By Sandy Simpson
Deception in the Church

Seth Dahl, Bethel Church, Redding, CA: Dahl tells the Bethel Redding congregation of his experience with an enormous angel. Dahl asked the angel his name and then Googled in the angel’s answer. The angel’s name was the same as that of a finance company. Dahl then realized the angel was “here for our finances at Bethel. . . .” Dahl states, “You just need to hear a testimony so you can know what’s available to you ’cause I’m not trying to preach a sermon, I’m trying to invite you to a new way of life.” (Bethel Redding children’s pastor Seth Dahl )

Deluded!

There are only three (possibly four) angels named in the Bible and neither of them bear the name of the “finance company” for Bethel Church. Gabriel (Daniel 8:15–27; 9:20–27), Michael (see Daniel 10:21 and 12:1), Lucifer (not his actual name) or Satan, a fallen angel (Isaiah 14:12–18; Luke 10:18) and Apollyon/Abaddon (Revelation 9:11). Angels named in the Bible have important roles in Israel and/or the Church and would not be named after a finance company for a church in Redding, CA.

Seth Dahl, Bethel Church, Redding, CA: This youth leader states that in a vision Jesus picked him up, began to weep, and asked his forgiveness. (Bethel Redding children’s pastor Seth Dahl, /)

Deluded!

Jesus does not ask forgiveness because He is and always has been without sin (2 Corinthians 5:21, 1 Peter 2:22). He does forgive our sins if we confess them (1 John 1:9) and are “in Christ” or when we first believe.

Charles Capps: “He [God] framed the world with His words. You can’t build without substance. He took words – faith-Filled words were God’s substance. Here, essentially, is what God did. God filled His words with faith. He used His words as containers to hold His faith and contain that spiritual force and transport it out there into the vast darkness by saying ‘Light be!’ That’s the way God transported His faith causing creation and transformation.” (Charles Capps, Dynamics of Faith & Confession (Tulsa, OK: Harrison House, 1987), 28-29.

Deluded!

God did not create the world by having faith or by filling “His words with faith” as if faith is a substance. God did not use any “force of faith” to create the world. He did so by His Word (2 Pet 3:5), His power (Isa 20:46), and by His will (Rev 4:11).

Kenneth Copeland: “Heaven has a north and a south and an east and a west. Consequently, it must be a planet.” (“Spirit, Soul and Body I” (Fort Worth, TX: Kenneth Copeland Ministries. 1985), audiotape #01-0601, side 1.

Deluded!

Heaven is actually the “third heaven” (2 Corinthians 12:2) not a planet. Planets inhabit the second heaven. There is the earth, heaven and third heaven. The Third heaven or Paradise (2 Corinthians 12:4) is outside of the universe of space and time.

Fred Price: “If you keep talking death, that is what you are going to have. If you keep talking sickness and disease, that is what you are going to have, because you are going to create the reality of them with your own mouth. That is a divine law.” (Fred Price, Realm, 29).

Deluded!

There is no such “divine law” stating we can kill ourselves or stop sickness and disease by what we say. This is all part of the “force of faith” “name it and claim it” “confession doctrine” of the New Thought, Word of Faith heresies.

John Kilpatrick: “You need to understand friends, your words are like containers. When they come up out of the innermost part of your belly, out of the heart, the mouth speaketh. As these things come out of your heart, they are spirits, by the time they come out of your mouth, that spirit is encapsulated in some little package and when you begin to speak this stuff out whether it is good or evil, it comes out in the way of little containers in your home and it goes out in your home and it begins to burst. As they burst life is either released or death is released. Blessings are released or cursings are released.” (Glory on Your House, John Kilpatrick)

Deluded!

Again, this is Word of Faith nonsense. Our words are containers that are spirits? Our words are our words and they cannot “release death.” God’s words are above all human words (Psalm 19:4, 138:2). Only Jesus hold the keys to death and Hades (Revelation 1:18).

Rory Alec: “This represents the fact that Jesus, when you partake of this, this represents that his blood has washed you clean of all sin. And therefore you are gods; you have been purchased by the blood of Jesus.” (The Christian Channel Europe “Good Morning Europe” Date Unknown)

Deluded!

The “you are gods” doctrine of Word of Faith is the original lie of Satan in the Garden. Genesis 3:5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” There are no other gods but one God. Explicit statements: Ex. 8:10; 9:14; 15:11; 2 Sam. 7:22; 1 Kgs. 8:23; 1 Chr. 17:20; Psa. 86:8; Isa. 40:18, 25: 44:7; 46:5, 9; Jer. 10:6-7; Micah 7:18. Being like God is a Satanic lie: Gen. 3:5; Isa. 14:14; John 8:44. Fallen man become “like God” only in that he took upon himself to know good and evil, not that he acquired godhood: Gen. 3:22. There is only one true God: 2 Chr. 15:3; Jer. 10:10; John 17:3; 1 Thess. 1:9; 1 John 5:20-21. All other “gods” are therefore false gods (idols), not gods at all: Deut. 32:21; 1 Sam. 12:21; Psa. 96:5; Isa. 37:19; 41:23-24, 29; Jer. 2:11; 5:7; 16:20; 1 Cor. 8:4; 10:19-20. A born again Christian is a child of God (John 1:12) and joins the bride of Christ (Revelation 19:7) but is not Christ Himself, which would make the above Scriptures a lie.

Benny Hinn: “Now I am going to read one scripture and then I am going to preach and the Devil is going to drop dead.” (The Christian Channel Europe “Praise The Lord” (TBN) 22/2/98)

Deluded!

The Devil will never drop dead. He will ultimately be sent to hell along with the demons who followed him and all unbelievers (Revelation 20:10-15) where he will be tortured forever.

Paul Crouch: “He [God] doesn’t even draw a distinction between Himself and us. . . . You know what else that’s settled, then, tonight? This hue and cry and controversy that has been spawned by the Devil to try and bring dissension within the body of Christ that we are gods. I am a little god! . . . I have His name. I’m one with Him. I’m in covenant relation. I am a little god! Critics, be gone!” (“Praise the Lord” program on TBN [7 July 1986].)

Deluded!

See the above about being “little gods.” Also, apparently, Crouch thought (he has passed on and now knows the truth about what he said) that he was speaking for all Christians in saying we are all little gods. But he was not because he was a heretic.

John Avanzini: “John 19 tells us that Jesus wore designer clothes. Well, what else you gonna call it? Designer clothes–that’s blasphemy. No, that’s what we call them today. I mean, you didn’t get the stuff He wore off the rack. It wasn’t a one-size-fits-all deal. No, this was custom stuff. It was the kind of a garment that kings and rich merchants wore. Kings and rich merchants wore that garment.” (“Believer’s Voice of Victory” program on TBN [20 January 1991].)

Deluded!

Jesus never wore “designer clothes.” The Bible says he was poor and had nowhere to lay his head.

To continue reading this article by Sandy Simpson, click here.

Related Information:

The New Age Propensities of Bethel Church’s Bill Johnson by John Lanagan

The Perfect Storm of Apostasy – An Introduction to the Kansas City Prophets and Other Latter-Day Prognosticators by Mary Danielsen

LTRP Note: The following is a chapter from Castles in the Sand, a Lighthouse Trails novel based on true facts, exposing the dangers of contemplative spirituality. The story is about a young Christian college girl who is introduced to mysticism through her spiritual formation professor. In the following chapter, Tessa, troubled by some of the strange symptoms she is experiencing when practicing meditation, seeks help from her school counselor . But alas, the counselor is involved in the very spirituality that is affecting her. His advice? He encourages Tessa to turn to an ancient mystic, Teresa of Avila, for wisdom and understanding.

