Participants: Art Chadwick
Series Code: OTR
Program Code: OTR000963
|
01:00 [Hymn]
03:44 [Hymn] 03:48 Amen. 03:51 This next song we have to stand for, 03:55 we have this hope so please join us as we sing, 03:59 "We Have This Hope That Burns Within Our Hearts." 04:13 We have this hope that burns within our hearts 04:22 Hope in the coming of the Lord 04:30 We have this faith that Christ alone imparts 04:39 Faith in the promise of His Word 04:48 We believe the time is here, 04:52 When the nations far and near 04:56 Shall awake, and shout and sing 05:01 Hallelujah! Christ is King! 05:09 We have this hope that burns within our hearts 05:18 Hope in the coming of the Lord 05:31 Amen. 05:45 Let's bow our heads, shall we? 05:47 Heavenly Father, you are so good. 05:51 We love You and You love us. 05:54 I thank you so much for giving us this seventh rest, 05:58 thank You Lord for giving us 06:00 Your mercy and Your goodness. 06:03 We are odd and inspired and amazed 06:06 at what we've heard and seen, 06:07 and that you can actually use us. 06:11 Thank You for what You're doing in this world. 06:14 Heavenly Father, we have seen evidence 06:16 of Your work these last few days. 06:19 We've also seen that there is much left to do. 06:22 Please come and fill our hearts 06:24 and make us mighty for You, 06:26 and tonight, speak to us once again, 06:29 in Jesus name. Amen. 06:41 Good evening, have you being blessed? Yes. 06:44 Wonderful, over the last past few days 06:47 I've sat into the chairs like you 06:49 and I've listened to the youth for Jesus, 06:51 but on this fantastic show. 06:54 Well, I want to tell you tonight 06:56 that the senior youth for Jesus group, 06:59 wanted to make sure that 07:00 they were not going to out shined us. 07:03 So we decide to do something for Jesus, 07:07 we went as missionaries overseas and I'll tell you, 07:13 I was the newcomer with this group, 07:15 they had traveled before together. 07:19 You can imagine what kind of worse stories 07:21 I had to put up with. 07:23 But it was fun and I have invited them to tell you folks 07:28 about their experience in this mission trip 07:31 that we went on in January. 07:33 Denzil, where did we go? 07:35 We went to the country of Cuba, 07:36 it all started when Dawn and I went to Portugal to help 07:40 with starting of the ASI in Portugal. 07:43 And while we were there, 07:44 we had the privilege of meeting Ruben 07:46 and while we were talking with Ruben, 07:48 we were talking about our experiences 07:50 and Ruben said to me, he says, you know, 07:52 our family would like to do more to tell others about Jesus. 07:56 Do you know a country that we can participate in? 07:59 And I said I don't know one, 08:01 but let me pray and think about it. 08:03 Well, less than 20 minutes later, 08:05 I'm riding in a rural area of Cuba, 08:08 excuse me in Portugal 08:10 and I get a phone call from Pastor Finley. 08:12 And he tells me about the exciting things 08:14 that are happening in Cuba 08:16 and how that there is such great opportunities 08:19 and that it's a great time to get, 08:22 to go to Cuba and tell about our soon coming Savior. 08:26 Wonderful. Ray, can you tell us the site that we visited? 08:30 Well, we started in Havana. 08:33 We worked our way down to Santiago 08:36 and then we started, we split into two groups 08:38 and we started North, our groups consisted of 08:42 Elder Ramon Chow, the ASI Secretary Treasure, 08:46 Denzil McNeilus, Ruben, and Nancy Dias from Portugal, 08:51 Dwight Hilderbrandt, Former ASI Secretary Treasurer. 08:54 My buddy Harold Lance and myself, 08:57 and we were accompanied by Elder Alfonso, 08:59 who is the Cuban Union Personal Ministries Leader. 09:03 And he is one tremendous guy. 09:06 Dwight is going to give us locations. 09:10 Well, we flew into Havana, and Ray and Harold 09:15 and I went to the seminary which is operated in Cuba. 09:20 And we held our first one there while Ramon 09:25 and Denzil and Ruben went out to Penedo Rio 09:30 and then we left Havana and went to the Santiago de Cuba. 09:36 And Harold and Ray and I, had our seminars there. 09:41 This brethren went to Bayamo then we left that area 09:45 and came back through Camaguey. 09:49 And also Santa Clara and during this time of eight days 09:54 we had six seminars and we trained over 09:58 1,700 lay people to do evangelism. Amen. 10:02 The Lord was so good to us and we just praise His name 10:05 for what He has done. 10:07 Harold, tell us of your impression as you watched 10:10 the faces of these people being trained. 10:13 The local church had selected each one of the delegates 10:17 who would come and be trained. 10:19 In one of the places there were 241 people selected, 10:23 241 people showed up, the same ones 10:26 that were supposed to plus a hundred more. 10:29 Their interest and dedication 10:31 and willingness to be used was amazing. 10:36 Wonderful, I need to make a, clarify something, 10:41 Ruben who's going to speak next wanted to make sure 10:45 that I did not include him 10:47 in the group of senior youth for Jesus. 