A few thoughts on this book. My first impression of Bill Monsma was unique. In 1980 my wife and I had completed 8 years in Hong Kong as missionaries. Over the previous couple of years I had evolved from a “fully competent creation” evolutionist into a young earth creationist. (I finished medical school in 1967 having been convinced that God threw out the first matter, having designed it to self-organize and that He could later give man a soul. I nearly lost my faith completely but settled on “God used  evolution.”   While in Hong Kong, my brother, a science teacher, sent me a couple of books by A. E. Wilder-Smith including “Man’s Origin, Man’s Destiny” and “Creation of Life.” I set them aside for a year because they seemed so far from the scientific mainstream. But when I read the powerful logic, I was astonished. I had never been given any reason to doubt evolution, but Wilder-Smith argued that a code can only come about by the agency of intelligence and the information carried on the code likewise. Long ages of time do not help because they degrade information. I was energized and radicalized. Design was an evangelistic tool! This is what Romans 1 was talking about!   I needed to finish pediatric training and after arriving back at the University of Minnesota I looked up the advisor for the Christian Medical Society Student Chapter whom I had known during medical school, Dr. V. Elving Anderson. I laid out what I had learned with a bit of calculation showing the hopeless improbability of the simplest protein putting itself together even if all the components were there in the primordial soup. He answered that he was not impressed by that argument. I asked now he answered it and he repeated that it did not impress him. He then said there were many who believed as he did and gave me an application to the American Scientific Affiliation. I was puzzled at the unscientific answer to  my question.  During a lecture on hypertension, the nephrology professor made a comment about evolution, stating that the kidney evolved in an environment of low salt and under high sodium levels puts out hormonal signals to raise the blood pressure. I went up after class and asked if it didn’t seem strange that the incredible mechanism of the kidney which keeps so many things in balance can’t make a minor adjustment. He said that it was the time frame. (I had the mental picture of creatures dying for millions of years of the complications of hypertension before they got it right.) I said, “Well, there is other evidence against evolution, are you interested?” He said "No." When I offered him books and articles, he became angry. "I know where you are headed," he shouted. "You are going to talk about God and Jesus and I have no place for them in my life!” And, turning to walk away, he called out over his shoulder, “I don't think you can talk about this on a public university campus!"  I was flabbergasted, but he was indeed correct that if evolution is not true, the only other possibility is creation, which means there is a God. And if there is a God Who created us, then we are answerable to Him and ought to find out all we can about what He expects of us. I later discovered that failure to affirm evolution was a career ending move for many academics.  In 1981, after it was clear that we were not going to return to the field, I joined the medical staff of Group Health, its name later changed to HealthPartners. I made friends with another pediatrician who attended Hope Presbyterian. We had several conversations about creation/evolution and he invited me to give a series of talks to his adult Sunday School Class. I had given only one, or maybe two talks when my friend told me that the class had been cancelled, apparently by Bill Monsma.  I’m sure Bill did all the wonderful things you write about and Elving Anderson was a warm hearted believer, but I am convinced that both missed something important. Perhaps it will involve some of the tears that will have to be wiped away.  The section on Islam gives some interesting insights into the intellectual problems of Muslims. But I did not catch anything useful in evangelism. I had Muslim patients, one who experienced a remarkable turn-around of a disturbing situation. The mother came alone to see me and told how she had heard noise in the basement in the middle of the night and found her teen aged daughter naked, with an adult man, drug paraphernalia scattered around the room. She took her daughter by the shoulders, asked her what was going on and slapped her in the face. The girl left with the man and shortly after, the mother received word that a judge had declare the girl emancipated because she was physically abused by her mother. I told the mother that I would write a letter to the judge and asked if I could pray for them. If I had known what I learned later, I would have prayed in Jesus name because Muslims do believe they can do that and that Jesus is a healer. The mother knew that I was a Christian, however. I prayed that the judge would change the order and the daughter would stop the destructive behavior and reconcile with the family. A few weeks later the mother and daughter came back together and it had all happened!  A friend of mine during our growing up years joined Campus Crusade staff and was involved in the Jesus Film administration since the beginning. He has shared many amazing stories. An Egyptian man had been telling his friends that his life seemed empty. They encouraged him to go on the Haj. He went on a bus tour and on the way home told the bus driver that he still felt empty. The bus driver suggested that he get off at the next stop and pray in the name of Jesus. He did, out-loud apparently, and struck up a conversation with a man on a park bench who had a Christian name. He asked the man if he were a Christian and the stranger answered, “No, but I have a movie about Jesus that I have never watched.” They went home and watched it together. When the adult Jesus appeared on the screen for the first time, the Egyptian jumped up and shouted, “That was the bus driver!” They both believed. Muslim background believers report they became Jesus followers because of the kindness of Christians and  miracles, visions and dreams.  I think Bill wanted to evangelize. And he truly believed that creationism, especially young earth, would drive intellectuals away before they get to the gospel. Maybe so and intelligent design followed by identifying the designer as Jesus is reasonable. But eventually the skeptic will object to virgin birth and resurrection. Regardless, I am suspicious that even Bill would be unhappy with last year’s event, co-sponsored by MacLaurin and BioLogos, going to an Evangelical Free Church to convince the Christians to become evolutionists and discard the notion of a literal Adam and Eve. All this in the year when Francis Collins admitted that his statement claiming that the genome proved evolution because of all the junk DNA was hubris. There is no junk, rather layers of regulatory complexity that we never dreamed of before. But Collins did not call off the attack dogs. And they don’t even go to the lost! The try to convert evangelicals. And MacLauren/Anselm House joined their yoke!  I have little comment on the second chapter. The portrait of the national heroes of Israel with all their warts was indeed one of the reasons Vishal Mangalwadi considered the Scripture divinely inspired. And indeed, God allows humans to create culture and structures that have flaws. And supposedly God-fearing kings do indeed fight each other because we are all fallen. David had a tender heart but still paid the price for his sin. And, indeed, we need to be ready to suffer for the name of Christ as the culture becomes more hostile. Might that not include being considered a fool for believing a part of the Scriptural record that is considered academically unacceptable, although you find it to be based on solid  evidence and firm logic?  Chapter 3, mentions Bill’s desire to synthesize. I think his ability to do so was deformed by his long association with Calvin College with their emphasis on deep time and evolution. Davis Young, as far as I know, maintained his faith but Howard Van Till became a freethinker. John Calvin would be appalled. (Of course, Martin Luther and John Wesley would likewise disown many of their theological descendants.)  The relationship of wild and domestic is a good way to frame the mandate to appropriately use the earth which we have been given. My parents gave me a good appreciation of wilderness. We went tent camping and explored, not just learning the names for things but even more looking for wonders. I remember the first time finding the little green insect hiding in a small dap of foam. I watched the caterpillars and their different modes of locomotion, the fish in a stream or lake. The beauty and mystery of the hills, cliffs and caves. In different parts of the country, I saw how different species occupied the various habitats. I learned an appreciation for what God had made but I also saw my mother’s flower garden and the even more amazing garden of a neighbor as a sub-creator. I marveled at God’s creativity and variation on themes.  Chapter 4 gives a nice analysis of Job, despite the fact that Jed is a young man ☺. He also points out the ability to do science grows out of the reality of creation, a reasonable Creator and a creature capable of acquiring knowledge.  Chapter 5 needs some demolition. Yes, there is a need to reach the homosexual individual for Christ and that does not require them to be “cleaned up” first. God loves us just the way we are but He also loves us too much to leave us that way. Joe Hallett led Outpost for over 10 years and miraculously did so with full blown AIDS when an average lifespan was very short. He was saved through the witness of a Christian woman and continued in the gay lifestyle until the Lord convicted him of it. He continued to be tempted but lived a victorious life and brought many to Christ by his honest witness. What we see today is the Gay Christian Movement, saying, “I’m gay, I’m Christian and it’s OK.” Maybe even, “God made me this way.”  The implosion of Exodus was evidenced by Alan Chambers’ meeting with representatives of the Gay Christian Movement. Fortified by the writings of his pastor and board chair, Clark Whitten, author of “Pure Grace,” that godly living is legalism, he told the group, “I will see you all in heaven. God is not in the business of changing behavior and nobody changes anyway.” He endorsed gay marriage although he stayed heterosexually married. I suggested at an Outpost board meeting that Exodus should change its name to “Take us back to Egypt.” They no longer had a message of hope or change, and although they never removed their original statement of faith from the website, they mercifully dissolved.  What do we do about I Corinthians 6:9-11 “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” Note the key? “And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you  were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”  David was an adulterer and also a man after God’s heart? Why? It seems that we all sin but some are forgiven. 1 John 1:7-9 “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”   So the one who claims the right to a behavior and is unwilling to surrender it to God is putting it ahead of God. In finding God’s will, we often have to come to the point where we say, “Lord, even if you want me to go to the cannibals or the lepers, I am willing.” Often that is NOT God’s will, but we need to be willing in order to get past it. But in the case of clearly defined sin, I tremble to think of the consequences of defying God.  And on a human level, the dark side of homosexuality is not given a public airing, all because of political correctness. The social cost is great and the personal consequences are significant. Yes, even when sexuality is misused, it retains some of its intended beauty. My neighbor, a physician, left his wife and two young children to live with his office nurse. He told me he felt like he was 18 again. We all know the cost to his family, but also to him. Sexual abuse of children is a significant problem and still generally  agreed by society to be wrong. The pedophiles, however, are waiting in the wings with all the same arguments as for the mainstream of homosexuality. But childhood sexual abuse is prominent in the etiology and the expression of same sex attraction. In multiple studies, even by gay researchers, adult homosexual men admit that they, over the age of 21, have had sex with boys under 16. In a study by Dr. Paul Cameron of Family Research institute, two-thirds of the boys whose first sexual experience was homosexual, whether defined as consensual, seduced or forced, engaged in homosexual behavior as adults; 95% of those whose first experience was heterosexual were heterosexual in their adult behavior.  Our culture has taken the stance that feelings that come from within are not only good but irresistible. It is true that a person is not responsible for his temptations and we are all tempted. The erotic impulses can be deformed by things out of the individual’s control, but the actions taken as a result of those temptations have consequences. Homosexual males have increased health problems and shorter lifespan. It is not just AIDS but all the disease of stress. Even “committed relationships” tend to be open and many gay apologists frankly admit that monogamy is not their ideal. The statement, “I have always been this way,” can mean that the critical factors occurred before the time that memories are retained. That is true of the age of gender identity which happens at 1½ to 2½ years of age.  Would God tolerate “gay marriage” as He tolerates divorce? Will there be homosexuals in heaven? I assume that there will be some who are washed in the blood, “that is what some of you were.” But one who makes an idol of his sexuality, whatever the orientation, ought to fear that he is not under grace.  Chapter 6 is interesting. I am convinced that the loss of trust in the Bible is directly due to the lack of willingness by so many Christians, especially Christian intellectuals, to defend Genesis. And ironically, while everybody was busy protecting the gospel from potential falsification by science, they have missed the fact that science has crept up behind them and strengthened not only intelligent design but even a young earth! The geologic column is not really explained by the usual uniformitarian assumptions and even radiometric dating has been given a jolt by the ICR/CRS “RATE Project.” Too much helium from alpha decay for it to have taken place in the remote past – indicating a recent catastrophe involving more than just a flood. Then there is measurable Carbon 14 in coal, oil, fossils and diamonds in which it should be totally absent. And there is the soft tissue in dinosaur bones – which has brought on the most contorted explanations. And, ironically, they are based on FAITH! “This is an experiment of nature that proves soft tissue can last 65 million years because we KNOW that the fossil is that old.” Is that self-correcting science in action?   But in supporting Deep Time, you end up with death before sin, a God who uses death to create and is also a poor communicator. He could have described evolution or vast ages of time. The excuse that the people were primitive assumes evolution! Actually there is every indication that Adam and Eve were geniuses. And back to communication, is it really “very good” that Adam and Eve stood on thousands of feet of fossilized competition, predation, disease and death? All this from a God who tells us to care for the weak and the insignificant, doing it as unto Him. And why is death treated as an intruder? Why did Jesus need to conquer it by the Cross and the resurrection? Why is it to be thrown into the lake of fire in the end? Is that the way to treat the primary creative process? And, by the way, if Adam was chosen from among the soulless hominids, when he went to name the animals and find a helpmate, being a man he might have said, “Hey, God, she looks good to me. A soul is optional.”  Can I encourage the “Galilean Fellows” to cast their nets on the other side of the boat? Maybe even step out and walk on the water?

What Happened During The Filming Of "From A Frog To A Prince"? To View That Clip From The Film (358 KB), Click HERE Or view https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClleN8ysimg minute 22:15 – minute 23:36 Professor Richard Dawkins of Oxford University is a man of letters, and a man of words. He is rarely at a loss for words, especially when defending his favorite topic -- evolution -- or lambasting his traditional opponents -- creationists. Therefore, it is indeed noteworthy if such an eloquent wit should appear to be speechless when asked a question right up his alley, that is: "Professor Dawkins, can you give an example of a genetic mutation or an evolutionary process which can be seen to increase the information in the genome?" Yet he appears, on the videotape "From a Frog To A Prince," to be struggling for words after being asked that very question. As he himself wrote when responding to the tape, it is inconceivable that he could not answer it and the phenomenon requires another explanation. All agree that there was indeed something else going on. The only question is what. Initially, Barry Williams of the Australian Skeptics hinted at dark plots involving sophisticated digital alteration of the tape. He focused on the change of interviewer's voice and the physical setting from the time of taping to the final tape. Later, he admitted that the question was indeed asked and that the response was indeed to that question. Professor Dawkins himself admitted that the question was asked, just not by the person who appeared on the tape, and that the pause indeed followed. But he states that he was upset because it suddenly became obvious to him that the question was being asked by a creationist and he had been under the impression that he was being interviewed by impartial interrogators. His flustered appearance was a result of the internal conflict he felt between British hospitality and the intense desire to "throw the bums out." Yes, it is the kind of question that only a creationist would ask. Evolutionists will try very hard to avoid asking it and would rather speak in glowing generalities. But does that mean that it is not important? On the contrary, it proves that it is a question that must be answered by evolutionists. And Dawkins agrees. He later wrote a treatise explaining that mutations actually decrease information while natural selection increases it. Since this is not an intuitively obvious concept, it may have been that he did not think the company assembled for the interview were capable of following such esoteric cerebration (or perhaps he was not sure he could keep a straight face while saying it on camera.) The way it works is this. Information can be defined as whatever decreases choices. For example, you hear that a friend has had a baby, but do not know the gender. When you hear, "It's a girl," you no longer have two choices to consider and thus have received information. Mutations, by offering more choices, decrease information. There is the old gene and the new gene, two choices. But when the one is selected, we are back down to one choice -- therefore information has been added. Aside from the fact that, in this example, we only get back to the same amount of "information" we started with (one gene), there seems to be something wrong with the definition. It is not capable of producing the kind of information needed to go from no genes in the pre-biotic soup, through the supposedly few genes of the simplest living thing, to the billions of genes in the present biosphere. It also seems that something devious has been done to the definition of information. It is similar to the statement that ABCABCABCABCABC has less information than CAABABCCBABCBAC, because it takes more information to describe it. In the former, it can be stated as "ABC x5" but in the latter, each position must be described. This is true, but not helpful for evolution, because that rather random sequence of letters, unless it is code, is not useful information. In other words, you don't write the Encyclopedia Britannica that way. After viewing the video and reading interactions about the controversy, I wrote Dr. Dawkins and was astounded to get a rapid reply. But because the reply did not answer the most important question, I wrote again, after which there has been a more than two year pause. Thus it appears that there will be no more responses. Perhaps the long interval between the events and Dr. Dawkins' attempted recollection of them has something to do with the discrepancies. Regardless, the original question still remains unanswered, for nowhere does he give a sensible answer to the question, "Professor Dawkins, can you give an example of a genetic mutation or an evolutionary process which can be seen to increase the information in the genome?" To View That Clip From The Film (358 KB), Click HERE Or view https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClleN8ysimg minute 22:15 – minute 23:36 Then read the responses by the Barry Williams of the Australian Skeptics by clicking HERE. Read Dr. Dawkins explanation of information by HERE Read Answers in Genesis response by clicking HERE. For the videographers' response to the charges, click HERE See my e-mail exchange with Dr. Dawkins see below From: Ross Olson To: Richard Dawkins Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2001 Subject: A Question Dear Dr. Dawkins, I am a pediatrician, a former evolutionist, now a creationist and recently webmaster for a creationist organization (www.tccsa.tc). I know that you do not like surprises and wanted to get the frank introduction out of the way in the beginning. You have stated that you do not normally give interviews to creationists but I hope that you do not automatically rule out correspondence. I have viewed the tape "From a Frog to a Prince" and read the rebuttal by Australian Skeptic Barry Williams as well as your explanation and the response from Answers in Genesis. Although Williams hinted at technical deception in the making of the tape, you have not denied that the question was asked, "Professor Dawkins, can you give an example of a genetic mutation or an evolutionary process which can be seen to increase the information in the genome?" You have also confirmed that the 11 second pause on the tape did