This ministry is called Worldview Warriors. Our goal and our vision are to train and equip this generation to know and understand the Biblical worldview and be ready to stand upon it when the world comes with its challenges. So why did I spend the last five weeks writing about a personal trip? The answer is simple: because the Grand Canyon has been a weapon used in the hands of secular “scientists” to dismantle and destroy the faith of millions of people. It is not proper scientists that the Grand Canyon refers to in order to teach the 6 million+ visitors each year about how the canyon formed. It is the priests of the pagan religion of secular/natural humanism. If they were actual scientists being referenced, they would be open and considering of the different ideas of how it all formed, and they would not be so set against any model that resembled Noah’s Flood. Russ Miller, one of our speakers, teaches that the Grand Canyon is one of the pillars of the secular/humanistic religion because of how well it “shows” the long ages of the past. Yet, when actual Bible-believing scientists finally got on their feet to give an answer to these false teachings, they began making waves and the secularists and old earthers in the churches are threatened by this.
Russ Miller often states that he is blocked by 90% of churches from being able to present information that has a history of piercing through the fog of millions of years and would equip the churches to teach their children to be able to stand on the Word of God. Yet, because of tares sown among the churches, usually in the form of a pastor, elder, deacon, or a big tither, if a pastor were to bring Miller to his church to present, it would offend these old earthers and create division. But I will stand with Miller and state that the ones causing division are not those who present the truth firmly and adamantly, but those who bring in another gospel. When taken to its full logical conclusion, Old Earth Creation models are a different gospel, with a different creator and as a result a different “Jesus.” There are authentic born-again believers who are old-earthers, but they are not consistent with it and most don’t actually believe it. They have little choice because they haven’t heard the other side of the story. The old earthers love to cite Proverbs 18:17 to try to counter the young earth creationist claims, but they never like having this verse used on them because it always exposes their teachings as false teachings.
What make origins so important? Don’t you just have to believe in Jesus, that He died for your sins and rose from the dead for you to be saved? Well, why do you need to be saved? What are being saved from? What are you being saved to? What does salvation even mean? If this debate was ONLY about the age of the earth, the old earthers would have a point that it is a secondary issue. However, it’s not about the age of the earth. It’s actually about Adam and sin. It’s about what Adam’s sin did and when death entered the world. In every old earth model, there is death before sin, and that is a fatal, damnable heresy. If death (of any kind) preceded sin, then death cannot be the penalty for sin. If the world prior to Adam has operated precisely as we observe today, then we have a creation that started out cursed. There is an origins model that has this as a principal teaching: the Gnostics’ teaching that the Demiurge created with the corrupted “essence” of the “True God.”
When I point this out, I have old-earthers go ballistic over it, and they will argue anything and everything EXCEPT this point I’m making. There is one I confronted by showing him how his geologic models show human death prior to Adam, and he questioned everything from the interpretation of Scripture to whether the fossils were human or not, everything except the dating methods. His response when I pointed this out was, “I just have to figure out the theology.” In Old Earth theology, notice this: “modern science” is “god” and “Divine Scripture” is “a matter of interpretation.” While some individuals do not believe this, this is the practice of the majority of them. Keep them talking and they’ll prove and even admit it.
I love how Russ Miller puts the issue so simply and succinctly. The secular community seeks to destroy the faith of unsuspecting youth by teaching them of long ages that put death before Adam and sin, which separates us from God and calls for a Savior in Jesus Christ. This is the summary of his book COST which I got to help edit and critique for its current edition. There are countless people in churches who have bought into these lies and instead of seeking the truth, they seek to block the truth from being spoken. The battle over origins is not about the age of the earth, but about all that comes with it. It is over the principal problem for mankind: when sin and death entered the world. It is about the problem for which Jesus is the solution. When one rejects the problem from being a problem, then why would one proudly boast about the solution from said problem? One fruit of Old Earth teachings is found in the Progressive Christianity movement (formerly Emergent Church) where there is hot debate about the problem of evil and why Jesus had to die. Now, not all old earthers are Progressive Christians, but all Progressive Christians are Old Earthers. Rob Bell and Brian McLaren both question the necessity of the virgin birth as they question the age of the earth and as they question the doctrines of hell and morality. They aren’t the only ones.
Origins has been the primary frontal attack on the authority and integrity of Scripture for the last 200 years. For the first 100 of those years, the Church was in such shock that they didn’t know how to respond and instead they caved on Scripture. They waived the white flag, and the moment the Church in general surrendered on origins to these predominately non-scientific and most certainly non-Christian Deists out of the Enlightenment, it lost the authority to speak on many different issues. The Bible was regulated to just being a religious book for the Christian religious, and not a book by which all man was expected to live. It didn’t take long in Europe for societies to start collapsing. It took the U.S. much longer to surrender its roots, but after about 100 years of teaching old earth ideas in the churches, the U.S. gave up the Bible entirely by removing prayer and the Bible from the public square in 1962-1963.
But God was ready to answer that and raised up men like Henry Morris and John Whitcomb to reclaim the Bible as the authority, not just in the church but also the nation, by answering the very place where it was surrendered: at origins. For many in churches, it’s brought revival back and currently with people like Russ Miller, we are rescuing people who were raised in churches, brainwashed by Marxist Evolutionists, and now have come back to the truth. But there are many churches who will not have it. I would question if the large percentage of those churches even qualify as being a church under God but are rather no more than a Sunday social club — a synagogue of Satan. Jesus is coming for a pure and spotless bride, and that includes on issues like origins. I, for one, want to be ready when He comes, and I will teach others to be ready for that, too. The origins debate is not just about origins; it’s about the Gospel. It’s about the correct worldview. It’s about the correct authority. Get those wrong, and you might have EVERYTHING wrong.
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by Steve Risner
This is it – the last strawman donated to us from an unbeliever in a group I’m in on Facebook. You can read the rest of the series here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. Those last four links were to specific strawman arguments this unbeliever alleged that creationists use and should avoid. For the most part, he’s right. All strawman arguments should be avoided, though the insinuation from this person is that creationists are the only people who have a problem using them. Of course, this isn’t true at all. Everyone uses them at some point. What is beautiful in his statement, though, is that while his specified strawman might be a good example of something to avoid, he always followed with an explanation. These explanations were wonderful treasure troves of misinformation or just wrong thinking. That is what I’ve primarily focused on for the most part. Today’s strawman is an excellent one to end this series with. It goes like this (as I quote this unbeliever):
Evolution does not explain how life began (Abiogenesis).
Fair enough. We’ll see in a moment how the two concepts—how life began and how it diversified—cannot really be truly separated. But his explanation wants to make that separation. He says, “True, but it doesn’t pretend to. Evolution is an explanation of how life developed after it began.”
He’s in good company with this statement. Many evolutionists (people who believe in universal common descent) will say this. This is especially true of those evolutionists who are atheists. It’s a defense mechanism. It is a way to distract from the fact that, judging from everything we know about life and chemistry and natural laws, life cannot arise from non-living chemistry. Every single time we’ve ever seen a living thing, we’ve known its origin—something else that was alive. And every time we’ve tried to prove otherwise, we’ve failed. This is not the first time I’ve written on this subject, but I believe what I share here today will develop what I have previously written. You can see that first post on abiogenesis here.