10:51 He is the youngest one in the platform. 10:54 So Ruben, I redeem myself, right? 10:56 Yes, you did. 10:57 Ruben has been keeping track of what has happened in Cuba 11:00 since we were there and he is going to share 11:02 with us some statistics. 11:04 Well, let me tell you that the first 11:07 we blessed is the one that does it. 11:10 And for me it was the first experience of this kind 11:14 and the blessing was tremendous. 11:17 But now afterwards there are more blessings 11:20 and it's called the 11:22 "return investment of your evangelism action." 11:25 And that return has been tremendous up to now in Cuba. 11:31 We have two main projects, one is the, 11:34 a thousand people are equipped with the DVD, 11:37 New Beginnings, and of those 1,000, 11:40 there's 85 full time Bible workers, 11:45 they have the objective of opening up 11:48 one hundred new city or towns, they have no SDA presence 11:54 and to open up a church. Amen. 11:57 And this is a project of three to five years. 12:00 It will take time, but the results are coming. 12:02 And the results are this, first of all, right now, 12:07 there are 8,500 people studying the Bible. Amen. 12:12 And that is really a good rejoice 12:16 that we received and it's a blessing. 12:19 Second is that those eighty five people 12:23 they are working new territories. 12:26 They have already opened up six new churches, 12:30 six new churches with the program of the New Beginnings. 12:36 So we are so happy 12:39 that the results are something that God delivers us 12:44 and it continues to give us the blessing. 12:49 Now the best part is they already 12:51 have been baptized 750 people. Amen. 12:56 So we are really thrilled 13:00 of what God has given us up to now. 13:02 Amen, amen. 13:04 Denzil just remind me that the seminary 13:06 in Havana was built by whom? 13:09 Maranatha Volunteers. Maranatha Volunteers. 13:12 So thanks to Maranatha. Thank you. 13:17 One of the joy of coming to ASI, 13:19 is that you meet new friends 13:22 and renew your acquaintances with old friends. 13:26 Tonight I like to introduce to you a friend, 13:29 new friend of mine, I met Shawn Wray 13:32 on Wednesday for the first time. 13:35 And Shawn has a ministry in Atlanta 13:40 and tell us what do you do? 13:41 What kind of ministry do you have in Atlanta? 13:43 Well, our ministry is called 13:45 Think on These Things Ministries International, 13:48 we're in Atlanta, Georgia 13:49 and we are humanitarian organization, 13:51 we have a feeding program, a feeding food pantry, 13:54 we have also a true store that we are thankful to ASI, 13:59 we could be launching later on this year. 14:01 Amen, now a few years ago I understand 14:04 that a friend of Shawn keep saying, 14:07 Shawn, you need to come to ASI and Shawn says, 14:11 another organization, I just don't have time for this, 14:15 but he came two years ago, Right? 14:17 Yes, correct. 14:18 Two years ago and what happened to your life since? 14:21 It has never been the same since, 14:23 Steve Dickman, Carol, the Secretary 14:27 and Treasurer of the Southern Union, 14:28 I can't thank them enough. 14:31 I'm inspired by just the camaraderie, 14:33 the fellowship, the mentoring and network. 14:36 And this is the encouragement 14:38 that I received from ASI for the past two years. 14:41 How has it impacted your ministry? 14:43 It is impacted my ministry in several ways, 14:46 not only it has created encouragement for me, 14:48 but it also creates a mentoringship, 14:51 an encouragement to help me to move forward, 14:55 help me to keep going. 14:57 How to do things better, 14:59 and how to listen to more to the Lord 15:01 and what He has in store for me. 15:03 Well, Shwan told me that he'll never miss 15:05 another ASI meeting and you know he is already 15:09 the Head Usher of ASI, he's second year 15:12 and he did a fantastic job for us today. 15:15 Thank you, Shwan. Thank you. 15:17 God bless your ministry. Thank you so much. 15:18 Thank you, well, we're excited to be a part of ASI 15:22 and if these senior youth can do it, 15:25 you can do it too, right? 15:29 A gentleman by name of Samuel Clemens, 15:32 better known as Mark Twain once said, 15:35 "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed 15:40 by the things that you did not do 15:43 than by the things you did do. 15:47 Then he went on to say, So, throw off the bowlines. 15:50 Sail away from the safe harbor. 15:53 Catch the trade winds in your sail. 15:57 Dream Explore and Discover." 16:02 And I like to urge each one of you tonight 16:05 to leave the safe harbor of your comfort zone 16:09 if you please, go do something for Jesus. 16:11 Dream of the lives that you can touch by sharing your faith, 16:16 explore the many, many opportunities 16:18 that come your way each day to influence people for good. 16:23 And then discover the joy of witnessing someone 16:29 that you share your faith with being convicted 16:32 and converted by the Holy Spirit. 16:35 You'll never be the same, your spiritual life will be 16:38 strengthen and your hopes will swore. 