have you met the redeeming God? He gave His Son to become your real, eternal Friend (John 15:15).
---
--THE DEAREST FRIEND ON EARTH IS BUT A MERE SHADOW COMPARED TO JESUS.~~
--- -- --
--ODB/DF / I AM A FRIEND OF GOD!
<http://youtu.be/bGJ_81dgoEQ>
----

--Is Jesus Mentioned in Genesis?
-Absolutely! In Genesis 1:26, "And God said, "Let'us' make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion..."
-The three persons of the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost [Spirit], consult about creation and concur in it, because man, when he was made, was to be dedicated and devoted to Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Into that great name we are, with good reason, baptized, for to that great name we owe our being.

There is much to be read on this forum, 'Jesus Christ the Creator' regarding the Son of God. The triune God is inseparable. They are one, in the same. Thus we have the 'Trinity'. Please keep reading...

--Jesus Christ: A Gift from the Father
--Read | Matthew 7:11

We try to give presents that are meaningful but we aren't always successful. However, God’s gift—His Son Jesus—is always the right one for everybody. This gift is:

-Heaven sent. Jesus was sent to earth from the heavenlies in order to fulfill God’s plan (John 6:38). Every aspect of His life—from His birth as a little baby to His death on the cross—was part of the Father’s gift to us.

-Needed. God gave His Son to us because of our desperate need for rescue. Sin ruined the human race (Rom. 3:23) and placed us all under divine condemnation (5:18). Since we are unable to pay the price justly demanded by God for our sin, our greatest need has always been for a Savior who could pay our sin debt for us (6:23). Only Jesus qualified because He was without sin. He became our Redeemer, reconciling us to God (5:10).

-Sacrificial. God sent Jesus to die in our place so that we might become part of His family.. The Son deliberately sacrificed His life to accomplish the Father’s plan.

-Perfect. Jesus was God in human flesh, walking among mankind. His character and will are flawless, and He works perfectly on our behalf (8:28-29).

-Precious. Jesus Christ can do for us what no material thing or other person can. In Him, we become new creations belonging to God (2 Cor. 5:17).

God wrapped His special present to us in human flesh so we might know Him and identify with Him. How closely intertwined is Jesus’ life with yours?

--In Touch~
<http://youtu.be/h0mPk_3dXSg>

--Waiting For Jesus
--By- Henry Morris, Ph.D.

-"And you shall seek Me, and find Me, when you shall search for Me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:13)~
-Yes, Jesus, Jehovah God, Yeshua Adonai, is found in the entire Bible. Jesus said, "I and the Father are One."

“Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; He also is become my salvation.”
---(Isaiah 12:2).

-It is fascinating to note all the occurrences of the word “salvation” in the Old Testament. Most are translations of the Hebrew, Yeshua, which corresponds to the name “Jesus” in English. For example, the verse above could just as well read “Behold, God is my Jesus; . . . the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and song; He also is become my Jesus.”

Hebrew parents usually gave their children names which had significance. Thus, when Gabriel instructed Joseph to name Mary’s son “Jesus,” they would recognize immediately that they were, in effect, to name Him “Salvation,” because, “He shall save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). We can easily imagine that Mary and Joseph spent many hours together poring over their Bibles and reading again all the great prophecies of the coming Savior—especially those in which His very name, Yeshua, had been anticipated.

The first of these was in the dying words of their ancestor, Jacob, after whom Joseph’s own father had been named (Matthew 1:16). In almost his last words, the dying patriarch had exclaimed: “I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD” (Genesis 49:18). We can at least wonder whether they wondered if Jacob, in his prophetic vision, had actually seen Jesus, and cried out, enraptured, “I have waited for thy Jesus, O LORD!”

Then, in Habakkuk 3:13, they could even have found both His name and His title (“anointed” = Messiah = Christ). Thus: “Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thine anointed [i.e. Jesus thy Christ]; thou woundest the head out of the house of the wicked” (i.e., Satan—note Genesis 3:15). In any case, we can be sure that Joseph and Mary “marvelled at those things which were spoken of Him” (Luke 2:33).
--ICR/ HMM = Yeshua Hamashiach-Jesus is LORD!
<http://youtu.be/z-j_1e13qlE>

--BACK TO GENESIS~~

---How Could Eve Know?
--By: Jason Lisle, Ph.D. *
Evidence for Creation

--Eve was challenged with the first recorded dilemma. On the one hand, God indicated that on the day Eve and Adam ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, their immortal bodies would become mortal and subject to eventual death (Genesis 2:17). On the other hand, the flattering serpent suggested the opposite—promising that eating from that tree would not result in death but instead would make Adam and Eve like God (Genesis 3:4-5). How was Eve supposed to know whom to believe?