Castles in the Sand
by Carolyn A. Greene
Chapter 19: Bad Counsel

But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.–Jesus, Matthew 6:7

March 23
“And so, I’m really not sure what to think anymore about this spiritual formation training,” Tessa said softly. She felt very small and insignificant sitting in front of the huge desk in the head counselor’s office. The walls were covered with hardwood panels, and on the one with the credenza pushed against it hung a framed portrait of a man staring down at her with knowing eyes. The counselor wrote on a notepad with an expensive-looking gold pen. He had been at Flat Plains Bible College for nearly five years, and most of the students respected him. Tessa had often heard him play his cello in the string quartet during chapel for Monday meditations. He was a bachelor, but not the kind the girls would flirt with. She wondered if he ironed his own shirts every day, as he always wore a crisp white one under his sports jacket. He had a few odd quirks but was generally kindhearted and caring. Tessa didn’t know why she felt so uncomfortable as she sat in his office. The counselor analyzed the comments he’d been jotting down. His notes said this girl had dark circles under her eyes and seemed very nervous. She had no previous record of drug use and had never gotten into trouble at school.

“Miss Dawson, we realize it’s an emotionally and spiritually demanding course. You have probably been working very hard. I see you stayed at school over the Christmas holidays as well as spring break last week to catch up on some course assignments. With the semester nearly over, the pressure will soon be off. Have you talked to your spiritual formation professor?”

“Well, she was the one who recommended that I be mentored by Ms. Jasmine. Naturally, I was excited about that, at first. Now, I’m not sure anymore. So I talked to the other counselor this morning, and she told me that you and Ms. Jasmine are the only people I need to talk to about my concerns.”

“Did she now? Instead of speaking to me, have you talked to Dr. Winters first about your concerns?” He secretly wished Dr. Jasmine Winters hadn’t been so casual with the students, allowing them to address her by her first name. It was simply disrespectful.

“Well, that’s the problem. I’m not comfortable with that.”

The counselor leaned forward on his oak desktop and looked at her over his black-rimmed glasses . “Well, apparently Dr. Winters is comfortable enough to have you all call her Ms. Jasmine. Now, could you tell me exactly why you are ‘uncomfortable’?”

“It’s like this. I . . . when I am in a session . . . I mean, when I did the sessions with Ms. Jazz, I mean Dr. Winters, strange things happen, I mean, happened.” Tessa started to cry. “I’m sorry, I haven’t been sleeping well.”

Tessa felt her throat tightening. This wasn’t easy for her. At first, in the beginning of the school year, everything was good. Really good, actually, and Tessa had soon become a keen and open-minded student. But later, she’d begun having reservations, even before Katy read her “the list.” She couldn’t say why, exactly, only that she’d started to feel vaguely suspicious and oddly unsettled about the whole thing. That was probably why she could never muster the courage to take it to the next level. And lately, her resistance seemed increasingly ineffective. She used to have control, but she didn’t seem to have it anymore. Had the words of warning, the words she had so carelessly rejected, been right after all?

“What sort of strange things?” the counselor asked, interrupting her thoughts.

“Yes. Well, this may sound very, very weird, but I get a tingling, prickling sensation in my head and my hands, and sometimes all the way down to my feet.”

“Has Dr. Winters been letting you drink her Yerba Mate? It sometimes has an effect on certain people.”

Tessa shuddered at the thought of the South American tea Ms. Jasmine sometimes drank through a metal straw. She thought the Yerba leaves looked and smelled like a wet horse stall.

“No. You don’t believe me, do you?” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a folded, wrinkled paper. It was the list Katy had tried reading to her the other night. Later, when Katy wasn’t there, Tessa picked it up, folded it neatly, and put it in one of her books. “I would like to read this to you. These are some symptoms that–”

“That you have?”

“Well, I might have some, but so does my friend Elise and at least half the class. But Dr. Winters has most of these. Can I just read this?”

“Have you been to see the school nurse?” he asked.

“I don’t need a nurse!” she said too loudly, and remorsefully looked down at the floor. “Please . . .” she said quietly.

“Go ahead.” The counselor leaned back in his chair.

“These are some of the symptoms I am talking about. It’s only some of them.”

Before coming there that day, she had highlighted certain symptoms on the list with a yellow marker, ones she had either experienced herself or saw or heard about in others, including Ms. Jasmine–especially Ms. Jasmine. She held the wrinkled paper in her clammy hands and began reading the symptoms she had marked:

Hearing sounds like a flute, waterfall, bees buzzing, ringing in the ears, inner voices, mental confusion, difficulty concentrating, emotional outbursts, uncontrollable laughing and crying, rapid mood shifts, fear, rage, heightened awareness, trances, sensations of heat or prickling in the hands and head, feelings of peace and tranquility, ecstasy, dreams or visions of spirit guides, out-of-body experiences, awareness of auras, chakras, healing powers, sensitivity–

“All right, all right. That’s enough, I’ve got the point,” the counselor interrupted. He pulled off his glasses, puffed a few breaths of hot air onto the lenses, and unfolded a clean white handkerchief to polish them.

“But I’m not finished. I–”

“Miss Dawson, look, I believe you. A few other students have reported minor things. But everything has an explanation. This is a very old school. Before we rule out the insulation or the lead paint, here’s what I think. First of all, you have completed the required reading, am I correct?”

Tessa nodded.

“Then you must know that the ancient Christians who tapped into methods of prayer that the modern church has forgotten also describe many of the same experiences. What if these things, which you say make you fearful, are simply God’s graces and favors being bestowed upon you? Rather than having a fear-based faith, we must open ourselves to God’s voice. We must not shut the door to new forms of God’s communication with us, Tessa. The Bible says, ‘Shout to the Lord a new song!’ We cannot put God in a box.”

He reached behind him and pulled a book from his shelf. The title on the cover said The Interior Castle by Teresa of Avila, but Tessa thought this one looked older and thicker than her copy, which was called Selections from the Interior Castle. He pushed up his thick-framed glasses and opened it to a page with a folded corner.

“As St. Teresa of Avila wrote, ‘Our Lord is just as pleased today as He has ever been to reveal favors to his people, and I’m convinced that anyone who will not believe this closes the door to receiving them herself.’ So you see, only those who believe and open the door will be the recipients of His revelations and favors!”

Tessa knew about that. She had written a paper on the Teresian prayer model. “Yes, I understand that concept. But something is not right, I’m telling you. One evening not long ago, I arrived early at our mentoring session, and Ms. Jazz was . . . she was . . .”

“Tessa, Dr. Winters is a very spiritually disciplined person, and a fine role model. She does the fixed hours of prayer several times a day, and some people, when they find out, just don’t understand. It’s a classic case of fearing the unknown. I trust she has been training you to do your prayer exercises as well. May I ask how far you have gone in your quiet prayer time in regard to the inner rooms of the Teresian prayer model?”

“Well, I . . . I could never get past the fourth room,” she said, sniffing. “The castle. It haunts me in my dreams. What I thought was beautiful is turning into a bad dream. It’s just not lining up with . . .” She stopped in mid-sentence and thought about Katy and Gramps, and how they would often say that something was not “lining up with Scripture.” “I guess I just don’t know anymore if the voices I am hearing are from God or . . . I’m just . . . I’m very scared.”

“Dear Tessa, I think I have just answered your own question.” The counselor looked pleased with himself and assured her with a compassionate smile. “Now take a deep breath and listen to me carefully. Close your eyes . . . There, that’s right. Now, do you remember how St. Teresa compared the doubts we have to reptiles? Let me read a little more from the fifth chapter.” The way the counselor read reminded Tessa of the way Ms. Jasmine read—slowly, methodically, pronounced:

In the prayer of quiet in the previous mansion, the soul needs to be very experienced before it can be sure what really happened to it. Did it imagine the whole thing? Was it asleep and dreaming? Did the experience come from God, or from the devil disguised as an angel of light? The mind feels a thousand doubts. And so it ought, for as I said, we can be deceived in these mansions, even by our own nature. It is true that there is little chance of those poisonous creatures entering the Fourth Mansion, but slippery little lizards are small enough to slip in unnoticed. They do no harm, especially if we ignore them, but these little thoughts and fancies thrown out by the imagination can be annoying.