The evolutionists are desperate. They need to avoid this conversation at all costs because it makes them look foolish and, obviously, we can’t have that. So, they’ll hand wave and act like you’re some sort of twit because you want to discuss abiogenesis with an evolutionist. “Evolution has nothing to do with life’s origins.” Who else believes in abiogenesis but evolutionists? Probably not a lot of folks out there. The two are married and inseparably so. Sure, diversification is not the same thing as origination, but you can’t have diversification if you don’t have a starting point. But evolutionists will want to limit the scope of any conversation about their beliefs on origins to AFTER life began because all evidence—all of it—is heavily stacked against them when it comes to abiogenesis. It’s literally impossible when we’re talking about natural means.
Are the two things so connected? What is the glue we might stumble upon to hold them together? According to some evolutionists who are fairly well spoken on the topic of universal common descent, they are connected.
From G.A. Kerkut: “…there is the theory that all the living forms in the world have arisen from a single source which itself came from an inorganic form. This theory can be called the ‘General Theory of Evolution’ and the evidence that supports it is not sufficiently strong to allow us to consider it as anything more than a working hypothesis.”
To distinguish this from the Special Theory of Evolution, Kerkut says, “There is a theory which states that many living animals can be observed over the course of time to undergo changes so that new species are formed.” So we have “general” and “special” theories of evolution. The General Theory of Evolution begins with life coming from non-life. Every textbook on earth that mentions evolution (universal common descent from a single common ancestor) starts with abiogenesis. If the two ideas are not dependent on each other, someone should tell a lot of people who are in key positions to educate on the topic(s). Many prominent evolutionists seem to be in the dark here.
According to Britannica: “Abiogenesis proposes that the first life-forms generated were very simple and through a gradual process became increasingly complex.” Seems like they’re talking about life from non-life and then diversification, doesn’t it? How any person can expect to be trusted when they try to claim universal common descent is not intimately connected to abiogenesis is beyond me.
Evolutionists are slimy in this regard. They’ll need to avoid this topic and then claim it’s because the creationist is ignorant on what evolution is that they’re even bringing it up. Of course, this is nonsense. I, like many other creationists, understand all too well the interconnected nature of these two topics. Yes, again, they are not the same thing. One speaks of the evolution of non-living chemicals into simple living things while the other picks up the tale here and attempts to explain the evolution of these simpler organisms into more specialized creatures over eons of time. But they try to make it about your knowledge on the topic rather than their lack of support on the topic.
Why are these two ideas joined so strongly? Creation.com tells us there are three reasons in this article. I tend to agree with each of them, and I will summarize and paraphrase them below.
The first reason I’ve already implied above is that virtually every evolutionist believes in abiogenesis, and everyone who believes in abiogenesis is an evolutionist. The two are obviously intertwined remarkably well. This is especially true of atheists, but most theistic evolutionists start with abiogenesis as well. That’s too bad, but it’s true. Since most if not all evolutionists believe in abiogenesis, it’s a great point to discuss.
I’ve also alluded to the second reason above: abiogenesis is talked about so much by so many, especially in educational settings, when evolution is the primary topic that we can’t be expected to not see the two as related. Textbooks, television programs, and journals all reference abiogenesis at some point or another. This is most often when the topic is universal common descent. Why would that be if the two are not married?
The last reason Creation.com gives is also something I briefly mentioned above: prominent (and not so prominent) evolutionists have been caught repeatedly connecting the two in discussions. In some cases, they even refer to abiogenesis as evolution. That seems significant, doesn’t it? Dr. Eugenie Scott, who is a very vocal anti-creationist, has gone so far as to say that evolution isn’t just about living things. How’s that? I thought evolution was just about AFTER life sprang up from non-life and its diversification. I guess no one knows how this works.
Creation.com even quotes British biochemist J.B.S. Haldane as saying about the conditions necessary for abiogenesis (which is funny since we have no idea what conditions are required for this miracle to happen) that “a reducing atmosphere, one with no free oxygen, was a requirement for the evolution of life from non-living organic matter.” Weird, right, to use the word evolution there if they’re not connected? If these two topics are so vastly unconcerned with each other, why are they talked about in such an intimate fashion?
They finish this article with a great synopsis of what’s at stake here for the evolutionist and why they have to avoid talking about life’s origins: “In reality, the claim that abiogenesis is not part of evolution is often nothing more than a ploy to avoid having to deal with the issue. Life’s origin is an embarrassing problem for evolutionists, so it’s easier for them to banish the topic than to debate it. But if evolutionists can’t even get the process started, then surely their naturalistic narrative is in big trouble.”
I hope this further sheds light on why abiogenesis is a great point to push with people who have accepted on faith the humanist origins myth—a story where nature and her laws are the supreme rulers of all things. Don’t let them tell you the topic of abiogenesis is out of bounds when discussing evolution. It’s right on for a few reasons.
This concludes our series taken from an unbeliever who wanted to give us creationists some sage advice. I was happy he did. I pray you enjoyed it and were able to get useful information from it.
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“See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God” (Hebrews 3:12).
The author of Hebrews has just quoted a portion of Psalm 95 that encourages the reader to follow the ways of God instead of falling into rebellion against God. He continues on that theme as we begin today’s passage of Hebrews 3:12-19.
This passage starts out with a command to see to it that we don’t have a heart that turns away from God. This verb translated here as “turns away” has the idea of a rebellion - purposefully and intentionally turning away from God and rebelling against Him as a lifestyle choice, not just an occasional mistake. It can also mean to abandon, leave, withdraw, or revolt. We are commanded not to abandon, leave, rebel, or revolt against God - but this is what we end up so often doing in our sin.
What should we do instead, to counter that rebellion? “But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called ‘Today,’ so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness” (verse 13). The way to keep our hearts right and pointed toward God is to encourage one another every day. Note that it doesn’t say to encourage each other when you meet weekly on Sunday mornings; encourage one another daily.
The phrase “as long as it is called ‘Today’” adds a sense or urgency to this command. Each day often seems to go by very quickly, especially when looking back. Have you encouraged a fellow believer today? How about yesterday? Is this something we’re making a point to do every single day? This is the only way that we can fight against the natural inclination of our hearts to turn away from God and toward the sinful things of this world that seem to so easily draw us in and deceive us.
How can we encourage each other in this way? “We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end” (verse 14). This sharing in Christ can also be translated as participating in Christ together. None of us should be trying to be a Christian alone; we’re all in this together! It is important to hold onto that conviction that we had when we first became followers of Jesus. For some people, that was a dramatic and transformational moment, and we need to keep that conviction in mind and encourage one another to not let it go. For others, like myself, coming to faith has been a gradual lifelong process without one defining moment. But God will still give us moments where we have greater confidence in our faith and what God is doing in and through us than in other moments, so we need to hold onto that conviction to get us through the times where we struggle more.
The author then goes back to a quote from Psalm 95:7-8 in verse 15, the beginning of the quote we looked at last week: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.”
Perhaps he thought that quote needed some more explanation, which he then begins to discuss by asking questions in verses 16-18: “Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness? And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed?” All of these questions relate to the people of Israel. They were in a great position and relationship with God, and then they chose to give all that up to rebel against God.
The first question is who were they who heard and rebelled? This is answered with a rhetorical question that gives us the answer - those who Moses led out of Egypt, the people of Israel. The second question is who was God angry with for 40 years? Again, the answer is Israel, but given in the form of a descriptive question - those who sinned and died in the wilderness. The third question asks about the ones who disobeyed, and again the answer is Israel, of course.
God did so much for the people of Israel, yet they still chose to go their own way and rebel against Him. The depressing conclusion of this passage is found in verse 19: “So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.” This is not just God overreacting and getting mad that they disobeyed Him; this is the inevitable outcome of not believing in God. This is true whether applied to the people of Israel wandering in the wilderness, to the first-century Church, to us today, and everyone in between.
