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by Charlie Wolcott

“Cadre”: Military. The key group of officers and enlisted personnel necessary to establish and train a new military unit.

Two weeks ago was a special day for me. On November 13, 2015, I was one of eight people who completed the “Eleventh Cadre” from the Institute for Biblical Worldview Studies, a subgroup under the “Creation Truth Foundation.” While I have been studying the origins debate between Creation and Evolution for well over a decade, nothing has brought so much in together as the last two years have.

The vision for the Cadre at the Creation Truth Foundation is to train church leaders and pastors how to teach about Biblical worldviews and why such issues are so important. It is no coincidence that I was invited to be a writer for Worldview Warriors at the same time that the door opened for me to attend this conference. I knew two years ago at this time that God was in the midst of doing something significant, and so far I have only seen the beginnings of the fruit. That alone has been worth the efforts.

The Cadre was four sessions of four days each over two years starting in January 2014. In that time, we carried out a near verse-by-verse examination of Genesis 1-12 along with getting topics about what worldviews are, how they affect us, and how people think, to go with a lot of the scientific aspects about Creation and Evolution. One of my favorite points among all four sessions was taking a tour of the Evolution exhibit at the Sam Noble Natural History Museum at Oklahoma University where we learned how to go through the points and the evidences that are cited for Evolution and point out the truth. When you know the truth, it is very easy to point out the lies because they stand out.

Because of my previous studies on Creation/Evolution, there was a lot I already knew coming in, but what helped was the reinforcement and the quotes and resources that I knew about, but did not know where it came from. If there was one new thing I learned that stood out the most, it would be exactly how worldviews play a role in everyday life. I wrote about this in one of my first Worldview Warriors blog posts and I have been hitting this topic often since. I have also led a Bible study at my church since April 2015 to study about Biblical worldviews and similar topics. God gave me the opportunity to attend this conference and I have been using what I have been learning to help build the body of Christ.

And interestingly enough, there is a very similar vision with Worldview Warriors: to build and train the next generations to stand for Biblical authority in today’s fallen world. There is a reason I chose the military definition of “cadre” for this post. We are in a battle. It is not a battle between politics and people groups, but a battle of ideologies and ultimately a spiritual battle. We have an enemy that is at war with us and his prime agenda is to fight against God and his Word in every area. Part of that agenda is to get us to NOT believe that God said what he said. Genesis 3:1 starts with the first lie and first deception: “Hath God really said?” And this question has been played out through the 6000 years of history.

If you study the roots of Evolution, there is no science involved in it whatsoever. Charles Darwin was the one who made it popular but the idea had been around for a while. From the writings of those who influenced Darwin, it is very clear they had an agenda to undermine the authority of the Bible. Some of you may be connecting the dots to what I am saying here but let me say it outright: Evolution is Satanic. Both sides know this. Eugenie Scott is known for saying that it is the born again believers (Bible-believing Christians) that are her biggest enemy. Why? Because we will not be assimilated into system where people like her can determine who gets to think and how. This is also why Bill Nye is so afraid of Creation being taught to the younger generation. It is not because we can’t be productive in society; it is because we won’t be controlled by them.

The Cadre was formed to teach church leaders and pastors about what tactics Satan has been using to creep false doctrine into the church. We have learned the dangers of compromise and the tactics on how people get that compromise into the church and into doctrine. We have learned how to identify true and false teachings, how to mark them, and how to prepare those we teach to discern them. Graduates from the Cadre are not called to merely fight the battles for a Bible-based worldview. We would not come to the program if we were not already sent to do that. We are called fight and to train others how to fight in this battle.

Worldview Warriors is similar. Now, just to clarify, Worldview Warriors is NOT a Young-Earth Creationist organization. The bulk of our blog writing staff, if not all, do support the young earth position and it is difficult to address any worldview properly without addressing the philosophical/religious position on origins. For me personally, I have been drifting more away from emphasizing on the science of YEC (while I FIRMLY believe this model), and more emphasizing on why choosing YEC is the only natural position for origins by a Bible-believer. If you have your authorities in the right order, when it comes to origins, the young earth position is the only logical one. And here at Worldview Warriors, we take the position that the Bible is our chief authority on all matters. This is what being a Berean is about. We check out what people say with Scripture. And when you know Scripture, it becomes easy to recognize when someone is outright wrong, or even when someone is twisting references to suit their agenda.

Let me also point out that origins is NOT the end of it all. Belief in a young earth means absolutely nothing if you do not carry it through to the cross of Jesus. That is why Muslims, who hold the same origins model, are wrong: because they split before arriving to the cross. EVERYTHING in the Bible points to Jesus, and if we miss that, we miss the purpose of what we are doing.

I am called to speak and to teach about Biblical worldviews in a time where such a position is hated more than ever before. But I am not called to tell people what they want to hear. I am not called to agree to the majority because it is not popular. I am called to speak the truth and speak the truth I will. And I will train any who has the ears to hear the truth how to identify it and discern it from all the pretenders out there. The Cadre was a spectacular time of growth and maturity for me, and I look forward to using what God has taught me with Worldview Warriors and any other window of opportunity that God gives me.

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