However active those lizards may be, they cannot enter into the Fifth Mansion. Here, neither the imagination, the understanding, or the memory has any power to prevent God’s grace flowing into the soul.

The counselor closed the book and placed it on a stack of Travel Mongolia magazines. His chair creaked as he leaned back and took off his glasses again. “Tessa,” he said, “perhaps you need to enter into the fifth room of the castle and allow God’s grace to flow into your soul. You seem too focused on poisonous, negative thoughts, which you simply must choose to ignore. I suggest you contemplate Scripture more often through your lectio divina exercises.”

Tessa nodded her head, folded the paper, and stood up. Her ears began to ring again. The book he had read from sounded different from the one she had. Why were they always quoting to her out of books? Gramps usually quoted the Bible, and he seemed to know a lot of it by heart. She wasn’t sure if Ms. Jasmine even owned a Bible. If she did, Tessa had never seen it.

She was more confused than ever. Everyone here kept telling her to shut out the noises and go within herself. “There you will find your true self,” they’d say. However, her true self was the part of her that was so confused. Gramps always said that God is not the author of confusion. For some reason, Tessa remembered that cold fall day at the retreat when they were instructed to go and find their true selves, and she found the mysterious woodsman instead. What was that verse he read? “Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.”

She had no idea why she remembered that verse today, but how desperately she longed to know truth and have wisdom right now.
“May I go now?” she asked, rubbing her temples. “I . . . I have a really bad headache.”

The counselor nodded and watched her walk to the door….

“Oh and Miss Dawson, one more thing,” he said as she paused with her hand on the knob. “St. Teresa, your namesake, also said that a venomous reptile cannot live in the presence of divine light. If we are to be Christ followers, we must choose not to join the ranks of the spiritually uncivilized who refuse to be enlightened. Please keep this in mind.”

Tessa gave a weak, “OK,” then opened the door and stepped into the hall. The door swung shut behind her with a precise click. She watched as students walked past her to their classes, chatting and laughing happily as though everything was normal and there wasn’t a care in the world. As for herself, she wondered if she was going mad. Nothing made sense anymore.

Back in the office, the counselor glanced at his watch. Thank goodness she’s gone, he thought. It was nearly noon. Time for the Daily Office, the fixed hours of prayer Ms. Jasmine had taught them at their second staff retreat. He found that even five minutes spent centering down helped him get through a stressful day. Lately, more students like Tessa had begun to ask him too many difficult questions. Not to mention that paranoid old Mr. Brown who had been phoning and giving him a hard time.

He was beginning to feel more than a little annoyed.

He locked his office door, put a Taize worship CD into his Sony player and sat down in his chair again. Glancing up at the chart on his wall, he took a deep breath. He nearly had it memorized but wanted to be sure of the steps, so he read them again:

-Be attentive and open
-Sit still
-Sit straight
-Breathe slowly, deeply
-Close your eyes or lower them to the ground

Then he closed his eyes and slowly repeated the verse of the day from the Sacred Meditation website–

Be still and know that I am God.
Be still and know that I am God.
Be still and know . . .
that I am God . . .
that I am God . . .
that I am God.
That I am God,
I am God,
I am God,
I am God,
I am,
I am,
I am,
I am . . .

The noise in the hallway soon disappeared as Dr. Frank Johnson … shut out the sounds around him and slipped into a peaceful inner silence.

(This is an excerpt from chapter 19 of Castles in the Sand, the 1st novel published by Lighthouse Trails.)

By Heather Clark
Christian News Network

An online petition has been launched over revelations that the popular evangelical-owned fast food restaurant Chick-fil-A has been listed as a sponsor of a “faith-based” homosexual film and arts festival.

Level Ground began as a student-organized event in 2013, and was touted as the “world’s first faith-based LGBT film festival.” It has since expanded to six cities across the country and includes not only film, but music, theater, visual arts, comedy, and various workshops with the goal of “elevating the public discourse around the otherwise polarizing topics of gender identity and human sexuality.”

“The Level Ground Festival draws a unique audience that reflects the full spectrum of religious (and non-religious) beliefs, gender identities, and sexual orientations,” the festival website outlines. “All denominations, theologies, beliefs, races, and ages are welcome.”

Earlier this month, the Level Ground Festival opened in Nashville, being sponsored by the pro-homosexual Gracepointe Church and Vanderbilt Divinity School, among others. The event featured panel talks that included former Contemporary Christian artist Jennifer Knapp, who came out as a lesbian in 2005 and went on to found a homosexual advocacy group, as well as folk musician Derek Webb, known for his song “I Repent” and his former role in the Christian group Caedmon’s Call.

Other attendees included Melissa Greene, [IF: Gathering] formerly of the group Avalon and worship leader at Gracepointe, and Karen Swallow Prior of Virginia’s Liberty University [a contemplative/emerging college]. But Level Ground has general sponsors as well, which the group has posted on its website. Included on the page among Whole Foods, Hilton Pasadena, and Stone Brewing Company is the popular fast-food restaurant Chick-fil-A. Click here to continue reading.

LTRP Note: Two years ago, we posted this Letter to the Editor and our comments. Because we receive so many phone calls and e-mails from believers who are searching for biblically sound churches, we decided to post this again for those who haven't read it yet.

To Lighthouse Trails:

Our family is having a difficult time finding a church to attend due to a lot of the false doctrines that have been described on Lighthouse Trails. I know that your site has a lot of readers that are probably experiencing the same difficulty (and possibly feel like the only ones in their area that can’t seem to find a biblically sound church); or maybe some have found  churches that are aware of all these issues emerging and are biblically sound.

So my question is, do you guys have a list or forum for your readers to connect with each other in similar geographical areas? That way if someone has found a biblically sound church, he or she could share, or the readers could get together and fellowship with each other…

Thank you for your time and I am very appreciative to all the work you guys do to get the word out there regarding various false doctrines/teachers. I have learned a lot from your site. _________, Arizona

OUR RESPONSE

I’m sorry, but we don’t have such a forum or network. We have, in the past, tried to do these things, but they didn’t work out and required too much manpower for us to moderate. There are definitely other believers, many others, from whom we have heard over the past decade who are experiencing what you are. In fact, almost every day we hear from believers who are struggling to find biblical churches in their communities. We usually recommend they make phone calls to potential churches and ask a few concise questions such as:

“Do you have a Spiritual Formation program at your church?” or “Has your church implemented aspects of the Purpose Driven Movement anytime in the past 10 years?.”

Since thousands of churches would answer yes to both or at least one of these questions, they are worthwhile to ask, and it would certainly narrow down the scope of one’s search. Here are a few other questions that could be asked:

1. Is the pastor using The Message “Bible” in his sermons and studies? Because this paraphrase is very often used by pastors and teachers who promote contemplative spirituality or emerging spirituality (as the language in The Message helps support these false teachings), it is another indicator that a church is going in the wrong direction.

2. Is the church affiliated in any way with the Willow Creek Association? Oftentimes, a church has not implemented the Purpose Driven Movement but is, rather, hooked up with Willow Creek. This is as problematic as Purpose Driven. See our article titled, “No Repentance from Willow Creek – Only a Mystical Paradigm Shift.”

3. Ask a potential church if it would mind mailing you a few recent Sunday programs. When you get them, look for some of the key terms used within the contemplative/emerging camp: missional, servant leader, soul-care, spiritual formation, transformation, transitioning, silence, organic, authentic, reinvent, spiritual disciplines, Christ follower (the term Christian isn’t typically liked too well by contemplatives and emergent) Christian formation (or Christian spirituality) (a term often meaning the same as Spiritual Formation). Just using these terms alone doesn’t suddenly make a church contemplative or emerging, but it does show that at least one person in leadership at that church is reading books of that persuasion, and eventually that persons(s) influence will affect that church adversely.