Eve chose to evaluate the situation by her own standard. She opted to use her mind and her senses to judge who was telling the truth. She examined the tree with her eyes and recognized that it was delightful to look at, good for food, and desirable for wisdom (Genesis 3:6). Her preliminary “scientific” analysis suggested that the serpent’s hypothesis might be correct and that God’s word—His clear warning—was wrong. After all, the fruit did not appear dangerous; there was nothing obviously defective with it that would suggest eating it would result in death. So, she took and ate and gave to Adam, who did the same.

Today, we face a similar dilemma. On the one hand, we have God’s Word, which teaches things like the six days of creation, a global flood, and the resurrection of Christ. On the other hand, we have the words of people who claim that such things are simply not possible. How are we supposed to decide who is right?

Like Eve, we are inclined to judge God’s Word based on our senses and our understanding of what is possible. For some people God’s Word passes the test, and for others it does not. But either way, the test itself is defective because it attempts to judge the infallible Word by standards that are fallible because they are human standards. We must admit that our senses can be mistaken at times (e.g., an optical illusion), and our understanding of what is possible is often wrong, as the history of science has shown. Therefore, it makes no sense to judge a perfect standard (the Word of God) by a fallible standard (human sensation and reasoning). This would be like a young child who knows nothing about mathematics going through a college-level calculus textbook and attempting to correct what he perceives to be errors.

So when Eve attempted to judge the infallible by the fallible, she was not only being immoral but irrational as well. After all, she was attempting to use her mind and her senses to judge whether God was honest. But who made Eve’s mind? God did. And who made Eve’s senses? God did. So, if God were dishonest, then Eve would have no reason to trust her mind or her senses in the first place. The same is true of people today who attempt to judge the Bible by their own fallible standard. This is immoral because it puts God to the test (Matthew 4:7). But it is also irrational because if the Bible were not true, then people would have no good reason to trust their own minds or their own senses by which they come to the conclusion that the Bible is or is not true!

How then should Eve have responded? She should have recognized that God’s truthfulness is a logical prerequisite for her mind and senses to be even remotely reliable. So, by virtue of the fact that she was able to correctly understand the serpent (using her mind and her senses), God must be truthful. Therefore, the serpent was lying.

God expects us to reason using our minds and to rely on our senses but not to judge Him and His perfect Word by these lesser standards. He expects us to rely upon His revealed Word as the ultimate standard for judging everything else.
Remember, it is not our minds that ultimately judge God’s Word; rather, it is God’s Word that will judge our minds (Hebrews 4:12).
--ICR/JL
* Dr. Lisle is Director of Research at the Institute for Creation Research and received his Ph.D. in astrophysics from the University of Colorado.

---THE CHIEF FATHERS~~~ (The Patriarchs)

---The Chief Fathers
“Abraham begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat the twelve patriarchs.” (Acts 7:8)

Without these patriarchs’ faithful contribution and commitment to a future they could hardly understand, you and I would be without the historical evidence of the biblical foundation upon which our faith rests.

Abraham, who was used by God to be the “father of many nations,” was given a covenant (Genesis 12:1-3) that applies to all who are saved by faith in the work of God accomplished through Jesus Christ on the cross, who rose from the grave and is now sitting at the right hand of the Father.

Abraham became the example of salvation by faith (Romans 4:1-16; Galatians 3:9-24).

Isaac was the Promised Seed from whom the nation Israel came. He is the Old Testament example of the willing sacrifice of the Messiah yet to come (Hebrews 11:17-19), and he became the genetic head of Israel (Romans 9:7).

-Jacob is an example of God’s sovereign right to choose those whom He wills to serve Him (Romans 9:10-13). He is often misjudged for his “deception” of Isaac, yet Isaac had chosen the wicked Esau to inherit the blessing even though Jacob was chosen prior to his birth to be the heir (Genesis 25:23). Jacob fathered 12 sons through four wives, and God Himself changed his name to Israel (Genesis 32:28; 35:22).

