Mike Riddle in Defense of the Creation

Part 1

Dr. Reagan: Greetings in the name of Jesus, our Blessed Hope, and welcome to Christ in Prophecy. I am in the process of presenting a series of programs featuring presentations that were made at our annual Bible conference, whose theme was Contending for the Faith.

The past two weeks I have featured excerpts from the presentation of our keynote speaker, Kelly Shackelford, who spoke about defending Christian freedom in the courts. If you missed those programs, you can find them posted on our website at lamblion.com.

On this program we are going to hear a portion of the presentation that was made by Mike Riddle, the founder and president of a ministry called Creation Training Initiative. His ministry is a very unique one because, rather than focusing on teaching the truth of special creation, it focuses instead on training people to teach that truth. Mike’s ministry is located in Eagle, Idaho, and you can contact him through his website at creationtraining.org.

Here now is Mike Riddle’s presentation which was titled “Defending the Genesis Account of Creation.”

Mike Riddle’s Presentation

Mike Riddle: Well, I’d like to start this session by asking myself a question. You’re probably wondering who is this guy now? And my question is this: Mike, what do you do for a living? What is your profession now? Well, my answer to that is I’m a warrior. I’m part of that proud group called the United States Marine Corp, and we were trained to defend the freedoms and rights this country was founded upon. I’m also a member of this other group called Born Again Believers, followers of Jesus Christ. As a warrior in that group I’m trained to defend the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the biblical principles this country was founded upon. When we read words like: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, and we are endowed with certain unalienable rights.” We still have the freedom in most parts of this country to go out and tell people they have the right, which nobody can take away to become citizens of heaven.

Now, our country has been through a lot of physical wars, terrible wars. And a lot of our people paid the ultimate price for the freedoms we have today. We survived those wars, but not without great damage. But today, ladies and gentlemen this country’s in the greatest war it’s ever been in. It’s not a war being fought with guns and bombs; it is a war of ideologies. It is a war of world views. It is a war for the very heart and soul of this nation. And if we lose this war, we will lose America. That is what is at stake.

So, defending Creation as the origin of the universe. I can stand up here and tell you all about the cosmology, all about molecular biology, and geology. But you know there are about five speakers that come after me by the time you get all done, you’ll forget what I said. So, I’m going to be here and give you a briefing. United States Marine Corp before we send our troops to the battlefield we sit down and do a briefing; it is called a Five Paragraph Order. I’m going to give you three of those things today. It’s called what is our situation? What is our mission? How are we going to execute this mission for nothing less than victory? We do that to our soldiers to protect their lives. And I do it here today because there are many spiritual lives being lost in America today. It’s called our youth. They are being stolen from us.

vSo, our briefing, let’s start with part one, our situation. We’re being told by the public education system, universities, the news media, and unfortunately many church leaders that parts of the Bible are not relevant anymore; we need to reinvent God’s Word. So, our situation. In order to understand how to fight this battle we got to know what battle it is we’re in. What kind of things are we up against?

So, I want to start with a case study, right out of 1 Corinthians 1:23 and we read this, “But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block,” notice preaching the cross and the resurrection to the Jews was a stumbling block. But look at the second part of that verse, “unto the Greeks the cross and the resurrection are foolishness.” Why the difference? If we don’t understand this difference folks, you’re not going to know how to fight this battle. Why the difference?

Well, in Acts 2 Peter is preaching to the Jews, and he preaches the cross and the resurrection. But they only call it a stumbling block. Why? Because the Jews had a common foundation, a common background. They believed in Moses and the prophets. They understood that there was a Creator God, so it was just a stumbling block. But when Paul preaches the cross and the resurrection to the Greeks, they see it as foolishness. Why? Because they do not understand Moses and the prophets, they don’t believe in a Creator God.

So, what does Paul do? He goes back and lays the foundation, “My God is the greater.” You see there is a foundation to our Gospel, and we forget about that. And many of the people in our churches, some of our Christian leaders don’t believe the foundation anymore, they are trying to rewrite it. See we need to understand that. We are no longer an Acts 2 nation; we’re an Acts 17 nation because our youth are not being taught about a greater God anymore. And in many churches, it’s being distorted.

So, where do many churches stand today? They avoid controversial topics such as creation, sin, Hell, marriage; it’s called soft teaching. I don’t remember Jesus ever doing that. They let the culture influence the church; rather than the church influencing the culture with the Gospel. Music with no Gospel or sound doctrine in it. They make church growth their main goal, rather than the Great Commission. And we don’t have teachers in our churches, and even many of our Christian schools, who have the knowledge to equip our youth how to defend their faith. We are in trouble folks.

