What do the oceans, the mountains, and other natural wonders tell us about the world we live in? Well, when we look through the lens of biblical catastrophism, we begin to learn some very important lessons from them. Hello again friends, my name is Wayne Shepherd and today on Encounter God's Truth, author and theologian Dr. John Whitcomb delivers Part 2 of his message, Catastrophism is the Key to the Present. We've already learned that it is the key to the past, and as our speaker tells us, the key to the origin of the world is biblical catastrophism. You see, we're learning that the current state of the world is the result of the flood of Genesis, not millions of years of evolutionary geology. God created the world, and God is in control of catastrophes. Here now to help us gain more understanding is our Bible teacher, Dr. John Whitcomb. Friends, I invite you to join me on a guided tour of planet Earth with God himself, the creator of the universe, as our guide. You know, to have God as your guide, you have to have certain qualifications, don't you? Like, you have to have God's word not just in your hand or on your shelf, but in your heart. because God is gonna tell us some things from his infallible, inerrant, inspired word about catastrophism in the past, how it's the key to unlock the origin of the world, and he's gonna tell us some things that perhaps we've never even thought of before. So we're gonna ask his help and invite you to join with us on this tour. Let's first of all go to an ocean shore. I live in Indiana, that's hard for me to do, but maybe in New Jersey or California or somewhere you can stand on the shore of the ocean with the Bible in your heart, remember, and ask God, what am I seeing out there? What is that ocean? And God will tell you something that even most scientists don't even know, of course, that you're now looking at the deepest ocean the world has ever known. Because before the Genesis flood struck the earth and changed everything, half of the earth's 330 million cubic miles of water were above the atmosphere. A pre-flood vapor canopy, a global terrarium, was the situation of a warm, humid world for 1,656 years. That all ended at the flood when that great pre-flood vapor canopy precipitated and collapsed in 40 days and 40 nights. And then what happened? The oceans became so tremendously deep. Because when the flood ended, what did God do? He pushed the ocean basins down. When he pushed the mountains up, the continents, post-flood continents that we see today, so that ocean basins in some places in the Pacific, for example, are over 36,000 feet deep. That's far deeper than the highest mountain is high. Six miles down, amazing. Just like God put his thumb into the crust of the earth and pushed these basins down, down, down. Thank you, Lord, for that insight into what we see today. Now, furthermore, friends, let's look into the future of the oceans. What you see is going to be there through the 70th week of Daniel, the thousand year kingdom of Christ. But at the end of that millennial kingdom, all the oceans will evaporate in cosmic fire and God will create a new earth. Are you ready for this? In which there'll be no more seas at all, no more oceans. And so friends, as you see the oceans today, God's word tells you what they were like originally in the past and what's going to happen in the future. Let's ask God now friends to guide us to the mountains of the world, the high, high mountains. You won't find them high enough in America, not even Alaska, or Huascaran in Peru, South America. Let's go to the Himalayas of Asia, 29,000 feet above the oceans, my, and take a oxygen tank with you, along with God's word in your heart, and maybe a shovel to start digging up there when you get to that high, high mountain. God says, now, dear child, I want you to know something. Here's Psalm 95 about mountains. The Lord is a great God, and a great king above all gods, in whose hand are the depths of the earth, now listen, and the peaks of the mountains are his also. The sea is his, for it was he who made it, and his hands formed the dry land. So what should we do then? Next verse, come let us worship and bow down and kneel before the Lord our maker for he is our God. You don't say to a great mountain, oh, how great thou art, time and chance. No, that's what I used to think as an evolutionist. It's God's work. Psalm 65 says in verse six, who does establish the mountains by his strength being girded with might? And I say, thank you, Lord. Teach me, teach me about these mountains. You know, as soon as you start digging down into the ground, at the very highest mountains, you come across beautifully preserved fossils of marine creatures and other animals, yes, even birds, and you