This section of Hebrews is a warning for all followers of God for the consequences of falling away from our faith in Him into unbelief, disobedience, and rebellion. We need to continually be on our guard against this, as it is so easy to do! Our enemy, the devil, is constantly working to deceive us, so we need to be in fellowship with other believers so that we can be encouraged and fight that temptation to wilfully rebel against God.
What are you doing in your life to fight that temptation to rebel against God? How are you encouraging others as you walk in faith to keep fighting the good fight to stay obedient to God? I encourage you this week to work on even small ways to encourage yourself and others to stay on the path of faith and obedience.
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On the second day of our trip, we did an early morning guided raft tour of Glen Canyon. Page, Arizona is right on the Arizona/Utah border at Lake Powell (which extends into Utah) and is also where the Grand Canyon officially begins. In the 1930s, a 750-foot dam was in this canyon and the lake was formed as a result. This area is under the guard of Homeland Security. If this dam were to be breached, numerous towns and everything down river would be wiped out. In 1983, a “cavitation” event took place when the dam was filled to the brim and engineers were trying to drain as much water as possible without overflooding everything downstream. But in this event, giant chunks of concrete were being shot out of the overflow spillways about 150 feet. In this picture, you can see a piece of rebar sticking out of the river.
The Colorado River flows out of the Glen Dam at 47 degrees regularly into the Glen Canyon, which is the first 17-mile stretch of the 277-mile long Grand Canyon. A rafting tour company does raft tours along this stretch before the Glen Canyon levels out and Marble Canyon begins at Lees Ferry. Lees Ferry is the only place along the entire stretch of the Grand Canyon where vehicles can get in and out because the surrounding walls are only a couple hundred feet tall, and there is some leveling out on the north side. But there are severe warnings at Lees Ferry that once you pass their markers: there is no going back without either hiking the long way, going the 9- to14-day journey through the rest of the river, or helicoptering out. Marble Canyon begins at this point, which cuts straight through the valley (much like the Little Colorado River Canyon does) and then enters the main Grand Canyon.
Our group of 54 split up among two large rafts, able to hold 30 people each, and each with a raft guide. Our three speakers split up among the two rafts and at various points, our speakers would talk about different formations and observations that we saw. Our raft guides only pointed out several interesting things to note but didn’t say much about how they formed. I’m guessing they really didn’t know. But our speakers did, and they explained the processes that would be required to produce these canyon walls that on average were about 700-1100 feet tall. Keep in mind, this is the SMALLEST part of the Grand Canyon. We did pass through the famous “Horseshoe Bend” which is a 270-degree turning of the river (see picture immediately below).
We also passed by what appeared to be a former ox-bow lake (see picture immediately above). There are two chasms in the wall that circle back and are connected behind what we could see. It looked like another breached dam caused it to drain and from the pictures. You can see where rain would regularly run down and create waterfalls, staining the rocks. Just to get the scale here, that tiny vertical water stain on the left “side canyon” is this up close:
One thing I learned about this canyon is the rock layers this canyon carved through are about 1300 feet above the Kaibab Formation, which is the top layer at the Grand Canyon. So, in terms of the order of rocks, we were above even Red Butte and Cedar Butte, yet due to the huge upwarp, these buttes and the main Grand Canyon itself is higher in elevation except where the river flows through the inner gorge.
What caused Glen Canyon to form? The secular models proudly proclaim the Colorado River carved it. Yet, if that were the case, why don’t we see Glen Canyons, let alone Grand Canyons, in nearly every river? An honest geologist will ask this: “Did the river form the canyon? Or did the canyon form the river?” Water always takes the path of least resistance and flows downhill. It never flows uphill, and if it can go around an obstacle, it will go around it before cutting through it. This is a severe problem in the secular models because the Grand Canyon is carved through the Kaibab Upwarp, and it would easily redirect itself around the upwarp, rather than cutting through it. With Glen Canyon, did the Colorado River cut straight down leaving vertical walls with hardly any erosion debris? Or was the canyon already carved and the Colorado River took the path of least resistance into the canyon?
Horseshoe Bend is a valuable point of contention. Secular geologists will claim that if a dam breach caused the canyon, we should see a straight path. We should not see the bends and meandering that they claim would be the case if a river slowly carved it over millions of years. But is that so? I have seen firsthand that this is not the case. In 2006, El Paso had its “500-year flood.” We had 15 inches of rain in less than 48 hours. It carved up all sorts of stuff, and the west side of El Paso had it the worst, where a brand-new Blockbuster Video store was literally washed off its foundation. But out in the desert, there were canyons carved into the desert sand. They meandered and cut vertical walls, much like the scale of the Grand Canyon or at least Glen/Marble Canyon. It doesn’t take a little water and a lot of time. It takes a LOT of water at high speeds, and it happens in a very short time. So how did Horseshoe Bend form with a 1100-foot wall on the outer curve, and roughly only a 500-foot wall on the inner bend? The best explanation is fast-moving water carved through the path of least resistance. Cavities or cracks in the rocks, perhaps while still soft, would easily enable these twists and turns in the canyon to do its work.
There are two details in these canyons frequently missed by the secular geologists. 1) Lack of debris from erosion on the sides. We have some there, but not millions of years’ worth, and the walls are too vertical for that kind of time to play a role. 2) The side canyons. The secular geologists have no real clue for how the side canyons were cut WITHOUT regular rivers flowing through them. They will have their stories, but they’re pure speculation and frankly, they don’t work in the real world. The Bible give us a mechanism that can explain it all: Noah’s Flood and the aftermath of it. Does the Bible give us all these specific details? No. But it gives an event that fits everything that we see.
Next week, I’ll wrap up this series on why the Grand Canyon is an important item of discussion for Christians to get and understand, and even how the Grand Canyon can be used to either present the Gospel or destroy it. It all hinges on whether you accept Noah’s Flood or not. Stay tuned.
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by Eric Hansen
Bible journaling is both one of the best things we can do daily and it’s also very easy to stop without restarting. For me the value was definitely there, but the time and effort it took made it quite easy to give up. The same goes with journaling in general. While the resistance can vary from person to person, one very common reason people quit most things is they don't make time to exert much energy into it.
There's a type of journaling called "interstitial journaling" which is a fancy way of saying "timestamped journaling." So instead of writing prose (like this post) in a journal, you simply write the time and what you want to make note of, typically as a bullet point style list. For example: "06:27 - Writing article for Worldview Warriors about interstitial journaling.”
From the technical side of things, you don't need anything different than journaling by some other means, but this does lend itself toward a more essentialist approach to journaling. If you have paper and a writing tool, you're good to go. If you want to do this digitally then I would highly suggest an outliner like Notion, Obsidian, or Logseq. While it's not in the scope of this article to explain the why, how, etc., I will provide some screenshots of my current setup in Logseq. While some of this will only apply to doing this digitally, the overall concept can be used in any medium.
Set Up
While the basic approach was already given (timestamp - event) there are various ways to make the entries you jot down more useful if you so wish. If you're a visual person, this may be helpful. For paper journaling you can do symbols or some other mark (even highlighters), and for outliners I find the ones I mentioned effectively make hashtags a solid option for this. For example, I have a list of hashtags that I can see what the entry is about at a glance:
These can be placed anywhere in the entry but I tend to try to write entries that flow with the idea. So instead of "did my devotional #🙌Praise," I'll write something such as "did my devotional and the Spirit told me to #🙌Praise #🔥God." The reason I do this is if I want to look back on things I was praying for, it's always good to see how or if the prayer had been resolved. If so, then I can make a note in today's journal about it, and if not, then I remember it's something that requires more prayer.