indeed follow that question, although you claim that it was due to the rush of emotions you were experiencing as you realized that the interviewers were creationists. I do not believe you have specifically denied that your comments which follow on the tape -- which answer another question -- did indeed follow the pause. You have stated instead that the basic question being asked would under no circumstances stump you. In your article concerning this matter you write in your usual compelling style about many things including information theory, gene duplication and frame shift mutations. You toss off problems you feel creationists need to solve but gloss over the ones that fall in your court. For example, bacteria with circular DNA that codes for multiple genes, depending on where one starts on the ring, represent an incredibly intricate sort of organization. It is like a writing two technical papers simultaneously that use the same letters but give different messages by starting in a different position. This ought to boggle even your fertile imagination. But then, instead of giving an example of information being added to an organism, you do a thought experiment. With a deft touch you take us through a definition of information to the conclusion that while mutation decreases information, natural selection, by decreasing the number of choices, increases information. Unless your reader takes a few deep breaths and six steps backwards, he or she will not realize that something does not add up. Decreasing the number of choices is not referring to the sort of information that is needed to add a new structure or function to an organism. Random mutations of Windows 2000 can be selected and thus decrease the number of choices one needs to make, but unless one of them is better than the original, it would not be advisable to install it. This brings up a question related to your computer evolution example in which random letters, by gradual approximations, evolve into "methinks it is like a weasel." In an on line debate with Edward Max, I pointed out that the program does not correlate with evolution because the successive approximations are not meaningful sentences. In evolution, each selected mutation must have some advantage over the others. It cannot be simply "planning ahead" for some distant goal. Dr. Max has admitted that the example does not support evolution but claims that it still shows how probabilities can be improved by using successive approximations. Yet he has no answer for the need to have each step make sense. In a similar way, you have here created a scenario that sounds plausible, and one which you believe in all sincerity, but which does not really fit the need. Random variations of the Encyclopedia Britannica will not produce the next edition no matter how much selection, natural or artificial, is done on the results! It is true that a series ABCABCABCABCABCABCABC contains less information than CCABBCBAABCBBABACACCA because it is not as predictable. But it is still not giving any useful information, and few people, aside from mathematical kooks, would buy a book made up of that sort of text. Most important in all of your essay is the fact that you have still not given a concrete example of information being added to a genome, whether you believe it was natural selection or mutation or some other natural process. Therefore, now that there is no pressure of time and need not be any cascade of conflicting emotions about whether to dispense with traditional hospitality and kick the unwelcome visitor off the premises, I ask you again to give an real example. Even plausible mechanisms will not do -- although it would be an improvement on your implausible mechanism. I will give you plenty of time, knowing there are many demands on you. You can do whatever is necessary to get over the emotional reaction to having this uninvited invasion of your e-mail box. You surely must get plenty of questions, hostile or otherwise from Oxford scholars. But I do expect an answer, hopefully succinct and to the point. If I hear nothing within a month, I will consider it to be equivalent to an 11 second pause. And we do plan to post the controversy on our debate page, with your response or notation of your lack of response. I hope you can forgive my boldness. I used to be shy and retiring but realized that very bright and highly placed people do not always think their positions through to find out if they touch ground. And I also realize that this is a very important question, because our origin and destiny are intimately related. Sincerely, Ross S. Olson MD Re: A Question From: Richard Dawkins [ richard.dawkins@university-museum.oxford.ac.uk ] Sent: Friday, November 02, 2001 To: Ross Olson Subject: Re: A Question Dear Mr Olson "I do not believe you have specifically denied that your next comments on the tape -- which answer another question -- did indeed follow the pause." I most emphatically do deny that it followed the pause. That particular edit, at the end of the pause (the cut is obvious) was the single most ineptly deceptive act of fraud in the production of this disreputable film. Incidentally, the man whom you see allegedly putting the question to me on the film was not even PRESENT, and I have never met him! -- he was filmed later, presumably in Australia. This disagreeable episode, when I was fraudulently stitched up by a fat, stupid and dishonest Australian woman who weaseled her way into my home under false pretences and then deliberately faked the appearance of my replies, is the main reason why I decline to answer questions from creationists, whether on tape or through an e-mail such as yours. It is only fair to add that I do know of ONE honest and knowledgeable creationist. See my article, 'Sadly, an Honest Creationist', in the current issue of Free Inquiry, which is also at http://www.secularhumanism.org/library/fi/dawkins_21_4.html Yours sincerely Richard Dawkins From: Ross Olson Sent: Monday, November 05, 2001 To: richard.dawkins@university-museum.oxford.ac.uk Subject: Response Dr. Dawkins, I am honored and frankly surprised to receive a prompt and direct reply from such a famous person as yourself. I sent the message by several means, expecting that palace guards, moats and drawbridges would intercept most of them. And then, I was half certain that if there were a response, it would come from a secretary or even a machine. You have denied that the answer on the tape did indeed follow the 11 second pause. Thank you for clarifying your position. But you still did not answer the real question -- the request for an actual example of a scientifically observable increase in information by the mechanisms you propose. It sounded from your response that (similar to what happened at the time of the taping) you are having bit of a problem with anger. Therefore I will patiently wait for your considered reply. Your comments on Kurt Wise bring up some very interesting questions, such as the fact that for a long time archeology denied the existence of Jericho as an inhabited city at the time of Joshua. Those who believed the Biblical record to be true were considered intellectually incompetent, but when the data were all in and the proper dates assigned, those people turned out to be absolutely right. But that is also a side issue and we ask for your answer to what has been called an easy question, namely providing a concrete example of increased information. Ross S. Olson MD 5 November 2001 Dear Dr. Olson/Dear Ross I note this reply with great interest. Of course, it is a common practice in documentaries to splice a narrator in later, and we have never denied doing so. Such people with pleasant voices and photogenic appearance, etc come at a high hourly rate, and with our budgetary constraints, we could not fly a person around the world when it is commonplace to get the footage first, and quite ethically acceptable, PROVIDED THAT the question is substantially the same - in fact, this was EXACTLY the same question. And provided that a different answer is not substituted. This was the case here, too, and I do not just state this on the basis of Gillian Brown's say-so, but also because an M.Sc geologist of my acquaintance, Phil Hohnen (who features briefly on our video 'Raging Waters') was present with Gillian as well and a long time ago told me of what happened, which makes for an interesting comparison with Dawkin's account. So of course the cut is obvious - it was in fact intended to be obvious, so as not to give a misleading impression. It is also obvious because Dawkins asked for the camera to be switched off to give him time to think. Since this latest 'flareup', I have written to Phil to ask him to provide a statutory declaration of his recollection of what happened. Phil is a Christian, a creationist, but has no real affiliation with either Gillian or ourselves apart from that, i.e. he is his 'own man', a successful businessman, and has nothing to gain from putting forward anything other than the unalloyed truth. Notice Dawkins' cleverness. Knowing that you are citing his answers on your site, he uses it to lash out at the messenger, as it were, and also to publicize his article on Kurt Wise, designed to make creationists pause. But he evades your request for an answer/example re the information thing, instead saying things which give someone inclined to be sympathetic to his cause a reason to feel that he is justified in not 'answering creationists'. Carl Dr Carl Wieland AiG Australia. Perhaps the long interval between the events and Dr. Dawkins' attempted recollection of them has something to do with the discrepancies. Regardless, the original question still remains unanswered, for nowhere does he give a sensible answer to the question, "Professor Dawkins, can you give an example of a genetic mutation or an evolutionary process which can be seen to increase the information in the genome?"

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore on Lake Superior https://www.icr.org/article/Pictured-Rocks-Nat-Lakeshore-blanketsand-noahflood/ Mackinac Island State Park: Flood, Ice Age, and…digestion? https://www.icr.org/content/mackinac-island-state-park-flood-ice-age-anddigestion

Creation Vacation North Shore North Shore: Lake Superior is centered over the Midcontinent Rift System; this is often said to be where the fountains of the deep erupted at the beginning of the Flood of Noah’s day. The Midcontinent Rift system forms an arch from Detroit to Lake Superior to Kansas, covering about 1,300 miles. As the continents were splitting apart, the plates moved away from each other. Lava flooded out onto the land. The lava flows piled up. With the emptying of the magma beneath the crust and the piling up of lava, the crust sagged forming the Lake Superior Basin. Eventually the flood basalts along the rift were up to 200 miles wide with surveys having mapped the volcanic rock up to 16 miles thick! These lava flows can be seen along the North Shore of Lake Superior. (Did the onset of Noah’s Flood, with the fountains of the deep bursting forth, happen in the Lake Superior basin? Note: In John Reed’s monograph The North American Midcontinent Rift System on page 104 it states, “Because the MRS lava was extruded onto basement rock, and because the MRS does not cross cut thick sedimentary strata...the MRS is best seen as an event marking the initiation of the Genesis Flood.” ) The fountains of the deep did not continue to erupt because, the Midcontinent Rift failed as plate tectonics shifted. The Midcontinent Rift was not a complete rifting event, it failed. The “fountains of the deep” then started to erupt in the mid oceanic rifts which we observe today in the rifts that run like a baseball seam around the world. As the lava cooled along the Midcontinent Rift system, the steam escaped from the rock. Holes in the rock were formed by steam bubbles that did not escape; it’s like removing the cap from a bottle of soda and the fizz rises to the top. Lava cooled quickly and the gas bubbles in the lava did not escape quickly enough. We call them “fossilized gas bubbles”. Later hot mineral rich waters peculated through these empty holes depositing minerals in layers thus creating agates like the famous Lake Superior agate. (Other mineral deposits included - copper, nickel, and smaller amounts of gold, silver, platinum, and titanium. The color variations in agates are a result of mineral impurities in the water. Iron causes much of the red and orange color that we see in the Lake Superior Agate. As the Gooseberry Falls State Park pamphlet states, “The lava flows are the ‘birthplaces’ of Lake Superior agates”. After Noah’s Flood came the Ice Age with significant snowfalls staying all year long and eventually turning into ice. One of the ice sheets, the Superior Lobe gouged the Lake Superior basin deeply. As the broken rock pushed along under the Superior Lobe, the hardened lava tops were crushed and smashed releasing the harder Lake Superior agates and dispersing them even down to Iowa. Diagrams from Rock Picker’s Guide to Lake Superior’s North Shore by Mark Sparky Stensaas (great secular book). Noah’s Flood caused the one and only Ice Age. Have you considered ……………………..what causes an ice age. An ice age is when the winter’s snows do not melt each year but are continually added to. It takes very special conditions to make an ice age. So, what are the conditions needed for an ice age to develop? Lots of warm oceans and cooler continents . What event in history would have lots and lots of warm water and continents that were cooler? The Flood of Noah’s time. During the Flood, the fountains of the deep burst opened which brought great quantities of hot water to the oceans. Add to that, volcanoes erupting, of which, 90% of the eruption’s content is water. Again, a significant volume of very hot water was being added to the oceans. These volcanoes also spewed great quantities of volcanic dust into the air. These dust particles would reflect the sunlight back into space making the continents cooler. These warmer oceans would cause lots of evaporation and winds would carry the moisture onto the cold continents. The cold continents would cause the moist air to condense and fall as snow. Snow on the ground would not melt during the summer. Each year the snow would build up. Just after the Flood, ice sheets would have formed quickly around the world in the higher latitudes such as Greenland and North America. The Twin Cities probably had a thousand feet of ice, with summer temperatures averaging 30 degrees Fahrenheit . One inch of ice corresponds to an average of 10 inches of powder snow. Minneapolis would need 4,000 inches of powder snow each year. As the earth settled down and the volcanoes stopped erupting, the volcanic dust would have dissipated out of the air. Eventually the sun would shine on those ice sheets and the snow would melt. Creation scientists have calculated that the one and only Ice Age lasted for 700 years, 500 years to build up and 200 years to melt down. What causes an ice age? Very special conditions. An ice age needs lots and lots of warm water and cooler continents . What event in history would have these two ingredients? The Flood of Noah’s time. Frozen in Time: The Woolly Mammoth, the Ice Age and the Bible , Michael Oard, 2004. As you travel along the North Shore you make want to pick up and keep rocks and agates. A great little book to let you know which beaches you can pick and save rocks at is the Rock Picker’s Guide to Lake Superior’s North Shore by Mark Sparky Stensaas. i.e Stoney point between Duluth and Two Harbors, Burlington Bay in Two Harbors, Flood Bay between milepost 27 and 28, Gooseberry Falls State Park, Split Rock River milepost 43 and 44 (I like), Beaver River-⅓ - mile past milepost 51, Tettegouche State Park milepost 58 and 59, Good Harbor Bay milepost 104 and 105 (I like), Paradise Beach milepost 123 (I like). Remember at State parks you cannot keep the rocks. Leave them for others to enjoy. Traveling the North Shore begins with Jay Cooke State Park. If you only have a weekend, check out this website: North Shore Waterfall Tour – Weekend Itinerary http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/itineraries/north_shore_waterfall_itinerary.html If you have more than a weekend check out the rest of the state parks along the North Shore. Be sure to click on the snapshot tour so you will see what the waterfalls look like at each park. http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/map.html Also if you need to have a map and summary of the park click on map under each state park i.e. go to http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/gooseberry_falls/index.html now click on map. Jay Cooke State Park: View tilted beds of slate near the swinging bridge. Slate is a metamorphic rock; formed in a process from mud to shale to slate. These rocks were compressed and hardened by heat and pressure. Tilting is visible throughout the park. Also look for rain prints, mud cracks, and ripple marks within the rocks. The St. Louis River cuts through tilted beds. During the Flood of Noah’s time sedimentary layers were laid down horizontally, like a stack of pancakes. At the end of the Flood at Jay Cooke State Park, these beds became tilted. Duluth: Drive along the old beach terrace of Glacial Lake Duluth (the name of the lake before being called Lake Superior), the Skyline Parkway some 600 feet above present day Lake Superior. During the one and only Ice Age, just immediately after the Flood, Lake Superior was much higher. The ice lobe blocked the melt water from leaving to the north therefore the lake rose. In fact, as you drive along the Skyline Parkway you are really driving on the old beach terrace of Glacial Lake Duluth (this is the name geologists give for Lake Superior during the Ice Age). Stop at Enger Tower and climb up and visualize the depth and vastness of Glacial Lake Duluth. The North Shore has nine state parks. At the start of the Flood of Noah’s day the “fountains of the deep” opened. Also, lava flowed from the Midcontinent rift onto the land. Lava flow after lava flow poured forth. This hardened. Hardened lava is very resistant to erosion so along the North Shore this type of rock produced wonderfully beautiful waterfalls cascading down to Lake Superior. - Along Hwy 61 before Gooseberry Falls are tunnels cut through massive ridges of volcanic rocks. Two Harbors- Agate City 721 7th Ave. Great store to see Lake Superior agates! Gooseberry Falls State Park: 1. Have a picnic on a lava flow? Why go to Hawaii. 2. The three falls (Upper, Middle and Lower) are created by columnar jointing. Columnar jointing is caused by lava cooling quickly from the outside thus resulting in shrinkage cracks of hexagonal shapes, shrinkage cracks range from 3 to 12 sided. As you walk over the bedrock river bed or shore ledges by the picnic area look for the pentagonal or hexagonal (pattern 5 or 6 sided) of the columnar jointing. Especially check out the Middle Falls as seen from the Falls View Trail. Columnar jointing creates the three waterfalls. Iona’s Beach scientific and natural area: 3 miles north of Gooseberry Falls State Park Split Rock Lighthouse: is built atop cliffs of basalt lava flows from the Midcontinent Rift. A wayside rest near milepost 45 is a good spot to get a good view of the lighthouse. Tettegouche State Park: Off Highway 61 look for Palisades Head signage. Take this steep road to the parking area on top of Palisades Head. The view is fantastic! To the northeast is Shovel Point sticking out into the lake. Both Palisades Head (~300 feet above Lake Superior) and Shovel Point are made of the same lava flow. The lava cooled quickly from outside in and formed the columnar jointing. The sheer cliffs are a result of the columns breaking off. Entrance to Tettegouche State park and rest area between milepost 58 and 59. Walk out to Shovel Point and see Palisade Head. Also this park has beautiful waterfalls (one of the falls is the highest in the state of MN) see http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/itineraries/north_shore_waterfall_itinerary.html Sugarloaf Cove State Scientific and Natural Area near Schroeder between mileposts 73 and 74: beautifully preserved examples of lava flows, columnar joint, ropy tops, pipe amygdule (fossilized gas bubbles filled with minerals). 1. A one-mile hike that takes you to a tombolo, once an island now connected to the mainland. As you walk the beach, notice how wave action sorted the sizes of the rocks-sand, gravel, cobbles. 