So, what happens when the church stops teaching parts of the Bible? Well, easy the world will supply the answers. And that’s exactly what is happening to our youth today, because many of our Christian schools do not teach apologetics. They do not believe in the Creation account. We have several Christian high schools right in our own area. As a result, over 60% of our youth today are leaving the Church. Folks, that is a very high casualty rate.

Here are six independent studies that came up to that same conclusion, it’s not just one study, folks. Over six studies, independent studies concluded over 60% of our youth are leaving the church. Can I show you the main reasons why they are leaving?

Number one, this is not in any particular order, but first Christianity is shallow and exclusive. That is one of the answers. Well, I don’t mind exclusive because we are exclusive. What does the Bible tell us? There is only one way and that is through Jesus Christ, we are exclusive there folks. But shallow? How many have been in churches where you hear some of the preaching going on? It is very sad today. Church appears to be anti-science. There is no reason for that folks. Who created all the scientific principles out there? God did. And He’s not contradicting Himself, cause the true science does, and always will support His Word because He is the Creator or all things. He is not in a battle with Himself.

Learning about evolution in college, our youth are not prepared for this because of the soft teaching we are getting in the churches, and the lack of believing God’s Word from our Christian schools. Lack of specific or scientific evidence for a Creator, it is everywhere, folks. Just look at the person next to you that is evidence there’s a Creator God. The human body is so incredible. It is an insult to our intelligence to believe that evolved. Just for a question. I like questions. I’m going to take this side over here. I like competition, here. This side over here if I don’t get a correct answer that is 20 push-ups for this whole side. If you took all your blood vessels, we are taking just an approximate answer, took all your blood vessels and lined them up capillaries and everything, how long would that be? How many over here think it would be a mile? How many about 10 miles? How about 60,000? Yes. Can you imagine putting a machine together with 60,000 miles of wire and having it work? No. But God did that. That’s just one of the many amazing things He did. If you read that verse, we are fearfully and wonderfully made. It is true folks.

College is a hostile environment towards Christianity especially anybody who believes in Creation. We are setting up our youth up for failure because we are not teaching. The teaching of moral relativism, they are not ready to handle that. That is true for you, but not for me. There are no absolutes. They don’t know how to answer those questions.

This side over here. I better get a right answer. I have the greatest method of teaching of all time, it is called fear and intimidation. It works well. I need a correct response; I get a wrong response you’re in trouble. How do you answer this question: There are no absolutes? A little bit better than that, a little more clarity. We’re in danger of 20 push-ups folks. Is what you said just true? I’ll count that. Are you absolutely sure? Cause what is the statement there are no absolutes? It itself is an absolute statement. See, moral relativism is a self-defeating philosophy and we need to train our student on this one. And then you know what I find in youth groups? Many of those youth are not saved, but yet they go on mission trips. We have a problem.

Now, let’s take a look at American culture here. Since so many youth are leaving the Church we need to understand why. I’ll give you the wrong answer. Re-invent the Church to be more like the culture. That’s what a lot of churches are doing today. Correct answer is this: We need to understand how the culture is challenging God’s Word and train our people how to respond to these challenges. It’s called education. Real education. Not just writing answers on a test, folks, that doesn’t qualify. The Bible says we are to be doers of God’s Word. Can they verbalize this? That’s education. Don Bierle PhD in Life Sciences in his book, “Surprised by Faith” made this statement. “At that time, 14 years old and during the subsequent few years, I did not see the Church as a source of answers. I was asking why? And could not find answers.” That is a very typical response I get from our youth. The Church is not supplying answers.

Ken Ham and Avery Foley, “Why Young People Leave the Church,” “These young people are not getting solid answers from church leaders and parents. But sadly, are often told they can believe in the Big Bang, millions of years, and Evolution. They are then admonished to reinterpret or ignore Genesis while being told to trust Jesus.” That’s a contradiction. No wonder they are confused and leave the Church. They lack confidence in God’s Word. It is coming right from the Church.

When did you first have doubts about the Bible from the book, “Already Gone.” Don’t know about 1.6%, elementary school about 4.5% of our elementary students have doubts about the Bible. College, look at that only 10.5%, do you know why? Look at these next two statistics folks, this should get you rather alarmed, we are talking Christian students having doubts about the Bible. Middle school almost 40% of our Christian middle school students have doubts about the Bible, I’m talking about Christian students who attend Sunday School. What does that tell us about our Sunday School classes? Look at the next one High School, no wonder they have already gotten their doubts about the Bible before they get to college. It is called a lack of teaching.