In addition to those three questions, be sure and visit a church’s website as there you may be able to find the answers to these questions without making the phone call. When on a website, see if there is more talk about “culture” and relevancy than about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You can check out the doctrinal and mission statements but be on guard – a church can have a solid-sounding doctrinal statement and be actually going in an entirely different direction. Listen to our CD Beware the Bridgers for some information on that. And by the way, remember who some of the more popular “bridgers” are, closing the gap between “rightly dividing the Word” and spiritual deception in millions of people’s lives: Beth Moore, Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, John Piper, etc. – those who claim to be orthodox biblical Christians but who promote contemplative spirituality and emerging figures.

Also, once your search for a new church has narrowed down to a few churches, a weekday visit to those churches’ bookstores would be important. Look for books by Richard Foster, Gary Thomas, Henri Nouwen, Brennan Manning, and other authors discussed and critiqued on the LT website. Chris Lawson from Spiritual Research Network has an extensive “Master List” of authors who fall within the contemplative, emerging, hyper-charismatic, River, New Age, “Christian” homosexual etc. camps. It’s an excellent resource.

When all this has been done to find a Bible-believing church, if there are any in your community that have passed the contemplative/emerging/Purpose Driven test, maybe it’s safe to take your family for a Sunday visit. Are many of the people walking in carrying Bibles? Seeker-friendly and church-growth churches discourage that because it might “offend” unbelievers (or as they say unchurched) coming to church. Does the pastor at some point in his sermon talk about the Cross (the atonement) and salvation (and mention of hell)? Another subject that many churches avoid because of the “offensiveness” of that message. Better to offer an espresso drink and a little rock n roll music during the service and a psychology-based, feel good message that appeals to the carnal senses (sensual)  rather than build up the spiritual man.

Once you have found a church that seems to be sound, you should not stop being discerning. That must be ongoing. That might seem like a  “paranoid” or overly concerned attitude to have, but if we remember the many verses in Scripture that talk about spiritual deception (right from the Garden of Eden all the way to the Book of Revelation), we will realize it is the responsibility of the Christian to be discerning and watchful.  And the Bible frequently talks about the latter days before Christ’s return where deception will run more rampant than ever before. Roger Oakland gives a list of signs to look for to see if a church is becoming or has become contemplative/emerging. As you begin to attend a new church, this list may be helpful to you and your family:

Scripture is no longer the ultimate authority as the basis for the Christian faith.

The centrality of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is being replaced by humanistic methods promoting church growth and a social gospel.

More and more emphasis is being placed on building the kingdom of God now and less and less on the warnings of Scripture about the imminent return of Jesus Christ and a coming judgment in the future.

The teaching that Jesus Christ will rule and reign in a literal millennial period is considered unbiblical and heretical.

The teaching that the church has taken the place of Israel and Israel has no prophetic significance is often embraced.

The teaching that the Book of Revelation does not refer to the future, but instead has been already fulfilled in the past.

An experiential mystical form of Christianity begins to be promoted as a method to reach the postmodern generation.

Ideas are promoted teaching that Christianity needs to be re­invented in order to provide meaning for this generation. 

The pastor may implement an idea called “ancient-future” or “vintage Christianity” claiming that in order to take the church forward, we need to go back in church history and find out what experiences were effective to get people to embrace Christianity.

While the authority of the Word of God is undermined, images and sensual experiences are promoted as the key to experiencing and knowing God.

These experiences include icons, candles, incense, liturgy, labyrinths, prayer stations, contemplative prayer, experiencing the sacraments, particularly the sacrament of the Eucharist.

There seems to be a strong emphasis on ecumenism indicating that a bridge is being established that leads in the direction of unity with the Roman Catholic Church.

Some evangelical Protestant leaders are saying that the Reformation went too far. They are reexamining the claims of the “church fathers” saying that communion is more than a symbol and that Jesus actually becomes present in the wafer at communion.

There will be a growing trend towards an ecumenical unity for the cause of world peace claiming the validity of other religions and that there are many ways to God.

Members of churches who question or resist the new changes that the pastor is implementing are reprimanded and usually asked to leave.

Roger has these signs listed in his booklet, How to Know When the Emerging Church Shows Signs of Emerging into Your Church.1 May God bless you in your search. It may seem like an insurmountable task, but we know there are still good churches out there because we often hear from pastors who are staying the course and are aware of the times in which we live. May God lead you to find one of these churches.

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural [carnal] man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:12-16)

Creation Versus Evolution: Things They Never Tell You by Maria Kneas is our newest Lighthouse Trails Booklet Tract. The Booklet Tract is 18 pages long and sells for $1.95 for single copies. Quantity discounts are as much as 50% off retail. Our Booklet Tracts are designed to give away to others or for your own personal use.  Below is the content of the booklet. To order copies of Creation Versus Evolution: Things They Never Told You, click here. This is an important booklet. As Roger Oakland says, what one believes about creation and evolution determines what they will believe about morality and a Savior.

Creation Versus Evolution: Things They Never Told You

By Maria Kneas

Years ago, I was fighting cancer, and I needed to trust the Lord. In spite of the fact that God has always faithfully taken care of me, it was amazingly difficult for me to really trust Him. I said the right things and prayed the right prayers, but deep down inside, I was still afraid. It is always easier to trust the Lord from a point of safety, but my difficulty went deeper than that. So for months, I asked God to help me trust Him and to deal with whatever was hindering that trust.

Then, one day, someone unexpectedly gave me a catalog of books and videos produced by the Institute for Creation Research (ICR).1

Out of curiosity, I ordered a video on the volcanic eruption of Mount Saint Helens in Washington. On watching that video, I saw with my own eyes a wall of sediment six hundred feet high, which had been laid down by the volcano since 1980. Rather than being laid down gradually, it was laid down in spurts by lava flows, mud slides, etc. For example, in one day, 25 feet of finely stratified layers were laid down. Some of those layers were less than a centimeter thick and were laid down in seconds. I had always been taught that layered rock like that takes millions of years to form.

I saw with my own eyes a 100-foot-deep canyon system carved out in one day by a hurricane-speed mud slide which cut through solid rock. The canyon system looked like a miniature Grand Canyon. It even had a stream running through the bottom of it. I had always been taught that canyon systems are formed over millions of years as a river gradually cuts its way down into the rock.

The video was interesting, but I had no idea how important it was until the next time I read the Bible. It seemed more real, more believable. I felt the Bible’s authority in a way I had never felt before.

I had always believed things with which I was personally familiar. I believed Jesus healed people because I saw God heal my mother’s back. I believed Jericho’s walls fell down, and many other events in biblical history, because they have been verified by archaeologists. I believed biblical prophecy because it has been verified by history.2 However, it was difficult for me to believe unfamiliar things such as Creation and Noah’s flood. I was always looking for other evidence to support what Scripture said because the Bible’s authority wasn’t enough for me.

All my life, I’ve been interested in science. As a result, I was thoroughly steeped in evolution, both in school and through reading, TV, and movies. In college, my professors of religion taught me that the Genesis account of Creation isn’t true because science has proved evolution, and therefore Genesis can’t be taken to mean what it says. Starting with that assumption, they tore the entire Bible to pieces. And this happened in a college that claimed to be Christian!

Seeing the video on Mount Saint Helen’s broke the power of what I had been taught in college. Evolution no longer seemed like a rock-hard, unquestionable fact. For the first time, I was free to seriously question evolution. For the first time, I was free to consider trusting the book of Genesis. The result was I found myself trusting the authority of the Bible in a new way.