Journal Entry Example
While not the most profound example, and I'll expand on this in the next section, here is one example of what it looked like at the beginning for me:
All the blank-looking "#" are actual hashtags, just technical issues out of my experience to resolve. The "[[...]]" text is also more for linking ideas and again out of scope of this, but I wanted to explain in brief the differences here.
The idea here is still the same. I just make note of what the current time is of writing my thoughts down and what the thought is. If there are things to expand on, my preference is to sub-point it so my thoughts don't turn into run-on sentences. It also helps me keep my point clear on why I'm writing the event.
Highs and Lows
Now the point of Bible journaling, regardless of how, is to keep a record of how God works in your life. This looks different for everyone as each of our walks is also different. As much as I would love to say that this made me an expert Bible journaler, it is not the case. Each medium has its pros and cons, but I'll focus on the ones that I feel are equal regardless of how you may do this.
Highs
It was very simple, and any complexity that occurred was because of me. I also didn't feel punished for not writing a whole page of praise. If I had an off day or didn't feel like I could write much, then I just made a note of that when the thought came to me.
Seeing the flow of events made me realize the peaks and valleys of my days with emotions, thoughts, productivity, etc. This helped me better plan when I will start my day, learn Korean, read the Bible, and whatever else I wanted to do within the day.
Lows
It's still very easy to complicate things. The more friction we add into something (like visual identifiers), the more taxing it is to follow through on things. This is one thing I will probably stop doing except for possibly the most important. It's nice to be able to see links, correlations, etc., but the more we try to fluff up a simple process, the more convoluted it becomes. This is much like how the moral law from God went from 10 statements to hundreds.
If you don't enjoy journaling now, there's no guarantee this will make journaling fun for you. I’m not saying you shouldn't try it, regardless of how you feel about journaling in a journal. But it should be said that it's not a silver bullet to make recording your adventures with God any more appealing.
It can interrupt your already-structured Bible journaling. If you already have a system that works for you, then this may hurt that. But it could also help it as well. I always err on the side of caution so I put this here instead of as a high.
While I enjoy doing it digitally, I would say it can be a lot more difficult to keep up as well. Even if you are someone with their phone glued to their hip all day, usually it's easier to pull out some paper and a pen to write things down. If you are like me, though, and moving toward a purely digital way of life, then this could just be a small hill for major gain.
Lastly, while not specifically a high or low, I often found it difficult to keep track of any actual answered prayer. I feel if I had discovered this 1-2 years ago when I was in a season of God really working on me, there would be much more to highlight. But, the season I'm in now is actually quite relaxed in the grand scheme.
This isn't something I will stop, as I think the realization of how God impacts my life is important to see in retrospect. It also helps a bit to remember the important details of an event and not just that something happened. I do struggle, though, with writing full paragraphs, which makes the outlining approach this leans toward more suitable for me as well. None of the highs nor lows really sway me to either side of suggesting this style of journaling, though. It offers the ability to have greater insight and more un-fluffed thoughts jotted down, but finding that niche of making it work for you in an effective way is definitely trial and error.
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“So, as the Holy Spirit says: ‘Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness, where your ancestors tested and tried me, though for forty years they saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.’ So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’’” -Hebrews 3:7-11
The previous section of chapter 3 discussed Jesus as compared to Moses, and it ended with the phrase: “And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory” (verse 6). This section ties into that firm foundation, with an Old Testament Scriptural quotation.
The section of Hebrews is basically all a quote from Psalm 95:7-11. For more on the context of Psalm 95, check out this post. While that post focuses more on the first 6 verses of this psalm, here I’ll focus on the last half, which is quoted here by the author of Hebrews. This quote is referring to the time in the nation of Israel’s life when they did not walk in fellowship with God but were disobedient to Him.
This quotation is attributed to the Holy Spirit at this location; later, in Hebrews 4:7, the author of Hebrews mentions it again and attributes it to David. The psalm itself does not have an author’s name attached to it, but considering David wrote so many of the psalms, his authorship is very plausible. Attributing this quote to the Spirit also shows the divine authorship of all of Scripture; human hands wrote the words, but they were inspired by the Holy Spirit (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
The quotation from Psalm 95 starts with the word “today” in verse 7, which is important. The content of this passage is applicable a few thousand years ago when the psalm was written, in the first century when the book of Hebrews was written, and every single day this passage is read. Immediate action is necessary - we must hear God’s voice each and every day!
We must also not harden our hearts. A person having a hardened heart means they are not following God. They are acting in disobedience to Him and following their own ways and desires, just like what Israel did in the wilderness. They rebelled against God often, but this reference in verse 8 is likely a specific reference to the incident in Exodus 17:1-7 where they tested God by demanding water in the wilderness.
The idea of testing God in the Israelites’ wandering in the wilderness continues in verse 9. Israel should have trusted God’s works that they could see, including His deliverance of them out of slavery in Egypt. God is always faithful no matter what, but the Israelites rejected Him for 40 years for that time period. At the time of the writing of the book of Hebrews, it was likely about 40 years since many of the descendants of those first Israelites rejected Jesus when He came to earth as their Messiah.
We often tend to think of God as simply loving, but it is clear from verse 10 that God does get angry. He does not just passively let us sin and become indifferent to it; because His nature is completely opposed to all types of sin, He must get angry at it. In this case, the passage specifically calls out His anger toward the generation of Israelites that was wandering in the wilderness. Their hearts were constantly going astray. The use of “heart” here refers to the whole inner being, the person’s thoughts, feelings, and will. If they really knew God’s ways and really understood His faithfulness and care for them, they would not have acted in such rebellion toward God.
Because of all of that, we see God’s judgment on them in verse 11. The reference to an oath here refers to when the spies returned from their survey into the Promised Land (Numbers 14). It is significant that the Psalmist brings together an incident from early in the wilderness period and one from late in that period. The Israelites rebelled and caused God to be angry at the beginning of the exodus, at the end of the exodus, and often in between.
God made a binding oath out of His wrath at their sin that they should “never enter my rest.” God actively opposes their sin, so He has to do something about it. The word used here is a stronger one than simply saying anger or even wrath, but we don’t really have a stronger word in English for that kind of anger. God is that passionately opposed to sins against Him.
But what does it mean that they should never enter God’s rest? The idea of rest here is a place of blessing where there is no more struggle; there is only relaxation in God’s presence and there is no fear about anything. Some believe this rest in the psalm refers to a physical place, such as entering the Promised Land, or the idea of living under the rule of the Messiah - as Israel had often thought would be political. But, it is more likely that the author intends this rest to refer to a spiritual sense - being in complete peace with God as we will be able to spend eternity.
These words of Psalm 95 were written many centuries before even Jesus walked the earth, but they were still true in the first century and they are still true today. We are commanded to not harden our hearts and rebel against God, but to hear God’s voice. We can look back to Israel’s history and see how their disobedience worked out for them; we are urged not to follow their disobedient example. We are to instead know God’s ways and strive to follow Him with all our hearts.
What are you doing in your life to help you follow the ways of God instead of falling into rebellion against Him? Are you surrounding yourself with people that will encourage you in this struggle that we all face? Or are you giving in to rebellion and letting sin run your life? I encourage you to examine your life this week and determine if you’re listening to God’s voice or hardening your heart to Him.