say, now, that's amazing because I can recognize these. That proves immediately, of course, dear friends, that evolution is false. You don't find transition forms gradually between a reptile with no wings and a bird with full feathered wings. You find reptiles, you find birds, you find distinct forms. That's what God said 10 times, 10 times in Genesis 1. He created living things to reproduce exclusively and forever after their what? After their kind, after their kind, after their kind. The fixity of created kinds. Thank you, God, for showing me in these fossils the amazing way you designed the living world. But look closer. How beautifully preserved these fossils are. Delicate body parts, fins, feathers, skin formation. You know what that proves too, don't you? Catastrophism. They were buried so rapidly that they had no time to decay, oxidize, predators devouring them. No, they were instantly preserved just as you see them now. The key to the origin of the world is biblical catastrophism. And I say, Lord, I'm amazed at this. I'm on top of a mountain here, it's snowy and icy, and all over the world, the high mountains covered with ice and snow, the higher latitudes, North and South Pole, snow and ice, never used to be like that before the flood, friends. That's a post-flood phenomenon of weather and topographical situations. And I say, Lord, show me something I can actually look at. Well, I invite you, friends, to the Grand Canyon of Arizona. Oh, what a spectacular display of God's work during the catastrophe of the flood. Layer upon layer upon layer around an area of 500,000 square miles of four western states. And on the edge of the Grand Canyon, you look down 5,000 feet to the bottom. Be careful. Be careful. You might fall off. No, if you know Jesus, you'll soon be with him. Be careful about what that evolution-oriented National Park Guide is going to tell you. He'll say, ladies and gentlemen, this canyon is one of the wonders of the world. And it took one billion years to form, layer upon layer, millions of years, as a great circle of rivers poured their sediments evenly across this vast geosyncline, this flat basin. Oh, friends, how totally absurd. You know what? If each layer is a million years later than the previous layer, the previous one would have almost disappeared, twisted, distorted, eroded. But you see, they're just like pages of a book. No time between those layers at all elapsed. And that's amazing. That is a spectacular discovery. And so when you look at the Grand Canyon, you say, this didn't take a billion years. Those layers are formed rapidly by gigantic masses of sediment, saturated water sweeping the earth back and forth, day after day, week after week, month after month. And then what? It was lifted up, you remember, from Psalm 104, the mountains went up, continents rose from beneath the sea, and it cracked open in this part called the Grand Canyon, and it gouged its way through rapidly. It didn't take a half million years, folks, for Colorado River to carve that canyon. It could never have done that. Rivers can't carve a canyon that deep. No, no, with such vertical walls. It had to happen rapidly. Catastrophism. You know, friends, those words are hard for us to handle sometimes. So God has graciously given us a visual aid. The greatest catastrophe of the 20th century was the explosion of Mount St. Helens in the state of Washington in the spring of 1980, May 18th, 1980 it happened. All of a sudden, after weeks and weeks of the north slope of Mount St. Helens beginning to bulge outward, suddenly it exploded and no scientist could have imagined the magnitude of that explosion. 440 million tons of TNT equivalent Think of this, equal to 30,000 Hiroshima atomic bombs during nine hours of eruption. Three and a third billion cubic yards of rock and ice moved out 150 miles an hour northward. A blast cloud also moved out at 650 miles per hour at a temperature of 500 degrees Fahrenheit. destroying almost immediately, I mean within 10 minutes, 230 square miles of forest, equivalent to 3 billion board feet of lumber, enough to build over 600,000 homes. Layers of mud and ash, 600 feet deep. And two years later, another mudflow 40 miles an hour on top of the previous layer. But listen to this sad footnote. In spite of many, many warnings by geologists who were afraid of what was going to happen, Many people stood at a distance with their cameras, of course, and their telescopes, hoping to see something spectacular they'd never forget. 