“WHAT TEACHING OF THE PAST IS RIDICULED MORE THAN ANY OTHER, YET HAS BEEN UNIVERSALLY ACKNOWLEDGED WORLDWIDE, AS ABSOLUTE TRUTH?”

 I’m Dennis Finnan, host and speaker on the World, the Word & You! Broadcast and in a moment we’ll talk about an event in our historical past that was so catastrophic, it burned its memory in the traditions of all nations and tribes of the world  …

…I opened the broadcast as I usually do with a challenging question or riddle. Today’s was centered on calling you to come with me and look at an event of our past that was so important that, all the tribes and nations of the world have retained some kind of tradition concerning it at the dawn of their history. Unfortunately, today its memory is now ridiculed by many educators and scientists, not because it’s a fairytale, but because belief in it can cause the philosophy and living of an individual to change drastically. Indeed, what was this event that so greatly seared its memory in our past humanity? The answer is a worldwide catastrophic flood of water that completely destroyed our world and all life upon its surface, save a family of eight souls and a sampling of all other life that exists today. Yes, in the Bible this is called the “Flood of Noah’s day,” and after another pause for a musical moment, I’ll return to talk with you about in my radio message - A WORLD THAT PERISHED. Stay tuned…

… There is no doubt in the minds of those, who are what we call bible believing Christians, that an event in our historical past occurred that was so catastrophic, that it changed the life and living of creatures upon the earth as well as man’s very existence. In Scripture this is called the universal Flood of Noah recorded in the Book of Genesis 6-9. There we are told exactly what happened one day in human history that caused the known world of the past to virtually perish. Let’s take a moment and read some selected verse of Scripture to give us an idea of its magnitude and the reasons for its happening. We read in,

Gen 6:1-8 (NIV)  When men began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. 3 Then the LORD said, “My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal ; his days will be a hundred and twenty years.” 4 The Nephilim [men of great size and stature] were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to [had sex with] the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown. 5 The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. 7 So the LORD said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

This account introduces the Bible reader to the event called the worldwide Flood of Noah recorded in Genesis chapter six, and the following three chapters. In it, we are told what God, the creator of all life determined to do and did. He sent a flood of waters to cover the face of the earth to destroy all land life, man and beast, save one man and later we learn his family. Why did God save this one man and his family? The Bible tells us,

Gen 6:8-10 (NIV)  But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. 9 This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God. 10 Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth

2 Pet 2:5 (NIV)  “… Noah [was] a preacher of righteousness…”;

Apparently God was, as usual, watching the life and living of all human beings He created. His summation was that sin which entered the world in the Garden of Eden and changed humanity entirely into a sin darkened rebel creature, had finally come to fruition and consumed the known world of that day. So, it was time for judgment, and God was not going to put up any longer with mankind’s rebellion to His laws for life and living in His universe. The Bible tells us about the wickedness of man for we read in,

Gen 6:5-7 (NIV)  The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. 7 So the LORD said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth--men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air--for I am grieved that I have made them."

This was the judgment sentence that preceded God’s destruction of life and the world it lived in. Thus, we can conclude that the catastrophic Flood of Noah was not chance happening, but a planned act carried out by the sovereign omnipotent God who owns all the universe and its creations.

Now the argument today is not that Noah and his family of eight lived and died, but the biblical record of their days and this event, are preposterous to many evolutionary geologists and thinkers today. However, the biblical case of this catastrophic worldwide complete destruction of the planet is quite convincing. Henry Morris, a great theologian and scientist who has written extensively on the subject gives more than 100 reasons why all mankind should believe and accept the biblical account of this complete destruction of the world that once was. Morris highlights them in the following eleven reasons,

(1) More than thirty statements of the universal character of the Flood and its effects occur in throughout Genesis 6 through 9.

(2) The exact purpose of the Flood was to destroy not only all mankind, but also  all animal life on the dry land as well (Genesis 6:7; 6:17 ; 7:22 ).

(3) The Flood was also sent to “destroy the earth” (Genesis 6:13 ).

(4) The Flood covered all the highest mountains of the earth (Genesis 7:19 , 20).

(5) The Flood lasted more than a year (Genesis 7:11 ; 8:13 ).

(6) The ark had a volumetric capacity of more than 500 standard railroad stock cars, which is far more than adequate to hold two of every known species, past or present, of dry land animals.

