September 2006 - Vol 2, Issue 4

In this issue...
-- The history and impact of the book, The Genesis Flood – Part III
-- Hear Dr. Whitcomb speak this month
-- Third Annual Day with Whitcomb Ministries to include teaching, music
-- Hear Dr. Whitcomb on ‘Crosstalk’
-- Day with WMI to be promoted at special events

The history and impact of the book, The Genesis Flood – Part III
By Dr. John C. Whitcomb

Note: The following article is based on Dr. Whitcomb’s presentation at the Answers in Genesis 2005 Creation Mega-Conference, which was held in July of last year in Lynchburg, Va. We are grateful to AiG for allowing us to reprint it here. This message is also now available on DVD from Answers in Genesis. For ordering information, visit www.AnswersBookstore.com. Also, please remember that this message was delivered before the death of Dr. Henry Morris on Feb. 25 of this year.

It was not until January of 2003, however, that the Institute for Creation Research responded in depth to the challenges of the "progressive creationism" movement. I was invited to join three scientists and another theologian to participate in eight panel discussions and responses to the views of Dr. Hugh Ross. These tapes are available from ICR in an album entitled, “After Eden: Understanding Creation, The Curse and The Cross.” I was especially amazed at the futile effort of "progressive creationists" to reduce the Genesis flood to a Mesopotamian catastrophe in order to justify millions of years of sedimentation and fossilization before the creation of mankind.

This reply by ICR was followed by a 410-page volume written by a New Zealand scientist, Jonathan Sarfati, entitled, “Refuting Compromise: A Biblical and Scientific Refutation of ‘Progressive Creationism’ (Billions of Years), as Popularized by Astronomer Hugh Ross” (Master Books: 2004).

Dr. Sarfati devotes an entire chapter to the question of how a global flood best harmonizes the Bible and true science. Another powerful response to the local flood view has been provided by John Woodmorappe, in his masterpiece, “Noah’s Ark: A Feasibility Study” (El Cajon, CA: Institute for Creation Research, 1996).

The Intelligent Design Movement

The second counter-movement to “The Genesis Flood” is even more amazing to behold. It is called the Intelligent Design Movement (IDM), and is dedicated to the proposition that atheistic naturalism and neo-Darwinian evolutionism have completely failed to explain the nearly infinite, irreducible complexity of living things, and can be defeated by scientific and rationalistic arguments without any appeal to the Bible or to the Creator of the world, our Lord Jesus Christ. Among the most prominent members of this movement are Philip E. Johnson, former professor of law at the University of California, Berkeley; Michael Denton of New Zealand; Charles B. Thaxton, Stephen Meyer, Paul Nelson, Thomas Woodward, Michael Behe, Jonathan Wells, and William Dembski.

Every Christian should applaud legitimate efforts to restore sanity and reality to the study of ultimate origins. And most of the argumentation of IDM books is, to this extent, on target. The tragedy of the movement, however, is that it deliberately stops short of honoring God's written revelation on origins, the Bible. In fact, the book of Genesis as literal history seems to be an embarrassment and an unwanted and unnecessary burden to bear in the debate with evolution-oriented scientists.

Dr. Philip Johnson, considered by many to be the leading spokesman for the movement, and one who claims to be a Christian, puts it this way: "Get the Bible and the Book of Genesis out of the debate, because you do not want to raise the so-called Bible-science dichotomy. Phrase the argument in such a way that you can get it heard in the secular academy and in a way that tends to unify the religious dissenters. That means concentrating on, 'Do you need a Creator to do the creating, or can nature do it on its own?' and refusing to get sidetracked onto other issues, which people are always trying to do. They'll ask, 'What do you think of Noah's flood?' or something like that. Never bite on such questions because they'll lead you into a trackless wasteland and you'll never get out of it" ("Berkeley's Radical: An Interview with Philip E. Johnson" in “Touchstone” 15:5 [June, 2002], p. 41).

Indeed, to assert that the universe is the product of an Intelligent Designer is an essential foundation for origins study. But it is only the very bottom rung of the ladder to full creation truth. It is vastly insufficient! To truly honor God and to bring full light into the enormously important question of how our world began, one must also believe in the divinely inspired account of cosmic and biologic origins in Genesis 1 and 2 and the magnitude of the flood in Genesis 6-9. The Son of God, by Whom "were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth" (Colossians 1:16), the One "in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Colossians 2:3), the ultimate Designer of all life, matter, energy, space and time, has been practically ignored by these who write so eloquently of "the Intelligent Design" of all things.

To be specific, it is essential to believe the Genesis record of origins in order to please God. This obviously includes the manner in which living things were created ("full-grown," with a superficial appearance of history, e.g., Adam and Eve); the order in which things were created (e.g., the earth before the sun and moon; trees before marine life; and flying creatures and whales before reptiles and land mammals); and the duration of creation events (six 24-hour days only a few thousand years ago). Our Lord explained that Adam and Eve were created “at the beginning” – not millions of years after the earth came into existence (Matthew 19:4).

Thus, it is also essential to believe that death in the animal kingdom (and massive fossilization) did not occur before the creation of mankind, but that it was an effect of Adam's rebellion (see Gen. 1:31; and Romans 5:12 in the light of Romans 8:20-23). Trillions of fossilized plants and animals all over the world can only be explained in terms of the global catastrophism of the Genesis flood.

To Be Continued...

Hear Dr. Whitcomb speak this month
Pray that this fall season will be a time of great spiritual harvest for Dr. Whitcomb and Whitcomb Ministries. Below are the places where you can hear him teach in the upcoming weeks.