16:42 If we can do it, the senior group of the ASI, you can do it. 16:48 Pray that the Lord will give you at least one soul 16:51 between now and the next convention, won't you? 16:55 God bless you. 16:57 Now at this point, you are all aware your part 17:04 probably of some discussion that has been going on 17:08 in the area of creation and of evolution, 17:10 a lot of discussion, a lot of dialogue, 17:13 and in some cases debates. 17:17 ASI leadership feels very strongly 17:21 that the creation is fundamental to our beliefs. 17:26 So we decided tonight, 17:28 we decided to invite a specialist an expert 17:33 in that field to share with us some thoughts 17:35 about this ongoing discussion that we have in our church. 17:41 Dr. Art Chadwick is a full time research professor 17:45 of biology and geology 17:48 at Southwestern Adventist University. 17:51 Dr. Art Chadwick is under age in this field of geology, 17:57 he is highly respected among his pierce and even though, 18:00 he is a firm believer in creation, he's, 18:04 the organization GSA which stands for geological society 18:10 and what's A, I forgot what the A stands for, 18:12 association I suppose. 18:14 Every year they invite him to present 18:19 of their annual meetings, 18:21 that tells you something of the quality 18:24 of research that he is doing. 18:27 And tonight, he is going to share with us 18:29 some of his convictions on this topic of creation. 18:33 The title of his topic is the importance of this 18:37 of the creator God to our whole system of belief. 18:43 So after the choir sings for us, 18:46 we will hear the voice of Dr. Art Chadwick. 19:34 Nearer, still nearer, close to Thy heart 19:46 Draw me, my Savior, so precious Thou art 19:58 Fold me, oh, fold me close to Thy breast 20:09 Shelter me safe in that "Haven of Rest," 20:21 Shelter me safe in that "Haven of Rest." 20:53 Nearer, still nearer, nothing I bring 21:04 Naught as an offering to Jesus, my King 21:15 Only my sinful, now contrite heart 21:26 Grant me the cleansing Thy blood doth impart 21:37 Grant me the cleansing Thy blood doth impart 21:58 Nearer, still nearer, while life shall last 22:09 Till safe in glory my anchor is cast 22:20 Through endless ages, ever to be 22:31 Nearer, my Savior, still nearer to Thee 22:43 Nearer, my Savior, Nearer, my Savior, 22:54 Nearer, my Savior, still nearer to Thee. 23:24 Nearer, Nearer my Savior. Amen. 24:07 I believe in God, the Father Almighty, 24:12 maker of heaven and earth 24:15 and of all things visible and invisible. 24:20 Millions of Christians repeat these words every Sunday. 24:24 As a young Episcopalian, I too said these words 24:28 and believed them, but there was only 24:31 after I'd became an Adventist that I really understand 24:35 the connection between worship and creation. 24:39 Today as both a scientist 24:41 and a Seventh-day Adventist Christian, 24:43 I would like to share my insights 24:46 on the importance of recognizing 24:49 that God is indeed the maker of heaven and earth. 24:54 Let me share from my own experience, 24:57 my first attendant in Adventist School 25:00 as a junior in college. 25:03 I was a recent convert, won to truth by the Holy Spirit 25:08 through a fellow student at a State University in California. 25:14 The consistency of the teachings of the church 25:17 with the Bible gave powerful testimony 25:21 that this is what I belonged. 25:24 Since I was a science major 25:26 it was particularly evident to me, 25:29 that creation was an inextricable part 25:31 of the great controversy. 25:35 Moving to an Adventist college was a major step. 25:39 As a premedical student, I took a class called 25:43 philosophy of science from Dr. Lloyd Downs. 25:46 Some of you may know who he is. 25:50 Noticing me keen interest in philosophy, 25:53 especially regarding creation and evolution. 25:56 Dr. Downs encouraged me to change my plans, 26:01 to become a, my plans to become a physician 26:03 and perceive a career as a science teacher and researcher. 26:08 It was a traumatic decision for me, 26:11 I can only share with you the grief, 26:15 the angst that went through my soul as I made this change. 26:18 I'd already been accepted into medical school, 26:20 that seemed like a straight forward course. 26:23 But after hours of agonizing prayer, 26:27 I made the decision that I would follow where God led, 26:31 where this godly professor encouraged me to go. 26:35 This professor who could talk openly about 26:37 his faith in the classroom. 26:40 And I have never looked back from that decision. 26:44 As a teacher at Southwestern Adventist University 26:48 in Keene, Texas, I have tried to do the same 26:51 for my students as Dr. Downs did for me. 26:55 I showed them that science and faith can be integrated, 27:02 that science should not be isolated 27:04 from the central affirmation of our faith, 27:06 does that come on to you? 27:08 Amen. 27:11 With colleagues at Southwestern Adventist University 27:14 and Southern Adventist University, 27:17 I have been working on a special research project 27:19 for the last 12 years. 