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The Grand Canyon is an utterly breathtaking and amazing sight. But there is something even more amazing than that: the Grand Staircase. As you travel about 150 miles north from the Grand Canyon, you see a much more extensive climb of plateau to plateau than climbing the Grand Canyon itself. From the Vermillion Cliffs in Utah into Zion Canyon and further up to Bryce Canyon, we have a total about 9-11 thousand feet of layers to climb once you get out and away from the Grand Canyon. But it gets much more interesting than that.
The Grand Canyon’s depth is over 5000 feet. There is another 10,000+ feet of layers that should be on top of the canyon. So take twice the depth of the Canyon and add that to the top of the rim. We can’t imagine that. But this butte in the picture above is evidence that these layers extended from Utah to far south beyond the Grand Canyon. Another butte, Red Butte, which is south of the main entrance (my only picture from the bus of that butte is not very good, so I’m not going to share that here) is also evidence of the extension of these layers. I did not get a picture of it, but I noticed while at Desert Point, where Cedar Butte is clearly visible, that far to the north is another butte that takes a good eye to spot.
Now here is what is very interesting of these buttes. They sit ON TOP of the layer I stood on when I took that photo. Yet, I was looking down upon those 900-foot-tall buttes. How is that possible? Simple: The ground we were standing on was uplifted by what we call the “Kaibab Uplift.” That is why the Colorado River starts at only 3000 feet of elevation, but the South Rim is at 7000+ feet and the North Rim is at 8000+ feet. We have a mile of “uplift” in the Colorado Plateau and the Grand Canyon cuts through this uplift, never actually dropping below the main valley surrounding it.
So why point out these buttes? If you have been to the Canyon, you may have noticed there is virtually no mention whatsoever of these two buttes, especially at Desert Point where this picture was taken. Instead of a plaque describing the Cedar Butte (the plaque faces it), there is a memorial of where two planes crashed into each other near that viewpoint. Why would this butte have no mention? Because they are evidence of these layers which we only start to see 70+ miles north extending at least as far as the Canyon and very possibly way south to past Flagstaff. With the exception of these buttes, the 9-11 thousand+ feet of layers are completely MISSING! The buttes are all we have left. The Grand Canyon, as massive as it is, only has about 900 cubic miles missing. The missing Grand Staircase layers account for over 130,000 cubic miles. That means the missing Grand Staircase layers have a volume of 140x that which is missing from the Grand Canyon. And the literature by the Grand Canyon Park makes no mention of these buttes or the missing two miles of layers from the top of the canyon.
There is a critical follow up question. Where are the layers? If the Colorado River carved it all, we can’t find the Grand Canyon debris downriver except for a few small places outside Phoenix or San Diego, but what we have there would hardly fill a dump truck (yes, I am exaggerating, but the fact remains the extreme bulk of the missing rocks are still missing). Let’s again examine the secular claims and the Biblical claims.
The secular claims argue that in the final stages of forming the layers, the entire Colorado Plateau uplifted while under the latest cycle of rising and falling seas. This time, the uplift was so big that it caused the ocean to run off and take off those two miles of sediments with it. This is a concept called “sheet erosion,” where a massive amount of water cleans out a whole sheet of rock layers. Now, what’s amazing is that this sounds exactly like the Flood models. Since the Grand Canyon media does NOT include any of this information, that means the secular models are just now coming to realize this (parks are like textbooks, they are way behind on actual facts). This makes me wonder if the secular and old earth geologists are actually trying to copy notes from the Flood geologists, all the while making mockery of the flood geologists. In the academic world, that’s called plagiarism (this would not be the first time they’ve done it either). The Flood models would call for the rising of the land towards the tail end of the flood and the ocean floors sinking producing the massive and extensive runoff that would carve out those layers and somehow leaving those buttes behind (this could have been a supernatural act). Again, the secularists would never have considered a “catastrophe” like this until Mt. St. Helens forced them to, and Flood Geologists were well on top of things at that point. So why are the secular models looking more and more like the Flood Geologist claims, except without the Flood?
What also stands out to me on these buttes is that they are flat. They’re completely planed off. What natural mechanism has the ability to shave off a mountain like that? Take notice that there are mountains all over the world that are shaved off like this. Only fast-moving water filled with rocks and grains could do that. And what kind of mechanism could produce such fast-moving water? Noah’s Flood. The secularists know this, but despite all the evidence and even the fact that their own models closely resemble what would happen if there was a global flood, they still reject it from being an option. Why is that? Why are so many scientists so hardened and so adamant that there could not be a global flood?
The answer is simple: 2 Peter 3:3-7. They are willingly ignorant of the Flood, proclaiming that all that is happening today is what has happened all in the past, forgetting that the world of Noah’s Day perished by water. It’s intentional. They refuse to recognize the Flood because the Flood was no mere water disaster. It was God’s judgment upon sinful, wicked men. This was a big point we emphasized on this trip. There is such a great beauty to the Grand Canyon, but it’s a monument not merely to catastrophe but to judgment. It was a judgment so severe that God only let one option for salvation to be present: Noah’s Ark. That judgment with one escape is the first clear picture of the Gospel and that our final judgment will not be a mere local event but universal. The entire population will face the final judgment just as the entire population (not just a localized area) faced the judgment of the Flood. If the idea of a global flood was not tied to the Bible and the Gospel, no one would dare question it. Scientists accept a global flood idea on Mars with no water present. Mars’ version of the Grand Canyon, which is far bigger, was obviously cut by water. Yet on earth when 70% of the planet is covered in water, it could not be a global flood? It’s obviously not the science that holding them back.
Next week, I’ll share about the river raft tour through Glen Canyon before I wrap up this series on why we need to understand the important of origins and the Flood.
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“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.” - Philippians 4:6-9
Years ago, a wise man challenged me in my mindset. He said, “You are at a point in your life where you need to choose to either go have an adventure and get in the boat or stay on the dock where it is safe and secure. The boat is about to leave the dock, and you cannot have one foot in the boat and one foot on the dock because you will only get all wet by doing that. What is God calling you to do?”
Like so many people these days, my wife and I wanted to have one foot in the boat and one on the dock. We wanted to have safety and security in material things, like a secure job and a secure paycheck, partly because of the God given responsibility of raising 6 children. Yet, like most, we both desired to go live an adventure and make a difference in this world all the while desiring safety and security in the process.
My friend challenged me to do what God was calling me and my family to do. But he also said, “Your wife needs to be completely on board with this decision. I know of many marriages that have struggled and didn't make it, due to the husband and wife not being on the same page and of the same mindset. You must communicate with your wife about what you believe God is calling you to do. She needs to understand that this journey will be very difficult because most women I know desire safety and security instead of taking risk and adventure.”
He encouraged me to share the vision with her and not dictate to her what we were going to do but to just be as honest as I could be about what “jumping in the boat” could look like. I should share the vision and the excitement of it all but also let her know that this wouldn't be all peaches and cream. Having not taken this journey yet myself yet, I didn't even know how incredibly difficult this would all be, but I did know it would be an adventure. What I have also come to realize is that you should do what God has called you to do no matter what. Jesus is very clear that, “In this world you will have trouble." Let me repeat that, “You will have trouble.” If this really is true, then whether you stay on the dock, where it is safe and secure, or jump in the boat and live God's plan for your life, you will have trouble. So, you might as well go and live the adventure God Almighty has called you to instead of the boring mundane life so many today choose to live out. Why? Because according to Jesus Christ, you are going to have trouble.