-Joseph became the prime minister of Egypt and was responsible for preserving the budding nation of Israel. He is an example of the steadfast, trusting, and faithful servant who simply expects God to accomplish the good God intended (Genesis 50:20; Acts 7:9-18).

Perhaps the struggles, sacrifices, and successes of their lives need to be a fresh memory for each of us.
--ICR/ HMM III

--BIBLICAL PATRIARCHS

Question: "Who are the Biblical Patriarchs?"
~~~~~~
Answer: The biblical patriarchs are the line of men God used to establish the nation of Israel. Perhaps the most well-known of the biblical patriarchs is Abraham, because from him all Israelites are descended. God made a covenant with him, promising that Abraham would be “the father of many nations” (Genesis 17:4). In fact, God changed Abram’s name to Abraham, which means “father of a multitude.”

Abraham: God approached Abraham (then “Abram”) and promised to make his descendants a great nation (Genesis 12:2) in the land of Canaan. Following God’s instruction, Abram took his extended family to Canaan, and they lived there as nomads. Despite God’s promise, Abram’s wife, Sarai, remained barren. In desperation, she gave Abram her handmaiden, Hagar, as a concubine. Hagar gave birth to Ishmael, thought to be the forefather of Arabs. Despite Sarah’s doubts, she soon gave birth to Isaac (Genesis 21:2). In her jealousy for her son’s inheritance, Sarah forced Hagar and Ishmael to the wilderness. When Sarah died, Abraham married Keturah and had six more sons, although the line of biblical patriarchy ran through Isaac.

Isaac: Isaac began as a man of great faith, trusting his father when God told Abraham to sacrifice him (Genesis 22) and trusting his father’s servant to choose Rebekah as a wife for him (Genesis 24). When his wife was pregnant with twins, however, and was told the older (Esau) would serve the younger (Jacob), Isaac rebelled and attempted to favor the older anyway. But God’s plan was for Jacob to be next in the line of patriarchs, which is exactly what happened.

Jacob: When Rebekah realized she was pregnant with twins, God told her the older would serve the younger (Genesis 25:23). Jacob was barely younger, as he came out holding his brother Esau’s heal. Esau went on to marry, giving Isaac and Rebekah grief (Genesis 26:35) and became the father the Edomites (Genesis 36:9), who gave the nation of Israel grief. Jacob knew of the prophecy given to Rebekah, but didn’t trust God to fulfill it in His time. With prompting from Rebekah, Jacob (whose name means “supplanter”) tricked Isaac out of the inheritance of the firstborn (Genesis 27) and then promptly ran away to Rebekah’s brother, Laban. When Jacob fell in love with Laban’s younger daughter, Rachel, Laban proved to be a match for his nephew and had him work for seven years, then married him to his older daughter, Leah. Jacob had to work another seven years for Rachel. Because Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah, God comforted Leah by allowing her to conceive and bear sons.

Rachel gave her handmaiden to Jacob, resulting in more sons. Leah countered with her handmaiden, Rachel finally got pregnant, and Jacob wound up with twelve sons and a daughter. Before reconciling with Esau, Jacob wrestled with the pre-incarnate Christ, who changed his name to Israel (“he who strives with God”; Genesis 32:24-28). The nation took the name, Israel, from the man who fathered the nation.

Jacob’s sons: Each of Jacob’s sons became the patriarch of a tribe of Israel. As Jacob lay dying, he blessed each son (Genesis 49), mirroring his own inheritance by placing Joseph’s younger son, Ephraim, over the older Manasseh (Genesis 48:14).

The sons of Jacob and the heads of the tribes of Israel were Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Zebulon, Issachar, Dan, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Benjamin, and Joseph’s sons Ephraim and Manasseh.

---Some More History on 'The Patriarchs', not to be confused with the 'Twelve Tribes of Israel'.
---Abraham's Son=saac

- --ISAAC'S LIFE OF CONTRAST~

“And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents. And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob.”
---(Genesis 25:27-28)

--Isaac’s early life became the biblical picture of Christ (Genesis 22:7-9). Not only did Isaac lay down his life voluntarily, but he continued to show great evidence of God’s presence and promise. He had personal instruction in faith from Abraham (Genesis 18:19) and had been given direct evidence of God’s sovereignty in his life (Genesis 24:67).

Even before the birth of his sons when he was 60 years old, Isaac interceded for Rebecca and the children (Genesis 25:21). It is certain that he had firsthand knowledge of God’s plan for the boys (Genesis 26:2-53; 28:1-4), yet in spite of his knowledge, Isaac “loved Esau” (our text).