57 observers, including some of those scientists, died when that blast went out. And I say, Lord, I can't even imagine what that must have been like. We have some pictures of that that people took. And we just say, Lord, what an astounding catastrophe. Now wait till you hear this. 600 million cubic yards of mud and rock came down into Spirit Lake at the bottom of the volcano and pushed up a wave of water, are you ready for this, 860 feet high. Why, the great tsunami in the Indian Ocean is maybe 30 feet. The great tsunami that hit Japan, maybe 40 feet. This was 860 feet high and ripped off a million trees from the opposite mountain and dashed them down into Spirit Lake which rose 300 feet higher than it had been before. And I'm seeing, Lord, what an amazing phenomenon, the greatest catastrophe of the 20th century, beautifully illustrated, described, and explained by two of my friends, John Morris and Steve Austin, in their spectacular book, Footprints in the Ash. And I say, Lord, thank you for these visual aids that help us to understand something of catastrophism, yes, Moving water under flood conditions can transport and bury thousands of feet of sediments within days, not millions of years within days. And so my co-author of the Genesis Flood Book, Dr. Henry Morris, was an expert in hydrodynamics. What can moving water do under flood conditions? And I say, thank you, Lord, for helping me to understand something of the significance of this event. And now, friends, I invite you to think of an amazing thing that happened nearly 100 years ago in the North Atlantic Ocean. In April of 2012, we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the sinking of what? The Titanic. What a ship, the greatest thing ever built to move. The pyramid of Egypt is bigger, but it doesn't move. And how proud those people were of what they had constructed. They persuaded 2,300 people to join them on a rapid trip across the North Atlantic to America. breaking all speed records. They didn't bother to have enough lifeboats because the ship was unsinkable. In fact, we have a record of a woman who asked one of the officers, can this ship sink? He said, not even God can sink this ship. Never say or think a thing like that, dear friend. It's almost like God saying, oh really, watch me. And that next night, it struck an iceberg. And of course, the captain had assumed that the steel hull was strong enough to resist an iceberg, but he was wrong. We have found since then that it wasn't properly tempered. The steel was not properly tempered. It shattered. And within a couple of hours, friends, 1,500 people went to the bottom of the North Atlantic, 11,000 feet down. Somehow 700 people were rescued. But now, in recent years, you know what we've done, don't you? We've explored the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean there, and have found the Titanic split in half, pots and pans and spoons strewn everywhere over the ocean floor. But wait a minute now, not one human skeleton of those 1,500 people, not one tooth, one skull, one bone has been found. God has provided billions of scavengers in the oceans to devour anything that is dying or dead so the ocean bottom does not become a garbage dump. And friends, that's an amazing, no fossils are being formed in ocean basins. And the same is true on the dry land continents. In the western prairies, as you know, millions of bison, buffalo roam for centuries. And when that animal would die in the prairie, scavengers would remove the flesh very quickly. The bones would gradually disintegrate, return to dust. no fossil would be formed at all. You know, that's why we don't find fossils of humans from the Genesis flood. Remember, they were climbing the hills to escape the flood as they saw the animals coming into the ark during those final seven days before the door was shut. And what happened? They drowned. Millions of people drowned and were devoured and disappeared. That's an amazing, amazing insight that many have seen to explain what's happened at the flood. Now friends, as you stand again at the Grand Canyon and look at these layers, you see things that were preserved. One whole layer of coal, carbonized wood. Yes, huge forests ripped up, transported, smashed under great pressure. High-grade anthracite coal all across the Grand Canyon layers. Another layer of fish fossils, millions of them, perfectly preserved and they're twisted in their dying agony. What happened? Did they all get just sort of like sick one day? No, no. They were instantly buried, cut off from oxidation, decay, and predators, and entombed to become a part of the permanent features of the Grand Canyon layers. And I say, well, that's amazing. That is astounding. So when you go to the Dinosaur National Monument on the border of Colorado and Utah, there you see many skeletons half chiseled out of the rock just as they found them. And there's a dinosaur skeleton. Why not go up and talk to that dinosaur? You say, what do you mean, talk to that dinosaur? Well, here's