State of Christian education many seminary graduates, did you know this? They’re not able to defend their faith. All I have to do is go up and tell them, “Where do you fit the Big Bang in the Bible?” And they start thinking the Big Bang is real. They’ve been taught it is real. How do you fit dinosaurs in? They all died out 65 million years ago is the answer I get a lot of times. There is something wrong with our seminaries, a lot of them today. They’ve been influenced by the world.

Churches seldom bring up the topic. “Oh, it is too controversial,” I hear this from pastors, “I’ve got people in my congregation some believe in a young earth, and some believe in an old earth.” What about the truth? We need pastors with courage, honor and commitment to God’s Word today. We need to stop the fluff.

Youth leaders are unable to train their students to defend their faith. So, why are they youth leaders? And most Christian leaders are not prepared to carry out the Great Commission against the strong holds of evolution and moral relativism. Well, you had a happy one yesterday didn’t you? Know, we will end on a happy note.

Okay, I want to show you what the battle ground is like. We need to understand this if we are going to go out there and tell our people, we need to defend the creation account. We need to know what they are trying to defend against. Here’s the Atheist Indoctrination Project 2007. It seems Atheists have developed a comprehensive strategy to win the minds of the next generation. You know they are serious about this. They know how to fight this battle. We need to make sure we get the next generation. Now, let me show you their strategy. The strategy can be described simply, “Let the religious people breed them, and we will educate them to despise their parent’s beliefs.” In fact, it is to a large degree orchestrated by teachers and professors to promote anti-religious agendas. That’s their strategy. And they are very good at this. Do the churches have a strategy? No.

Northern Arizona University one we are familiar with here, freshman honor class they were told they had to read this book, it was a requirement, “American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America.” And notice who the author is Chris Hedges, graduate of Harvard Divinity School, which has nothing to do with the Bible. Let me show you some excerpts from this book. “Followers, evangelical Christians, and the movement are locked within closed systems of information and indoctrination that cater to their hates and prejudices.” Now this next excerpt is for you pastors out there, the pastor kind. You know we got kinds, and each kind was on the Ark. “Most of America’s fundamentalists in evangelical churches are led by pastors who peddle this non-reality belief system, one that embraces magic, the fiction of a Christian nation.” That’s what they were forced to read. This is not just Northern Arizona University; this is many universities around the country.

Let me show you a comment from a student who attended that class. “I didn’t know Christians were so bad.” Can I now show you a comment from a mother whose child was in that class? “Don’t Christians realize what they’re children will be up against. And if they do why aren’t they preparing their children for these battles?” That is a very good question. Why aren’t we? You know what happens many of them go off believing in Evolution, the Big Bang, dinosaurs died out millions of years ago, and they have doubts about the Bible. Who did Cain marry? Was there really a worldwide flood? And pretty soon they leave the church.

Here’s another one the Clergy Letter Project. As of January 2019, over 16,000 American clergy of different denominations have signed the Clergy Letter Project. And here’s what they have to say in that project, in that letter. “We the undersigned, Christian clergy from many different traditions believe that the theory of evolution is a foundational scientific truth, one that has stood up to the rigorous scrutiny upon which much of human knowledge and achievement rest.” Sixteen-thousand church leaders in this country have signed that letter. In other words, they have elevated and preached Charles Darwin over Jesus Christ. And this is what our youth are hearing, folks. No wonder we are losing so many, because we haven’t trained them to defend the Creation account.

Here’s another one Life Sciences Education: The American Society for Cell Biology. They created a plan for developing something called Thinking Evolutionary Initiative, October 2011. Let me show you what their charter is, and I think it is a wonderful strategy they’re doing. I wished the churches would do something like this. Teaching evolution initiative, develop and implement models of successful, professional development in teaching evolution. Identify sources of funding for K-12 teachers to attend professional society meetings. They actually pay teachers to come. I wish we had that kind of money. I’d bring in as many teachers as we could and start training them. Not just giving them lectures for an hour or two. I’d spend weeks with them, so, when they’re done, they can go out and start teaching in their schools. Find effective ways to train teachers to teach evolutionary thinking, there is a need to create teacher leaders. Develop clear messages about the importance of thinking evolutionary and interact with communities and engage them as partners in education. What a wonderful strategy they have. And utilize social networking.