He knew that God had chosen the younger child to rule (Genesis 25:23). He knew that Esau was an ungodly man (Genesis 27:46), and he knew that Esau had married pagan wives (Genesis 26:34) in spite of God’s command to the contrary. But Isaac was determined to give the birthright to Esau. The single reason Scripture cites for Isaac’s irrational behavior was that he loved Esau and the savory meat Esau brought in from hunting (Genesis 27:1-4).

Isaac finally gave the blessing to Jacob, but he would have blessed Esau; he would have gone against God’s command, and he “trembled exceedingly” when he knew that he had been overruled by God (Genesis 27:30-33). Ultimately, Isaac submitted to God and instructed Jacob in righteousness (Genesis 28:1-5).
The pain in Jacob’s life, the agony of Rebecca’s separation from her son, and the torn testimony of Isaac were all caused by an incorrect “love."

--ICR/HMM

---WHY WOULD GOD MAKE MONSTERS?
--BY: BRIAN THOMAS, M.S.

---After one of my dinosaur presentations in the Dallas area, a mother told me a question her son had asked. She didn’t know the answer. If God is good and Genesis creation is true, then why did He create monstrous dinosaurs? After all, look at tyrannosaur teeth. What kind of good God would make monsters like that?

It took me a few seconds to find the flaw in the question. It was worded to sound like only one option exists—that God made monsters. But what if God didn’t make monsters? In other words, the question has a logical error. It leaves out an option.

If God didn’t make monsters—in this case, monstrous dinosaurs—then where did they come from? Since the first chapter of Genesis says that God created “the beast of the earth...and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind,” then He certainly created dinosaurs. Surely dinosaurs were among the beasts of the earth. Could God have made dinosaurs but not have made them monsters?

In the beginning, even T. rex used its teeth to tear into fruits and veggies. Why Would God Make Monsters?

The same chapter says, “Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.” Since monsters are bad, He didn’t make them! Genesis 1:30 says the original animals ate plant matter, not each other. In the beginning, even T. rex used its teeth to tear into fruits and veggies.

So, the option the boy’s question leaves out is that God made dinosaurs originally “very good” but that something turned them into monsters after creation. What does it mean to be a monster? Some people think it means body features like large size and large teeth. But without vicious behavior, a big creature could have big teeth and just be a big, friendly giant. Even today, animals use large, sharp teeth to eat plants. Panda bears eat bamboo, but have you seen their teeth? One study found that 13 of the 18 crocodilian species it examined eat fruit from 34 different plant families. No physical feature makes a monster. Violent behavior makes a monster. Thus, God created animals to behave well at first, but their habits—not their features—soon soured.

The Bible says that God cursed Creation because of Adam and Eve’s sin. By the time God sent the Flood, both animals and humans behaved like monsters. God would no longer endure their extreme violence. The global Flood buried billions of creatures, including dinosaurs. God did not make monsters. The sin of mankind did.

--In a sense, each of us has a monster on the inside. God didn’t make that, either. Our inner monster rebels against Him and deserves to die for those crimes. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” The same Word of true history that helps answer dinosaur questions also has the Word of true life that leads sinners to salvation.

--THE POWER OF THE FLOOD~~

Grand Canyon Carved by Flood Runoff
BY TIM CLAREY, PH.D.
-[Institute of Creation Research]--
-[LINK AT BOTTOM TO: ICR]
--THE TRUTH IS GOD'S HOLY Word/ the HOLY BIBLE ~~--

Secular science has long struggled to explain the timing and origin of Grand Canyon. The majority of secular scientists assumes it was carved by a large river in less than six million years.1 Why did it form where it did? In particular, how did the river “hurdle” the massive Kaibab uplift?

One of the issues secular scientists struggle to explain is how the water passing through the canyon could have possibly become connected from one side of the Kaibab uplift to the other. The uplift has warped an arch of rock about 3,000 feet above the surrounding terrain,1 and Grand Canyon currently cuts right through it.

To explain the dilemma of an incised river2 that seemingly had to flow uphill, some secular scientists claim that Grand Canyon was carved by stream piracy, a unique process involving headward erosion.1 This in itself is very tricky because it requires two streams flowing in opposite directions to meet at the exact same point and then somehow erode away enough for one stream to take over the other—thus the piracy. But this explanation doesn’t solve the problem: There is still a major drainage divide between the two rivers, even if the headwaters did touch at some time in the past. It doesn’t remove the uplift problem. Water would still flow in opposite directions away from the divide as it does all along the Continental Divide today.