(7) The ark was ridiculously unnecessary for Noah, the animals, and especially the birds, to escape from a mere local area flood.

(8) God’s promise (Genesis 8:21 ; 9:11 , 15) never again to send such a flood has been broken repeatedly if it were only a local flood.

(9) All men in the world today are said to have descended from Noah’s three sons (Genesis 9:1, 19).

(10) Many later Biblical writers accepted the historicity of the worldwide Flood (note Job 12:15; 22:16; Psalm 29:10; 104:6-9; Isaiah 54:9; 1 Peter 3:20; 2 Peter 2:5; 3:6; Hebrews 11:7).

(11) The Lord Jesus Christ believed in the universal Flood and took it as the type of the coming destruction of the world when He returns (Matthew 24:37-39; Luke 17:26 , 27). [1]

The above and other Biblical proofs that could be added, if necessary, prove that not only the author of the book of Genesis but the other Biblical authors as well, and even Jesus Christ Himself, accepted the Flood as of worldwide extent and effect. To this evidence could be added the well-known fact that practically all nations and tribes in the world have retained some kind of tradition of the Flood at the dawn of their history.

The point of this is the question, “why do so many intellectuals and educated peoples of the world reject this event of biblical history, and attempt to insert unreasonable answers to the contrary?” Well my friend the answer is complex but yet simple. There are two philosophies of life and living today that man has chosen to follow. The first is “creationism”, and the other is “evolutionism.”

CREATIONISM - Simply stated, is belief and acceptance that the entire world in which we live, all the universe that exists around us, and all life is the product of a great and omnipotent God who fashioned everything, in seven days,  according to His desire and plans. In summation – there is a powerful Creator God!

EVOLUTIONISM – stated is belief and acceptance that the entire world and the universe itself is the product blind random chance, with no intelligent design behind it at all. Everything came into being by accident over millions of years, and exists in chaos. In summation – there is no God at all!

But if we accept the first premise of “Creationism,” it is not hard to also accept the fact that all creation answers to this Creator God, and is subject to His rules for living in our borrowed world and universe. We are in effect; God’s tenants and we exist mainly by His grace and favor. Now as to the method of creation, and ways all life has come into being, many believers vary in opinion and thought. However the bible does not vary, and it is explicit. We are told in no uncertain terms that all that exists in the space – time – continuum was created “out of nothing” in a period we know as seven solar days. To vary from this truth cancels anyone from being a literalist in interpretation of the Bible’s record of the beginning. For instance we read of this in,

Gen 1:1 (NIV)  In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Gen 1:21 (NIV)  So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

Gen 1:27 (NIV)  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Exo 20:11 (NIV)  For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

There you have it! In the beginning all things were good and perfect. Mankind was fashioned out of the earth’s clay and given a touch of God’s very life and existence. Yes, a “human spirit” was given to man that enabled God’s highest creation to reflect the very image of God. Only the human being of all creatures was given this. This is why we can think, reason and have a free will to determine his actions and paths. Moreover in the beginning this “spirit” of man was in direct communication with the Creator Himself, and even fellowshipped in His presence. But sin ended that as man in his free will chose to rebel against God’s rulership for his life.

As the first man and woman, God created, were a prototype of other beings to come forth from them, God gave Adam and Eve the opportunity to follow and obey God on their own free will and to choose this for their life’s existence. Depending upon their choice God would program or complete the eternal state of man. The Bible tells us Adam and Eve chose to the contrary, aided by the fallen angel called “Satan.” Now the world that was first created perfect, also experienced this change, which after a few thousand years became so corrupt, that God Himself had to step in and destroy it. Yet thanks be to God, He saved one man and his family because this man chose to walk in obedience to God’s Word and will. The writer of Hebrews tells us what happened when God decided to do this in the face of worldwide rejection, as man shook his fist toward heaven.

Heb 11:7 (NIV)  By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

How did the rest of the world react to Noah’s faith? We are told by the apostle Peter and divine revelation, that the Flood came and took them to Hell…

1 Pet 3:18-20 (NIV)  For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, 19 through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison 20 who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water,

We are surely told that all rebellious and unbelieving life that perished in the global flood went to what we call “Hell,” the prison of lost souls and spirits who await their final judgment. Yet, God saved alive through that great ship called Noah’s Ark , eight human beings through whom the entire world was repopulated and we are descendant’s of.