what Job recommended in chapter 12 of his amazing book 4,000 years ago. Listen to this. At this point in the book of Job, he is so frustrated with his so-called counselors, his three friends. He said, truly, you are the people, and with you, wisdom will die. But then what? I have intelligence as well as you. Who does not know these things? Verse seven, but now here's a good advice, you friends of mine, and it's still good advice today, friends. Listen to this. Now ask the beast. Get away from your classrooms, textbooks, evolutionary indoctrination. Just go out and look for yourself at the living world of animals and let them teach you. I call this beast theological seminary. How do you like that for a faculty? And who else is on the faculty? Birds of the heavens, and let them tell you. or speak to the earth, geology. Let it teach you and let the fish of the sea declare to you who among all these does not know, are you ready? That the hand of the Lord has done this in whose hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind. So let's be biblical. Let's go directly to the fossils. Let's go directly to the animals. Let's look around us in the world today and see the evidences of biblical catastrophism as the key to unlock the marvels of how the world was created. So friends, as you do this now, you go up to this great dinosaur skeleton, you see, and you say, how did you get there? And of course, the dinosaur, you understand, will have to answer, because God says, speak to the earth and it'll teach you. Okay, now let's do that. How did you get there? Can you hear him answer you? Thank you, sir, for asking me a question based on your convictions of the truth of God's written word, the Bible. I just don't know what happened. I was minding my own business, sir, eating my swamp vegetation when all of a sudden a huge mass of mud arose from the oceans and instantly cut me off from oxidation, decay, and predators and entombed me as a permanent part of the crust of the earth. Thank you. Amazing. Friends, everywhere in the world, fossilized animals, plants, insects, reminding us of something that happened that will never happen again in the history of the world, a global flood of water. And friends, these animals didn't do anything wrong. Why were they smashed and fossilized, killed? Because we sinned at the beginning of the world, and we still do, You remember Isaiah 53, all we, like sheep, have gone astray. We've turned each one to his own way. Every one of us is the problem. And God gave a tremendous visual aid in the smashing and fossilizing of these millions and billions of once living creatures. And I say, Lord, thank you for your mercy. Thank you for teaching us things like this so we can learn more about you. And how, in the light of our sin and our rebellion, Do we deserve a Savior who came 2,000 years ago because God the Father so loved the world, friends, that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life? And so, friends, as we follow the advice of that patriarch Job and open both of our eyes, hopefully connected with our brain, and look at what God has set before us in the world today to show us of catastrophism as the key not only to the past but for what we see today. Mount St. Helens' destruction, explosion, was an infinitesimal pimple compared to what? To the catastrophe of a flood where water spilled all over the highest mountains of the world for months. We can't even imagine a catastrophe of such magnitude and what it would do in sedimentation and fossilization, mountain uplift, oceans sinking down. We say, Lord, I can't even imagine. Just help me to believe what you said. and take this seriously in order that I can be prepared to understand the world in which we now live today, and to anticipate the coming of Jesus to establish the kingdom upon this earth by another catastrophe, which we'll be studying, God willing, next week. So friends, I invite you to join me as I study with you biblical catastrophism. When Noah stepped out of that ark, friends, he found the world totally different than any world he had ever known before. And so we can see through his eyes, through the lens of Holy Scripture recorded in Genesis, what he saw when he stepped out of that ark, a brand new world, higher mountains, deeper oceans, a change, in fact, in the animal kingdom, according to Genesis chapter nine, where the original intensity of the Edenic curse was now greatly modified. Many amazing, amazing things have happened since the Genesis flood. changed the world that we know forever. Well friends, you know that Dr. Whitcomb has been studying, teaching, and writing about the Genesis Flood for more than half a century. And next time he'll share more as he concludes this series by showing