Other secular scientists claim there were caves that may have allowed the streams on either side of the uplift to initially connect underground.1 They suggest these caves later collapsed and the canyon had a ready-made path through the uplift. But this is problematic because the layer of limestone the caves could have formed in was also warped up about 1,500 feet by the Kaibab uplift, causing the water to still have to somehow flow uphill. In addition, the carbonate layer, like the Redwall Limestone that contains caves today, is not thick enough to collapse and remove the total amount of topographic relief. The Redwall is about 600 feet thick, and even if the entire unit had been a cave, it wouldn’t remove the remaining 900 feet of relief caused by the Kaibab uplift. The streams on either side would still flow away from each other.

Secular science is left without an adequate explanation for how Grand Canyon developed through a major uplift. The river should have flowed around it, but it didn’t.


Grand Canyon formed during the latter part of the runoff phase of the Flood.
Creation scientists have also disagreed on the timing and origin of Grand Canyon, but we generally all agree it happened within the last 4,500 years. One of the most popular ideas is the breached-dam hypothesis advocated by Drs. Walt Brown3 and Steve Austin.4 Both support a post-Flood formation of Grand Canyon caused by the sudden breaching of two presumed dammed lakes, Hopi Lake and Grand Lake (alternatively called Canyonlands Lake). Both scientists believe these lakes formed a few hundred years after the Flood, placing their development during the Ice Age or shortly thereafter. The lakes are claimed to have held over 3,000 cubic miles of water, roughly equivalent to three times the volume in Lake Michigan.1 The explanation for the breach varies, but advocates for this hypothesis claim a catastrophic release of this dammed water carved Grand Canyon.

The biggest problem with the breached-dam hypothesis is the lack of physical evidence for the existence of these lakes. Secondly, there is no satisfactory reason given for the cause of the breach through the Kaibab uplift.5 These were not ice-dammed lakes like other catastrophic breaches. In fact, Mike Oard pointed out that the water should have taken a different direction if, in fact, it did breach, carving a canyon to the north of the uplift instead of through it.5
View of Steep Mountain and the Bonneville bench. Note the beveled lake-cut terrace covered by 150 feet of sand and gravel along the top of light-colored Oquirrh strata.
Image credit: Copyright 2005 © Utah Geological Survey — State of Utah. Used in accordance with federal copyright (fair use doctrine) law. Usage by ICR does not imply endorsement of copyright holder.

Let’s examine the evidence for these massive lakes that presumably built up over a few hundred years after the Flood. Helble and Hill point out that there is virtually no evidence for Grand Lake, supposedly the bigger of the two.1 And the evidence for the southern and smaller lake, Hopi Lake, is also weak. So right away, the largest body of water can be eliminated from a scientific point of view. Merely drawing in a vast lake based on today’s topography, without strong evidence to back it, is speculation, not science.

Neither of these “lakes” has any mapped lake-cut terraces or strand lines as are common surrounding Lake Bonneville, the Ice Age lake that has since evaporated to form present-day Great Salt Lake. Also, many other Ice Age lakes show evidence of temporal strand lines or wave-cut terraces, including areas along the shores of the northern lower peninsula of Michigan.

Admittedly, the presumed Hopi Lake does contain a sedimentary unit known as the Bidahochi Formation, claimed by secular geologists to represent a lake environment. However, this formation has been dated by secular geologists as between six and 16 million years old, based on igneous intrusions that cut across the unit.1 Although I disagree with this date and the dating methods used, these dates imply an age older than the Ice Age, which precludes this unit as a post-Flood source of water for the breached-dam hypothesis. Additionally, Helble and Hill point out that recent research shows the Bidahochi Formation is composed of several smaller lakes that likely were not well-connected.1 So, the evidence for any major lakes that formed after the Flood to carve Grand Canyon is weak at best.
The Colorado Plateau showing Grand Canyon in the lower left, draining to the southwest.