I ordered more videos and some books. As I studied them, I saw a change take place in the way I shared the Gospel with people. Before, I had never been able to tell people why it was necessary for Jesus to shed His blood. I had heard and read the standard explanations many times, but they never really made sense to me. Intellectually, I knew that:

For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. (1 Corinthians 15:21-22)

I could quote it, but it didn’t really make sense to me. However, once I became familiar with the creation books and videos, that statement came alive for me. For the first time in my Christian life, I became comfortable talking about the sin of Adam and the need for the shed blood of Jesus.
Before those creation materials set me free, I had been double minded. With part of my mind, I believed the Bible, and with part of my mind, I believed in evolution.

Evolution says that animals suffered and died for millions of years and gradually changed into people. In other words, death and suffering were in the world millions of years before Adam existed. The Bible says there was no death or suffering before Adam’s sin. Therefore, evolution denies that death and suffering are the result of sin, thereby denying the reason that Jesus died. The following quotations from the American Atheist and The Humanist show the importance of this issue:

When the theory of evolution was advanced, that was the date that the Judeo-Christian religion began the decline in which it now finds itself in the West.3

Destroy Adam and Eve and original sin, and in the rubble you will find the sorry remains of the son of God.4

Darwin’s discovery of the principle of evolution sounded the death knell of religious and moral values. It removed the ground from under the feet of traditional religion.5

These quotes also show the importance of creation in evangelizing. It is difficult for people who believe in evolution to really believe the Bible, which means they usually aren’t open to being led to Jesus through Scripture. Once people learn that creation is scientifically reasonable, then a major hindrance to faith is removed, and they become more open to the Gospel. If you have never watched Roger Oakland’s lecture series on creation versus evolution, Searching for the Truth on Origins, I would highly recommend it. Mr. Oakland explains how “creation evangelism” is a highly effective way to win people to Christ through showing them the evidence (which he provides in the series) that evolution is a faulty and unproven theory.

Two Opposing Religions
The controversy between creationism and evolution is not a disagreement between science and religion. Rather, it is a dispute between advocates of opposing religions: scientists who believe the Bible versus scientists who believe in humanism.

For humanists, evolution is one of their basic articles of faith. In America, humanism and atheism are both tax-exempt religions, as I explained earlier in this book.6 Here is what some evolutionists have said:

The fact that a theory so vague, so insufficiently verifiable, and so far from the criteria otherwise applied in “hard” science has become a dogma can only be explained on sociological grounds.7

[The theory of evolution is] universally accepted not because it has been observed to occur or can be proved by logically coherent evidence to be true, but because the only alternative—special creation—is clearly incredible.8

Many scientists who were formerly evolutionists have become creationists as a result of the scientific evidence. They have found that the scientific model of creation followed by a world-wide flood explains the evidence better than the scientific model of evolution.9

Scientific Problems with Evolution
There are many problems with the theory of evolution. For example, gradual improvements are supposed to be caused by mutations. However, geneticists say that mutations never cause beneficial changes—mutational changes are always harmful or neutral.

Chemicals are supposed to have formed simple life forms, but microbiologists have discovered there is no such thing as a simple life form. Even the most primitive one-celled creatures are incredibly complex. Scientists specializing in probability theory say:

The chance that higher life forms might have emerged in this way is comparable with the chance that a tornado sweeping through a junk-yard might assemble a Boeing 747 from the materials therein.10

If evolution occurred, then the fossil record should be full of missing links. However, only a few have been found, and every single one of them is disputed by experts. For example, archaeopteryx used to be considered a missing link between reptiles and birds. However, fossils of modern birds have been found which are older than archaeopteryx. (It can’t be a missing link—something slowly evolving into a bird—if birds already existed.) Also, the eohippus-to-horse transition turned out to be a fallacy.

Every single ape-man has turned out to be a regular human, a regular ape, or a fraud. Even the celebrated Lucy is considered by many experts to be a regular chimpanzee. The only bone in Lucy which makes her seem human is the knee joint, which was found a mile and a half away from the rest of the skeleton and 200 feet lower down in the rock. Skeletons of modern humans have been found which are older than any of the “ape-men.” (Ape-men couldn’t have been slowly evolving into modern humans if modern humans already existed.)11

Evolutionists are so anxious to have evidence that ape-men existed, they continue to teach them in textbooks and museum exhibits long after they have been proven to be mistakes or frauds. For example, Peking Man consisted of ape skulls, human implements, and the assumption that the owners of the skulls used the implements. However, six complete human skeletons were later found at the same site. Obviously, the humans were the creatures that used the human implements. In spite of that, Peking man continues to appear in textbooks and museum exhibits. Furthermore, a furnace was later found at the same site, along with a pile of ashes over two stories high. No primitive ape-man could have built a furnace like that.

Java Man was a fraud, but it is still treated as an ape-man. Eugene Dubois found an ape skull and a human leg bone and said they belonged to the same creature—an ape-man. Before his death, Dubois confessed he had found two fully human skulls and four other human leg bones at the same site. Therefore, Java Man (also called Homo Erectus) was just a normal human. However, it is still presented as an ape-man in textbooks and museum exhibits.

Piltdown Man was a deliberate fraud—a human skull cap and an ape’s jaw with teeth that were filed down to look like human teeth. It had been chemically stained to look old. Piltdown Man was exhibited at the British Museum of Natural History in 1912.

Suppressing Evidence
In 1916, a dental anatomist examined Piltdown Man and wrote a report showing that it was a fake. However, the museum suppressed his report.12 They exhibited a copy of the fossil, locked the original skull in a safe, and refused to allow scientists to examine it. Piltdown Man remained on exhibit until 1953. By then, the man who discovered the skull was no longer around. Personnel and policies at the museum had changed, and some scientists were allowed to date the skull. In the process, they discovered that it was a fraud.13 In other words, leading scientists of a world-renowned museum had suppressed the information that Piltdown Man was a fraud. They exhibited Piltdown Man as an ape-man for 41 years even though they knew that it was a fake. Furthermore, they deliberately concealed the evidence by locking the fossil in a safe and refusing to let other scientists examine it. This shows a desperate need to convince people that ape-men existed, whether or not there is any real evidence.

Suppression of evidence also takes the form of automatically discrediting any evidence that is contrary to evolutionary theory. I was always taught in Science class that if the facts don’t fit your theory, you are supposed to change your theory—not throw out the facts. However, in practice, the opposite is often true.

Motives for suppressing evidence include job security, fear of causing a controversy, professional reputation, and the philosophical implications of evolution. Also, paleontologists don’t get research grant money for finding apes or men; they only get it for finding ape-men. Therefore, they are tempted to suppress evidence and claim that a find is an ape-man when they know that it really isn’t.

One example of suppressing evidence is the “Calaveras skull,” which was found 130 feet below ground by a California gold miner. The skull was almost completely mineralized. It was authenticated by a physician as a modern type of skull. J.D. Whitney, chief of the California Geological Survey, authenticated that it was found in the Pliocene rock, which is supposed to be over two million years old.

The problem is that, according to the evolutionary timetable, human beings weren’t around then. So it was assumed that the skull had been planted there—in spite of the fact that the rock was also full of stone mortars, bowls, and other signs of human workmanship. Also, how could anybody plant a skull in solid rock? To this day, the skull is ignored or explained away, while Whitney’s report lies buried in the museum archives.14

Another example of suppressing evidence is two half-skeletons that were discovered in Utah in 1975. They were completely encased in rock. The bones were taken to the University of Utah for official testing and confirmation. However, nothing was done; no report was issued. The experts refused to follow up on this discovery. The man who discovered them had to come back to pick them up. Why were the experts afraid to follow up on it? Because the bones came out of a rock layer that was supposed to be a hundred million years old.15

Lack of Evidence
Fortunately, also, some evolutionists are scientists of integrity, men and women who genuinely seek the truth and aren’t threatened by ideas different from what they were taught. Real truth-seekers aren’t threatened by facts. They don’t try to suppress evidence contrary to their position, and they don’t try to exaggerate evidence that favors it. Such scientists are often aware of how shaky the evidence for evolution is in their own area of science, but, having been taught evolution by teachers they trust, they assume that other scientific disciplines must have the solid evidence for it. Once they study the evidence in other areas of science, and realize how weak it is, some of them become creationists.