2. On the south side of Sugarloaf point are several lava flows. You can recognize the top of the lava flows by the filled in holes of minerals or agates. When the Midcontinent Rift began, lava flowed out, gases in the lava moved upward toward the surface, leaving holes that “fossilized”. Then another flow occurred and gases flowed to the top of the flow and “fossilized”. Then heated mineral rich waters percolated through the hardened lavas depositing the minerals and agates in the holes. At Sugarloaf point you can see the tops of the lava flows by the presents of light colored minerals called zeolites. Temperance River State Park and wayside rest area: Well preserved ropey or pahoehoe lava can be seen just below the foot bridge downstream from Highway 61, overlooking the big pool. Ropey lava is fast flowing lava that forms in a rope shape. Hawaiians call this pahoehoe lava. As you hike along Cauldron Trial look for flow contacts and columnar joints. Notice the potholes or cauldrons which are well displayed in this gorge. Cauldrons are formed when cobbles and boulders get caught in an eddy and are swirled around and around in rushing waters and eat into the bedrock, forming pothole or cauldrons. Note: as you hike you may see what looks like white bird poop on the ground, in reality they are white minerals that filled the “fossilized” gas bubbles. Cascade River State Park: A series of 5 small waterfalls cutting through lava flows. Stunning scenery. South of Grand Marais near milepost 104 just after Thompsonite Beach is a historical marker. Pull over and look to the non-lakeside. There are two distinct rock layers visible here, sedimentary layers with lava on top. Below the sedimentary layers are also lava flows. The sedimentary layers are sandwiched between lava flows. How would sedimentary layers get between the lava flows? Even at the beginning of the flood, rocks were ground up and deposited in sedimentary layers. Then lava from the Midcontinent Rift covered these sedimentary layers. This all happened during Noah’s Flood, it did not take millions of years as the sign states. The sandstone and siltstone beneath the top layer of lava is 130 feet thick. Drive down to Cut Face Creek rest area. South of Grand Marais at Cut Face Creek rest area: See Fossilized ripple rock. Park in parking lot at Cut Face Creek rest area on the Lake Superior side and cross over Highway 61 and follow Cut Face Creek. Follow this almost dry creek bed. Along the way notice the sedimentary layers of sandstone showing fossilized ripples. For beach ripples to fossilize it would require fast quick coverage and the Flood of Noah’s day would have provided that. If as evolutionists believe these layers were laid down over a long-time period would the ripple mark still exist? Also, at this beach is a great place to search for thomsonite, a banded green, pink and white zeolite mineral. Gas bubbles in the lava were trapped as the lava cooled. Then hot waters circulated through the rock and the minerals precipitated out. In this area the mineral is called thomsonite. Paradise beach milepost 123: great beach for picking rocks. Nanaboujou restaurant: 14 miles northeast of Grand Marais on Hwy 61 Nanaboujou Lodge and Restaurant: Inside is breathtaking with vivid colors to delight the eye and the largest field stone fireplace in MN. The meals are delicious and reasonable. Public welcomed. Judge C. Magney State Park: 14 miles from Grand Marais across from Nanaboujou. Lava poured forth from the Midcontinent rift. As these flows accumulated, the land along the rift zone sank to form a great basin, into which huge volumes of sediments were deposited. After the Flood the one and only Ice age, which lasted 700 years, gouged out the Lake Superior basin. The Mystery of Devil’s Kettle in the park! This popular hike leads upstream along the Brule River to Devil’s Kettle. Here the river splits around a bedrock knob of volcanic rock. The eastern half of the river cascades over a waterfall into a deep canyon with walls some 50 feet high. The western half of the river plunges into a great pothole or kettle. The water simply disappears. Hovland: Runningen Fur store, inexpensive pelts, gloves, and other interesting artifacts. 3197 E. Hwy 61. Grand Portage National Monument: 35 miles eastward from Grand Marais. This monument commemorates eighteenth century fur trade history. Because of the Pigeon River and its waterfalls, a nine-mile portage connected Lake Superior to the upper part of Pigeon River and the inland system of lakes. By the time the European fur traders reached this area the trail was already a well-worn highway to the interior. Grand Portage State Park: 36 miles eastward from Grand Marais. This is the Canadian border. This is Minnesota’s highest waterfall at 120 feet. (In other books I found that Tettegouche State Park had the highest fall in the state of MN at 60 feet. Why didn’t the books acknowledge this falls at 120 ft. as the highest in MN? Because technically, it is not in MN, but on the Grand Portage Indian Reservation. In 1989, a joint effort of the DNR and Grand Portage Band of Ojibwe made a deal to lease the land, making this park the only park not owned by the State of MN.) The falls is gorgeous and has three viewing decks on this ½ mile hike. The park is also a highway rest area with a travel information center. The falls is not eroding rapidly because of the dike of igneous rock. The surrounding rock is sedimentary rock. When viewing the high falls on the Pigeon River note that the far side is Canada. The Pigeon River forms the boundary between USA and Canada. It is called Pigeon River because as recently as 1879, huge flocks of passenger pigeons raised their young here, ate blueberries and then flew south for the winter. The passenger pigeon is now extinct, the last one died in 1914 in the Cincinnati Zoo. The population went from 3-5 billion in the 1850’s to a few thousand in the 1890’s and then zero! The passenger pigeon was probably the most abundant bird in North America. This extinction reminds me of the dinosaurs….. Dinosaurs were created on Day 6 of creation week along with man. Did man and dinosaurs live together? Yes. Then Noah took 2 of each kind on board the Ark. Probably 50 kinds of dinosaurs went on board, the others were killed in the Flood. The dinosaurs got off the Ark and multiplied. In the past we did not call them dinosaurs. That is a new word invented in 1841. Prior they were often called dragons. Do we have lots of dragon legends from around the world? Yes. So, what happened to the dinosaurs? Let’s look at two modern examples, the demise of the Asian elephant and the tiger. Today, across Asia, wild elephants are killing hundreds of people every year. Here are some accounts: in Thailand an elephant stomped three rubber plantation workers to death; in Nepal, 11 people in the past two week were killed by elephants while gathering firewood; in Vietnam a herd of elephants killed at least 10 people. In response, villagers are fighting back and killing the elephants. Remember, elephants are herbivores not carnivores like tigers. In 1819 Singapore was a swampland teeming with tigers. By 1840, tigers were killing 200-300 people a year. As the city grew, 600-800 people a year were killed; a certain area was even called “Tiger Resort”. Desperate, authorities offered bounties and by 1930 the last wild tiger was shot in Singapore. The parallel between the extinction of dinosaurs and the localized “extinction” of elephants and tigers today are many. What happened to the dinosaurs? They became extinct. As the human population grew, these dangerous dinosaurs had to be eradicated. “Enraged elephants, terrifying tigers, and dangerous dinosaurs” , David Catchpoole, Creation 37 (1) 2015 p.34-37. Iron Range Ely, MN: pillow lava . From Hwy. 1 on the East side of Ely turn north on 13th Avenue East, then left on Camp Street, then turn right on 12th Avenue E., and then turn right on Main Street. There it is a small knob of pillow lava, eight feet high and 15 feet wide. Pillow lavas form when lava is cooled underwater . This particular pillow lava has been metamorphosed - changing into what we call greenstone. As lava poured forth underwater the outer lava cooled first forming pillow shapes, then later this pillow lava experienced heat and pressure to change into greenstone. This area was underwater during Noah’s Flood then it was covered by more sediments and the pillows became metamorphic. Soundan Underground Mine State Park: fantastic tour! There are two types of iron ore here in MN 1. Soudan mine has non-magnetic ore. It is found deep below ground. Its formation differs from the rest of the Iron Range. They discovered this type of ore by looking to the tops of the hills and then “kicking off the sod” to find the rich ore underneath. Remember this ore is not magnetic. This iron ore was coveted because it was not only high in iron but high in oxygen therefore easier to smelt. That is until the blast furnace was developed, forcefully blowing hot air into the lower parts of the smelting furnace. This was MN’s first iron mine operating from 1884 to 1962. It became the deepest mine at 2,341 feet deep and more than 50 miles of tunneling and shafts. This iron formation would have been precipitated out of hot fluids. Noah’s Flood with its “fountains of the great deep” would have erupted hot fluids containing many minerals. These would have precipitated out as the waters cooled. It is thought that the original rock consisted of layers of iron, jasper and chert. This BFI (Banded Iron Formation) had hot waters flowing through removing some minerals and concentrating the iron into a high grade such as here, 69% of the ore is iron. (The open pit mines today produce taconite. Taconite ore contains 20-30% magnetic iron so it is crushed or ground and strong magnets then concentrate the iron. The open pit mines of iron in the Virginia and Hibbing area have magnetic irons. This type of iron was just dug out of the ground, like with a snow shovel, very different from the Soudan mine which had to be blasted out.) 2. Highly folded outcrop in the park , ask for directions. Worth it! Here is one of the most photographed outcrops in Minnesota. You will see a highly folded iron formation. An area with layers of white chert, red jasper and metallic iron oxide (hematite) was folded without breaking. This means these horizontal layers were still pliable or plastic - the rock had not hardened yet when it was folded. These layers were laid down in the Flood of Noah’s time. Then with the movement of plate tectonics it folded these layers while still soft. During the Genesis Flood there would have been rapid movements of the plates on the Earth’s crust. No sooner would the floodwaters have laid down great quantities of water sorted materials, sand, and mud then moving plates would have crumpled the sediment while still soft and pliable resulting in folded rocks. The Genesis flood would have been a powerfully destructive event leaving this type of evidence around the world. The scratches (striations) are from the glaciers during the world’s one and only Ice Age. This Ice Age was a follow-up caused by the heated waters of the Flood of Noah’s time. Classic outcrop of graded greywacke beds and slate : Well worth the stop! Northwest of Peyla, MN, near the Y-store find the junction of 169 and MN 1 at milepost 258 (on MN 1), turn north on County Road 77 (Angus road) and drive ½ mile to the Pike River Bridge. Note the small waterfalls on the west side of the road as you cross the bridge. Immediately after crossing the bridge, turn left into a pull-off. This outcrop is layers of light grey greywacke (originally clay-rich sandstone) and black slate beds (originally mud). During the Flood the beds were deposited in horizontal layers but now are vertical because of tilting. Get down on your hands and knees and look closely as the grey greywacke, each bed is graded; that is the base has coarse-grained sand while the top is finer-grained. Each bed was deposited by swift moving currents dropping the heavier load first. There are 228 greywacke beds of which 146 are graded. Microscopic study of the greywacke shows these grains came from a volcano. (Ojakangas, 104-105) Have you considered …..that sedimentary rocks cover three-quarters of the earth’s surface. Sedimentary rocks are from bits of rock and minerals that settle out in water. These bits of rocks were eroded, transported and deposited. What event would have lots and lots of rocks being ground up, moved, deposited and then water laden with minerals percolated on down, causing the sediments to solidify? The Flood of Noah’s day! Sedimentary rocks form just the same way concrete hardens. A concrete company breaks down big rocks and then adds cement and water. As it dries, concrete is formed. The Flood of Noah’s day would have been one big cement mixer with the pulverizing of rocks, minerals, and water resulting in the continents being ¾ covered with sedimentary rocks. Why are there Iron Mines in Minnesota? Iron is one of the most abundant minerals on earth. Wherever iron is concentrated we put our mines. During the Flood of Noah’s time, hot thermal waters from the fountains of the deep had iron rich particles which precipitated out in a cool ocean. Banded Iron Formations (BIFs) Two views of BIF’s 1. “Michael Oard suggests that the banded iron formations, allegedly evidence of the early earth atmosphere, are actually the result of the initial stages of the Flood. He speculates that BIFs could have formed quickly from the hot water and magma flows that resulted as the fountains of the great deep broke open. Rapid currents then spread out from the eruptions, forming the BIFs. (M. Oard, “Could BIFs be caused by the fountains of the great deep?” TJ 11 :3, 1997, pp. 261–262) https://answersingenesis.org/kids/science/world-without-oxygen/ 2. BIFs may also be pre-Flood hydrothermal deposits. “Some geologists note that the oxygen in the iron oxides of BFIs is about 20 times that of the current atmosphere. Since the BFIs were deposited in water, the implication is that the atmosphere contained plenty of oxygen. This suggests that the atmosphere has always been oxygenated, and possibly at a higher level than today. No wonder uniformitarian geologist consider the origin of BFIs an enigma.” http://creation.com/did-early-earth-atmosphere-contain-oxygen We need to remember our Bible now, during the first week God created everything and that included creatures and man that needed oxygen. So, was oxygen available right away? YES! It did not take millions of years for oxygen to come about through stromatolites (blue green algae). Minnesota Museum of Mining, Chisholm Petrified candlesticks in the museum display case. http://www.mnmuseumofmining.org/ Have you considered …..that it does not take a long time for things to petrify? In a museum in Northern Minnesota visitors are surprised to see a sign next to some candlesticks, “petrified candlesticks”. The candlesticks are as hard as rock. How could wax candles become petrified in such a short time? Up until WW2, the mines were dug underground, when that type of iron played out, they became open pit mines. As the miners were digging these open pits, they would come across drifts and shafts which contained past mining items. Candlesticks were one such item. The candlesticks were used by the miners for light. Weekly rations of 5-6 candlesticks were given to each miner. He would attach one to his helmet and stash the others. Many of the underground mines were wet and had to be pumped. Miners often had to wear rain gear with boots, for the mine floors could be knee deep in water. After WW2 the underground mines were closed; pumps were turned off and many of the mines became flooded with water. As the open pit mines started to come into vogue, miners would come across these old drifts and shafts which held mining items; such are the now petrified candlesticks. Many petrified candlesticks were found. How did the candlesticks become petrified? Mineralized waters saturated the soft wax candles turning them into rocks. Does it take millions of years to petrify as commonly believed? No just the right conditions. Have you considered ……………that it does not take a long time for things to petrify. Near York, England is the Dripping Well of Yorkshire. A place that turns soft cuddly teddy bears into stone. Since the 1600’s, this has been a tourist attraction where people have hung clothes, hats, shoes, and teddy bears under a waterfall and they have turned to stone. The waterfall’s water originates underground and has high mineral content. As the water splashes onto the hanging objects, the mineral calcite (calcium carbonate) is deposited along with small amounts of other minerals. Over the months, these deposits build up and coat the object with a crust of rock. Petrifaction time depends on the size and porosity of the object. Small teddy bears take three to five months. While, larger teddy bears take six to twelve months. This is not the only place in the world where petrification has been observed. Australia has its own petrified water wheel that has become totally encased in stone in only decades, while New Zealand has a petrified bowler hat on display. It does not take millions of years for petrification, it just takes the right conditions. What is the difference between a fossil and petrification? Fossils are remains of once living things; they can be rock hard or not. The soft tissue found in dinosaur bones is called a fossil, if it were rock hard it would be a petrified bone. Petrification, as in petrified wood, happens when minerals replace the object leaving it rock hard. Fossils are just old remains which can be either petrified (rock hard) or not. Again, it doesn’t take millions of years for rocks to form only the right conditions. When water is driven out and minerals such as quartz or calcite are present, the sediment can be turned rapidly into rock. Many examples of rocks forming rapidly have been reported. 1. A hat turned into rock. A soft felt miner’s hat found in a Tasmanian mine had turned to stone. For 50 years mineral rich waters covered the felt hat turning it to stone. 2. Sacks of flour from the Blue Spring Mill in Eureka Spring Gardens in Arkansas, USA have turned into a rock. Since the 1840’s spring water was used to drive a large mill and grind wheat and corn. These bags of flour were probably made in the mill and left when it stopped operating in 1903. When bags became saturated by spring water, the minerals in the water precipitated into the waterlogged flour sacks turning them into solid rock. Petrified bag of flour: http://creation.com/petrified-flour Creation Magazine , “The Amazing Stone Bears of Yorkshire”, Monty White, June-August 2002, pp. 48-49. Creation Magazine , “The Earth: How Old Does it Look?”, Carl Wieland, December 2000, pp. 8-13. Hibbing: Hull Rust Mine View https://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=2833 1. One of the largest open pit iron mine in the world and still working! The irons of the Virginia and Hibbing area are magnetic irons. This type of iron was just dug out of the ground, like with a snow shovel. These are very different from the Soudan mine which had to be blasted out. 2. Hill of Three waters. Can be seen from the mine view. “Near the north edge of the pit near the processing plant is a knob that is a triple divide watershed point. Rain water falling at this spot flows in three directions, east to Lake Superior, south to the Gulf of Mexico, north to Hudson Bay. Detail surveying methods located the point in the 1930’s. The hill was a sacred meeting spot for Native Americans, who hundreds of year ago named it the hill of three waters. How did they know this?” ( Roadside Geology of MN by Ojakanagas, p. 102.) How did they know this? This question shows evolutionary thinking, that the people in the past were not intelligent and each generation is more intelligent than the past. Really? They knew that this was a three way divide and named it. We just caught up with them in the 1930’s Hill Annex Mine State Park, Calumet. 880 Gary St, Calumet, MN Permanently closed. At this mine you can go fossil hunting in the mine dumps. You can find and keep fossils of snails, clams, shark teeth, … http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/hill_annex/fossil_tour.html These fossilize animals were alive at the time of Noah’s Flood. What does it take to make a fossil? Have you considered ……….how a fossil is made. A fossil is a rock. It takes very special conditions to make a rock or fossil. Think about this, what happens to a dead animal? Scavengers eat it; bugs and bacteria cause it to rot and decay, eventually leaving no remains behind. It takes very special conditions in order to make a fossil – preserved remains of what was once living. Here is the general fossil recipe: Fast coverage by sediment. So, scavengers and bacteria don’t eat it. Deep coverage by sediment so no oxygen is present to start decay. Lots and lots of water so the minerals can seep into the bone and turn it into stone – but not all fossils have turned to stone. What event in history had fast, deep coverage with lots of water? The Flood of Noah’s time. Every time a fossil is dug up, it is a reminder of the Genesis Flood. Fossils remind us of God’s judgment and God’s mercy. God’s judgment in that He destroyed the entire world with a worldwide flood because it was so wicked. God’s mercy in that He saved Noah and his family on the Ark. Gilbert Junior High School: on the north end of Wisconsin Avenue behind the school’s ball field. Pillow lava scraped by glaciers. As lava flowed out onto the sea floor, during the Genesis Flood, the lava was cooled quickly and formed pillows. After the Flood, the Ice Age with its glaciers scoured this outcrop leaving behind grooves or striations; the result of abrasion by the sediment load carried within the glacial ice mass. Scenic State Park: (Near Bigfork, MN) Has an esker called Chase Point Esker that is between two lakes. This winding ridge of stratified sand and gravel is 60 to 70 feet high amidst a Norway pine forest. This high sinuous ridge was created by stream channels under the glacier which left the sand and gravel in tunnels of glacial ice. As the ice melted, these mounds were left as ridges. Within this park are other glacial features; kames and ice-block lakes. Many time eskers are easily mined for their sand and gravel. There is a cute t-shirt that says, “Save the eskers”. West Central Minnesota Has many glacial features from the Ice Age. Have you considered ……………………..what causes an ice age. An ice age is when the winter’s snows do not melt each year but are continually added to. It takes very special conditions to make an ice age. So, what are the conditions needed for an ice age to develop? Lots of warm oceans and cooler continents . What event in history would have lots and lots of warm water and continents that were cooler? The Flood of Noah’s time. During the Flood, the fountains of the deep burst opened which brought great quantities of hot water to the oceans. Add to that, volcanoes erupting, of which, 90% of the eruption’s content is water. Very hot waters were being added to the oceans. These volcanoes also spewed great quantities of volcanic dust into the air. These particles would reflect the sunlight back into space making the continental air and land cooler. These warmer oceans would cause lots of evaporation and winds would carry the moisture onto the cold continents. The cold continents would cause the moist air to condense and fall as snow. Snow on the ground would not melt during the summer. Each year the snow would build up. Just after the Flood, ice sheets would have formed quickly around the world in the higher latitudes such as Greenland and North America. The Twin Cities were probably covered with a thousand feet of ice and summer temperatures of 30 degrees . One inch of ice corresponds to an average of 10 inches of powder snow. Minneapolis would need 4,000 inches of powder snow each year. As the earth settled down and the volcanoes stopped erupting, the volcanic dust would have dissipated out of the air, eventually the sun would shine on those ice sheets and the snow would melt. Creation scientists have calculated the one and only Ice Age to last for 700 years, 500 years to build up and 200 years to melt down. What causes an ice age? Very special conditions. An ice age needs lots and lots of warm water and cooler continents . What event in history would have these two ingredients? The Flood of Noah’s time. Frozen in Time: The Woolly Mammoth, the Ice Age and the Bible , Michael Oard, 