Image credit: Pederson, J. L., R. D. Mackley, and J. L. Eddleman. 2002. Colorado Plateau uplift and erosion evaluated using GIS. GSA Today. Used in accordance with federal copyright (fair use doctrine) law. Usage by ICR does not imply endorsement of copyright holder.

In the mid-1990s, Steve Austin advocated for the breached-dam hypothesis because at the time he accepted a Flood/post-Flood boundary near the top of the Cretaceous System (K-Pg).4 His choice of that Flood boundary left few other options. He had to somehow come up with a massive source of water since he believed the Flood runoff phase was over before Grand Canyon was carved. Picking the wrong Flood/post-Flood boundary can clearly affect other interpretations even when the data tell us otherwise. This is why it’s so important to pick a post-Flood boundary based on as much data as possible.6

If there were no post-Flood lakes, how can we explain Grand Canyon in a Flood model? I think the best solution is the one Mike Oard presented in his book on Grand Canyon.5 Oard suggests Grand Canyon formed during the latter part of the runoff phase of the Flood. This would coincide with the latter part of the Tejas Megasequence.

After catastrophic plate motion ceased late in the Flood year, and even before, the thickened areas of continental crust would have begun to rise due to isostatic adjustment. In other words, the land rose to reach a balance due to the thickened crust that formed during subduction. This process caused the Four Corners region and the Colorado Plateau to rise about 5,000 feet late in the Tejas Megasequence (Neogene).7 Grand Canyon is on the western edge of that uplift. Oard suggests the floodwaters receding in this area may have initially drained to the east during a sort of sheet-wash phase.5 This easterly direction of transport deposited the Whopper Sand in the Gulf of Mexico during the earliest part of the Tejas.8 Later, as the Colorado Plateau rose, the water-flow reversed direction, diverting the drainage to the west and carving Grand Canyon toward the end of the Tejas. He called this latter draining the channelization phase of the runoff.5
Colorado River in Grand Canyon


If you uplift packed, wet sand, it will crack. Similarly, if you pack wet sand on your legs at the beach and then move your legs, the sand cracks. Water follows the easiest path. Water would naturally follow the cracks and fractures in the freshly deposited sediments of the uplifted Colorado Plateau. Some of it would have undoubtedly run through the fractures in the Kaibab uplift, creating a possible path through the uplifted and stacked sediment. And since water at the surface flows downhill, the water draining off the Colorado Plateau would flow westerly toward the Pacific Ocean. Rapid uplift, cracking, and surface drainage of receding floodwaters provide both the path and the necessary volume of water to quickly carve out Grand Canyon. This was all accomplished before the Ice Age during the receding phase of the Flood and not during or after the Ice Age.3,4

One of ICR’s volunteers asked why the receding floodwater didn’t form more “Grand Canyons.” Why is there is just one? The answer has to do with the right combination of events that make Grand Canyon unique. First, Grand Canyon needed a major uplift to erode down through. This was provided by the late-Flood isostatic rise of the Colorado Plateau, causing the entire Four Corners region to move upward about 5,000 feet. Second, fractures and fissures were needed to channelize the runoff water along the western edge of the Colorado Plateau, directing the path of the water and rapidly carving a canyon 5,000 feet deep. Third, there had to be a sufficient volume of water left in the receding phase to carve a major canyon. Fourth, all of these events had to coincide at just the right moment. Without the massive uplift, timed perfectly with the channelization phase of the receding floodwater, there would have been no Grand Canyon.

Other large canyons formed in the United States during the receding phase, such as Texas’ Palo Duro Canyon, but it’s not very deep in comparison to Grand Canyon. Palo Duro Canyon formed from channelized runoff water that flowed eastward away from the uplifted Rocky Mountains late in the Flood. However, the Texas Panhandle region did not experience as much uplift as the Colorado Plateau. Palo Duro Canyon, although the second-largest canyon in the U.S., is only about 700 feet deep at its maximum.

All of these major canyons we see today are reminders of the immense power of the Flood’s waters. Even their recession left the fingerprints of “grand” canyons as a witness to God’s global judgment by water as recorded in the book of Genesis.
Link/ <https://www.icr.org/article/grand-canyon-carved-by-flood-runoff>
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