how catastrophism is the key to the future. But right now I'd like to ask you, Dr. Whitcomb, to summarize all of this for those who may be hearing it for the first time. Please explain what significant changes the Genesis Flood brought to planet Earth. Wayne, it is amazing what changes took place, permanent changes, in the climate, topography, the geography, but many other things that happened because of the Genesis flood. Let's start with a little testimony from one of the last people before the flood, the father of Noah. Listen to Lamech. This is Genesis 5, 28. Lamech lived 182 years and became the father of a son. Of course, his son was Noah. Now listen why he called him that. And he called his name Noah, saying, this one shall give us rest. Noah, why do we need rest? Listen carefully. From our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the Lord had cursed, Lamech was absolutely in despair. That pre-flood world was awful. It tells us in Genesis 6 twice that the whole earth was filled with violence, I mean, can you imagine Lamech coming home from his jungle garden to feed his hungry family, and there silhouetted against the evening sky would be the form of Tyrannosaurus Rex, waiting not for his vegetables, but for him. Oh, how awful that pre-flood world was. The intensity of the curse. Genesis 6 says, God saw the wickedness of man was great on the earth. Every thought of the imagination of his heart was only evil continually. Now, here's the term. the initial intensity of the Edenic curse. Lamech said, in effect, I can't stand it. Somehow, dear God, through this baby boy you've given me, bring us comfort, relief. And what happened? 600 years later, Noah, Mr. Comfort, walked into a box, the Ark, with his small family, survived the flood, and saw a drastic permanent change in the world. Listen to what happened. When he and his three sons stepped out of the ark to see this new world, Genesis 9.1 says, God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. Can't you just see them saying, but wait a minute, look, here's T-Rex coming out of the ark, the same old awful world. No, no, watch this. And the fear of you, God said to those four men, and the terror of you, shall be on every beast of the earth. Everything has changed now. The initial intensity of the Edenic curse has been modified in the animal kingdom's response reaction to human beings. Now friends, don't take unfair advantage of that. I'm sure the most deadly animal in North America could be the Kodiak bear of Alaska. Don't go to that island, climb that hill, enter that forest, see a huge mother bear and grab the cub and quote Genesis 9-2. No, there are exceptions. Don't go to Florida and jump into a swamp between a papa alligator and his food, or a mama gator and her baby. That could be very serious too. But friends, very few people, very few people die this way today. Ask yourself the question, in the last 12 months of your life, how many hours have you spent running away from deadly animals? Almost none. But before the flood, it was a very, very different kind of world, wasn't it? And so I say, no, Lord, that's amazing. You have modified the curse, and someday you'll modify it even more in the thousand-year kingdom of Jesus when all animals will be totally harmless and revert back to their Edenic condition in Genesis 1 and 2. No carnivores, no flesh eaters, no poisonous creatures. It'll be a beautiful, harmless world at last. And I say, Lord, I'm amazed at this order of events that you've outlined for us in the Bible. The initial perfection of the world until Adam's sin. Then the worst system this planet has ever known, 1,656 years of terror and awful carnage, threats, awful conditions. Then what? Our present system, much modified, but not perfect yet. We're waiting for the kingdom to come in which Jesus will rule the world in perfection. Well, thank you, Lord, for helping us to see the progress of your mercy throughout all the ages of time past and yet in days to come. There's always lots of information here on Encounter God's Truth, but you can listen again anytime at sermonaudio.com forward slash Whitcomb. This program is a production of Whitcomb Ministries, and you can find us online at whitcombministries.org and facebook.com forward slash Whitcomb Ministries. In fact, we would love to hear from you on our Facebook page. Just click like to join us and then share your thoughts and be a part of the interaction there. You can read our Encounter God's Truth newsletter and get the very latest information about our ministry and this broadcast. I'm Wayne Shepherd reminding you that here on Encounter God's Truth, we bring you the Word of God, which is true from the beginning to the end. Until next week, thank you for listening.