2004. Ripley Esker: a glacial esker is like a long snake made up of stratified sand and gravel from the glacier. Eskers are made by a river flowing beneath the melting glacier and depositing the sedimentary load of sand and gravel. Between Fort Ripley and Camp Ripley, drive east on County road 48 for 0.7 mile, then north on County Road 282 for about 1 mile. You have arrived at a geological marker at the Ripley Esker Scientific and Natural Area. This esker is about 7 miles long. Many eskers have been mined away for their sand and gravel. There is a cute t-shirt saying,” Save the esker”. Wadena Drumlins: The Wadena drumlin field has about 1,200 drumlins. This “roller coaster” road cuts across the drumlins which are elongate hills composed of glacial drift Take a 25-mile loop trip to experience the roller coaster ride, ending up back on US 10. At Staples turn onto MN 210 going south, MN 210 passes over the roller coaster ride of many drumlins between Staple and Hewitt. At Hewitt, take US 71 north to Wadena and join up with US 10 again. Ride the “roller coaster”. Drumlins are elongated teardrop shaped hills. They are usually found in groups known as a drumlin field or swarm, this field has 1,200 drumlins! Their orientation indicates the direction of glacial moment. Drumlins are found world-wide. Inspiration Peak State Wayside Rest : is a glacial kame. Climb the kame, a conical hill formed by sediment-laden glacial melt flowing downward at a specific spot within a melting glacier. The winding path takes you to the top; 400 feet above the prairie. Also look at the array of large granite and gneiss boulders along the edge of the parking lot, all glacial erratics from northern Minnesota and Ontario. Alexandria, Runestone Museum: Were the Vikings here before Columbus during the Middle Ages? According to the Kensington Runestone they were here in 1362. (It is greywacke stone and was found about 17 miles SW of Alexandria, MN.) The Runestone originally was declared a hoax but now research shows the stone to be genuine. https://www.runestonemuseum.org/ Viking Altar Stone: near Sauk Centre, the area recently came into private ownership and will be renamed “The Sauk Lake Altar Rock. Eventually this 27’ x 17’ rock will be opened to the public. St. Cloud area: Grasshopper Chapel , 22912 Chapel Hill Rd, Cold Spring, MN 56320 This chapel was built to remember how God heard the prayers of the people of Minnesota. This was their memorial, built of stones, so no one would forget His intervention in saving them from the grasshopper plague. Grasshoppers had invaded Minnesota. It wasn’t anything new. But the year was 1873 and MN prairies were covered with wheat fields, at that time only a small area was plagued by grasshoppers. But the new ones hatched and spread east and north. And so, it went, year after year, until 1876 that was when Henry H. Sibley came out of retirement to head a committee to aid impoverished plagued farmers. Other groups worked on ways to stop the grasshoppers. Fields were burned, trenches dug and filled with oil. Contraptions were dragged over fields to crush or trap the grasshoppers. Farmers plowed in the fall to destroy the eggs. Bounties of a dollar a bushel for grasshoppers and fifty cents a quart for their eggs were offered. Yet the grasshoppers kept increasing in numbers. By the spring of 1877 farmers were desperate. Some claimed the grasshopper plague was Minnesota’s punishment for their treatment of the Dakota Indians. Most agreed only supernatural help could save the crops. Governor John Pillsbury designated April 26 as a state-wide day of fasting and prayer for deliverance from the grasshoppers. Some claimed the storm with freezing sleet that swept the state the following day was the answer. Still a good share of the insects managed to survive. But in July when they developed wings, they rose up and disappeared into the west. The grasshoppers left MN without destroying crops or laying their eggs! The crops of 1877 were large beyond the farmer’s dreams. The people built a chapel to remember how God heard their prayers. (They wanted future generations to know that God hears the prayers of His people. “ If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray , and seek my face , and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” ~ 2 Chronicles 7:14). from the Story of MN by Jerry Fearing published by the MN Historical Society 1979. You can still visit the Grasshopper Chapel today. Twin Cities Area Stillwater: St. Croix Boom Site and wayside rest : crossbedding and worm burrows. North of Stillwater, MN. 1.4 miles north of the intersection of Hwy 95 and Hwy 96. Interstate Park, Taylor’s Falls : At least 10 different lava flows are exposed in the park. St. Anthony Falls formation : When Glacial River Warren (today we call it the Minnesota River) was draining Glacial Lake Agassiz, these high-volume floodwaters were eroding a deep trench across the state of Minnesota in the location of present day Minnesota River. At that time the Mississippi River was a small tributary of Glacial River Warren. As Glacial River Warren deeply cut the area near Fort Snelling, the Mississippi river was left hanging, creating a waterfall. The waterfall eventually eroded upstream 8 miles making a deep gorge on the Mississippi River and St. Anthony falls. (The I-35 bridge collapsed over this gorge. This is the only gorge on the Mississippi River.) Today St. Anthony falls has been stabilized by concrete. Lake Agassiz was the largest freshwater lake in the world: 700 miles long, 200 miles wide and 400 feet deep. When Lake Agassiz breached a moraine the waters left the lake and roared across Minnesota. Imagine a river 5 miles wide and 300 feet deep (Glacial River Warren) roaring through the present day Minnesota River Valley. Later the Minnesota River meandered through the valley. Lilydale Regional Park, St. Paul , across the river from the Science Museum of MN Fossils from the bottom of the sea: sea lilies, trilobites, cephalopods, brachiopods, … Closed to the public. Parts may open in 2019. These were creatures caught in Noah’s Flood and became fossilized. Have you considered ……….how a fossil is made. A fossil is a rock. It takes very special conditions to make a rock or fossil. Think about this, what happens to a dead animal? Scavengers eat it; bugs and bacteria cause it to rot and decay, eventually leaving no remains behind. It takes very special conditions in order to make a fossil. Here is the general fossil recipe: Fast coverage by sediment. So, scavengers and bacteria don’t eat it. Deep coverage by sediment so no oxygen is present to start decay. Lots and lots of water so the minerals can seep into the bone and turn it into stone. What event in history had fast, deep coverage with lots of water? The Flood of Noah’s time. Every time a fossil is dug up, it is a reminder of the Genesis Flood. Fossils remind us of God’s judgment and God’s mercy. God’s judgment in that He destroyed the entire world with a worldwide flood because it was so wicked. God’s mercy in that He saved Noah and his family on the Ark. Science Museum of MN (120 W Kellogg Blvd, St. Paul, MN) has a skeleton of a giant beaver from the Ice Age. Southeast, MN Karst or limestone region-a lakes free area. During the Flood of Noah’s day, limestone was precipitated out and laid down in layers. Evolutionists will tell you that a great inland sea deposited these limestone beds and the marine fossils. Yes, there was a great inland sea, it covered the entire world and the bible calls it Noah’s Flood. This area of MN is called karst (limestone). We asked the forest ranger why there were no mosquitoes at Forestville campground. His reply, “It’s the geology. Limestone is like a sponge and any rain we receive soaks in. The streams are tree shaded and cold, which again is not a good breeding ground for mosquitoes. Trout fishing is great. Forestville and White Water State Park campgrounds are a well kept secret, we have no mosquitoes!” In southeastern MN are two cave systems open to the pubic: Mystery Cave and Niagara Cave. After the Flood came the one and only Ice Age, 500 years to build up and 200 years to melt down. Southeastern Minnesota is called the driftless area. It did not see any drift from the glaciers. This driftless area was not glaciated. So, what we have here is an area untouched by glacial scouring This driftless area gives testimony to the biblical view of one Ice Age. If there had been 4 ice ages (some glaciologists say up to 30 in this region) would not this area have experienced glaciation? Here we find a Driftless Area that has not been impacted by a single ice age! The driftless area gives testimony to a single ice age following the Flood. Evolutionists believe there were four Ice Ages near the driftless area. What is the probability that this area was missed four times by glaciation? This driftless area gives testimony to ONE ice age not 4 or 5 or 30! Pix from http://all-geo.org/highlyallochthonous/2010/11/the-driftless-area-fewer-glaciers-but-more-topography-than-the-rest-of-minnesota/ Biblical view of caves: Have you considered the origin of caves? Most caves are limestone caves. They are usually found in nearly pure limestone layers hundreds of feet thick. There are two stages of cave formation: 1. the cave cavity formation, 2. the decorating of the caves (stalactites, stalagmites…). The Flood of Noah’s day would have laid down these nearly pure layers of limestone. At the end of the Flood, “the mountains rose, the valleys sank (tectonic activities)” ~Psalm 104:8. These tectonic activities would have caused many cracks in the limestone which would have allowed waters to drain through them. These were no ordinary waters but waters rich in acid, acids from volcanic activity, decaying dead animals and vegetation from the Flood, which would have quickly eaten away limestone forming the cave tunnels. Now stage two: decorating the caves. These decorations were formed by waters loaded with limestone. Just after the Flood, the ground would have been much wetter, due to the Flood waters and the post-Flood Ice Age. Limestone rich waters dripped from the cave ceilings and evaporated, leaving behind a variety of cave decorations. Since that time, the water supplies have decreased, and the growth of cave decorations has slowed. When we put on our Biblical glasses, we can see where caves formation and decoration fit in. Limestone cave formations began with the Flood of Noah’s day some 4,300 years ago. Oard, Michael J., Tara Wolfe & Chris Turbuck. Exploring Geology with Mr. Hibb . Creation Book Publishers: Powder Springs, Georgia. p.61-63. 1. Mystery Cave Forestville State Park : Several tours. The scenic tour is one hour. The park is located just south of Wykoff, Minn. Mystery cave has fossil and cave decorations such as stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone, soda straws .… Notice the layers laid down, the bedding planes. Be sure to ask the tour guide before caving, “will we see any fossils and can you point them out?” Ask to see the fossil squid like creature called a cephalopod. The tours are not scripted therefore ask to see the fossils! Disappearing river near mystery cave : Ask the folks at Mystery Cave for its location. The Root River sink is about ½ mile downstream from the Mystery Cave Visitor Center. The South Branch of the Root River passes over a fractured area, its river bed leaks significant amounts of water into Mystery Cave. During low flow, so much water can be lost from the river that the stream literally disappears into its bed leaving a dry valley. Stand on the bridge and look on one side then cross over and look on the other. If you do not see the river the river is now flowing below the surface. The river bed on the surface is dry. The location of this sink is at the corner of Mystery Cave Road and Old Cave Road. Stand on the Old Cave Road bridge (43°37'24.5"N 92°18'29.6"W) look on one side of the bridge then to the other side of the bridge; see if the river has disappeared. The river does not surface until five river miles downstream. 2.Niagara Cave : about 30 minutes from Mystery Cave. Niagara cave, a commercial cave, has a stream with a ~ 60 ft. waterfall, 1 hour tour. Fantastic cave tour! Has some 500 steps. 29842 County 30, From Harmony, Minn., head 2.5 miles south on Minnesota Hwy 139, then 2.5 miles west on County Road 30.. See severally pitted walls- these are from fossil worm burrows (this formation is 40 -50 feet thick), see fossil worm-like creatures, and other marine fossils . All deposited during Noah’s Flood. You will be in an Amish neighborhood. Enjoy some of their products. 3.Fountain, MN “Sinkhole Capital of the US”. FREE. More than 10,000 sinkholes in Fillmore county. Walk out on a DNR path to see a sinkhole up close. Then as you drive through Fillmore county if you see any trees in a crop field know that they are probably growing in a sinkhole. Notice that you do not see the tree trunks easily but the tops of the trees. To get to the DNR sinkhole observation deck along the Root River Trail take Hwy. 52 to Fountain then turn onto County Road 8 drive about one mile passed the city’s softball field to the Root River Trail system’s parking lot. Park. Walk on the pavement trail for about ½ mile. Here you will find the DNR sinkhole and observation deck, it is just a hole in the ground with trees growing everywhere. Nothing spectacular. 4. Perrot State Park, Wisconsin . (Out of state day fee is $11 as of 2017 ) Located on the western side of Wisconsin along the Mississippi River. This area is known as the Driftless Area. During the Ice Age this area was not covered by glaciers so it is a good place to view the Flood deposits. Hike the Brady’s Bluff Trail . The bluff is composed of sandstones capped with erosion resistant dolomites (a type of limestone with magnesium in it). Across the USA Flood sediment was laid down. At the top of the Brady’s Bluff you get a sense of how much sediment was laid down during the Flood. As Flood water retreated off the land, at the end of the year long Flood, erosion would have taken place. Look to see Trempealeau Mountain, a lone island visible from the bluff standing some 400 feet above the river. When the Flood waters flowed off the land it first came in sheets, then channelized. Trempealeau or “mountain with feet in river” is an example of what is called in geology an inselberg. One of the great mysteries in geology is inselbergs, like Ayers Rock in central Australia. The German word inselberg means a hill or island jutting up from a placid sea or “island mountain”. From a distance that is exactly how an inselberg looks, like an island jutting from a flat sea. They are found on all continents; some famous inselbergs are Sugarloaf jutting 1,300 feet tall out of the Rio de Janeiro harbor in Brazil or Stone Mountain in Georgia, USA jutting 785 feet above the land. Inselbergs are said to be millions of years old, but if that were true they should have eroded down to nothing; yet they are still steep-sided. From a biblical perspective the retreating waters of the Flood of Noah’s day would explain inselbergs. The retreating Flood waters would have scoured the land planning them off flat, and then the waters would have become channelized cutting away the land leaving isolated remnants with steep sides, tall inselbergs. The Genesis Flood explains these “mysterious” landforms which are found worldwide. The Genesis Flood was global just as the Bible records. “The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered.” ~ Genesis 7:20 Flood By Design , Michael Oard, Master Books, 2008, p.72-75. After hiking Brady’s Bluff trail stop at the state park’s overlook. B. From the top of Brady’s Bluff notice the topography of the Driftless Area. Evolutionary geologists believe there have been multiple ice ages in our two states (MN. and Wis.) with some sources stating that there have been as many as 30 ice ages. Yet here we find a Driftless Area that has not been impacted by a single ice age! The Driftless Area gives testimony to a single ice age following the Flood. ( Wisconsin’s Flood Geology by Stacy Lung. (2016). p.33-36. 5. Buena Vista Park, Alma, Wisconsin FREE: Drive County Road E from Main Street in Alma up the bluff to Buena Vista Park and walk to the overlook. County Road E starts at Wisconsin Highway 35 (the Great River Road) in Alma. Located 500 feet above Alma, it’s a small park with a big view of the Mississippi River for several miles to the north and south. Notice the large Mississippi River Valley some six miles across. The Mississippi river runs down a small channel in the valley. According to Better Homes & Gardens magazine, “Buena Vista Park is one of the river valley’s finest natural balconies.” The Mississippi river is considered an underfit river for it does not fit the valley from side to side. When standing at Buena Vista Park, image the glacial flood waters roaring through this area carving out this vast river valley. Later the small Mississippi river followed. - Also notice the pavers you are walking on, many have fossilized worm burrows . How is a fossilized worm borrow made? Have you considered ……….how a fossil is made. A fossil is a rock. It takes very special conditions to make a rock or fossil. Think about this, what happens to a dead animal? Scavengers eat it; bugs and bacteria cause it to rot and decay, eventually leaving no remains behind. It takes very special conditions in order to make a fossil. Here is the general fossil recipe: Fast coverage by sediment. So, scavengers and bacteria don’t eat it. Deep coverage by sediment so no oxygen is present to start decay. Lots and lots of water so the minerals can seep into the bone and turn it into stone. What event in history had fast, deep coverage with lots of water? The Flood of Noah’s time. Every time a fossil is dug up, it is a reminder of the Genesis Flood. Fossils remind us of God’s judgment and God’s mercy. God’s judgment in that He destroyed the entire world with a worldwide flood because it was so wicked. God’s mercy in that He saved Noah and his family on the Ark We do not see worm burrows being fossilized today. 6.National Eagle Center at Wabasha . 50 Pembroke Ave, Wabasha, MN. 15,000 square foot interpretive center. In the winter both Golden and bald eagles can be seen in the area. Admission fees. www.nationaleaglecenter.org 7.Winona : Gavin’s Heights: drive to a free overlook of the Mississippi River Valley. Look for the scenic view turnoff sign along US 61 near the turnoff to Winona State University. This view is some 500 feet above the river and this island city. Winona is built on dropped sediment that was transported by Glacial River Warren. The Mississippi river is considered an underfit river for it does not fit the valley from side to side. When standing at Gavin Heights image the glacial flood waters roaring through this area carving out this vast river valley. Later the small Mississippi river followed. - Winona: Sugarloaf : As you drive through Winona look for the prominent, 85 foot high rock knob named Sugarloaf. It is located on the SW side of Hwy 14 and near the County road 43 (W Valley Road) intersection. This was leftover by an old quarrying operation, it is a remnant of dolomite. Southwestern Minnesota The Minnesota River Valley was created when Lake Agassiz, the largest lake in the world (700 miles wide, 200 miles long 400 feet deep) breached a moraine sending the waters roaring across Minnesota. Imagine a river 5 miles wide and 300 feet deep (Glacial River Warren) roaring through the present day Minnesota River Valley. Later the Minnesota River meandered through the valley. Glacial River Warren- 5 miles wide, 300 feet deep Minnesota River meanders through the carved-out valley. Minneopa Falls State Park : 7 miles west of Mankato off State Hwy 68. 54497 Gadwall Rd, Mankato. Minneopa in the Dakota language means, “water falling twice”. And indeed, there are two falls, the upper dropping 10 feet and the lower dropping 40 feet. Minnemishinona Falls : located about 5 miles west of North Mankato on the Judson Bottom Road… From Minneopa State Park go back out on Highway 169. Drive north into Mankato and take a right onto Lookout Drive. At the next stop light turn left onto Judson Bottom Road or County Highway 71 for almost 2.5 miles the waterfall will be on the left. Look for signs. It will be several hundred feet before you reach a GPS address of 40910 Judson Bottom Rd. The falls plunges about 40 feet over a sandstone ledge. During periods of high water, the falls roars but during low flow periods, the falls has barely a trickle of water. Rapidan Dam Falls Park : the small white-painted store by a dam site (Dam Store of Rapidan, 54116 Glory Ln, Mankato, MN) is a “throwback” of Americana with small booths, a counter, chairs and tablecloths. They make the best pie. Try the sour-cream raisin. From Mankato take hwy 169 south for about 7 miles then turn on Blue Earth County Rd. 9. In 2-3 miles Rapidan will appear. If you cross the bridge, turn around. Pull into the Dam Store parking lot and drive to the dam. This dam was built in 1910 and supplied Mankato with electricity. It is still in use today. Ramsey Falls in the town of Redwood Falls : This falls drops 30-40 feet. There is a scenic overlook with excellent viewing. Located in Alexander Ramsey Park near Hwy 19. A GPS address is approximately: 398-314 MN-67, Redwood Falls, MN There are more than 20 waterfalls along the MN River Valley, they were created when Glacial River Warren roared through and carved this valley. In fact, there is a book called A Field Guide to Waterfalls in Southern Minnesota by Bob Douglas. Jeffers’ petroglyphs Historical Center : 27160 Co Road 2, Comfrey, MN. Well worth the stop! Admission fee. https://sites.mnhs.org/jefferspetroglyphs This red rock ridge about 250 yards wide containing some 5,000 petroglyphs dating thousands of years old. The largest petroglyph is a snake. Prior to 2011 the historical society did not know how many petroglyphs were present. So, with the removal of lichens and the use of a zero-impact light the resulting 3-D images were now seen. These petrophyphs are carved in quartzite, not quartz, but quartzite. Quartzite is harder than granite, on the Mohn’s scale of 1-10 with 10 the hardest, quartzite is a 7. Quartzite is formed from sandstone primarily made up of quartz. The sandstone is then metamorphized with heat and pressure to form quartzite. The reddish color is caused by iron oxide film surround the grains of quartz sand. This quartzite deposit runs to Pipestone National Monument. - Ripple marks in the quartzite. These look just like the ripple marks we see on beaches today. So how were they formed? During the Flood of Noah’s time great amounts of rocks were ground up and laid down. Some of the layers were laid down creating ripple marks. Then they were quickly covered up. If they had not been quickly covered the ripple marks would have been destroyed. Then the sandstone would then have experienced heat and pressure (metamorphism) changing into quartzite. Later the top layers would have been removed by flood waters rushing off the continents at the end of the flood and/or glacial ices scraping off the layers and leaving behind glacial striations (scratches). - Fossilized mud cracks: These were formed during the Flood of Noah’s day, then quickly covered, become metamorphosed, later top layers razed by glaciers (notice the glacial striation -scratch marks)to reveal mud cracks from Noah’s flood. Notice the definition of how quartzite is formed: “ Quartzite is a metamorphic rock formed when quartz-rich sandstone or chert has been exposed to high temperatures and pressures.” It says nothing about a long time period for the sandstone to become metamorphic, just high temperatures and pressures. Noah’s Flood would have provided that. High temperatures from hot volcanic waters and hot mineralized water erupting from the deep would have provided high temperatures. (One lecture I attended by a geologists gave a temperature to form quartzite at 150º C or 302º F) As far as pressure, Noah’s Flood would have laid down hundreds of feet of sediment during the year long flood. Pipestone National Monument : 36 Reservation Ave, Pipestone, MN For centuries Native Americans have come to this site to quarry a soft red clay-rich stone to carve pipes out of it. The stone is called pipestone. There are three rock types in this Sioux quartzite: pipestone (originally mud), quartzite (originally sand) and conglomerate (originally gravel). This pipestone (specifically called catlinite) is unique for it has other minerals and crystals and hardly any quartz. This catlinite is found sandwiched between thick beds of quartzite. Catlinite is easily carved, not being very hard, later as the catlinite is exposed to air, it hardens. In the picture below red is the pipestone or catlinite. 