The next thing to consider once you have decided to jump in the boat is to get out of the harbor, get past the reef into the deep, dangerous water. Sure, you can get into the boat and think something like, “Hey, look at me, I'm in the boat, woohoo!” and never leave the safety and security of the harbor. This is essentially tricking yourself into thinking you're doing God's will, when in fact He very well may have an even more incredible adventure for you to enjoy. You'll never know until you try. Of course, pray and seek out God's will for your life, doing what He is calling you to do.
Obey His leading. I think one mindset and lie that many people these days seemingly have bought into when following God Almighty is that when things get difficult, they immediately think they are living outside of God's will because doing the will of God should be easy. Well, not exactly. Why? Because according to Jesus Christ, the one so many of us say that we actually follow, you will have trouble in this world. So, when we have struggles, we shouldn't automatically think, “What have I done wrong?” or think to ourselves, “Oh no, the Lord shut that door.” Perhaps Almighty God is allowing this struggle to happen to give you the opportunity to grow and become mature and complete, not lacking anything (James 1:2-4). Perhaps He is allowing this “trouble” to happen so you can learn to rejoice in all things (Philippians 4:4).
Is it possible that you made a “wrong turn” somewhere and are off of God's path for you? Well, sure that is a possibility, but again, God has not left you without guidance. He has given you His Word to guide your life. You also have the counsel of the Holy Spirt. So, after you have prayed to Almighty God for guidance and looked to His Word for direction, if you cannot find something to show you that you are going your way and not God's, perhaps you are on the right path, and God is just allowing this trouble to happen for your own good and for the good of those around you.
With the times we find ourselves in where sex is rampant and so many are seemingly living outside of God's plan for sex, I believe I would be irresponsible not to bring up the following. If while on this journey, you are sensing that you are to do something outside of God's guidance found in His Word or against His law, such as being okay with having sex outside of the bonds of marriage, you and I already know this is not an option if we are truly wanting to follow God Almighty and do His plan for the life He has given to us. Why? Because His Word is very clear that sex outside of marriage is a sin.
Can you and I be forgiven by God if we sin? Of course, we can. He will forgive us if we confess our sin and ask Him to forgive us. Something to consider, though, is that you may still have natural consequences to address from your actions. But you can be forgiven. You can continue on in the boat but at the same time know you might be someplace else now that you are starting this journey again. Of course, this goes with any sin we might find ourselves in, but since sexual sin is so prevalent in our society and even inside of the Church today, I thought this would be a good one for us to consider.
Dear friends, God has given each one of us gifts to be used in the real world. Go use them and have an adventure with God Almighty. Dig into His Word and be guided by the Bible and from the Holy Spirit, our Counselor here on this exciting God ordained journey we find ourselves in. If you think you might be unworthy or have made too many mistakes to be used by God, please know this: I have made many mistakes as well. We all have. That is just one reason why it is such an amazing adventure with God Almighty and choosing His good and right ways to live out. Not only will people see the God of the Bible living in and through you, but God will be using you to advance the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is not a place; the Kingdom of God is a mindset, it is a spiritual awakening, it is a lifestyle. Get in the boat! Go live out the adventure God is calling you to!
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“Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest. He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. “Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house,” bearing witness to what would be spoken by God in the future. But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.” -Hebrews 3:1-6
I know I write this often, but it’s always true: when we see a “therefore” in Scripture, we have to ask what the “therefore” is there for. In this case, it’s referring back to the beginning two chapters of Hebrews. The author has primarily been discussing Jesus - who He is and what He has done to provide the opportunity for salvation for us. The author is continuing here to develop the idea that Jesus is supremely great.
Because of all of that discussion on Jesus, what are we called to do? Fix our thoughts on Jesus! He is so important for our faith and life that He should always be on our minds. He is our apostle - the one God sent to earth to provide for our salvation. He is our high priest - the only one who is worthy to perform the sacrifice necessary for our salvation.
The author then moves to comparing Jesus to Moses. He has already established that Jesus is greater than the angels and greater than any human, so why is this comparison needed? Moses was revered as the most important person in the nation of Israel’s history. He was the one who God chose to lead them out of slavery and almost into the Promised Land. Even though this text says that Moses was faithful, we know that he was not 100% faithful all the time. Moses was still a sinful human being, just like every other human who has ever lived - except Jesus.
The house analogy that we see in this passage helps us put it all into perspective. God built the house, Jesus is the owner of the house, and Moses is a servant in that house. They’re both part of the house - God’s plan for the nation of Israel - but Jesus is greater than Moses. Did Moses do great things to free the nation of Israel from slavery in Egypt? Yes. Did Jesus do even better things by giving up His life for the salvation of all people, in all times and all places? Definitely.
There’s even evidence that God created the world inside this passage. Verse 4 says, “For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything.” Houses do not build themselves, and worlds do not create themselves. There must be someone behind that building/creating, and that someone is God. Of course, God is much greater than any house builder, but this helps provide evidence for God as creator.
But, back to Moses. We see again that Moses was God’s faithful servant. The word used here for “servant” is the only time this word occurs in the New Testament. It does not just refer to any average servant but one who is honored. It’s a servant who is far above a slave in status but still serves the master. Other similar words could be henchman, attendant, companion in arms, or squire. (Personally, I think it’d be fun to call Moses “God’s henchman”!) Moses’ servitude foretold what Jesus would be like - obedient to the Father and providing for salvation for the people, though Jesus fulfilled this perfectly and to a greater extent than Moses.
Interestingly, verse 6 is the first time we see the name “Christ” used in the book of Hebrews. Here, it’s significant that Christ is used instead of the human name Jesus to show the superiority of the person behind the title. Moses was a member, albeit a distinguished one, of the house, whereas Christ is the “Son over God’s house.” Christ has a much higher role in this house than Moses, or any other member, does.
The author found it important to clarify at this point who is a part of this house. The reference to Moses and the exodus from Egypt may lead the reader to believe that only the Jews, Abraham’s descendants, are part of God’s house since they were God’s chosen people for so many generations. But now, because of Jesus and His saving work, all people of God are included in this house! The people of God are those who “hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.” But what does that phrase mean?
The word for “confidence” can also mean courage, so we are to hold firmly onto our confidence and our courage. The word translated as “glory” can also mean to boast, but it more specifically means something that a person can boast about, not the actual act of boasting. Instead of being ashamed of our position in God’s house, we should hold onto the confidence that we have a position we can boast about. Our hope is specifically the certain Christian hope that God will fulfill His promises.
How are you holding firmly to your confidence and hope in Christ that you can boast about? Are you living your life in such a manner that shows that Jesus Christ is greater than any other person who has ever lived?
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The question that enters nearly every person’s mind when they enter the canyon is: “How did this form?” There are two predominate models: the secular-humanistic model and the Biblical Creation model. The Old Earth models are completely inseparable from the secular-humanistic models in this case other than “God did it” slapped to the end. There is no point in trying to distinguish them. The secular models proclaim the Colorado River carved it (they have two primary competing theories for this), and the Biblical model proclaims it was a result of Noah’s Flood.