Stephen Jay Gould, a prominent evolutionist from Harvard University, tried to explain the lack of fossil evidence by developing the theory of “punctuated equilibrium,” which pictures evolutionary history as long periods when nothing happens, punctuated by sudden evolutionary spurts that occur so quickly no record is left in the fossils. Other evolutionists have tried to explain the lack of solid evidence for evolution by saying that it occurred somewhere else in the universe and the resulting plants and animals were transported to Earth (the theory of “directed panspermia”).

Many animals and plants show a precision of efficient engineering design that couldn’t have occurred by chance. Some evolutionists recognize this but are unwilling to acknowledge that God is the designer. Therefore, they attribute plan and purpose to evolution itself, or to the earth, or to mystical New Age forces. In other words, they personify evolution (or the earth) and make a god out of it.

Michael Denton, an Australian microbiologist, believes in evolution and openly mocks the Genesis account of creation in his book Evolution: A Theory in Crisis.16 Yet his book shows that biochemistry, microbiology, genetics, embryology, paleontology, and probability theory all fail to support the theory of evolution. His book contains so much information showing that the evidence of science is contrary to evolution.

There is also the problem of how transitional forms could have survived. For example, according to the theory of evolution, reptiles gradually changed into birds, which means that their front legs gradually changed into wings over millions of years. But wings and legs function in completely different ways. How did these transitional animals survive without the use of their front legs during the millions of years before those legs became functional wings?

If you want to understand this in practical terms, then get down on the floor and crawl on all fours. While you are still crawling, suddenly pick up your arms and hold them out sideways like wings.

It takes more faith to believe in evolution than it does to believe in creation.

The problems of gradual evolution have led some scientists to postulate the “hopeful monster” theory, which says that one day a reptile laid an egg and a bird hatched from it. But a baby bird cannot survive without a mother bird to feed it, take care of it, and teach it to fly. No mother reptile could do that for a bird, even if she wanted to. (Reptiles lay their eggs and leave; they don’t take care of their babies.) Also, how could such a bird reproduce with no other birds around? In spite of this, “hopeful monsters” are considered to be serious science, and articles about them are published in scientific journals. The American Association for the Advancement of Science even endorses a children’s book which promotes the idea.

One of the world’s greatest experts on fossils is Dr. Colin Patterson, Senior Paleontologist of the British Museum of Natural History. His museum contains over seven million fossils, which is the largest collection in the world. After more than twenty years of studying fossils, writing books on evolution, and teaching and speaking on evolution, he gave the following statement during his keynote address to prominent evolutionists at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, on November 5, 1981. He said that, after studying evolution for twenty years, he realized:

[T]here was not one thing I knew about it. That’s quite a shock to learn that one can be so misled so long.17

The introduction to the 1971 edition of Darwin’s The Origin of Species states that evolution has not been scientifically proven, and therefore belief in evolution could be considered faith rather than science. It says that evolution is the foundation of biology and, as a result:

[B]iology is thus in the peculiar position of being a science founded on an unproved theory—is it then a science or a faith?18

Harvard’s Nobel Prize winning biologist George Wald said, in Frontiers of Modern Biology on Theories of Origin of Life:

I do not want to believe in God. Therefore I choose to believe in that which I know is scientifically impossible, spontaneous generation leading to evolution.19

Problems with Dating
Evolution requires immense amounts of time to be at all plausible. (If a princess kisses a frog and it turns into a prince, that’s a fairy tale. If a frog turns into a prince over millions of years, that’s evolution.)

According to radiometric dating, the earth is over four billion years old. However, a number of problems with radiometric dating exist. It requires making several assumptions. Each one of these assumptions cannot be verified, and many scientists consider them to be unrealistic. Furthermore, as explained below, there is a problem caused by water.20

Radiometric dating depends on precise measurements of radioactive materials such as uranium, thorium, strontium, rubidium, and radioactive potassium. All of them occur as salts, which dissolve in water. If a rock containing them is left under water, the radioactive salts will leach out of the rock, and radiometric dating will show the rock to be far older than it really is. The presence of fossil fish on mountain tops indicates that the earth has known extensive flooding.

There are at least 68 other “natural clocks” which can be used to date the earth. These include:

The rate at which land is washed into the ocean
The rate at which salt collects in the ocean
The amount of cosmic dust on the moon
The decay of short-period comets
The rate at which oil leaks out of oil deposits
The earth’s shrinking magnetic field

Most of these “clocks” give a maximum age of thousands of years.21

The inaccuracy of radiometric dating is shown by studies of underwater rocks, which were formed less than 200 years ago by lava from two Hawaiian volcanoes (an active volcano named Kilauea and a volcano near Hualalai). The rocks were dated using radiometric dating. The ages obtained from Kilauea’s rocks ranged up to 22 million years.22 The ages obtained from rocks formed by the volcano near Hualalai ranged from 160 million years to three billion years.23 Both sets of rocks are known to be less than 200 years old because their formation by the volcanoes is a matter of historical record.

Evolutionist William Stansfield recognizes the serious problems with radiometric dating. In his textbook on evolution, he says:

Age estimates on a given geological stratum using different methods are often quite different (sometimes by hundreds of millions of years).24

This is of great practical importance because, during Noah’s flood, the entire earth was under water for over a year. The rain only lasted for forty days, but it remained twenty feet higher than the highest mountains for 150 days. After that, it took a year and ten days for the earth to dry out enough for Noah to come out of the ark (see Genesis 7:17-8:16).25

Many discoveries indicate that processes which we were taught take thousands or millions of years, actually occur quite quickly. As I mentioned earlier, the volcano at Mount Saint Helen’s laid down 25 feet of finely stratified layers in one day. A 100-foot-deep canyon system was carved out in one day by a mud slide through solid rock.

Other examples are coal (that also happened at Mt. St. Helens) and oil, which can be formed quite rapidly in a laboratory. They don’t require millions of years. All they require is the right conditions.

Given the right conditions, wood can be petrified quickly and fossils can form quickly. Many fossils of modern items have been found, including a fossilized 20th century hat.

Many fossils have been found, which indicate rapid burial under catastrophic conditions. For example, a fossil of an eighty-foot whale was found standing on its tail, buried in diatomaceous earth.26 (Diatomaceous earth, or diatomite, is formed by microscopic organisms with hard exterior skeletons or shells.) That whale had to be buried so quickly that it couldn’t rot or fall over. One witty letter to the editor in Chemical & Engineering News remarked:

The baleen whale simply stood on its tail for 100,000 years, its skeleton decomposing, while the diatomaceous snow covered its frame millimeter by millimeter.27

Conflicts with Laws of Science
Another basic problem with the theory of evolution is that it goes directly against several important laws of physical science. The Second Law of Thermodynamics, also known as the Law of Entropy, states that everything wears out, has less and less energy available for use, and becomes less and less ordered. You can see it all around you: your body is wearing out, your car gets more and more run down, you have to fight to maintain your house in decent shape. But evolution goes completely contrary to all that by saying that, on their own, things will become more and more complex, more ordered, that they will go upwards instead of running down. Evolution also goes contrary to the First Law of Thermodynamics (conservation of energy and matter). It also goes against the Law of Cause and Effect, and the Laws of Probability.