27:22 The goal is to explain what happened to 25,000 dinosaurs 27:29 each 30-40 feet long, whose bones ended up 27:33 on what is now a cattle ranch in Eastern Wyoming. 27:38 Each summer, during the month of June, 27:41 we traveled to Wyoming, 27:43 where we excavated thousands or more bones. 27:47 We returned them to 27:48 Southwestern Adventist University 27:50 where we processed them and clean them and label them, 27:53 and colloid them, curate them into our collection. 27:57 And I will be say more about that directly. 28:01 In 2002, I received word from a teacher 28:03 at Trinity Christian Academy, 28:06 an exclusive Christian school in Dallas, 28:09 asking about the possibilities of joining us 28:12 on our dinosaur research project for a few days. 28:18 We assured them that we would be happy 28:20 to have them and discuss the logistics. 28:23 The leader told me, he would want to come first 28:27 and check things out. 28:30 After all, these were Seventh-day Adventists 28:33 and they were strange people. Amen. 28:38 They came, they checked this out very carefully 28:42 and they were stunned to find that we were friendly, 28:46 spiritually minded Christians 28:48 and we're accommodating rather than indoctrinating. 28:52 Amen. 28:53 And they've been coming ever since. 28:57 Each summer they bring 20 medical school students 29:01 to learn what dinosaurs are and to learn 29:03 what Seventh-day Adventist are as a subtext. 29:08 Each year they leave with 20 students 29:10 whose lives have been influenced for the better. 29:13 In the words of the father of one of these students, 29:16 a prominent Dallas businessman, 29:19 who stopped by my office three years 29:21 after his son had come to the dinosaur project. 29:25 He said that experience changes my son's life. 29:29 I cannot thank you enough 29:31 for what you have done for him. 29:35 Why do I tell you this? 29:39 These fellow Christians were looking for a scientist 29:43 with genuinely open minds, 29:45 people who are willing to consider all the evidence. 29:48 They were thrilled to find teachers 29:51 who challenged Darwin. 29:53 They were pleased to discover 29:55 real scientists doing real research, 29:57 who affirmed the recent creation in six literal days, 30:01 not evolution over millions of years. 30:05 They wanted to hear the evidence 30:06 for worldwide catastrophic flood. 30:10 And we were happy to oblige them. 30:14 Seventh-day Adventist schools everywhere 30:16 have the opportunity to present the sort of education 30:19 that will capture the attention of people 30:22 like these teachers and students 30:23 from Trinity Christian Academy. 30:27 If we do, we really can be educational leaders. 30:31 Now it's not the time to back off. Amen. 30:35 To apologize or to keep silent, 30:40 but maybe you're not yet certain 30:42 that creation is that important. 30:45 After all a lot of really intelligent people 30:48 deny the Biblical account, and some of them 30:52 even make fun of the idea of believing what the Bible says. 30:57 Let's take a quick look at what's at stake in this. 31:02 This past year I went through the whole Bible, 31:04 beginning with Genesis and ending with Revelation, 31:07 looking for texts that have to do with creation. 31:11 I found 22 pages of single spaced texts 31:16 that talk about creation and the creator God. 31:20 Twenty six books cover this topic and some of them, 31:24 this is a major theme for the book. 31:29 But what is its importance to us? 31:32 Why does it matter so much? 31:36 Number one, the basis of our worship 31:40 is explained in Revelation 4:11, 31:43 where we read that the 24 elders 31:45 fell down to worship God saying, 31:54 "You are worthy, O God, and I love these words, 31:57 to receive glory and honor and power. 32:02 For you created all things and by your will they exist 32:07 and were created." 32:08 Amen. Creation is fundamental to worship. 32:12 Even a Paul says in Romans 1:20-25, 32:16 For since the creation of the world 32:18 His invisible attributes are clearly seen, 32:21 being understood by the things that are made. 32:24 Even His eternal power and God head, 32:26 so that they are without excuse. 32:28 Because, although they knew God, 32:30 they did not glorify Him as God, 32:33 nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts. 32:37 Their foolish hearts were darkened. 32:39 Professing themselves to be wise, 32:41 they became fools, 32:43 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God. 32:46 What is the glory of God? 32:48 That's His creation, that's what makes Him God. 32:52 Changed him into an image made like corruptible man, 32:56 and birds, and four footed beasts, and creeping things. 33:01 You ever seen that story before. 33:05 Therefore God gave them up to uncleanness, 33:07 in the lust of their hearts, 33:08 to dishonor their bodies among themselves. 33:11 Who changed the truth of God, His creatorship into a lie, 33:16 and worshiped and served the creature 33:21 rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. 33:25 You see that. 33:26 Worship is due to who created you. 33:32 That's the basis, the biblical basis for worship is creation. 