An interesting detail about the Grand Canyon is that the Canyon doesn’t carve into the valley it surrounds (see in picture above; in the back left is the Little Colorado River Canyon where it does carve into the valley). The vast majority of the canyon’s layers have been uplifted by what is called “the Kaibab Upwarp.” This is why the Colorado River enters Glen Canyon at an elevation of 3700 feet and exits at Lake Mead with an elevation of 1221 feet, but the rim of the canyon is between 6-8 thousand feet above sea level. It is important to note that water cannot flow uphill, and this is a major blow to the secular models. They can’t get the water high enough to cut it. So, they have two proposed models. 1) Forward cutting, where the Colorado River began to cut through the Upwarp and the layers above the river collapsed through the cutting. 2) Piracy, where erosion took place throughout the Upward and eventually cut backwards until it carved a new route for the Colorado River to take place. These two models have some merit because these mechanisms have been observed to happen with other rivers. But that merit ends right then and there. Just because it happened in one place, that doesn’t mean it happened somewhere else, especially when you don’t have favorable matching conditions or settings.
The Biblical models have two major competing ideas as well. 1) Flood runoff (promoted by Tim Clarey of ICR). This is a big one as both secular and Biblical models believe heavy amounts of runoff played a significant role in forming the region. 2) Breached dam hypothesis (Nate Loper who leads Canyon Ministries is a big proponent of this one). Once believed by secular models and now rejected by many, this one has some weight to it, too, because of how easily we have seen canyons form overnight from breached dams before. There is some back-and-forth debate as to whether each of these models can actually do what they claim to do. This comes from both parties and from within both parties.
As Christians, our job is to analyze things based on the framework of what the Bible says. The point of contention is Noah’s Flood. The secular-humanistic models intentionally deny this event, and the Biblical models make it the focal point. So, what does the Bible record? Take some time to read Genesis 7-8, then I’ll highlight some points.
There are two sources of water: the fountains of the deep and the windows from heaven. The window of heaven rained for 40 days, but the fountains of the deep were not closed for 150 days. So we have water from above and water from below. These waters rose for 150 days and then receded for 150 days. Noah was on the Ark for a total of 377 days. These waters covered all the high hills under heaven to the point where the mountains were completely buried. Then at the end of the flood, we see the waters receding over a span of a 150 days, and then the land dried out until Noah disembarked from the Ark. A flood skeptic will say, “I see no claims of geologic upheaval or volcanoes or anything that Flood Geologists claim.” Well, Genesis wasn’t written to be a scientific textbook, nor was it meant to describe things in modern scientific language. Rather, it was written so the uneducated person, no matter time, culture, or language, can get the big picture. However, what would happen if what the Bible describes did occur?
But what should we expect if the Flood was indeed a global event? We should expect to see many rock layers laid down by water. We should see billions of dead things caused by drowning or burial. We should see effects of fast-moving water in large quantities. We should see extremely little time in between layers as tides rolled in and out. And what do we actually see? Many rock layers laid down by water, filled with billions of death things, massive scales of water erosion, and in between layers, we have virtually no evidence of the passage of time. The rim of the Canyon at Desert View (see picture of Cedar Butte above) shows what we SHOULD see should any layer be exposed for any significant length of time. Hills, plants, erosion run off, etc. Instead, look at the layers right below it. There is no indication of any passage of time there. No indication of erosion over thousands of years, let alone millions, no indication of bioturbation (plant growth, animal livelihood, etc.), just rock layer after rock layer. The secular arguments against this nearly invariably deal on the technicalities, not the big picture.
Now what should we see if the secular models are valid? Besides what is addressed above, if millions of years have passed, we should see the canyon “walls” not actually look like walls. They should merely be ravines and valleys. If a river carved the canyon, any walls should be mostly collapsed with angles of more than 30 degrees. Consider the scale of the Canyon. If the Colorado River carved it, how wide did that river have to be in order to get that width? And how much water are we talking about to produce said width? The secularists have their models, their explanations, and their excuses, but they really have nothing that doesn’t resemble nor require water on a global scale. We should see a canyon that fits the size of the Colorado River, and we should NOT see large side canyons. (Look at the Bright Angel Canyon in the first picture, which heads towards the middle, and also look at the Little Colorado Canyon that you can barely see in the second picture below it). The secularists don’t have a reasonable answer for these side canyons that won’t invoke or suggest a global scale catastrophe.
I am convinced that Flood deniers have never seen water move in large quantities or velocity. I have. In 2006, here in El Paso, we had 15 inches of rain in less than 48 hours, and I saw canyons carved into the sand, meandering like the Grand Canyon and with vertical walls like the Grand Canyon. The power of water is highly disregarded by our mainstream geologists today. When we add grains of sand or dirt, we can cut steel with water. Imagine what that will do should a dam burst.
The secularists and old earthers will say that the Flood models are untenable. And there may be things in the flood models that simple won’t work or we don’t have answers to. But don’t think for a moment that the secular models are any better. Don’t think they have solutions that don’t have bigger problems. I could justifiably argue that for every problem the secularists present for the Biblical models, the secularists will have the same problems, only bigger for their own. I believe I can claim that if any “Deep Timer” were to apply the same standards of scrutiny upon their own models as they do the young-earth models, they could not believe in Deep Time any further and be honest about it. Next week, we’ll look at an even bigger problem for the secular models: two miles of rocks missing from the TOP of the Grand Canyon.
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The overall focus of these first few chapters of the book of Hebrews is Jesus and the salvation He provides us, and today’s passage of Hebrews 2:10-18 is no exception to that theme. The author of Hebrews has already established that Jesus is greater than the angels, and His greatness is evidenced by the work of salvation that He completed. But in spite of that, He also lived the life of a regular human person; He needed to live a life like those He came to save.
Hebrews 2:10-11 says, “In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.” God’s plan of salvation was not arbitrary but perfectly fitting to His character and purposes. The word used for “pioneer” of salvation also means author, originator, or founder; Jesus is that pioneer. Salvation was founded and originated in Him.
The idea of being made perfect in this verse is a common one throughout the book of Hebrews. The root word in the Greek has the idea of being made complete, whole, perfect, finished, or fulfilled. But why would Jesus, the pioneer of salvation, need to be made perfect? Isn’t He already perfect? The idea of completion may be better suited here. Jesus, while already perfect, needed to complete the work of salvation in order to fulfill that role. The fulfillment of Jesus’ suffering on the cross needed to be completed in order to fulfill salvation for all of humanity.
Jesus is the one who makes us holy, and we as followers of Jesus Christ are identified here as being of the same family as Jesus. Jesus is the one who accomplished this work so we could have this opportunity for salvation and to be of the same family as Him. Jesus is not ashamed to call all of us His brothers and sisters, as we are all children of His Heavenly Father.
In verses 12-13, we see three quotes from the Old Testament: “He says, ‘I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters; in the assembly I will sing your praises.’ [Psalm 22:22] And again, ‘I will put my trust in him.’ [Isaiah 8:17b] And again he says, ‘Here am I, and the children God has given me.’ [Isaiah 8:18a]” Psalm 22 was considered a Messianic psalm, pointing to Jesus and specifically His crucifixion since Jesus quoted verse 1 from the cross, so it would be natural for the author of Hebrews to see the speaker in this psalm as being Jesus. Declaring someone’s name was identifying a person’s entire character and reputation; Jesus is declaring the Father’s character through revealing His own character.
The reason for the quotations from Isaiah 8 in this passage are less obvious. The phrase quoted from Isaiah 8:17 is identical to Isaiah 12:2 and 2 Samuel 22:3, but with the following quotation being from Isaiah 8:18, it’s very likely that the author is quoting these consecutive verses. The context of Isaiah 8 is speaking of going through difficulties, so perhaps this is referring to the suffering that Jesus had to endure. We see that those who believe in Jesus Christ are the children that God has given to Jesus - not as literal children, of course, but as children in the sense of being His disciples or followers.