On Sunday, October 8, Dr. Whitcomb will preach on creationism at the Fourth Baptist Church of Plymouth, Minn. For more information on these services, call Pastor Roger Kilian at 763-417-8200, or visit www.fourthbaptist.org.

On Tuesday, October 10, Dr. Whitcomb will speak at the Foundations Conference of Central Baptist Seminary in Plymouth, Minn. His topics will be: “The Gospel and Integrationalism,” and “The Tower of Babel and the Worldwide Gospel.” For more information on this conference, call Dr. Thomas Zempel at 763-417-8250, or visit www.centralseminary.edu.

From Wednesday, October 18, to Sunday, October 22, Dr. and Mrs. Whitcomb will speak at the Duluth Bible Church of Duluth, Minn. Dr. Whitcomb will lecture on Exodus, and Mrs. Whitcomb will speak on “Relationships – God’s Way.” For more information on this conference, call Pastor Dennis Rokser at 218-724-5914, or visit www.duluthbible.org.

From Tuesday, October 24, to Friday, October 27, and from Tuesday, October 31, to Friday, November 3, Dr. Whitcomb will lecture on Genesis at the Word of Life Bible Institute of Schroon Lake, N.Y. For more information on these courses, call Dr. Tom Davis at 518-494-4723, or visit www.wol.org/biblei. (Note: The audio of the lectures for these classes is available at www.sermonaudio.com/whitcomb.)

On Sunday, October 29, Dr. Whitcomb will preach at the Grace Brethren Church of Saratoga Springs in Ballston Spa, N.Y. For more information on this service, call Pastor Dan Pierce at 518-587-0649.

From Sunday, November 5, to Tuesday, November 7, Dr. Whitcomb will teach at the Racine Bible Church of Sturtevant, Wis. For more information on these services, call Pastor Spencer DeBurgh at 262-637-6536, or visit www.racinebible.org.

On Tuesday, November 7, and Thursday, November 9, Dr. Whitcomb will teach a module on Pre-Abraham Origins at the New Tribes Bible Institute in Waukesha, Wis. For more information on this course, call Mr. Thomas Freeman at 262-542-9411, or visit www.ntbi.org.

On Wednesday, November 8, Dr. Whitcomb will speak at the Calvary Baptist Church of Sun Prairie, Wis. For more information on this service, call Pastor Scott Estell at 608-837-1000, or visit www.cbc-sunprairie.com.

On Saturday, November 11, Dr. Whitcomb will participate in the Third Annual Day with Whitcomb Ministries in Menomonee Falls, Wis. The theme for the conference is, “A Young Earth: The Christian’s Absolute Beginning.” For more information, call Paul Scharf at 920-623-0257, or see the information on our web pages.

On Sunday, November 12, Dr. Whitcomb will preach at the Calvary Baptist Church of Menomonee Falls, Wis. For more information, call Pastor James Maxwell at 262-251-0320, or visit www.calvarytoday.org.

For additional details about these events, please visit our web pages at www.whitcombministries.org and www.sermonaudio.com/whitcomb.

Third Annual Day with Whitcomb Ministries to include teaching, music
Only weeks remain before the Third Annual Day with Whitcomb Ministries on Saturday, Nov. 11.

The theme of this year’s conference is “A Young Earth: The Christian’s Absolute Beginning.” The guest keynote speaker will be Carl Kerby of Answers in Genesis, and Sherry Trainer will once again provide special music. Elizabeth Pabón and RuthAnn Ledgerwood will also add much to the day with their violin and harp selections.

In addition, there will be many displays and exhibitors at our conference, as well as large selections of books and other resources from both Whitcomb Ministries and Answers in Genesis.

This year’s conference will be dedicated to the memory of Dr. Henry Morris, who passed from this earth to glory on Feb. 25.

Those who are interested in scheduling a promotion of this conference for their church, Christian school chapel, home school group, or other organization may call Paul Scharf, ministry assistant, at 920-623-0257.

We would be happy to come and give your group a multi-media presentation and talk about this special conference and the importance of the creation message. Brochures for the conference are now available in both paper and electronic formats.

Hear Dr. Whitcomb on ‘Crosstalk’
Dr. Whitcomb will be the featured guest on the “Crosstalk” radio program on the VCY America radio network on Friday, Nov. 10 – the day before the Third Annual Day with Whitcomb Ministries.

The program originates from the VCY America studios in Milwaukee, and is broadcast around the country, on a network of stations, live at 2 p.m., central time. It is re-broadcast at 8 p.m., central time.

For more information, or to listen to the program on the Internet, visit www.crosstalkamerica.com or www.vcyamerica.org.

Please tell your friends to tune in and listen to Dr. Whitcomb on Nov. 10!

Day with WMI to be promoted at special events
The Third Annual Day with Whitcomb Ministries will be promoted at a number of important venues in the coming weeks. We would appreciate your prayers for, and support of, the following events:

* the Wisconsin Association of Regular Baptist Churches Fall Bible Conference, on Oct. 9 and 10, in Hayward, Wis. – where we will have a display table;
* the meeting of the Creation Science Society of Milwaukee, at 7:30 p.m., on Oct. 24, in Menomonee Falls, Wis. – where WMI ministry assistant Paul Scharf will bring a multi-media message entitled, “Evolutionism – Built Upon the Sand;” and
* the VCY Rally, at 7 p.m., on Nov. 4, in Waukesha, Wis. – where we will have a display table.

Please stop by to say hello to us at any or all of these events!