Here’s Randy Douglas professor of ministry, “The world is out educating the church. College is a war zone for young believers who are not prepared for the battle of their faith.” If we don’t teach them about Creation, we don’t tell them that the Bible means what it says in Genesis chapter 1, that God created everything in six literal days, and it’s not just in Genesis 1. Let me ask you a question anybody know who wrote the Ten Commandments, was it Moses or God? Or Charlton Heston and God? Okay. God wrote them down. He had to do it twice too, Moses got a little upset once. But you know in those Ten Commandments what God wrote down? Exodus 20:11, “For in six long periods God created.” It does not say that, folks. God wrote this down Himself, “For in six days the Lord made the heaven, the earth, and sea and all that was in them.” That is Scripture supporting Scripture. And it says it again in Exodus 31 that God created everything in six days. There should be no doubt about it. In Genesis 1:5 He clearly defined the word day. He said the word day means the light portion of a day, or it could mean the light and dark portion. There should be no doubt, but yet people have been deceived by the world’s way of thinking. They believe scientist have figured this out. No, they have not folks. No scientist in the world can prove this earth is billions of years old. None of those dating methods give an age. That’s what we’re not taught. They all give a ratio of elements and then we interpret age based on our world view.

Ben Shapiro, how many have listened to him on the radio? I love him. He talks for about an hour and takes two of three breaths. “College students are attacked with biased from the moment they step on campus until the time they leave it. The effect is devastating. The burgeoning problem of brainwashing by the universities must be combated.”

Ravi Zacharias, “Can Man Live Without God?” “Many frustrated young people have expressed all I hear my parents or preacher saying is that the Bible says this, and it is so, and therefore it is so, and that is the only answer necessary to give.” Folks, that is not a biblical response. Let me show you why. There are three problems with that answer. Every other religion in the world can say the same thing. Number two in school that answer is dismissed and often the student’s ridiculed. You see we are setting our students up for failure. And number three that is not what the Bible teaches. The Bible says we are to have a ready answer always. The Bible says in Jude 3, okay this side over here, what chapter? One okay, just checking. I like to–I have a principle of teaching it is called the principle of being a loose cannon. You never know what I’m going to do next, so I keep you on your toes. But Jude 3 says that we are to contend for our faith. That word contend is one of the strongest words in the Bible. It is where we get our word agonize. We are to agonize over our faith, not take this lightly.

Now, the percentage of people with a biblical worldview in this country is declining with each new generation. Let me show you the track record. People in this country with a biblical worldview. Since the baby boomers, my generation look at that line it is going down, and down, and down. Do you know what that tells us? What we’re doing is not working. We better get with the program or we’re going to lose this entire next generation. So, the question, who should we blame: the pro-abortionist, the evolutionists, the gay-rights activists, the relativists, teachers who teach all this? No, they are being consistent with their worldview. You see we’ve had decades to prepare ourselves for this and we decided not to do it. So, who is to blame? When I say church, I’m saying the church as a general. The church, we decided we didn’t want to train our youth for this. We didn’t want to train ourselves for this. So, we have nobody to blame but ourselves.

John Warwick one of those professional students, 11 earned degrees, “We have woefully neglected our responsibility to train to our young people in the solid case for Christianity. And then we wonder why they depart from the faith under the influence of secular university instruction.” I’ve had many parents come to me in tears. Say, “Mike I raised our child in the church. Sent them off to college and now they won’t speak to me anymore.” Did you train them? That’s the question. Who’s the number one teacher in a child’s life? The parents, folks. No matter where you send your child you are ultimately responsible.

Voddie Bauchman, I just love this gentleman, Voddie Bauchman puts this whole thing in perspective, “The correlation is clear, if we continue to send our children to Caesar for their education, we need to stop being surprised when they come home as Romans.”

Now, let’s go to our mission. What is our mission? Very easy. I don’t have to invent a thing here it is called this. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always even to the end of the age, amen.”

Now, I am going to give you an English lesson here. You should all know these things. In here there are three participles, and one imperative verb. How many of you remember what a participle is? Ends in what? I-N-G. Three participles. One is go, the implication there is going. You continue to do this through your entire life. Second one baptizing. Third teaching. But here is the imperative verb, we are to make disciples. That should be the mission of every church in this country. Those are the last words Jesus Christ gave us, the instructions.

Closing

Dr. Reagan: Mike Riddle’s entire presentation is included in our conference video album along with the presentations of the other five conference speakers. In a moment, our announcer will tell you how you can get a copy of that album.

Folks, we need your support as a Prophecy Partner. It is the financial support and prayers of our Prophecy Partners that make this program possible. You can find detailed information about our Prophecy Partner program on our website at lamblion.com.

You can also use our website to do in-depth research on any topic related to Bible prophecy. Check it out. I think you will be blessed.

Well, folks, that’s our program for this week. I hope it has been a blessing to you. Until next week, the Lord willing, this is Dave Reagan speaking for Lamb & Lion Ministries, saying, “Look up, be watchful, for our Redemption is drawing near.”

End of Program