33:37 If we evolve then worship is due to our ancestors, 33:42 man, and birds, and four-footed things and creeping things. 33:49 Thus, if God did not create us as He said He did, 33:52 we have no basis for worshiping Him. 33:58 Not only worship, but our salvation is laid out 34:01 in terms of creation. 34:02 One of my favorite texts for this, 34:04 there are many in the Bible 34:05 that connect it to as Isaiah 43:1, 34:08 which I imagine many of you know. 34:11 "Thus says the Lord, he who created you, 34:13 O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel, creation: 34:19 Fear not, for I have redeemed you, 34:23 I have called you by your name, 34:25 and you are mine, creation, redemption." 34:32 Without the Genesis story of a perfect creation 34:35 on a perfect earth, without the story in Genesis 34:40 of a perfect creation and a perfect earth, 34:43 with the subsequent fall leading to death, 34:48 responsibility for sin, rest with God who chose to make man 34:53 by the process of evolution with sin and death 34:56 and undergo a necessary part of the process. 35:01 That takes away entirely the need for a sacrifice 35:07 as a remedy for sin, given to us who are holy 35:11 and worthy by a loving Savior. 35:16 Without the story of Genesis, 35:20 without a perfect six day of creation, 35:23 we have no hope of redemption. 35:26 Not only worship and salvation, but the whole concept of God, 35:30 who God is and whether his word is trustworthy 35:33 is invested in the Fourth Commandment. 35:36 In Exodus 31, that's not normally 35:39 where we turn for the story, 35:41 but listen to what it says there, 35:43 "The Lord spoke unto Moses, saying, 35:45 For in six days the Lord made heavens and earth 35:48 and on the seventh day, he rested and was refreshed. 35:52 And when he had made an end 35:55 of speaking with him on Mount Sinai. 35:58 He gave Moses two tablets of stone 36:03 written with the finger of God. 36:08 Consider what this passage is saying, 36:11 God wrote with His own finger in the tablet of stone, 36:17 He wrote that He had created the earth in six days. 36:22 It seems to me if God did not create in six literal days, 36:25 that He said He did, and wrote it with His finger 36:29 in a table of stone, that would make God 36:31 deliberately deceitful. 36:36 If that were the case, what hope do we have 36:39 that other things He said are reliable? 36:43 Or perhaps God did really say that or write it in stone, 36:46 perhaps Moses made the story up, 36:49 that God created the earth in six days. 36:52 But Moses was lying, then what hope do we have 36:54 that other things Moses wrote are true in that case. 36:58 You're only reading of that passage 37:00 that does justice to God 37:02 and His integrity is a straight forward one. 37:05 He told us precisely what He had done 37:08 and then he edged it indelibly in rock with his own finger. 37:14 So the doctrine of creation 37:15 is not just one among many important beliefs. 37:20 Creation is about as fundamental as it gets, 37:23 creation is the foundation of our faith. 37:28 Students of Daniel, Revelation know that the remnant church 37:32 is called into existence at the very time in earth's history 37:36 when a major new apostasy arises concerning origins. 37:40 Amen. 37:42 God's remedy was to bring into being a group of believers, 37:45 whose name Seventh-day Adventist 37:49 emphasizes two cardinal doctrines. 37:52 Christ's soon return and God's creatorship. 37:57 Saying with a loud voice, 37:59 Fear God, and give glory to him, 38:02 for the hour of his judgment is come. 38:04 That's His soon coming. 38:06 Judgment is not bad news, it's good news, 38:09 it means Jesus is coming back and worship him. 38:15 Worship has to do with Sabbath, 38:17 Sabbath has to do with creation, 38:19 Him who made the heaven, and the earth, and the seas, 38:23 and the fountains of waters. 38:25 So what really happened in October of 1844? 38:32 This audience knows all about the Millerite movement, 38:35 the great disappointment, 38:37 the new understanding of the heavenly sanctuary 38:40 discovered by our spiritual four bearers. 38:42 I don't have to tell you about the beginning 38:45 of the investigative judgment. 38:49 But another profoundly important event occurred 38:52 at the same time, possibly the same day, 38:57 foreseeing the wording of Revelation 10:5 and 6, 39:02 if you compare that text with the parallel text 39:05 in Daniel chapter 12 verse 7, you'll see that 39:08 there is something added, 39:09 that is very timely in the Revelation text. 39:14 "The angel whom I saw standing on the sea and the land," 39:16 this is Revelation 10:5 and 6, 39:19 "raised his hand to heaven, 39:21 And swore by him who lives for ever and ever, 39:25 who created the heaven, and the things that are in it, 39:28 and the earth and the things that are in it, 39:30 and the sea and the things that are in it, 39:33 that there should be time no longer." 39:36 That text about God's creatorship 39:39 is not in the parallel passage in Daniel. 