Next, the author develops the themes of Jesus sharing in the humanity of us, God’s children. Jesus made a decision to leave his glory to come here and be like us. He had never experienced pain of any kind before being in a human body. That takes humility! So why did He do it? To “break the power of him who holds the power of death — that is, the devil — and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death” (verses 14-15). The devil held the power of death until Jesus defeated him with His death on the cross and subsequent resurrection. The author of Hebrews doesn’t go into detail on how that defeat worked, but the reader can also refer to 1 Corinthians 15 for more on that.
Who did Jesus come to save? Not angels, but Abraham’s descendants (verse 16). Jesus did not come only to save the biological descendants of Abraham, of course, but He had to be made incarnate as one of the descendants of Abraham in order to fulfill the requirements of salvation for all humanity.
Jesus had to become fully human in every way: “For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people” (verse 17). If Jesus was not fully human, His death would not be able to save all of us who are fully human from eternal death. Hebrews is the only book of the New Testament where the term “high priest” is used for Jesus; the author does not yet explain it here, so stay tuned for more on that as we continue to go through this book. The work of Jesus is being clearly shown as higher and more important than the work of the regular priests with their ritual sacrifices, because Jesus’ salvation is the only one that does not need to be repeated as we continue to sin. The atonement that Jesus accomplished was once and for all.
This section concludes with verse 18: “Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.” Jesus did not only suffer on the cross but also throughout His earthly life. He was constantly tempted, just as we are, except He never gave into that temptation. Jesus gets it; He’s lived in this world just as we do.
So what does all of this mean for us today? The bottom line is always that everything points to Jesus and the work He accomplished on the cross for us. The only way we can experience salvation is because of that work. Jesus became fully human and experienced suffering and temptations just like we do. His sacrificial death completed the work that needed to be done for us to be saved, since we could not complete that work ourselves. This was true for the original readers of the book of Hebrews, and it remains true for us today. Live your life in such a way that glorifies Jesus as the only one who can save us from all the times we mess up.
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They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, the Grand Canyon is one thing where 1000 words doesn’t cover the picture and the picture doesn’t cover seeing it live. I took this shot on Friday, June 11, and it’s much like the famous pictures of the Canyon you see (from the same location). When I took my tour, we stopped by three viewing points: Mather Point, Bright Angel Lodge, and Desert View. These three points give you the biggest views and the iconic views that just leave you in jaw-dropping awe and wonder. Take note: in this picture, there is a canyon heading towards you. This is the Bring Angel Canyon, a small side canyon. The main Grand Canyon is going from right to left.
The Grand Canyon of northern Arizona is considered one of the largest canyons in the world, but what makes it stand out is that due to the desert landscape, you can grasp the magnitude of it in a few views. It is about 277 miles long, with depths exceeding a mile deep and widths spanning 1-18 miles for most of the canyon. Mather Point and the Bright Angel lodges are very close to each other (but you still need to drive without some good hiking), and they allow you see the greatest percentage of the canyon. Then Desert View showcases some extensive views as well. Here is one of them:
The pictures off my phone are clearly nowhere high quality, but there are important features to observe here. Until you reach the bottom of the canyon, all the layers are sedimentary — laid down by water. Both the secular and Biblical models agree on this. Only the sedimentary layers have fossils in them. You will also notice that for the most part, the layers are pretty flat in relation to each other, though there are exceptions to this. FAR to the west of the Canyon is “Surprise Canyon” (well outside our viewing range), which is a 400-foot gorge cut into a side channel but then filled in with various debris all the while having flat layers on top. The secular models use this canyon to prove that layers had to represent long periods of time for a river to carve that canyon (all the while claiming the Colorado River carved the massive Grand Canyon).
So, what do we have in the canyon? At the very bottom, we have the “Vishnu Schist” and the Zoroaster Granite, volcanic granite that is often called “basement rock.” Flood geologists call this “Day 3: Creation Rock,” — this is the rock that was formed out of the waters on Day 3. Everything on top of this is sedimentary rocks laid down by water. In some visible places, there are up to 12,000 feet of rocks that were initially stacked on top of each other and then “faulted,” that is, tilted over (the Joggins area in Newfoundland has 20,000 feet of sediments in a similar status). On top of that is what is called the “Great Unconformity,” which is called that because it goes directly against the secular models of how geology is supposed to work. Nearly every layer from here on out is predominately flat. There are about ten distinct layers from this unconformity upward including the Tapeats Sandstone, Redwall Limestone, the Coconino Sandstone, and the Kaibab Formation at the rim. Within these layers are various lava flows, fossils, wood carvings, and numerous other finds. It’s these sedimentary layers that are of primary interest to all parties. Another important thing to note: these layers are continental in size. They are MASSIVE and cover many multiple states, not just local areas.
Now there are other areas called “unconformities” throughout the canyon, and flood geologists have often debated these points. But it is important to notice that the secular models point to such “unconformities” because they have entire layers MISSING from the Canyon. How do they know they are missing? Because they compare the actual layers to the Geologic Column. The secular models proudly proclaim that nearly 25% of the geologic history is not found in the Grand Canyon and say that these layers were removed. Well, what would cause such removal of entire layers with no evidence they were ever there? Where did these layers go? How do they know these layers actually existed there? The secularists and Old Earthers won’t tell you this outright, but while they accuse Flood geologists of starting with their answers (that is, starting with the fact of Noah’s Flood, a record that well predated their ideas), they are doing the exact same thing (that is, starting with the Geologic Column as stated in the textbooks is real, which doesn’t exist in the real world as presented).
The secular models for how the layers got here is through rising and falling seas. I found that very interesting because this looks a lot like the flood models as the waters rose from the fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven along with the tides that would be ever changing due to the changing water levels. This is supposed to be coupled every few million years with the continent collapsing due to the weight of the rock and waters, which enables the rising seas to deposit the next layer. While we have seen evidence of this collapsing called isostasy in different places around the world, do we see evidence of this here? And how would the collapsing produce the same drop for the entire span of the area, leaving essentially perfectly flat layers AND without any significant visible cracking that would be expected when rock moves on that kind of scale? These models must have this collapsing (yet the books I’ve read don’t actually mention this and one author admitted it was because he and his co-authors decided it was too complicated to explain), otherwise they actually promote a global flood for every layer. There are problems here that I am not convinced the secularists have thought through.
The Flood geology models for the laying down of the layers include the rising and falling of flood waters due to the daily tides and running off as the land was being churned up. Some models call for tsunami waves caused by the massive geologic upheavals to crash ashore and leave their deposits as the waters receded with each wave and tide. Other models call for the fact that as the waters rose, they churned up two miles of rock, and then as things started to settle down, the layers were deposited and cleanly sorted by size, weight, and density (which is very easily observed in a household experiment). Then came the runoff from the Flood which had effects that I will get into later. I’ll just say here that there are two miles of missing layers from ABOVE the canyon. There is no way I can get into the technical details here, but you can look into the two major models of the Hydroplate Theory and Catastrophic Plate Tectonics at the links provided.
So, what caused all the layers to form? I personally believe it is a combination of the tsunamis and sorting. I don’t think either model can cover it alone. But I found the secular models to be wishful thinking at best. The secular models’ proposed mechanisms are simply not capable of producing the size or scale of rocks we find WITHOUT being global in scale. But the secularists will not consider the Flood at all because it really wrecks up their models and their dating methods.
This post discussed the formation of the Canyon’s layers. Next week, I’ll look at the different models for how the canyon was carved.
This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration. All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved. Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.