1. Visitors can watch a 22-minute film “Pipestone: An Unbroken Legacy”. It tells of a maiden running up to the top of a high hill while the rest of the area experienced a great flood. All were drowned. Then a bird came and saved her. From this all rest of the world was repopulated. The red in pipestone is from the blood of all those who drown in the flood. Have you considered ……why there are over 360 flood legends from around the world. All the flood legends have a basic theme of…. God sent a worldwide flood to judge the sinfulness of man. One righteous family, who was forewarned, was saved. They built a boat and took animals on board and survived the flood. At the end of the worldwide flood, their boat came to rest on high mountains. The people and the animals got off and repopulated the earth….. This cultural story is what we would expect to find as the survivors told and retold it to their children and grandchildren. With the tower of Babel, the people dispersed even farther across the earth, carrying with them the story of Noah and the Flood. That is reason we find more than 360 cultures having flood legends. Here at Pipestone we have a remembrance of the Noah’s Flood, the red pipestone is from the blood of all those who drown in the flood. 2. Walk the ¾ mile long Circle Tour starting at the visitor center. You will see quarries, wild prairies, a waterfall and sedimentary layers, cross-bedding, and ripple marks in the quartzite. - Sedimentary layers were laid down in the Flood. See the layers stacked as pancakes. - Cross-bedding in quartzite. How is cross-bedding formed? - Strong, fast-flowing water currents move sands across the ocean floor as sand waves or dunes (Figure 7a). As the sand grains are swept over the dune crests, they fall on the advancing dune faces to produce sloping sand beds , and on top of the trailing edges of the dunes in front. The dunes thus advance over one another, resulting in stacked sand layers (Figure 7b) with internal sloping beds (cross-beds).. https://answersingenesis.org/geology/rock-layers/transcontinental-rock-layers/ - Ripple marks in quartzite. So how were they formed? During the Flood of Noah’s time great amounts of rocks were ground up and laid down. Some of the layers were laid down creating ripple marks. Then they were quickly covered up. If they had not been quickly covered the ripple marks would have been destroyed. Then the sandstone would then have experienced heat and pressure (metamorphism) changing into quartzite. 3. At the entrance of the monument are large granite boulders called the Three Maidens. These humongous granite boulders are not from the surrounding area of quartzite. The sign says they were transported from Canada within the ice sheets and deposited here; these types of rocks are called erratics. Blue Mounds State Park: 1410 161st St, Luverne, MN Blue Mounds State Park is a high hill of Sioux Quartzite. Those early settlers heading west saw a blue mound rising above the prairie. The cliff rises some 90 feet high. The website says that Sioux quartzite rock was formed on the bottom of an ancient sea where vast quantities of sand were deposited on the seafloor. This is true; the ancient sea was Noah’s Flood and the flood ground up huge quantities of rock into sand. Sandstone was formed and then with heat and chemical reactions, sandstone transformed into a very hard quartzite. The pinkish color is due to the presence of iron oxide. This Sioux quartzite extends from New Ulm, MN to 500 miles west into South Dakota, then to Iowa and Nebraska and Wisconsin. This quartzite is thousands of feet thick. This size and volume would require a worldwide flood to deposit. Ripple marks, cross-bedding and raindrop imprints can be seen in the park’s quartzite- ask for their location. Mention that it is in their literature. http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/blue_mounds/narrative.html see geology and then continue on to http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/blue_mounds/geology_details.html Raindrop imprints are formed when relatively sticky mud experienced heavy rains. The raindrops hit the mud and formed an impression. Then the area is quickly covered over and hardened. Sounds like the Flood of Noah’s day! 2. On top of the Blue Mound's southern end is a 1,250 foot long line of rocks aligned in a east-west direction. Equinox wall: on the first day of spring and fall, the sunrise and sunset are lined up on this stone alignment. Visitors can hike to these rocks. There is no signage so ask for directions. Archaeoastronomy Ancient man was a genius as depicted throughout the world in the numerous ancient structures from Stone Hedge to Chaco Canyon which were built to determine the solstices, equinoxes, and more. -Chaco Canyon’s Sun Dagger on Fajada Butte: Three rocks leaning against a cliff were set up such that shafts of sunlight passed through onto a spiral petroglyph. The sun dagger’s location varied throughout the year. To mark the winter solstice two daggers appear on each side of the spiral petroglyph. The summer solstice has one dagger piercing the center of the spiral. - Medicine Wheel high in the Bighorn Mountains, Wyoming, USA. Using rocks, cairns and spokes, the solstices and other astronomical alignments are revealed. Sunset on the summer solstice. (Pix from http://solar-center.stanford.edu/AO/bighorn.html ) -At Chichen Itza the Maya pyramid called El Castillo is known for the Snake of Sunlight. At the spring equinox, March 21, in the late afternoon the sun casts a shadow such that it crosses the pyramid’s balustrade creating a wriggling snake descending; ending with the carved head of the serpent as its base, marking the first day of spring. -The Mayans (c. 2000 B. C.) also were precise with their calculations of the length of a solar year to within two ten thousandths of a day. Their year was 365.242 0 days long. We were not able to achieve this level of accuracy until modern times and calculated the solar year as 365.242 2 days long. These are just a few examples of the discoveries that have been made in the field of archaeoastronomy. Man, in the beginning was created intelligent!

Glacier National Park Video: Awesome Science Explore Glacier National Park with Noah Justice One of the homeschooling families would love to share what not to miss at Glacier National Park. The hike to Grinnel Glacier. Look at the sedimentary layers laid down in the Flood, then the mountains rose up. Here at Glacier National Park you see evidence of the Genesis Flood. Sedimentary layers laid down like pancakes. Notice no erosion between the layers. If it took millions of years for each layer to form, there should be gullies and other erosional features. Also, on this hike to Grinnel Glacier look for folded rock layers. These layers were laid down during the Flood and then the mountains rose, bending the rock layers. Notice the layers are NOT fractured. If each layer were laid down over millions of years, they would have hardened and then when the mountains rose, they would have fractured. As it is, these layers were still pliable, like playdo, and bent without breaking when the mountains rose. So, as you travel to this national park, look for evidence of the Genesis Flood: sedimentary layers like pancakes with no erosion in between the layers and folded rock layers without breaking. The very rocks are crying out the Biblical Flood was true! Glendive Dinosaur & Fossil Museum, Glendive Great museum with an option to dig fossils https://creationtruth.org/

Theodore Roosevelt National Park, ND Theodore Roosevelt National Park: “Testimony to the Receding Flood” https://www.icr.org/article/15064/ South Unit: Painted Canyon Visitor Center , just off I-94. This gives a panoramic view of the multicolored strata. The horizontal layers are beds of sedimentary rocks. Read about in the Badlands of SD (see page). Petrified Forest hike: This park claims it has the nation’s third greatest concentration of petrified logs and this is quite believable! This hike will take you to a remote place with a high concentration of logs and stumps, many gigantic! These petrified trees are sequoia and bald cypress. What aren’t cypresses, found in swampy Florida? North Dakota is hot and arid during the summers and frigidly cold during the winters. The environment must have been very different before the Flood of Noah’s day. Notice the logs have no roots and no branches. The jumbled mess of petrified logs testifies to a violent flood that ripped the trees up and moved them around! They did not grow here but were probably rafted here and then covered with sediments and became petrified. Get the shorter hiking directions from the visitor’s center, it is well worth it! Remember no collecting, let future generations enjoy the awe. Just a note, nearby is the town of Dickenson. While I-94 was being constructed the workers uncovered a gigantic petrified log, 120 feet long and 10 feet in diameter at the base. This definitely would be one of the largest petrified logs ever found. Time did not allow them to dig it out so, they buried it. Perhaps someday someone will dig it up. ( Petrified Wood in the USA , Arthur Manning, 2002, p.57-59) 36-mile Scenic Loop Drive: Milepost markers show the mileage from the entrance to the park. 3.3 Prairie Dog Town see article on prairie dogs. 4.2 Skyline Vista: Notice the flat area on which this overlook is located. The Little Missouri River flows in the valley below. 5.4 River Woodland Overlook: The cottonwood and willow trees grow close to the river. This provides shelter for wild life such as white-tailed deer and birds. The open area is filled with sagebrush which provides space for hawks, songbirds, and mule deer. Throughout the park certain trees grow in ravines or coulees, these are green ash, wild plum, chokecherry, and box elder. Notice how some trees grow in horizontal bands in the hillsides; these are Rocky Mountain juniper trees. Why do they grow in horizontal bands? The hillside is made of layers of sediment, some sediment is looser and more permeable than others, this water comes to the surface where that layer is exposed and hence junipers trees grow with the moist conditions. 5.6 Cottonwood campground. Drive in; many times bison hang out here. 5.9 Lignite coal seam on the right, halfway up the slope. Coal seams can be seen throughout the park. Have you considered how coal is formed? Coal is the remains of once-living plants. Evolutionists will tell you that coal formation took place slowly in swamps over millions years. Yet, many of the plants found in coal would not grow in swamps. The plants found in swamps tend to stay together, while plants found in coal have been torn apart and separated into layers- roots, stems, leaves, seeds and pollen. Also today, we do not see swamps and bogs turning into coal. So, how was coal made? During the Flood, huge amounts of vegetation was ripped up and torn apart in this cataclysmic storm. They were then deposited in layers along with other sediments. The weight of the other sediments above squeezed out the extra water, keeping the oxygen out, and raising the temperature of the buried plants. The plants then turned into coal. What happened to the pre-flood world’s luscious plant life? Much of it turned into coal. Many coal deposits show burial over a great area. For example Kentucky No. 12 runs from Kansas to Pennsylvania, halfway across America! Coal-like features were seen when the volcano Mt. St. Helens erupted on May 18, 1980. This volcano produced a steam and ash blast that caused a huge wave in Spirit Lake to reach 860 feet up into the mountain side. The waters rushed back into the lake bringing with it about one million broken trees. The rocks, ash, and plant material began to settle out on the bottom of Spirit Lake- bark sheets in one layer, pollen, and spores in another...similar to what is seen in coal fields. If Spirit Lake were covered with more sediment, like with the Flood, then coal could have developed. Coal is found world- wide. Coal is a result of a world wide Flood. ( The Fossil Book , Gary and Mary Parker, 2005, p.14-16) Did you know that coal has been carbon dated! Evolutionists date coal to about 300 million year old, if that were true then no carbon -14 should be present. Ten samples of coal were collected from the major coalfields across America. These samples were analyzed for their C-14 content. In all ten samples carbon- 14 was found to be present. Coal is not millions of years old, just thousands. Coal testifies to a recent worldwide Flood, about 3,500 years ago. ( Thousands not Millions , Dr. Don DeYoung, 2005, p.51-55.) Just north of here are the rich oil fields. So much time does it take to make oil? Zero time! It already exists in plants (corn oil, olive oil...), in animals (whale oil...), microbes and people. So oil started as oil, it now had to get trapped. If it is not trapped, oil gets eaten by scavengers and decomposers, and no pools of oil form. Like with the olive oil to retrieve it, the oil is squeezed out of it. During Noah’s Flood, billions of plants and critters were buried under huge amounts of sediments; this caused the oil to be squeezed out of the once living things. The oil separated from the water and continued to rise to the top. Oil can move fairly easily through the sand and lime, however, a dome of shale and clay can trap the oil, forming a pool of oil. The gathered oil is under great pressure, so when it is drilled into, the oil gushes out. ( The Fossil Book , Gary and Mary Parker, 2005, p.16-17.) 6.6 begin loop drive , continue to the road on the right. 8.8 Turnout on left . Notice how the juniper trees are heavy on the north-facing slopes. Why? The north-facing slopes generally are cooler and moister. The slopes on the south are drier because they receive more sunlight both in the summer and the winter causing the moister to evaporate before absorbed into the ground. 9.3 Scoria Point Overlook . Notice the reddish rock layers; these are sediments that were baked by burning lignite. The locales call it scoria but it should be called clinkers. True scoria is of volcanic origin, lignite is formed from compressed plant debris. Scoria (clinkers) has a variety of colors pink-red to orange, yellow and purple. Color is based on mineral composition, grain size and the baking process temperatures. 9.9 in the Badlands the buttes and other hills are often capped with scoria (clinkers) or sandstone which resist weathering. 10.8 Ridgeline Nature Trail: A 0.6 mile walk through a typical landscape of North Dakota Badlands. 11.4 North Dakota Badlands Overlook: Horizontal layers of sedimentary rocks. The Grayish-blue layers are beds of made of clay. Clay is derived from the decomposed volcanic ash. During the Flood, a tremendous number of volcanoes were erupting large amount of ash. Extremely fine particles of ash were caught in the Flood and laid down in these bluish layers. The ash then decomposed into bentonite clay. Commercially bentonite clay is used in hundreds of products such as kitty litter, candy bars, and toothpaste. It has the ability to soak up water and swell up to 16 times its size. When wet, bentonite clay is very slippery and gummy, making it very difficult to drive in. The brownish gray layers are made of sand. Black layers are lignite coal. These layers were laid down during the Flood. As the Rocky Mountains rose up, water would run off the land in sheets; sheet erosion would plain the land. As the waters became less, they would become channelized thus carving out the land and to reveal the layers we see before us. Look around you, look at the highest parts and then see the amount of dirt that had to be washout out of this area. Where is the washed out dirt? 12.0 Lignite coal bed: In the gully on the right. North Dakota has the largest reserve of lignite coal in the world. Thin seams are seen throughout the park. 16.2 Notice the layers of sediments. The reddish brown layers are rich in iron. 17.1 Buck Hill . Turn right and travel 0.8 mile to the top. A 100 yard foot trail leads to the very top of the hill. This gives a view of the badlands. Where did all the dirt go that has been eroded away? 19.9 Boicourt Overlook : Rocky Mountain juniper grow thickly on the north-facing slopes, more moisture is available than from the south-facing slopes. Boicourt Overlook Trail is considered one of the most beautiful South Unit overlooks and is accessible by an easy nature trail. Rangers pick this as a favorite for a sunset over the Badlands. 20.5 Petrified tree: To the right near the bottom of the valley. It takes very special conditions for a tree to turn to stone. Would not a tree rot away in your back yard before turning into a rock? The Flood of Noah’s day provided the special conditions in order for a tree to petrify. 24.8 East River Road: Turn left to return to Medora, finishing the loop. 26.6 Beef Corral Pullout . A guide book states, “This flat area is the old floodplain of the Little Missouri River”. Did the Little Missouri River really fill this valley from edge to edge? This is a wide valley with a little river. It is common worldwide to find valleys like this, where the river is much smaller than the valley. Geographers have given a name for this, “underfit valleys”. Underfit valleys are evidence of huge volume of Flood waters receding from the land and carving out these large valleys at the end of the Genesis Flood, later the river follows the carved valley. 28.8 Peaceful Valley Ranch : This historic ranch is to your right. During the 1880’s this was a working cattle ranch, then a horse ranch, a dude ranch, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) headquarters, Theodore Roosevelt National Park Headquarters and today a saddle horse concession. 29.1 End of loop . Turn right to Medora North Unit: some 50 miles away. 14 mile scenic drive 4.6 Cannonball concretion Pullout : Giant red concretions almost 10 feet in diameter can be found having weathered out of the hillside. Read about concretions –Lemmon SD ( Roadlog Guide for the South and North Units TRNP , Theodore Roosevelt Nature and History Association, 2005) Have you considered petrified wood ? It is not as rare as you may think. In fact it is an abundant fossil and found worldwide. To make petrified wood, wood needs to be buried in oxygen-poor sediment. Then water percolates through the ground bringing with it minerals. Cell by cell, the original wood is completely dissolved away and replaced. The ideal environment for wood to become petrified is burial by volcanic ash. Ash from the multitude of volcanoes erupting during the flood was carried to the Dakota/Montana area. Flood waters moved through the silica rich volcanic ash and sediments. This silica rich water soaked into the buried trees. The organic compounds in the wood dissolved and were replaced, turning the wood into stone which is called petrifaction. The color of the petrified wood depends on the minerals in the water and sediment. Arizona’s petrified wood is famous for its yellows and reds (from the iron minerals) and green and blues (from the copper). The petrified wood of the Dakota’s is creamy brown in color. Near here in Lemmon, South Dakota, there is a 1930’s gas station and a large museum all made from petrified wood, even some of the nearby roads are “graveled” in petrified wood. Petrified wood is abundant and worldwide, yet it rarely occurs today because of the special conditions required. What event in history would have worldwide deep burial of wood in a water saturated ground? The Flood of Noah’s time provides the answer. So as you stand in the midst the third largest concentration of petrified forest in the United States, realize that this is a result of the Flood of Noah’s day! Also within many coal deposits are polystrate fossils. Polystrate fossils like tree trunks cut across many sedimentary layers. These polystrate fossils represent those plants caught in the Flood and buried in an upright position while more sediment filled in around. Evolutionists have a hard time explaining tree trunks existing for millions of years as the sediments covered them. Would the tree not rot over the millions of years as it stood there? The tree had to be catastrophic covered in order for it to become fossilized. The Flood of Noah’s day would have provided those special conditions for it to become a fossil.