39:42 That was added here in Revelation, 39:44 because this was the time of the great deception on origins. 39:51 In 2009, the scientific world is marking 39:56 the 150th anniversary of the publication 40:00 of the Charles Darwin's book, 40:02 "the Origin of Species." 40:04 But most people are utterly unaware of a blockbuster 40:09 of a book that came out 15 years earlier 40:14 in Mid-October, 1844. 40:19 The book was entitled 40:21 "Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation," 40:24 it was written and published anonymously 40:26 by Robert Chambers, a British bookseller. 40:29 In this 400 page book, it gave a comprehensive 40:33 account of the origin of the universe, 40:36 the origin of life and even the origin 40:38 of human beings without a God. 40:41 In a completely materialistic framework. 40:44 This book was the first deliberate promotion 40:47 of a Godless theory of origins. 40:51 And it came out in Mid-October, 1844. 40:56 The book was an instant success, 40:58 selling over 20,000 copies in seven editions 41:02 during the first 10 years, making it perhaps 41:04 the best selling book of the whole 19th century. 41:08 It was widely distributed on the continent, 41:11 it was read by poets and statesmen like. 41:14 Abraham Lincoln and Queen Victoria 41:18 both had read the book. 41:20 Physicist Sir David Brewster warned that this book 41:24 "Vestiges" stood a "fair chance of poisoning 41:27 the fountains of science, 41:28 and sapping the foundations of religion." 41:33 Darwin himself, who in July of 1844 had finished 41:36 the manuscript and committed it to publication, 41:40 he was fearful, he was devastate about the publication 41:44 of "Vestiges" thinking he had had lost his chance 41:46 to get credit for the ideas he thought he deserved. 41:51 A modern historian James Secord recently has written 41:54 a treatise on Chamber's book, published in 2000. 41:58 In the following passage he spells out the sense 42:00 of the importance of this work 42:03 in changing peoples' minds about evolution. 42:05 Where did the change take place? 42:07 We often think it's Charles Darwin, 42:09 but listen to this. 42:10 He says, "How did evolution 42:13 gain this pivotal role in the public arena? 42:16 The answer turns out to have little to do 42:19 with Darwinian biology, little to do with Darwinian biology 42:24 or Big Bang astronomy. 42:26 Instead, the critical period 42:28 is the first half of the nineteenth century, 42:31 and the turning point is the response of readers to Vestiges, 42:36 the turning point is what? 42:39 Response of readers to this book published 42:42 in Mid-October, 1844. 42:46 So that is what happened on earth in October, 1844. 42:50 God brought this people into existence 42:53 at the very time on end, this new apostasy 42:55 was thrust on the world. 42:57 We are here to be the repairs of that bridge, 43:00 that restores a pass to walk in. 43:03 What impact has this church had on the advance of evolution? 43:10 In 2004, I attended a special symposium 43:13 on creation and evolution, 43:15 sponsored by the Geological Society of America, 43:18 at their meeting in Denver. 43:21 It was a big deal, at this symposium, 43:25 two separate speakers were considering 43:29 the origin of the modern creation movement. 43:33 Both of them showed a picture on the screen 43:36 of the one person who'd done more to advance 43:38 creationism than any other in the year of evolution. 43:44 Whose picture do you supposed was on the screen? 43:48 Ellen G White, I was thrilled. 43:57 So what are we doing to promote creatorship of God? 44:02 We can certainly honor Him by accepting His word 44:05 on the basis of the confidence we have in Him. 44:08 We're told in Hebrews 1:3, 44:11 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed 44:14 by the word of God. 44:16 So that the things which are seen 44:18 were not made of things which are invisible. 44:21 That means that we have to do exercise faith 44:24 to believe in God's creatorship. 44:27 We ought to expect that, we ought to embrace it. 44:32 But we can do more, those of us who are scientists 44:35 can carry our experiments out to try to learn more about 44:38 the past history of the earth. 44:40 And shouldn't these experiments give additional 44:42 confidence to our understanding of God's word. 44:45 If we use the information in the Bible to guide us 44:48 as to what experiments might be interesting. 44:51 Who knows what results we might have 44:54 as God opens His treasure house as He promised in Deuteronomy. 45:01 A handful of Christians who are scientists, 45:06 nearly all of them Seventh-day Adventists have been 45:09 pursuing these goals for many years. 45:12 I'll try to give you a little sample of these operations. 45:18 I spent the month of May camped in a tent 45:22 in the deserts of Utah, 45:24 working with Dr. Leonard Brand, 45:26 Chair of the Division in Natural Sciences 45:28 at Loma Linda University and his students. 45:31 On a project designed to look 45:33 through the entire geological column, 45:36 to see what we can learn about time and process. 