Humanist Agenda
Why is evolution taught so dogmatically as an absolute, unquestionable fact even though many scientists recognize there are serious difficulties with the theory? Because John Dewey (the “father of progressive education”) almost single handedly revolutionized education in the United States. He was a staunch humanist and a signer of the original “Humanist Manifesto.” He was determined to make the American school system conform to humanist ideals. An important part of that goal was indoctrinating students in evolution.28

The Bible says that one of the signs of the last days will be that people will choose to ignore three facts: (1) God created everything; (2) Noah’s flood was a world-wide judgment sent by God; and (3) there will be a coming judgment by fire. The refusal to acknowledge these things will be associated with moral corruption:

Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. (2 Peter 3:3-7)

Moral Consequences
There is a definite connection between moral corruption and not wanting to acknowledge God as our Creator. If God created us, then He makes the rules. If we evolved from animals, then we make the rules. Therefore, anybody who doesn’t want to abide by God’s rules has a vested interest in promoting evolution. Sir Julian Huxley, a famous atheist and one of the leading evolutionists of the 20th century, said during an interview on a talk show:

I suppose the reason we leaped at The Origin of Species was because the idea of God interfered with our sexual mores.29

Widespread belief in evolution has had a devastating effect on the morals of our society. Even Will Durant, a humanist philosopher who doesn’t believe he personally needs God, can recognize it:

By offering evolution in place of God as a cause of history, Darwin removed the theological basis of the moral code of Christendom.30

The principles of biological evolution have been extended to social, economic and national affairs, with tragic consequences. These are extensively documented by Henry M. Morris (The Long War Against God) and Ian Taylor (In the Minds of Men).31

Hitler, Mussolini, and Marx considered themselves to be applying the evolutionary principle of “survival of the fittest” to national affairs. Hitler believed that Jews were an inferior (less evolved) race. He decided to speed up the evolutionary process by exterminating them as part of his plan for producing a “super race” in Germany.

Slavery and racism were justified by saying that blacks have not evolved as far as whites. Evolutionary scientists publicly justified racism until Hitler’s massacre of the Jews made it unpopular.

Another result of evolutionism was the murder of Australian Aborigines to provide specimens for study and museum exhibits. Some have estimated that as many as 10,000 dead bodies of Australia’s Aborigines were shipped to British museums in an attempt to prove the widespread belief that they were the “missing link.”32

Edward Ramsay, curator of the Australian Museum in Sydney in 1894, published a museum booklet which included Aborigines under the designation of “Australian Animals.” It gave instructions on how to rob graves and how to plug up bullet wounds in freshly killed “specimens.” “Collectors” working under Ramsay were paid bounties for Aborigine skulls, brains, skeletons, bodies, and skins for mounting.

Amalie Dietrich, a German evolutionist, was known as the “black angel of death” because she had so many Aborigines shot for specimens. In the United States, evolutionists also collected specimens of “subhumans.” The Smithsonian Institution in Washington holds the remains of 15,000 individuals of various races. Even in quite modern times, aboriginal bones have been sought by major institutions. Aboriginal leaders and others are asking to have such remains returned and given a decent burial.33

Evolution contributes to suicide, especially among teenagers. Physician Michael Girouard has, in the course of his medical practice, seen a marked increase in suicidal thoughts when teenagers in science classes accept what evolution says about them—that they are just animals who exist because of blind chance, with no reason for being.34 A friend of mine vividly recalls the day in twelfth-grade science class when he suddenly saw the implications of evolution and concluded, “I’m just a piece of meat!”

Our nation was shocked by the brutal beating of Rodney King at the hands of the Los Angeles police. People were horrified by the events that followed: rioting, looting, burning, beatings, and killings. But should we really be surprised? What else would you expect from senseless animals? What we saw in Rodney King’s beating, and in the riots that followed, is people living out the evolutionist philosophy they were taught in school.

School children are taught they are just animals who have evolved from apes. Many people say that our schools today are a zoo. But what else should we expect from children who are taught they are animals? Our teachers have been telling them they are animals, without thinking through what the practical consequences will be when they grow up.

Everybody knows that you can’t have a watch without a watchmaker and you can’t have an airplane without an engineer. But our school children are being taught that incredibly complex things, such as the eye and the human brain, developed by random chance. In other words, we have been teaching them to think illogically and to discount everything they have learned through personal experience about how things are made in the observable world around them. We have taught them to think the opposite of what logic, reason, and common sense teach them. Then should we be shocked to see them grow up to be people who do things that are illogical, unreasonable, and senseless?

Belief in evolution has had a devastating effect on our society. It has paved the way for widespread immorality, secular humanism, atheism, and New Age religions.35

The bad fruits of evolution are obvious, and Jesus said we would be able to recognize what things really are by their fruits (Matthew 7:17-20).

“Experts” Versus the Bible
The scientific case for creation is very strong. This is very encouraging. However, we must never depend on science to prove the Bible. Rather, we should let the Bible show us whether a particular science is valid and true.

All human beings (including scientists) have limited knowledge, limited understanding, and questionable motives. They make mistakes, they deceive themselves, and sometimes they tell deliberate lies. We need to put our confidence in God rather than in weak, fallible, sinful human beings.

God knows everything; there is no limit to His understanding, and He is absolutely truthful. This world will pass away, but “the word of our God shall stand for ever” (Isaiah 40:8).

In the past, humanist “Bible scholars” told us that archaeology had disproved the Bible. But God raised up archaeologists to show that the Bible is right after all.

Humanists have told us that evolution is an indisputable scientific fact that they say disproves the Bible. But God has raised up scientists to show that creation explains the scientific evidence better than evolution does.

Humanism will continue to raise up “experts” in many fields who will try to disprove the Bible. And we will have to stand our ground and keep on trusting the Bible, whether or not those false claims are disproven in our lifetime. Jesus said:

 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. (John 15:7)

The word “abide” can also be translated as “stand” and “endure.” It is not a passive word. It has the military connotation of holding your ground against enemy attack. As Jesus said in the parable of the sower, the devil is always trying to snatch the Word of God out of our hearts. We need to stand our ground and refuse to have God’s Word stolen from us. Let us remember, creation is woven into the very fabric of Scripture. We can trust what God says.

Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. (Revelation 4:11)

To order copies of Creation Versus Evolution: Things They Never Told You, click here.