Table of Contents Introduction Chapter 1 Evolution Fosters Moral Decline Chapter 2 Kinsey, Darwin, and the Sexual Revolution Chapter 3. Havelock Ellis, Eugenist and Sexual Revolutionary Chapter 4. Abortion Leader Margaret Sanger, Darwinists, Racist and Eugenists. Chapter 5. Evolution Justifies Abortion Chapter 6. Darwin and Psychoanalysis Chapter 7. Friedrich Nietzsche: Anti-Christian Disciple of Darwin Chapter 8. The Charles Manson Murders and Darwinism Chapter 9. Evolution and Morality. Two cases 1. The “Baby Doctor,” Benjamin Spock, on Darwin and Morality 2 From Catholic to Atheist: The Case of Chet Raymo Chapter 10. Academic’s Darwinian War Against Christian Morality Chapter 11. Preaching Darwinism: A History of Church Support for Eugenics. Chapter 12. Hitler’s Darwinian Goals for the World. Chapter 13. Karl Pearson: Racist, Warmonger and White Supremacist Conclusions. Evolution true, but going the wrong way. Click to download the full book:

Preview: Evolution is a very big topic and it will obviously not be possible to thoroughly cover it in a single short paper. What I do hope to accomplish, however, is to raise questions and stimulate thought. I hope to make everyone skeptical of those who say that evolution is a proven fact. It is obvious to those who study history that people often have incorrect ideas. In fact, at any given time, even the great majority of people may be mistaken on a particular topic. And to anyone familiar with human nature, it will not be a shock to realize that when the majority is powerful, dissenting views may also be suppressed. What is popular may not be true, and truth may not be popular. Therefore, to know the truth, we need to have an open mind, which includes a willingness to say, "Could I be wrong on this topic?" Knowing that it is difficult to even look at the relevant data from this perspective, one must also ask, "If I were wrong, could I be convinced?" Finally, given the reality of social pressure, a final question might be, "If I were convinced, would I be willing to change?" ... Click to download and view the full debate:

SCIENCE THE LOOM August 7, 2006 Last night, as my family settled into a three-hour drive home, I began scanning the AM radio dial. The tuner stopped at on a well-produced segment in which the announcer was talking about recent evolution of pigmentation genes and lactose-digestion genes in humans. This is a surprise, I thought, and I settled in for a listen. It took about twenty seconds for me to realize that this was the work of creationists. I spent the next fifteen minutes listening to the piece with jaw aslack, making sure I didn’t get so distracted I missed my exit. There is something so absorbing about the elaborate rhetorical gymnastics that creationists engage in order to square their views with new scientific evidence. This morning I did a little research online and discovered that what I had heard was part of a weekly radio program from the Institute for Creation Research. It claims that all of the new research on recent evolution in humans does not actually serve as evidence of evolution, but rather of man’s recent creation and fall. They dismiss the examples of recent evolution in various ways. They are just minor changes, for starters, not the sort that produce “fish-to-philosopher” evolution, as the announcer put it. They just tweak the human form. Or these mutations consist of losses, rather than gains, through mutation. Humans have lost olfactory receptor genes, for example. The radio show then explains the real origin of all these patterns in our genome. The Institute for Creation Research was founded to promote Young Earth Creationism–the claim that the Earth is only a few thousand years old. The announcer explained that the minor variations in the human genome originated at the time of the flood, or at the creation of man at the earliest. Mankind was created with a perfect genome, we are told, and once we turned away from God through sin, our genome has been degrading ever since. All mutations that have accumulated since the fall of man have led to the loss of genes and to disease. I have to say that the “Genomic Degradation as Original Sin” line was new to me. But in order to make this case, the radio show engages in the three classic creationist errors. Error #1: Get the science wrong. In order to portray recent mutations as nothing but loss and suffering, ICR must distort the facts. Take their discussion of mutations that provide protection for malaria but can also cause sickle-cell anemia. An ICR “scientist” tells us that all this mutation does let people die of sickle-cell anemia at age 15 instead of dying of malaria at age 10. Become a subscriber and support our award-winning editorial features, videos, photography, and more—for as little as $2/mo. GET STARTED Earth to ICR: if what you say is true, then why do so many people have these mutations? Why didn’t they all die before they could pass that awful gene down to children? Because people only get sickle-cell anemia when they inherit two copies of this gene. One copy gives protection to malaria. On balance, natural selection thus favors the gene in regions with high rates of malaria. The radio piece also makes a big deal about the digestion of lactose, a sugar in milk. It describes some populations as producing lactase, the enzyme for digesting lactose, and others as not producing it. Thus, this is just another case of a mutation destroying “genetic information” rather than creating it. Second transmission from Earth to ICR: if what you say is true, then babies in those populations that cannot digest lactose should all die. After all, they cannot digest the lactose in the milk they get from their mothers. Here’s the real story: all mammals produce lactase as babies, in order to break down lactose in milk. Then, after weaning, the mammal’s cells stop reading the lactase gene. Since adult mammals don’t drink milk, making an enzyme to break down lactose is a waste of energy. The timing of this switch is under genetic control, and mutations can delay it until later in life. In human populations where cattle-herding became important, mutations that allowed humans to continue making lactase as adults were favored by natural selection. So nothing was lost. In fact, dare I say it, these human populations gained an adaptation that their ancestors lacked. Error #2: Skip over inconvenient facts. The ICR molecular biologists and science professor from Liberty University throw out lots of details, which may give the impression that they’re telling you everything there is to know about the evidence of recent evolution. But they skip over major things that would knock out the basis for their claims. For example, they claim that all the genetic changes that scientists have identified have nothing to do with the major changes that would have arisen on the way from ape-like ancestors to humans–such as an increase in cranial capacity. They conveniently skip over the genes that have been identified as having experienced natural selection in our ancestors that play a role in language, brain size, and brain development. Error #3: Contradict yourself. You can only conclude from this radio piece that the folks at ICR accept the evidence that humans have recently acquired mutations. But in many cases, scientists can only determine recent changes in humans by comparing our genomes to our relatives–chimpanzees, for example, and mice. By studying their genomes, scientists discover what our ancestral genome was like, and can then pinpoint the changes that arose in our genome after our ancestors split off from other species. If the ICR accepts these examples of recent human genetic change, then they must accept our common ancestry with chimpanzees and mice. I am not a theologian, and so I won’t try to dive too deeply into the religious implications of thinking of our genomes as the result of original sin. But I do wonder how one makes that sort of idea work. The ICR radio show claims we lost our olfactory receptor genes since the flood. We have 388 working olfactory receptor genes and 414 broken ones (called pseudogenes). Mice, on the other hand, have 1037 working receptor genes and 354 psuedogenes. Many of their working genes have counterparts among our pseudogenes, which is some of the main evidence that our ancestors lost many genes involved in smell. So does that mean that mice enjoy an Edenic perfection that we have lost? Anyway, let you own mind roam free: here’s the show in mp3 and real audio . And if you are hungry for more, here’s the radio show archive . It’s a fact-checker’s paradise. Original Sin Genomics By loom on August 31, 2006. Before I moved the Loom to this address earlier this year, I got a fair amount of comments on my blogs about evolution from creationists. (See this entry , for example.) They fell off after the move, but now they're back in fine form. Today we are joined by Kevin Anderson , editor-in-chief of the Creation Research Society Quarterly. Here's a little background: last week I wrote here about stumbling across a radio show put out by the Institute of Creation Research. It claimed that recent research on the human genome supports Young Earth creationism. Dr. Anderson spoke on the program about how sickle-cell anemia and lactose tolerance, and other genetic changes in human populations have nothing to do with evolution but are just the result of original sin. Dr. Anderson's outfit is not shy about how life began. Here I quote from their "statement of belief": The Bible is the written Word of God, and because it is inspired throughout, all its assertions are historically and scientifically true in the original autographs. To the student of nature this means that the account of origins in Genesis is a factual presentation of simple historical truths. All basic types of living things, including man, were made by direct creative acts of God during the Creation Week described in Genesis. Whatever biological changes have occurred since Creation Week have accomplished only changes within the original created kinds. The great flood described in Genesis, commonly referred to as the Noachian Flood, was an historic event worldwide in its extent and effect. Are we clear? The radio show I caught was perfectly consonant with this belief. In my post, I pointed out some of the many errors and misleading statements in the show, including some made by Dr. Anderson. Well, today he has left a comment on the blog that's a doozy . Check it out, and check out my response in the comment thread. I'll be curious to see where this goes... Update: 8/1 9:50 am: I appreciate the comments that are already coming in--as always, interesting stuff. Rather than splitting comments between two posts and dispersing the conversation, could people leave all their comments on the original post ? Thanks. More like this Cystic Fibrosis? Blame Eve Last night, as my family settled into a three-hour drive home, I began scanning the AM radio dial. The tuner stopped at on a well-produced segment in which the announcer was talking about recent evolution of pigmentation genes and lactose-digestion genes in humans. This is a surprise, I thought,… Haven't you tired of this yet, Pennsylvania? A reader sent along anan article from the Lancaster Sunday News, announcing a lecture on 17 May by John Morris, an infamously silly Young Earth Creationist. It's a little peculiar; it's written by Helen Colwell Adams, bylined as a staff writer for the paper, but it is completely credulous — she… Reading Genesis As part of my research for my book on evolution and creationism, I have been reading a lot of books and articles about how to read the Bible. From this reading I have learned a great deal, but I also find certain things a bit puzzling. For example, consider the book Reading the Bible Again for the… The Mosquito and the Bottle Natural selection is not natural perfection. Time and again, biologists have discovered traits that are both beneficial and harmful. Perhaps the most famous example is the devastating disorder known as sickle-cell anemia. To get sickle-cell anemia, you have to inherit two faulty copies of a gene… I'm impressed that you could even understand what he was saying. "You assume that all beneficial mutations serve evolution? This is only true if you refuse to acknowledge that evolution is actually common descent, and not just merely any change." ?? Looks like someone used a random creationist argument generator and ended up with word salad they don't understand. Log in to post comments By tsmith on 31 Aug 2006 #permalink Dr. Anderson spoke on the program about how sickle-cell anemia and lactose tolerance, and other genetic changes in human populations have nothing to do with evolution but are just the result of original sin. I have a question for him, I haven't received any responses from skeptics elaborating as of yet, and it would be a first for a Creationist, if they'd answer. Just how "physical" was the so-called immortality of Genesis? No death before the fall? Did man and all the creatures in the Garden partake in the tree of life? I heard from one skeptic, how to the recent day some still search for the Fountain of Youth , and a lot of ancient cultures believed the human could take a bite of magic fruit and live forever. Revelation:2:7: He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. Revelation:22:2: In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. Revelation:22:14: Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.(KJV) This tree of life sounds very much like a physical immortality for imperfect bodies . I mean, if Adam were built immortal and perfect to begin with, what need would he have of any "tree of life" to sustain his body? According to the scripture, after the curses were handed out to snake, woman and man, Adam still had the potential for eternal life. It was only a matter of getting his hands on the magic fruit. Gn:3:22: And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: (KJV) So, man (and animal) were cut off from the lifeline of immortality when driven from Eden? For all we know, Adam may have been lactose intolerant. Log in to post comments By sharon (not verified) on 01 Sep 2006 #permalink What I can't get past is the fact that I just don't understand the psychology behind creating a creationist organization in the first place. If there is an omnipotent creator God, surely he doesn't need our help in defending his own existence. If a) the goal is to "win over sinners and unbelievers," and b) there really is a shaky foundation under evolutionary biology, wouldn't a more effective tactic be to quietly work within the academic and peer review system without revealing your agenda, and let the facts of the universe (and, if you're right, God) speak for themselves? Log in to post comments By Matt Bull (not verified) on 01 Sep 2006 #permalink opriginal sin, that's where Adam eats the apple and we are all sinners because of it. WOW many ancient cultures punished the children of the initiator of crime. They just carried this into their bible. "He's a sinner, kill his children" Sorry, a god that punishes all for what Adam did is not one that we should admire. If we started punishing the children of criminals we would be rediculed. Then they say "god is love" WOW Log in to post comments By richCares (not verified) on 01 Sep 2006 #permalink Carl, could you ask Dr. Anderson what "ei;(i umlauted and underlined)" is? I can't find it on Dictionary.com, can't in fact even type it, and even the Germans don't umlaut "i". Thanks. Log in to post comments By lee (not verified) on 01 Sep 2006 #permalink Lee--I think some html/ascii gobbledy-gook emerged as I moved his text from my email to the blog. I've tried to fix it. Log in to post comments By loom on 01 Sep 2006 #permalink For what it's worth, i with a diaresis (or umlaut, though technically it isn't that in those languages) is used in several languages (Welsh and Ukrainian, off the top of my head), but I don't think this is anything more than a mark-up error. Log in to post comments By The Ridger (not verified) on 02 Sep 2006 #permalink This statement is interesting, "The Bible is the written Word of God, and because it is inspired throughout, all its assertions are historically and scientifically true in the original autographs. To the student of nature this means that the account of origins in Genesis is a factual presentation of simple historical truths." Given that Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 give contradictory chronologies of the creation, it is hard to see how they can both be inerrant. There are multiple inconsistancies which you can consult for yourselves, but just to mention one. In G 1, god created the animals and then man(adam). In G 2, god created man(adam) and then created the animals. Log in to post comments By bernarda (not verified) on 02 Sep 2006 #permalink original sin is when two replicators fonicated Log in to post comments By bill mccarron (not verified) on 11 Sep 2006 #permalink

Meanings, Interpretations, Timetable, Other Astronomical Events Near Time Of Christ's Birth Jupiter = Planet of Kings, Righteousness, The Messiah Venus = The Mother Planet Saturn = Planet Protector of the Jews Mars = Planet of War, Aggression, Danger Mercury = Planet of Speed, Messenger, Deception Regulus = Star of Kingship, Chief Star of Leo Day Star = The Star in the Head of the Infant in "Coma" visible in daylight for 300 years Leo = Constellation of Kings and of Tribe of Judah Pisces = Constellation of Nation of Israel Virgo = The Virgin 7 BC May Jupiter and Saturn in Pisces 7 BC Sep Jupiter and Saturn in Pisces 7 BC Dec Jupiter and Saturn in Pisces 6 BC Feb Jupiter and Saturn in Pisces, this time with Mars – Royal Planet and Israel's Protector Planet in Israel's Constellation 4 times, the last with signs of danger 5 BC Mar-Apr Supernova in Capricorn -- significance? 4 BC Mar 13 Eclipse of the Moon (late night) Josephus set as associated with death of Herod - now felt to be wrong 3 BC May 19 Saturn and Mercury Protector of Israel and Messenger Planet 3 BC Jun 12 Saturn and Venus -- Protector of Israel and Mother Planet 3 BC Aug 12 Jupiter and Venus in Leo(close) Royal Planet and Mother Planet in Royal Constellation (Judah) 3 BC Sep 11 Jupiter joined Regulus, chief star in Leo, Royal Planet and Royal Star Sun in Virgo (Virgin Constellation), New Moon in Royal Constellation Leo (Judah) First day of Jewish New Year Day Noah landed on Mt. Ararat 3 BC Nov Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Mercury in Leo -- Royal Star, Royal Planet and Mother Star in Royal Constellation, but also danger and deception 2 BC Feb 17 Jupiter and Regulus (in Leo) -- Royal Planet and Royal Star 2 BC May 8 Jupiter and Regulus (in Leo) -- Royal Planet and Royal Star 2 BC Jun 17 Jupiter and Venus (Touching) -- Royal Planet and Mother Planet in Leo (Royal Constellation: Judah) fused into one point! Moon Full (to Romans this seemed to honor Caesar) 2 BC Aug 27 Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, Venus -- Royal Planet and Mother Planet and Israel's Protector Planet, also Danger 2 BC Dec 25 Jupiter began to move westward, At its stationary point in Virgo Winter Solstace, Daystar in Coma Overhead at Bethlehem at Dawn? (Seen by looking into a deep well) 1 BC Jan 10 Eclipse of the Moon (late night) Associated with Herod's Death? 1 BC Dec 29 Eclipse of the Moon More likely to have been seen by many. (started at dusk) If so, Herod died in 1 AD