Now what’s so hard to believe what the Bible says about Noah’s Ark and the worldwide Flood of Judgment? The answer is not, “did it happen,” “were all the land animals of the past actually kept alive on a floating ark for one whole year? “Well, this broadcast which can aptly answer this in a positive light doesn’t have the time to cover these additional proofs, for I want to zero in on why so many educated intellectuals reject the Bible account of a universal global flood in which the world that was perished.

Now the number one reason for rejecting the fact of a worldwide flood in Noah’s day is

#1 REASON FOR REJECTION OF CREATIONISM – 

IS THE SIN OF SELF LOVE - To believe in creationism requires one to accept the fact that there is a sovereign omnipotent God who is monitoring the world He created. If the account of Noah’s day is factual and literal history, then one must consider accepting the fact that man is also a created being accountable to the One who created us. To accept this, requires on to “believe” in God, and His Word. This is the greatest area of mankind’s rebellion. Fallen, sinful man refuses to follow and obey God and His revealed word and will in the Bible, so he invents an alternate plan of existence. Rather than accept being a created being, we’ve fashioned the idiotic teaching called “evolutionism.” The theory of scientific evolutionism says that all that exists, including the highest form of life, mankind, and the complexity of the universe simply came into being by chance, with no superior intelligence or life to create or orchestrate it. Simply when life formed, it began to evolve over millions of years to the present form of high intelligence today which refers to us as human beings.

To sum this up, we are nothing more than the product of the primordial slime and sludge that just happened to have the right amount of chemicals floating upon it, to come together and be life. Now to believe that, as I said before is not only idiotic, but absolutely impossible. It is easier to believe that our NASA space ships that have flown into space came into existence, because one day NASA teams found them in a junk yard in Florida, that suffered a massive explosion which after it happen, all the particles of the explosion fell together into the exquisite and sophisticated ship our astronauts have since flown into space with.

Preposterous? Well yes, but even more…  is the idea that all life and living in our sophisticated universe, just happened to come forth and out a BIG BANG that spread the stars, fashioned the planets, the sun and moon of our galaxy, and all life as we know it.

Now to believe that gives sinful rebellious mankind what they think is an out. If they refuse to believe they are created beings living in a created universe, they are not accountable to anyone but themselves. How convenient for sinful rebellious people to have complete autonomy. But that is the number one reason for belief in evolution. Why even one of the top leading thinkers once said that was the main reason they pursue its teachings, to steer them away from considering there is a God above them to whom they are accountable.

#2 REASON FOR REJECTION OF CREATIONISM 

is proposed as follows: “if there is a God of creation who is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent and eternal, then His written revelation and Word of a coming judgment, tells us God holds man accountable to acknowledge Him” Peter the apostle uses this analogy by the Spirit of God’s leading when he wrote,

2 Pet 2:4-10 (NIV)  “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment; 5 if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; 6 if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly…  9 if this is so, then the Lord knows how to … hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment. 10 This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise authority…”

Evolutionists are in this camp of “despisers of God and His authority.” Peter declares here in his warning message, the Flood destroyed all sinful living and the sinners who committed them. Thus it is likely God will again do this in the future. The Bible predicts this is so but it will not be by a flood of water; Rather, by a massive meltdown of the entire universe. Do you believe it? Peter says look back in your history and see man’s accountability to God and what God did to unrepentant sinners who took over society and ruined the world in which they lived.

In Noah’s day it was sinning angels and men who brought destruction. In Abraham’s day it was sinning homosexuals who took over society and ruined it with their utter corruption. In both cases, God sent a devastating destruction of life and property. Sodom and Gomorrah were literally blown off the face of the earth from fire and brimstone that came down upon them as well as exploded from beneath. The world we live in shows the scars of the worldwide catastrophic flood that inundated our planet. Point being - God means business!! So, we either live according to His righteous laws and rules, and acknowledge Him in His glory or, we will suffer sure judgment to come and for all eternity.

Now what is the next catastrophic and universal judgment to fall on the creation? Peter tells us,

2 Pet 3:3-13 (NIV)  First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires [evolutionists and atheists]. 4 They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.”[scientific evolutionary theory of uniformatarianism] 5 But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water [creationism]. 6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed [Noah’s Flood]. 7 By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. 8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. 11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.