45:39 To see if the rocks tell us millions of years 45:42 or tell us something about rapid sudden sedimentation. 45:46 We have long suspected that the rock record 45:48 was not being read correctly by standard geologists. 45:52 But now we were examining it with quantitative tools 45:56 that will allow us to say something specific. 45:59 I could share a fascinating progress report with me 46:02 if we have time, with you if we have time. 46:05 But now I can say that we are finding many indications 46:08 that there were inconsistencies 46:10 between the standard long age model 46:12 and what we are seeing in the field. 46:15 Although it maybe sometime 46:17 before we can properly prepare and publish this data. 46:21 We will not hesitate to share it with our church family. 46:27 I spent the month of June in a tent camped 46:31 in a remote region of eastern Wyoming, 46:34 in the least populated county, 46:36 in the least populated state in the United states, 46:39 where we've been excavating 46:40 the remains of dinosaurs for over 12 years. 46:44 We first began this project with an invitation 46:47 of an affordable Christian gentleman, rancher, 46:51 who wanted the resources of his ranch to be used for science. 46:57 A secular paleontologist had been working on the ranch 47:01 and when the ranch owner told him 47:03 that he wanted him to share the idea of creation 47:06 with the young people he was bringing out 47:08 to show dinosaurs to on his ranch. 47:12 The secular paleontologist was incensed 47:16 that he would have to say something about creation. 47:19 He didn't even say, he couldn't talk about evolution, 47:21 he just says, I want you to tell them about creation. 47:26 He laughed and as he laughed, 47:28 he shouted over his shoulder, 47:29 this is the last day that science will be done 47:31 on the Hanson Ranch. 47:33 And he had hear one of his students had scrolled 47:36 the same sentiment on a shack, 47:38 they left behind in the spray paint. 47:43 That was the challenge we didn't take lightly. 47:47 With the help of God we set out to do excellence science, 47:50 there would be a credit to the God we worship 47:52 and to the church we serve. 47:56 It is risky to links small plans with a big God. 48:01 He has taken us far beyond our aspirations 48:04 and enabled us to pioneer new technologies 48:07 involving high resolution GPS. 48:11 That we can map the bones in the core 48:13 and built virtual queries in our computers, 48:16 reconstructions that have revolutionized 48:19 the way paleontology can be done. 48:22 We can view in the computer, 48:24 photographic images of our queries 48:26 with all the bones in place, even after the bones 48:28 have been physically removed. 48:33 As a result, paleontologists can now do something 48:37 that they've always dreamed of. 48:38 Which is to see what the bones look like in the ground. 48:42 We've presented our results yearly and meetings 48:45 at the Geological Society of America 48:47 and at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontologists. 48:52 Four years later after we began, 48:55 we were having lunch with colleagues, 48:57 including a, the head paleontologist 49:00 with the Los Angeles County Museum. 49:04 And when he found out where we were working. 49:08 We were surprised, he seemed to know all about us. 49:12 His comment was, 49:13 I hear that you're doing good work out there. 49:18 The word good is circulating about us, 49:21 in spite of the fact that these secular paleontologists 49:24 know we are believers in the biblical 49:25 account of origins and the global flood. 49:28 Amen. That's not all. 49:31 With my colleagues, we determined 49:32 that the bones we excavated were not going to end up 49:35 in a musky basement somewhere 49:38 as often happens with such things. 49:40 We developed an online museum to present our findings 49:44 to the paleontological community. 49:47 Within six years we had the largest collection of fossil, 49:51 dinosaur fossils on the Internet. 49:53 The only collection on the Internet 49:55 that had pictures of all the bones. 49:59 We thought we would list our museum. 50:02 We were quite proud of it, 50:05 on a government funded site 50:06 run by University of California, Berkeley, 50:09 whose stated goal was to represent online 50:12 all sites with fossil content. 50:15 Although the Berkeley site contained many links, 50:19 some of them were nothing more than 50:21 Joel Smith's homepage with a couple pictures of fossils. 50:26 I send our URL in any way and shortly, 50:29 after received the letter saying 50:31 that they had accepted our museum 50:33 and it will be represented there. 50:35 I waited a week or so and then try to find it online, 50:41 it didn't show up. 50:42 So I wrote asking where the link was. 50:48 To my astonishment they said, 50:51 we were not suppose to have said 50:53 your site was accepted. 50:56 It is still out for review. 