The Christmas story with the angels, shepherds, wise men and star has gripped the imagination of many over the last 20 centuries. We are indebted to two Biblical accounts, one in Matthew, and one in Luke. They provide the basic information needed to reconstruct Mid-Eastern history and astronomical events in order to discover exactly what occurred in the night sky on that first Christmas when Messiah was born in the cave at Bethlehem amongst the cattle and horses. Luke records that it was the whim of the Roman Emperor Augustus which sent Joseph and Mary from Nazareth to Bethlehem. This 125 Km journey by foot, and on the back of a donkey, was particularly exhausting for a woman in her 9th month of pregnancy. In the event, they only just got to Bethlehem in time. To make matters worse, when they arrived there, Bethlehem was so crowded that there was no room for them at the inn. Mary had the some Emperor Augustus to thank for that too. He had decreed that there should be a world census and taxation so that he would know the exact resources of his Empire. This order required that each return to the city which had originated their family lineage, and Bethlehem was the city for all those descended from King David. The Census order was given by Augustus in 8 BC, but it was implemented province by province. Provincial Italy was taxed in 8/7 BC. Rome itself was taxed in 7/6 BC. As for the province of Judea, Luke records that it was taxed when 'Cyrenius was first Governor of Syria.' Senator P. Sulpicius Quirinius, otherwise known as Cyrenius, was Governor of Syria twice. As Luke states, it was on the first occasion that the world census occurred. Quirinius was Legate (Governor) to Syria an that first occasion for 5 years during the Homonadensian War. He then become adviser to Gaius Caesar in I BC. Additionally, the Christian historian Tertullian records that the Judean census took place when Sentius Saturninus was Proconsul to Syria, attending to the day to day running of the province, which included Judea. He left early in 2 BC to be replaced by Quintillius Varus, about a year before the death of Herod, who was the king of Judea. These facts indicate that the census acted on by Joseph and Mary had been completed by late in 3 BC. This is confirmed by the date of Herod's death. According to Matthew, Herod ordered the slaughter of all children two years old and under, according to the time the Star first appeared to the Wise Men. Therefore, if we back-track two years from the date of Herod's demise, this will give the date for the first appearance of the Star and an approximate date for the birth of the Christ-Child. Josephus records that Herod died shortly after an eclipse of the Moon seen at Jericho, and sometime before the Feast of Passover. It is this point which has caused much historical. confusion, as we have to select between four Lunar eclipses. There is one key piece of evidence which is often overlooked. The Jewish historian Josephus, records that there was a Jewish holiday celebrating Herod's death on 2nd day of the month Shebat. Significantly, this date is in accord with only one of those 4 eclipses, namely the one an 9th Jan, 1 BC. The 2nd Shebat date fell just 15 days after that eclipse. This means that Herod died 24th January I BC. Consequently, the Christmas star must have appeared throughout 3 and 2 BC. This accords with the census completed by late 3 BC. As to the time of the year that Messiah was born, Luke gives us further details. He records that shepherds were watching over their flocks by night. There are only two specific times in a year when this was done, namely when lambs were being born in the spring or autumn. At other times of the year they were kept safely in their sheep-folds to protect them from wild animals. Significantly the flocks bred in the Bethlehem fields were used for the Temple sacrifices. It was there, to those shepherds, that the angels announced the birth of the Lamb of God who was to make the final sacrifice for the sin of the world. However, we can pinpoint the in the time of Messiah's birth more exactly. Revelation 12 tells of the birth of Messiah when the constellation Virgo (the woman in the heavens) was clothed with the sun and had the moon at her feet. This tells us that Jesus was born when the sun and moon were in Virgo. In other words, at the time of the September New Moon, or shortly thereafter. This fits the autumn lambing season. Furthermore, it coincides with the season of the three Jewish feasts, Trumpets, Atonement and Tabernacles. Interestingly, the apostle John records in John 1:14 that the "Word became flesh and tabernacled amongst us." As the New Moon was on the 10th and Tabernacles on the 25th September in 3 BC, the birth of Christ would be somewhere between those dates. Why then do we celebrate Messiah's birth on December 25th? There are 4 reasons. Firstly there was the Jewish feast of Hanukkah - the Festival of Lights, or Feast of Dedication as it is called in John 10:22. On this occasion, Jewish children lit candles, sang hymns and gave gifts to celebrate a genuine miracle which occurred with the Temple Menorah (or 7-branched lamp-stand) in 165 BC. Now the early Christians were nearly all Jewish and the other Festivals were linked with Messiah's ministry rather than his birth. It seemed the natural occasion to commemorate the birth of Messiah who had come to be the Light of the World [Jn 8:2), and who admonished His followers to have their Lamps trimmed and burning as they waited for Him to Return (Matthew 25). This Jewish feast occurred on 25th Kislev which corresponds to our month of December. Up until 1583 AD, the time when the Gregorian calendar was introduced, the 25th Kislev and 25th December were the same day. Following the introduction of the new calendar, the two dates parted company. England did not adopt the new calendar until 1752 AD, by which time it was 11 days out of step with Europe. However December 25th was also celebrated by the Romans as the feast of the Saturnalia, which celebrates the winter solstice-the longest night of the year. In the northern hemisphere this now occurs on December 21 or 22, but back then it was December 25. On this day the Romans celebrated the birth of the 'New Sun' as the days lengthened and light triumphed over darkness. Romans Christians in those days saw a new significance in this pagan festival. They too celebrated the birth of the New Sun in accordance with Malachi 4:2 - this time the Sun of Righteousness who will arise with healing in His wings. On the 3rd of February 313 AD in Milan, Italy, the Roman Emperor Constantine issued an edict giving absolute tolerance to Christianity throughout the Empire. It comes as no surprise, therefore, to find that December 25th was first documented as Christmas Day in 354 AD. Under the Roman Emperor Justinian, it became an official holiday around 550 AD. This constitutes the third reason why we celebrate Christmas on that date. However, there is a fourth reason. All the astronomical evidence suggests that this date also marked the final appearance of the Christmas Star. It was on 25th Dec in 2 BC when Jesus was 15 months old, that the Wise Men presented their gifts to the young Messiah. This leads us naturally to consider who these Wise Men were. THE CHRISTMAS STAR PART 2: We have seen that all the evidence points to Messiah being born in September of 3 BC. Furthermore we have noted that there are 4 reasons why this event is celebrated on December 25th. It was commented that one of those reasons involved the Wise Man and the final appearance of the Christmas Star. But how do we know this, and who were the Wise Men? Matthew 2:1 says that they came from the East, that is east of Judea. Now Judea was a buffer state between the sprawling Roman Empire in the West, and the fabulous Persian Empire of the Parthian Dynasty in the east. Whenever the Persians and Romans clashed militarily, the Persians almost always won. Their crack cavalry units could pin down the Roman legions indefinitely. The Persian Empire also controlled the Silk Route to India and China. The gifts that the Wise Man brought to Jesus, the gold, the frankincense and myrrh were the very best that world trade could offer from this route. As to the identity of the Wise Men, the word that Matthew uses to describe them is Magoi. As we take this word over into a Persian setting, an amazing fact emerges. The Parthian Dynasty was ruled by something equivalent to our houses of Parliament. They called It the Megistanes. The Lower House members were called the Sophoi or 'Wise Ones': the Upper House members were called the Magoi or 'Great Ones'. It was these Magoi, the king makers of their empire, that come to visit Jesus. It was not the astrologers - It was the politicians - and there were more then 3, even if only three types of gift were given. This delegation of Rulers from Persia penetrated 750 km into Roman territory. They would be escorted by their crack cavalry units that consistently won out against the Romans. These Persians were the finest equestrians in the world. They always rode horses as their means of transport - camels were only used for baggage. Consequently, it was no wonder that Herod was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. He had a small army from a foreign power at the gates of Jerusalem. And at a very inconvenient time too. Herod's garrison that normally protected Jerusalem was away helping fight the Homonadensian War. Jerusalem was virtually undefended. Furthermore, the news was not good. These Magoi proclaimed the birth of a contender for Herod's throne. Indeed, they had come to support this child-king, and their army was there to back them. It was a very tense time for Herod, but he played his options very skillfully. But why did the Persian Magoi make such a perilous trip at all? There were 3 reasons. Firstly, the Hebrew prophet Daniel had been held in high regard in the Persian court. In Daniel 9, the Magoi had the prophecy of Messiah's sacrifice as a man cut off at age 35 (in the midst of his years). They knew that this event would occur 483 Babylonian years of 360 days after a specific decree. Backtracking 35 years gave a birth date for Messiah of 448 Babylonian years or 442 actual years after the decree. As It turned out, that decree was Issued by the Persian king Artaxerxes in his 20th year which was 445/444 BC. The Magoi consequently knew the time of Messiah's birth as around 3/2 BC on our Calendar. The second reason was that there had been a Mesopotamian prophet called Balaam who had foretold the coming of the Star that would herald Messiah for all the tribes of Israel (see Numbers 24). Finally, Zoroaster, a pupil of Daniel, had incorporated these prophecies in his bible, called the Zend Avesta, and Zoroastrianism was the State Religion of Persia at the time of Christ's birth. It prophesied that there would be born unto the Jews a King Messiah, and that His coming would be heralded by a sign In the heavens in the constellation Virgo. That compels us to find out just what this sign was in the heavens. What was the Star that appeared in the skies of 3 and 2 BC? As we begin this search, we note that the word star had a variety of meanings back then. It could mean anything that blazed, shone or moved across the sky. It could mean an aurora, the sun, moon, or a star. It may mean any strange light in the sky - a bolt of lightning, an oddly illuminated cloud, a planet, or grouping of several planets. The two-year time period for visibility automatically eliminates many objects. Meteors are too last two years. When the record is searched, there was only one nova at the time - a faint one in 4 BC. Supernovas last longer and can be visible in broad daylight. But again we are disappointed. Only two supernovae are recorded near the time of the Nativity: one in 134 BC, the other in 173 AD. As we examine Matthew, it becomes apparent that the account requires the star to appear in the eastern sky, move across the starry background, and go before the Magoi to Judea. Only comets, planets, or groupings of planets behave this way. Comets can travel through the background stars at the rate of 1 or 2 degrees per day. They may be visible to the naked eye for 100 days or so. Now a journey to Judea from Persia would take the Wise Men about 6 weeks. Comets would thus be visible long enough for the journey itself. But none last 2 years, and no comets were recorded for the prime dates of 3 and 2 BC. Halley's comet flared in the skies in 11 BC. Another comet swept across the heavens in 4 BC. But both of these were too early. So comets fade as a possibility for the Star. This leaves the option of planets. When we examine the night sky with planets in mind, a series of amazing celestial events occurred. On the 1st August 3 BC the drama began to unfold with Jupiter rising helically in the rays of dawn. On the 13 August Venus and Jupiter stood very close together in the sunrise. On the 18th, Mercury came out of the solar glare, and on September 1st, Mercury and Venus stood 1/3rd degree apart in Leo. These were dramatic events. The astronomers who were based at the Sippar Institute would see an astrological significance in these signs. Essentially, Jupiter, the King planet, had left the Sun, the Father of the Gods, to be conjoined with Venus, the Virgin Mother in the constellation of Leo, which is the symbol for the tribe of Judah in Israel. Furthermore, Mercury, the Messenger of the Gods, had come from the Sun's presence to stand with Venus the virgin mother in the rays of the dawn. Then on 14th September 3 BC and 17th February and 8th May in 2 BC, Jupiter the King planet stood next to Regulus the brightest star in Leo, which also represented Royalty. Then came a climax to the display. On June 17th 2 BC, Venus and Jupiter, the two brightest planets in the Solar System, appeared to collide. They stood an Incredible 1/50th degree apart and seemed to fuse into one immense ball of Light. This was an unprecedented event. But that was not all. On 27th August in 2 BC there was a grand meeting of the planets In Virgo. Jupiter and Mars were only 1/7th degree apart and close at hand were Mercury and Venus standing together in the glare of the rising sun. This dramatic sequence of events ending in Virgo qualified for the Star spoken of by the Zend Avesta. But then Jupiter left the other planets in the dawn, and moved westwards. This was the sign the Magoi were waiting for. Jupiter the key player in the Christmas star sequence was leading them towards Judea. And so they set out. From that moment in Mid-November, Jupiter the King planet actually went before them in the sky towards Judea. Six weeks later as the Magoi checked the pre-dawn sky, Jupiter was on the Meridian due south of Jerusalem. It would appear directly over Bethlehem 65 degrees above the southern horizon. And just at that time, the final event occurred. Jupiter had reached its furthest point westward, and no longer moved against the background store. It actually 'Stood Over' where the young child was. Incredibly, on that some day, the Sun was at its furthest point south for the year, and stood still in the heavens (for that is what the word 'solstice' means). Jupiter was again in the constellation Virgo as the Zend Avesta predicted, when this occurred on 25th December in 2 BC. It was a unique sequence of events that had landed the Magoi at Bethlehem. But wait! There is one more important detail. Matthew 2:9-11 implies that something was marking the very house that Jesus had been living in for 15 months. The planets and stars can never mark a single building. What is the answer to this Biblical conundrum? Throughout the Scriptures, God has consistently appeared to His servants in what has often been called the Shekinah Glory Cloud. The Children of Israel were guided from Egypt to Canaan by the 'Pillar of cloud by day, and a Pillar of fire by night'(see Ex.13:21.22 etc). In Genesis it is described as looking like a twisting blazing, shining object at the entrance to the Garden of Eden. The Shekinah out of which God spoke to the patriarch Job appeared as a whirlwind of bright and shining cloud. Abraham saw this cloud of Glory at sunset outside his tent as a burning smoking light. Ezekiel witnessed the Shekinah In which God dwelt as a whirlwind of fire enfolding itself. For the Magoi, this oddly Illuminated cloud also qualified for the word 'star'. It would have been seen and described by Balaam as he looked down on the hosts of Israel. The Wise Men also had the record of Daniel 7 where the Shekinah is linked with Messiah and described as the 'Cloud of Heaven'. This same Glory of the Lord shone around the shepherds just before the angels announced Messiah's birth to them. Similarly, when the Persian Magoi arrived near Bethlehem in the early dawn, the Shekinah would be seen standing above and marking the very house where Messiah was. The Magoi would Immediately recognize this as a sign of Messiah's presence. They had seen the blazing planetary orb in the sky. Then the key planet, Jupiter had led them to standing over the house, the Magoi from Persia would assuredly know that their quest had ended. They had found the One of Whom the Star of David speaks - the Messiah of the Tribes of Israel, Who was to become the Savior of the world. Has your quest to find Messiah ended? Remember, with child-like faith in the prophecies of Daniel and Balaam contained In the Scriptures, the Wise Men set out. In the depths of winter, they undertook a long and difficult journey deep into enemy territory to come and worship Christ. Today Messiah awaits your response. Will you bow down to him as King and Lord of your Life. For this is what Christmas is all about. Messiah has come to rule as King-firstly in our lives individuality, then from the throne of David internationally at His Return. Will you offer the only acceptable sacrifice to Him now -- the Throne of your Life given over to Christ's control without reserve? The choice is yours, and the consequences are eternal. ********************************************************************* THE CHRISTMAS STAR - PART 1 - ADDITIONAL NOTES. 1. INTRODUCTION TO ADDITIONAL NOTES: These notes amplify the foregoing commentary and provide additional information in summary form. The two accounts of Messiah's Birth - Matthew 2 and Luke 2 - offer 2 clues as to the time of Christ's Birth. This Birth date must be approximately established to know when the Christmas Star appeared. (1). Luke 2: The census decree of Caesar Augustus that resulted in the overcrowded conditions at Bethlehem and its inn. CLUE 1: This gives the earliest possible date for Christ's Birth as Census decrees took time to implement. (2). Matt 2: The interaction of the Wise men with King Herod; his decree for all children under 2 to be slaughtered and his own death shortly afterwards. CLUE 2: Herod's death gives the latest possible date for Christ's Birth and the subsequent flight to Egypt of Joseph, Mary and Jesus to Egypt. 2. THREE POINTS OF POSSIBLE CONFUSION: (1). Three different calendars were in use at the time - their relationship to our BC-AD system must be established. (2). Herod's death is historically linked with an eclipse of the Moon seen at Jerusalem and Jericho. There are 4 choices. (3). Some dates are given in terms of the year of reign of Caesar Augustus. The career of Augustus has 3 possible starting dates to count from. ELIMINATION OF THESE 3 POINTS OF CONFUSION: (1). THE CALENDAR PROBLEM: A. Our current BC-AD calendar was introduced in 527 AD by the then Abbott of Rome, Dionysius Exiguus. B, The Varronian Calendar used by the Romans gave dates in years AUC (Ad Urbe Condita - from the founding of the city of Rome). This calendar was cross-referenced to the ... C. Olympiad System - based on the 4 year cycle of the Olympic Games. Year 1 on this system occurred 23 years before Year 1 AUC. D. The Seleucid Calendar - began with the 1st year of the reign of Seleucus Ist in Babylon. This occurred on 1st year of Olympiad 117. E. Seleucid calendar used by Syrian Christians in Lebanon until mid-20th Century. This gives us an accurate cross-link to BC-AD system. CONCLUSION: AUC System began on 21st April 753 BC. Olympiad System began on 1st July 776 BC. Seleucid Era began 3rd April 311 BC. (2). THE DATE OF HEROD'S DEATH: A. The statement of Josephus - Herod died shortly after a Lunar Eclipse seen at Jerusalem and Jericho and sometime before Passover. B. Only 4 eclipses of Moon near Herod's death. I. Earliest was 15 September 5 BC. Eliminated as too late for Passover. II. Partial eclipse 13 March 4 BC. Passover began April 12th. III. Full eclipse 9th January I BC. IV. Full eclipse 29 December 1 BC. NOTE: It is often assumed that Herod died about 1st April 4 BC from item II. Many other events are dated upon this premise. Item C is thus vital. C. Elimination of contenders from the remaining 3 Eclipses. I. Josephus lists too many events to fit the time from Herod's death to the Passover in 4 BC. This favors the I BC eclipses. II. A Jewish holiday celebrated Herod's death on 2nd Shebat. This is incompatible with the 4 BC eclipse. The 2nd Shebat date came just 15 days after both the 1 BC eclipses. III. Early Christian historians placed Christ's Birth after 4 BC eclipse and before 9th Jan I BC eclipse. This may eliminate the 29 December eclipse in I BC. CONCLUSION: Josephus' eclipse was probably the 9th Jan I BC, so Herod died about 24th January I BC. The less favorable eclipse on 29th December 1 BC gives Herod's death on 13 Jan. 1 AD. NOTE: Herod had all children under 2 killed. This suggests that Jesus may have been born sometime in 3 or 2 BC. (3). THE BEGINNING OF THE REIGN OF CAESAR AUGUSTUS: A. Julius Caesar nominated Octavian his son and heir in his will. Julius was murdered on 15th March 44 BC. Will effective from 17th. Octavian and Mark Antony had joint rule from 17th March 44 BC. B. A cross-check on Herod: Antony appointed him King of Judea in winter. late in 39 BC. Herod's 1st Regnal year was thus 38 BC. Josephus records that he reigned 37 years from that appointment. CONCLUSION: Herod died early in 1 BC. Messiah therefore born 3 BC. C. On 2nd September 31 BC, Octavian scattered fleets of Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium. Antony and then Cleopatra committed suicide. Octavian became ruler of Egypt and undisputed leader of all Roman Legions on that date. D. On 13th Jan 27 BC the Roman Senate proclaimed Octavian as Augustus. SUMMARY: Octavian joint rule with Antony from 17th March 44 BC. Octavian leader of all Roman Legions and all Egypt 2 September 31 BC. Octavian proclaimed as Augustus by Senate 13th January 27 BC. E. Christ's Birth from Augustus' dates (selected from 18 historians). I. Clement of Alexandria statement - Jesus born in the 28th year of Egyptian rule of Augustus. That was 31 BC less 28 years = 3/2 BC. II. Eusebius adds that this was also the 42nd year of the reign of Octavian. That is true if counted from 44 BC. This results in 3/2 BC. III. Tertullian and Origen further specify that Augustus ruled for another 15 full years after Christ's birth. As Augustus died on 19th August 14 AD we again come to 3/2 BC for the birth. CONCLUSION: Eighteen Christian historians give birth of Messiah as 3/2 BC.   4.