Endnotes
1. The Institute for Creation Research (ICR), 1806 Royal Lane, Dallas, TX 75229 (phone 800-628-7640). They have children’s books, home schooling materials, books and videos for laymen, Creation Magazine, technical monographs, and a technical journal. They also have speakers available for presentations, debates, and Christian media. Their website is www.ICR.org.
2. See Josh McDowell, Evidence That Demands a Verdict, Vol. I (1979) and Vol. II (1990) (San Bernardino, CA: Here’s Life). Fulfilled prophecy is discussed on pages 267-324 of Volume I. Archeological discoveries relating to biblical history are discussed on pages 17-24 of Volume II.
3. O. Hambling, “Genesis and Evolution” (American Atheist, January 1988), p. 7; quoted in Henry M. Morris, The Long War Against God (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1989), p. 119; available from ICR.
4. G. Richard Bozarth, “The Meaning of Evolution” (American Atheist, February 1978), p. 30; quoted in The Long War Against God, op. cit. p. 119.
5.S. S. Chawla, “A Philosophical Journey to the West” (The Humanist, Vol. 24, September/October, 1964), p. 151, cited in Ian T. Taylor, In the Minds of Men (Toronto, ON: 1991, 3rd edition), p. 422.
6. Ian T. Taylor, In the Minds of Men, op. cit., pp. 394-395 and 420-422.
7. Biologist Ludwig Von Bertalanffy, as quoted by Huston Smith, Beyond the Post-Modern Mind (New York: Crossroads, 1982), p. 173; quoted in The Illustrated Origins Answer Book (P.O. Box 41644, Mesa, AZ: Eden Productions, 1991), p. 114.
8. D. M. S. Watson, “Adaptation” (Nature, Vol. 123, 1929), p. 233; quoted in Henry M. Morris, Scientific Creationism (El Cajon, CA: Master Books, 2nd edition, 1985), p. 8.
9. Luther D. Sunderland, Darwin’s Enigma: Fossils and Other Problems (Santee, CA: Master Books, 1988, 4th edition), pp. 7-8.
10. Sir Fred Hoyle, “Hoyle on Evolution” (Nature, November 12, 1981, Vol. 294), p. 105; quoted in The Revised Quote Book (Sunnybank, Brisbane, Australia: Creation Science Foundation Ltd., 1990), p. 21.
11. See In the Minds of Men by Ian Taylor. Point by point, it exposes the fuzzy reasoning behind textbook presentations of evolution. It also presents counter-evidence that has long been concealed from the general public.
12. Peking Man, Java Man, Piltdown Man, and all of the other “ape-men” turned out to be normal men, normal apes, or frauds. Revealing evidence about them is shown in the video Ape-Men: Monkey Business Falsely Called Science (available from ICR).
13. Phillip E. Johnson, Darwin on Trial (Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 1991), p. 187. This outstanding book was written by a law professor who specializes in logic and evidence.
14. Ian T. Taylor, In the Minds of Men, op. cit., pp. 217-218.
15. Dennis R. Petersen, Unlocking the Mysteries of Creation (El Dorado, CA: Creation Resource Foundation, 1988) p. 131.
16. Michael Denton, Evolution: A Theory in Crisis (Bethesda, MD: Adler & Adler, Publishers, Inc., 1985).
17. This speech was tape recorded and transcribed with the permission of Dr. Patterson, quoted in The Revised Quote Book, op. cit., p. 4.
18. L. Harrison Matthews, FRS, Introduction to Darwin’s The Origin of Species (London: J. M. Dent & Sons. Ltd., 1971), p. xi; quoted in The Revised Quote Book, op. cit., p. 2.
19. George Wald, Frontiers of Modern Biology on Theories of Origin of Life (New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin, 1972) p. 187; quoted in Rex Russell, M.D., What the Bible Says About Healthy Living (Ventura, CA: Regal Books), pp. 273-274.
20. See Henry M. Morris, editor, Scientific Creationism, op. cit., pp. 131-170; also see Henry M. Morris and Gary E. Parker, What Is Creation Science? (El Cajon, CA: Master Books, 1987), pp. 253-293. Also see the video Evolution: Fact or Belief? These are all available from ICR.
21. Henry M. Morris and Gary E. Parker, What Is Creation Science?, op. cit., pp. 284-293.
22. C.S. Noble and J.J. Naughton, “Deep-Ocean Basalts: Inert Gas Content and Uncertainties in Age Dating” (Science, October 11, 1968, Vol. 162), p. 265; cited in Scientific Creationism, op. cit., pp 146-147.
23. J.G. Funkhouser and J.J. Naughton (Journal of Geophysical Research, July 15, 1968, Vol. 73), p. 4606; cited in Scientific Creationism, op. cit., p. 147.
24. William D. Stansfield, The Science of Evolution (New York: MacMillan, 1977) p. 84, see pp. 80-84; quoted in What Is Creation Science? op. cit., p. 285.
25. The flood began on the 17th day of the second month of the year. (Genesis 7:11). On the 7th month, the ark landed on Mount Ararat (the highest mountain) (Genesis 8:3-4). On the 10th month, the water had gone down enough for the tops of other mountains to become visible (Genesis 8:5). On the 27th day of the second month of the following year (one year and ten days after the flood started), God told Noah to come out of the ark (Genesis 8:13-15).
26. Kenneth M. Reese, “Newscripts” (Chemical & Engineering News, October 11, 1976), page 40; cited in Donald E. Chittick, The Controversy: Roots of the Creation-Evolution Conflict (Portland, OR: Multnomah Press, 1984), pp. 218-219.
27. Harvey O. Olney III, “Letters” (Chemical & Engineering News, January 24, 1977), p 5; cited in Donald E. Chittick, The Controversy: Roots of the Creation-Evolution Conflict, op. cit., pp. 219-220.
28. Ian T. Taylor, In the Minds of Men, op. cit., p. 425.
29. Quoted by Henry M. Morris, The Troubled Waters of Evolution (San Diego, CA: Creation-Life Publishers, 1974), p. 58. Available from ICR.
30. Will Durant, “Are We in the Last Stage of a Pagan Period?” (Chicago Tribune, April 1980); quoted in Henry M. Morris, The Long War Against God, op. cit., p. 149.
31. Henry M. Morris, The Long War Against God, op. cit., Ian T. Taylor, In The Minds of Men, op. cit.
32. Carl Wieland, “Darwin’s Bodysnatchers” (Creation Ex Nihilo, Vol. 14, No. 2, March-May 1992). For further information, contact Creation Magazine (P.O. Box 710039, Santee, CA 92072) or Carl Wieland (Director, Creation Science Foundation, Brisbane, Australia). Creation Magazine and the Institute for Creation Research should both have Carl Wieland’s address.
33. Ibid.
34. Dr. Michael Girouard discusses the relationship between evolution and teenage suicide in the video Ape-Men: Monkey Business Falsely Called Science (see #12).
35. Kenneth Ham and Gary Parker, Understanding Genesis Study Guide (El Cajon, CA: Creation Life Publishers, Inc., 1988), p. 4.

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This booklet is an extract from Maria Kneas’ book How to Prepare for Hard Times and Persecution. We encourage you to get a copy of this book. There is a large list of recommended resources on evolution and other vital topics.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Lighthouse Trails made the decision to publish Rescuing Randy after reading a self-published edition. We found this story both captivating and meaningful. We believe our readers will benefit from this book because although most are not part of a religious cult, the mind-control, manipulation, and deceitfulness by so many Christian leaders, pastors, and popular figures today has left countless sincere believers abused, mistreated, and ostracized and left many proclaiming church goers lost and deceived following blind leaders. In essence, what happened to Randy in Rescuing Randy is not too distant from what is happening in the church.

Lighthouse Trails is pleased to announce the release of Rescuing Randy: A Family Determined to Rescue Their Son From a Religious Cult.

What would you do if you realized your grown child had become part of a dangerous religious cult? How far would you go to rescue him?

After graduating from high school, Randy joined the Navy, leaving behind the rural dairy farm on which he’d grown up and a family deeply devoted to God and one another. At first, Randy’s letters and phone calls to his parents and brothers were cheerful, warm, and open, typical of who Randy was. But when he, along with several other sailors, joined a group called Christian Fellowship Church International, his family saw a drastic personality change occur. Letters and phone calls became less frequent and were filled with odd and disconcerting comments about his new “family” of brothers and a leader named L.R. Davis. Randy soon became a complete stranger to his family.

What had happened to change him? And what could his family do to help him? As they witnessed a progressive entrapment and manipulation by the group over their son, Randy’s parents sought outside help and soon learned their son had become part of a known religious cult.

Rescuing Randy is the disturbing and yet inspirational story of a family’s struggle to reclaim this young man out of the clutches of a powerful, seductive, cult leader who convinced Randy that to leave the group would mean certain destruction. As his family began to plan an intervention, they realized just how much was at stake. If they failed, they could lose everything,including their son. But to do nothing was out of the question . . . they had no choice but to attempt to rescue Randy.

Retail Price: $13.95
ISBN: 978-1-942423-05-8
Category: Cults | Mind Control | Family
208 Pages | Photos | Softbound
Appendix by Mike Oppenheimer (“Recognizing if You Are in a Cult”)
Available through Lighthouse Trails
and to order through most major book outlets and walk in stores

To order Rescuing Randy, click here.