50:59 There months later, I got a rejection notice, 51:06 saying that our site was 51:07 neither scientific nor educational, 51:12 it was a clear enablement case of discrimination against us 51:16 because of our personal belief in a creator God. 51:18 Nothing on our site advertised anything of our beliefs, 51:22 but the whole community knows 51:24 that we are creationists. Praise God. Amen. 51:28 We had pioneered in the field of online museums, 51:32 our website had the largest collection 51:34 of dinosaur bones on the Internet. 51:36 And the only such site with photographs of all the bones, 51:40 but we were not scientific or educational. 51:44 To put it mildly, I was not pleased. 51:49 But I was determined to do even more 51:51 than the secular museum sites were doing. 51:54 Since that time we have developed techniques 51:57 for producing 3D virtual reality images of the bones. 52:02 In addition to the photographs, 52:04 you can now see thousands of 3D images 52:08 that you can take your mouse and rotate the bone around 52:11 and see it from all sides. 52:13 We gave a paper on this technique 52:15 at the Geological Society of America meetings. 52:20 We also since we have developed these virtual reality maps, 52:24 so we could see all the bones in the query. 52:26 We decided we would go one step further 52:29 and allow those who are visiting our site 52:31 to click on a button that will show them 52:33 where the bone they were looking out, 52:35 it was found in a query. 52:36 So you can now do that, any bone in the collection, 52:39 you can click on the map button, 52:42 it up comes the picture of the bone in the query 52:45 with all the bones that surround it. 52:55 No other museum site in the world, 52:57 no other museum site in the world has these features. 53:03 We went on to present two additional papers 53:06 at national meetings of the Geological Society of America. 53:09 We published the paper 53:11 in the symposium volume on our website. 53:14 We also have launched an educational site, 53:17 sharing in philosophically mutual terms, 53:21 the excitement and interest of dinosaurs. 53:23 So that students can learn about dinosaurs 53:25 without learning about millions of years in evolution. 53:29 This is for public school children as well as their own. 53:32 Many of you would enjoy visiting this site, 53:35 seeing some of the neat things that was there. 53:37 All these from bunch of creationists 53:39 of the small Seventh-day Adventist University in Texas. 53:45 By the way, if you want to go to these sites, 53:47 the address is (SWAU) 53:49 southwestern adventistuniversity.edu 53:53 and you can put in front of that either fossil 53:55 or dinosaur or dinodig, any one of those words 53:59 to go to one of these sites. 54:01 A dinosaur paleontologist, probably the best known 54:04 dinosaur authority in the world, 54:06 recently came to our campus to learn 54:08 how to map queries using the techniques we use. 54:11 While he was there, we showed him our museum site 54:14 and our educational site. 54:17 And he had with him the director 54:19 of one of the largest museums in the world. 54:22 His response in an e mail was the following. 54:26 He said, "I was astounded, 54:28 I have never seen before such precise 54:31 and comprehensive data management system 54:34 for paleontology and for the lab. 54:37 No other museum or university comes 54:39 close for dinosaur digs." 54:41 This is the guy that's been on major dinosaur 54:44 digs all over the world. 54:46 God has richly blessed us in this work. 54:48 It's a testimony to His name 54:50 that this recognition comes. Amen. 54:55 During the last two weeks just before I came here, 54:58 I was camped in a tent high above the Arctic Circle 55:02 where the sun circles the sky overhead 24 hours a day. 55:06 The temperature stayed is zero degrees 55:08 centigrade around the clock, 55:10 and magnetic compasses pointed anywhere but north. 55:13 We were looking at deposits that were supposed 55:16 to be 17 million years old. 55:19 These plants were unique, you could have build 55:22 a house out of the wood or burned it in your fireplaces. 55:25 We got cones, frozen cones out of permafrost 55:29 that we brought back to examine to see 55:31 whether we can get living cells out of them, 55:34 or whether we can extract DNA. 55:36 If we were successfully challenged, 55:39 the idea that these are 17 millions year old. 55:43 These are another projects of occupied 55:45 or attention for a professional lifetime. 55:48 We have found encouraging results from every project 55:51 we've undertaken, giving us data consisting 55:54 with our own model of earth history 55:55 and encouraging us to believe 55:57 that there are lots of our answers 55:59 out there yet to be found. Amen. 56:02 And we proved the biblical model of origins 56:05 and the global flood, correct? 56:07 No, but that was never our intent. 56:10 Science is not about proving things, 56:12 it's about testing ideas with experiments. 56:15 Ideas that correctly predict the outcomes of experiments 56:19 that haven't yet been done, or good ideas in science. 56:23 So far the biblical model of origins in a global flood 56:26 provides a very good model. |
Revised 2014-12-17