- DATING THE WORLD CENSUS-TAXATION OF AUGUSTUS. (1). THE ACTIVITIES OF QUIRINIUS: [Cyrenius in Luke 2]. A. Consul in Rome with Messala in 12 BC. B. Conducted the Homonadensian War sometime between 10 and 1 BC. C. Became Adviser to Gaius Caesar late in 1 BC. D. Conducted a Judean Census when direct Roman Rule began in 6/7 AD. NOTE: Cyrenius (Quirinius) was Legate to Syria twice. The first time was for 5 years during the Homonadeneian War. The second was for the 6/7 AD tax. The evidence indicates the first appointment was from late 6 BC to I BC. CONCLUSION: The Census when Cyrenius was 1st Governor of Syria was sometime between 6 and I BC during the Homonadensian Campaign. (2). THE IMPORTANCE OF SATURNINUS: A. Historically, Saturninus was Proconsul to Syria in the period from 5 years to 2 years before the death of Herod, or 6 BC to 3 BC inclusive. [If the December 29th eclipse is used this becomes 5 BC to 2 BC]. B. Early Christian historian Tertullian notes that the census at the time of Christ's birth was "taken in Judea by Sentius Saturninus". C. Saturninus left very early in 2 BC once the census was complete. He was replaced by Quintillius Varus about a year before Herod died. D. CONCLUSION: Jesus was born when BOTH Quirinius and Saturninus administered Syria. (3) AUGUSTUS WANTED EXACT KNOWLEDGE OF HIS EMPIRE'S RESOURCES A. Geographical information obtained by Agrippa was collated by Strabo. His map of the Empire and commentary 'Geography' was complete in 6 BC. B. A world census such as experienced regularly by citizens of Rome since 28 BC was needed to complete the information. C. The Res Gestae inscriptions date the initial proclamation as 8 BC. I. Provincial Italy always taxed one year before Rome - 8/7 BC. II. Rome taxed in 7/6 BC. Empire then taxed province by province. Ill. Saturninus delegated to Roman Syria late in 6 BC. IV. Two years spent on location preparing and mobilizing the people. Order acted on in 3 BC. V. Saturninus left when Census complete early in 2 BC. CONCLUSION. The Census Tax of Augustus was acted on in Judea in 3 BC. Jesus the Messiah was probably born sometime during that year. 5. THE TIME OF THE YEAR FOR CHRIST'S BIRTH [Luke 2]. (1). Shepherds were watching their flocks by night - only when lambs are being born in the spring or autumn, (2). Revelation 12 depicts the birth of Christ when sun and moon in Virgo. That dates the Nativity as 10th September 3 BC. or 29th September. 2 BC. (3). John 1:14 may imply the Birth at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles which is 15 days after the New Moon or 25th September 3 BC or 14 October 2 BC. CONCLUSION: Jesus was probably born in September or October of 3 or 2 BC. 6. WHY CELEBRATE THE NATIVITY ON DECEMBER 25TH? (1). The Jewish Feast of Hanukkah - the Festival of Lights or Feast of Dedication (John 10:22) - when children lit candles and sang hymns. Jewish Christians saw Messiah as the "Light of the world". Occurred on 25th Kislev (December) on the Jewish calendar. (2). Roman Festival of the Saturnalia - the birth of the 'New Sun' celebrated at the winter solstice (December 25th). Roman Christians commemorated the coming of the "Sun of Righteousness that arose with healing in His wings" (Malachi 4:2). (3). Evidence presented in Part 2 suggests that this date marked the final appearance of the Christmas Star when the Wise Men saw Jesus. (4). December 25th first documented as Christmas Day in 354 AD and became an official holiday under Emperor Justinian around 550 AD. 7. FINAL SUMMARY OF PART 1: (1). Census decree of Caesar Augustus was issued in 8 BC and implemented province by province. Messiah was born after that decree. (2). Christ was born during the 5 years when Cyrenius (Quirinius) was first Governor (Legate) of Syria - that is sometime from 6 BC to 1 BC. (3). Census was acted on in Judea when Saturninus was Proconsul to Syria. Saturninus left with Census complete by 2 BC. Jesus was born before that. This places the Birth in 3/2 BC. (4). Josephus records that Herod reigned for 37 years from his appointment as King by Antony in December of 39 BC. This places his death in 1 BC. (5). Herod died 15 days after the Lunar Eclipse on 9th January I BC. [It is just possible that it may have been the 29th December I BC eclipse]. Christ was born before Herod died -perhaps 2 years before or 3/2 BC. (6). Eighteen early Christian historians place Messiah's Birth in either (a). The 42nd year of the reign of Augustus (which began in 44 BC) or (b). The 28th year of Augustus' Egyptian rule (which began September 31 BC). (c) or 15 full years before Augustus died on 19th August 14 AD.   CONCLUSION: These all give a date for the Nativity of 3 BC [with 2BC a distant possibility].   NOTE: The Shepherds and Flocks; The Tabernacles Festival; and Revelation 12 all combine to give the time of the year as September or October.   THE CHRISTMAS STAR PART 2 - ADDITIONAL NOTES I. INTRODUCTION: The date for the Nativity of September or October of 3 or 2 BC also fixes the time the Christmas Star appeared and the subsequent visit of the Wise Men. But who were they, where did they come from, and why were they interested in Messiah? 2. WHERE THE WISE MEN CAME FROM: Matthew 2:1 says they came from the East - that is east of Judea. (1). Judea was a buffer state between the sprawling Roman Empire in the West and the fabulous Persian Empire of the Parthian Dynasty in East. (2). The Persian Empire largely controlled the Silk Route to India and China. The gifts of the Wise Men were the best that world trade could offer. CONCLUSION: The Wise Men came from the Persian Empire east of Judea. 3. WHO WERE THE WISE MEN? (1). Parthian Dynasty ruled Persia through a King and Megistanes (roughly equivalent to our Houses of Parliament) plus Advisers. (2). Lower House members called the Sophoi or Wise Ones; Upper House members called the Magoi or Great Ones. Matthew calls them Magoi. CONCLUSION: The Wise Men were Magoi - the King Makers of the Persian Empire. 4. HOW DID THEY TRAVEL? (1). This Delegation of Rulers from Persia penetrated 750 Km into Roman territory. They would be escorted by their armed cavalry units. (2). Persia was the home of the finest cavalry units in the world. They were called the Cataphracti and consistently won out against the Roman Legions. (3). The Persians always rode horses; camels were only used for baggage. CONCLUSION: The Magoi rode horses and were accompanied by crack cavalry units for protection. 5. WHY WAS HEROD TROUBLED? (1). He had a small army from a foreign power at the gates of Jerusalem (2). Most of his Garrison that normally guarded Jerusalem were away fighting the Homonadenaian War. Jerusalem was virtually undefended. (3). The Magoi proclaimed the birth of a contender for Herod's Throne whom they intended to support. CONCLUSION: Jerusalem was undefended against a foreign army which announced the birth of Messiah Who was to rule Israel from Herod's throne. 6. WHY DID THE WISE MEN COME? (1). They had Daniel's prophecy indicating the time of Messiah's Birth. (2). They had the prophecy of Balaam about Messiah and His Star. (3). Zoroaster had incorporated these prophecies in the Zend Avesta and Zoroastrianism was the State Religion of Persia at that time. NOTE: The Mithras sect had declined by this epoch, but again became dominant at the close of the 1st century AD. CONCLUSION: The Wise Men came to Judea because the bible of their religion prophesied that there would be born unto the Jews a King Messiah and that His coming would be heralded by a sign in the heavens. 7. WHAT WAS THE STAR THE WISE MEN FOLLOWED? (1). Note that the word 'star' had a wide variety of applications. The various possibilities are discussed and eliminated. (2). Meteors and meteor showers such as the Leonids though impressive last a maximum of a few weeks. (3). A nova or unstable star is longer lasting. The only nova recorded at the time was a faint one in 4 BC. They rarely last 2 years. (4). By contrast, a supernova has been seen in broad daylight and can last several years. The Wise Men claimed to Herod that the star they followed was visible for 2 years. A. Supernovae and fixed stars can be used for North-South guidance. B. Certain stars pass directly overhead at given locations every day. C. For this form of guidance the star must pass overhead in Judea. D. The Zend Avesta prophesied that Messiah's Star would be in Virgo. E. Virgo does not pass overhead in Judea. F . Only two supernovae recorded near the Nativity: 134 BC and 173 AD. CONCLUSION: The Christmas Star was not a meteor-shower, a nova or supernova. NOTE: The account requires the star to appear in the eastern sky, move across the starry background. and go before the Wise Men to Judea. Only comets, planets or groupings of planets behave this way. 8. THE TWO PRIME CANDIDATES FOR THE CHRISTMAS STAR. (1). COMETS: A. They travel through the background stars at the rate of I or 2 degrees per day. B. They may be visible to the naked eye for 100 days or so. C. A journey to Judea would take the Wise Men about 6 weeks. Comets are thus visible long enough for the journey. But... D. No comets were recorded in 3/2 BC. Certainly none lasted 2 years. (2). PLANETS AND PLANET GROUPINGS: A. The motion of planets against the background stars is discussed. When two or more planets or a planet and star appear to stand close to each other in the sky, it is called a conjunction. B. The triple conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in Pisces in 7 BC is detailed. The planets were about 2 times the diameter of the Moon apart. This is an average apparent separation for such phenomena. C. In February of 6 BC Jupiter, Saturn and Mars stood together in a rather loose triangle in the western sky. The Sippar Institute of Astrology in Babylonia recorded these and the following events. D. On the 1st August 3 BC Jupiter rose helically in the rays of the dawn. This is the precise phrase used in Matthew "En te anatole". The Greek singular form "anatole" has retained the special astronomical significance of a star appearing in the rays of the rising sun. By contrast "anatolai" means "east". On August 13 at 5 am Jupiter and Venus stood a quarter of a degree apart in the sunrise glare. That is less than half diameter of Moon. E. On 18th August 3 BC Mercury came out of the solar glare. On September 1st, with sun in Virgo, Mercury and Venus stood 1/3rd degree apart in Leo. F. On 14th September 3 BC, Jupiter stood in conjunction with Regulus This was repeated on 17th February and 8th May in 2 BC. G. On June 17th, 2 BC Jupiter and Venus 'collided' - - they stood 1/50th of a degree apart. The two brightest planets in the sky appeared to fuse into one immense blaze of light - - an unprecedented happening. H. On 27th August 2 BC a grand conjunction of planets occurred. Jupiter and Mars were 1/7th degree apart with Mercury and Venus together just I degree away -- in the rays of the sunrise in Virgo. I. Jupiter then moved westwards. By mid-November it had passed the zenith and was shining in the western sky-and still moving west. At this point the Wise Men set out. J. Six weeks later, from Jerusalem, the Wise Men saw Jupiter due south on the meridian above Bethlehem. At that time Jupiter had reached its furthest point west, came to a halt and stood still against the background stars in the sky 65 degrees above Bethlehem. It was December 25th. CONCLUSION: This extremely unusual set of events in 3 and 2 BC was probably the Christmas Star. Everything seems to fit the Biblical account. Barry Setterfield Email: barry4light2@yahoo.com Web Site: http://setterfield.org posted: May 7, 1998. (from an older article by Barry Setterfield) The Christmas Star (12/04/04) Revised Article Addendum, December 21, 1999: There have been a variety of suggestions as to the identity of the Christmas Star recorded in Matthew 2. Also surfacing is the idea that the whole sequence of events was a manifestation of the Shekinah glory cloud. It is true that Luke records that the "Angel of the Lord came upon them and glory of the Lord shone round about" the shepherds. In Old Testament terminology that usually referred to a manifestation of the Shekinah. I also consider it likely that the Shekinah was again manifested over the house in Bethlehem where Jesus was staying as a 15 month old boy when the Wise Men came into the town after their evening observation of the Star. This is probably how they knew which building Messiah was in. However, to attribute the whole Christmas Star sequence that guided the Wise Men from Persia to Bethlehem to the Shekinah does not quite fit all the facts. First, the Star appeared in Persia and led the Wise Men to Jerusalem and also appeared to them there. If it had been the Shekinah, the Rabbis in Jerusalem would have instantly been aware of its significance. However, the Star attracted no great interest in Judea or Jerusalem. Consequently, its significance to the population There is, however, textual evidence that it was in fact an astronomical object rather than the Shekinah. In the AV, the translation of Matthew 2:2 is not strictly correct. It translates the statement of the Wise Men as "We have seen His Star in the East". In the original Greek "in the east" is in fact "En te anatole" which is the Greek singular. However, elsewhere "the east" is represented by "anatolai", the Greek plural. Dr Werner Keller, the German archaeologist writes on page 335 of "The Bible As History" (Hodder and Stoughton, 1969) the following comment:: The singular form "anatole" has quite a special astronomical significance, in that it implies the observation of the early rising of the star, the so-called heliacal rising. The translators of the Authorized Version could not have known this. When 'en te anatole' is translated properly Matt.2:2 reads as follows: 'We have seen his star appear in the first rays of the dawn.' That would correspond exactly with the astronomical facts. The heliacal rising of a prominent star was a defined astronomical phenomenon. The Egyptians noted it, as did other civilizations in the Fertile Crescent and elsewhere. The conclusion is that a very specific 'star' was involved in the heliacal rising. It would therefore seem that a manifestation of the Shekinah cannot be considered until after the departure of the Wise men from Jerusalem. It is certainly possible that the Christmas Star was a mighty angel. An event as momentous as the incarnation of the Son of God at Bethlehem would surely merit a unique "sign" the heavens. WHEN WAS JESUS BORN ? , by Chuck Missler Each year at Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. After the New Year, we struggle to remember to add a year as we date our checks, which should remind us that the entire Western World reckons its calendar from the birth of the One who changed the world more than any other before or since. Yet, it is disturbing to discover that much of what we have been taught about the Christmas season seems to be more tradition than truth. Most serious Bible students realize that Jesus was probably not born on December 25th. The shepherds had their flocks in open fields, which implies a date prior to October. Furthermore, no competent Roman administrator would require registration involving travel during the season when Judea was generally impassable. If Jesus wasn't born on December 25, just when was he born? Although the Bible doesn't explicitly identify the birthday of our Lord, many scholars have developed diverse opinions as to the likely birthday of Jesus. The early Christian church did not celebrate Jesus' birth, and therefore the exact date was not preserved in festivals. The first recorded mention of December 25th is in the Calendar of Philocalus (AD 354), which assumed Jesus' birth to be Friday, December 25th, AD 1. This was subsequent to Constantine's Edict of Toleration in AD 313, which officially ended the government-sanctioned persecution of the Christians. The date of December 25th, which was officially proclaimed by the church fathers in AD 440, was actually a vestige of the Roman holiday of Saturnalia, observed near the winter solstice, which itself was among the many pagan traditions inherited from the earlier Babylonian priesthood. The year of Jesus' birth is broadly accepted as 4 BC, primarily from erroneous conclusions derived from Josephus' recording of an eclipse, assumed to be on March 13, 4 BC, "shortly before Herod died." There are a number of problems with this in addition to the fact that it was more likely the eclipse occurred on December 29, 1 B.C. Considerable time elapsed between Jesus' birth and Herod's death since the family fled to Egypt to escape Herod's edict and they didn't return until after Herod's death. Furthermore, Herod died on January 14, 1 BC Tertullian (born about 160 AD) stated that Augustus began to rule 41 years before the birth of Jesus and died 15 years after that event. Augustus died on August 19, 14 AD, placing Jesus' birth at 2 BC. Tertullian also notes that Jesus was born 28 years after the death of Cleopatra in 30 BC, which is consistent with a date of 2 BC. Irenaeus, born about a century after Jesus, also notes that the Lord was born in the 41st year of the reign of Augustus. Since Augustus began his reign in the autumn of 43 BC, this also appears to substantiate the birth in 2 BC. Eusebius (264-340 AD), the "Father of Church History," ascribes it to the 42nd year of the reign of Augustus and the 28th from the subjection of Egypt on the death of Anthony and Cleopatra. The 42nd year of Augustus ran from the autumn of 2 BC to the autumn of 1 BC. The subjugation of Egypt into the Roman Empire occurred in the autumn of 30 BC. The 28th year extended from the autumn of 3 BC to the autumn of 2 BC. The only date that would meet both of these constraints would be the autumn of 2 BC. Another approach in determining the date of Jesus' birth is from information about John the Baptist. Elisabeth, John's mother, was a cousin of Mary and the wife of a priest named Zacharias who was of the "course" of Abijah (Priests were divided into 24 courses and each course officiated in the Temple for one week, from Sabbath to Sabbath). When the Temple was destroyed by Titus on August 5, 70 AD, the first course of priests had just taken office. Since the course of Abijah was the eighth course, we can track backwards and determine that Zacharias would have ended his duties on July 13, 3 BC. If the birth of John took place 280 days later, it would have been on April 19-20, 2 BC (precisely on Passover of that year). John began his ministry in the 15th year of Tiberius Caesar. The minimum age for the ministry was 30. As Augustus died on August 19, 14 AD, that was the accession year for Tiberius. If John was born on April 19-20, 2 BC, his 30th birthday would have been April 19-20, 29 AD, or the 15th year of Tiberius. This seems to confirm the 2 B.C. date and, since John was five months older, this also confirms the autumn birth date for Jesus. Elisabeth hid herself for five months and then the Angel Gabriel announced to Mary both Elisabeth's condition and that Mary also would bear a son who would be called Jesus. Mary went "with haste" to visit Elisabeth, who was then in the first week of her sixth month, or the fourth week of December, 3 BC. If Jesus was born 280 days later it would place the date of his birth on September 29, 2 BC. If Jesus was born on September 29, 2 BC, it is interesting to note that it was also the First of Tishri, the day of the Feast of Trumpets (See also our briefing package on The Feasts of Israel for more background). Christians today tend to fight the ongoing secularization of their holidays. Some have rejected anything to do with them, saying they are not Biblically ordained. Others have tried to go back to keeping the Jewish feasts instead. It should be pointed out that the New Testament doesn't really ordain anything other than the Lord's Supper. But it does not prohibit it either, and under grace Christians are free to honor different days if they wish. Koinonia House Ministries Posted 12/23/04. See also Signs in the Stars What was the Star? (Frederick A. Larson) Datings Appendix from the Companion Bible. E. W. Bullinger, The Witness of the Stars The Star of Bethlehem, by Ray Bohlin Messiahmas? On the Birth Date of Jesus of Nazareth, by Uri Marcus Back to Lambert Dolphin's Library