There you have it! In this one section of Scripture, God’s word tells us about the reality of the Creation, the fact of Noah’s worldwide flood, and also the scientific nonsense taught by evolutionists called “Uniformatarianism”, and finally how the world and the universe will end. Indeed, it will be burned up in a massive fusion of heat such as an atomic explosion of infinite magnitude. Yet we are told, out of this collapsed universe or “ball of fire,” God is again going to fashion a “new heaven and a new earth,” remade perfect with all sin and corruption forever burned away.

So, the question is what are you to believe? That you are the product of chance fashioned by nothing but slime and sludge, or you are the beautiful and high creation of an omnipotent eternal God? Well as for me, I choose the latter because I am spiritually sane. I wasn’t always that way. I like all other people, was born a sinner and followed my own sinful paths with myself on the throne of life. But, I thank God one day along the pathway of life, God stopped me and arrested me. In my spiritual incarceration of the mind, He opened His Word to me and showed me of His love, mercy and grace. In spite of my sin and the promised judgment coming for me, God was willing forgive my sins and grant me a new start in life and eternity. All I had to do was confess my sins and disobedience of living for self and ignoring God who created me. Secondly, God revealed that as a sinner and rebel, I faced God’s judgment to come, for the Bible says,

Ezek 18:20 (NIV) “ The soul who sins is the one who will die…”

Rom 3:23 (NIV)  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Rom 6:23 (NIV)  For the wages of sin is death..”

Indeed I was in a perilous state as are all without Christ in the heart and life. Yet, God in mercy revealed to me as He did to Noah long ago, that I could be cleansed of all my sin, be set free from the power of sin in my life, and granted a place in heaven to be with God for all eternity. What did I have to do -- One simply yet profound thing. I had to acknowledge the Person and work of God’s Son Jesus Christ as the One who would save me. I had to come to accept and believe the truth,

Rom 5:12 (NIV)  Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned—

Rom 5:19 (NIV)  For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

Indeed, Jesus Christ, as a man, died for the sins of the world, and particularly for my sin and yours. However when we acknowledge this by faith and put our forever hope and trust in Christ, God transfers Jesus Christ’s sin death payment to our account, freeing us to be pure and sinless in the sight of God.

All those who have trusted in Jesus Christ and turned their lives over to Him as their God and Savior, will like Noah be kept from judgment to come, and likewise be set down again in a new world and life that will last for eternity. Noah was kept alive in the ark which God bore above the judgment of the flood -- So all believers of all ages will be taken out and away from the universe to the place called Heaven which resides outside the universe when the fire of God’s judgment comes at the end of the 1000 year millennium. There, God will refashion the universe just for His holy, righteous and sinless people to live for all eternity.

Oh what a wonderful day that will be! The question is will you be there? If you hang on to the nonsense thinking of evolutionism and reject the Bible’s record of Creationism, you will perish as the world that perished previously. But if you turn to Christ, accept God’s love gift and forgiveness through Jesus Christ, the infinite God/man, you will be saved and reconciled to God.

It’s a beautiful message and one that is free for all to accept and partake, but the question is will your turn from your sin and sinful beliefs and receive Jesus Christ now? The Bible warns such an opportunity can easily and quickly disappear. Jesus Himself warned the people of his day that a day of judgment was coming, and all needed to be ready now, for later is too late,

Mat 24:36-39 (NIV)  “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

The resurrected and living God, Jesus Christ, is coming again in power and great glory. Everyone will stand before this omnipotent Creator but the question is how! Will you stand before Him as your Savior, or your judge? It’s your choice, but only now in this life. May God add His blessing to these words for Jesus sake, Amen…

…Long ago during the days of Noah, God judged the wicked with a severe and catastrophic judgment in order to start life over again with a worshipful covenant of His grace. In the midst of the Flood, in which the sovereign Lord of Creation destroyed the world, Noah, God’s servant, a recipient of grace, sailed through to the “new creation” and worshiped God. We need to remember this historic day when “the world that was,” perished so we might become part of the world that one day will be refashioned in glorious perfection, beauty and righteousness. It can be yours, but only through Jesus Christ.

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[1] THE BIBLE HAS THE ANSWER, by Dr. Henry M. Morris & Martin E. Clark, Master book, El Cahon, CA; Chapter Eight, “The Ancient World.”