In this issue:
- Evolution’s Collapse: 4 flaws
- Coldwater Ridge, fallen
e-soldier
- Director’s report, 2007
- Global warming: the real cause
- Introducing 2 NW creation speakers
- Insert: resource list and holiday gift
suggestions
Two Reviews:
·
Genetic
Entropy and the Mystery of the Genome –
·
a book by
John Sanford, p.1 &.2
·
The Case
for a Creator DVD by Lee Strobel, p.3
Director’s Remarks and Resource
Picks, p.4
Important Inserts
1. 7Wonders Brochure
2. Flyer for Stroble DVD promotion in
your church.
3. ICR helium diffusion article
|
|
The Collapse of Evolution
Recent “evidence makes it impossible to
defend evolution,” Dr. John Baumgardner told his audience at the 20th
Annual NW Creation Conference in Portland 2/3/07. Until about ten years ago, he said, it might
have been possible to see evolution in the known facts of science. But in the last few years the evidence has
utterly ruled it out. He stated, “No
scientist on the planet can rationally defend evolution any longer.” Below are four lines of this evidence.
1. Fatal
flaws of Natural Selection. Baumgardner
began with Haldane’s Dilemma. JBS
Haldane (1892-1964) helped rescue an increasingly disputed Darwinian Theory
with his 1932 book The Causes of
Evolution. It reestablished natural
selection as the central mechanism of evolution by explaining it in terms of the
mathematical consequences of Mendelian genetics. His work helped found the field of population
genetics and bring about Neodarwinianism.
But hold on.
Finally, in the 1950’s, he succeeded in
calculating the cost of fixing a new genetic trait in a population. What a surprise! This “cost of substitution” was so high that
only one trait per 300 generations on average could be selected for and be
fixed in most higher vertebrate organisms.
This means thirty times the population size must be sacrificed just to
fix one trait (180 billion people per today’s population). It would take six million years just to fix
1000 traits; yet, chimp DNA and human DNA have tens of millions of fixed
differences.
This fatal flaw is called Haldane’s Dilemma
because while Haldane was a strong proponent of evolution, his science
demonstrates evolution simply doesn’t work.
Most biology students don’t even hear about this until they reach
graduate school. By then they will
dismiss it as a problem to be solved by future generations because they have
been so brainwashed, and go on clinging to evolution.
A second well-hidden flaw: natural
selection is unable to eliminate mildly harmful mutations. As a result, the human gene pool steadily
accumulates these mutations with a corresponding decrease in fitness over time,
just like a car rusting out. A Washington State University biology professor and his class came to my talk. In discussion afterwards he insisted that
each new generation eliminates most of the harmful mutations of the previous
generation. This idea is an evolutionary
myth. Natural selection simply cannot
detect or ‘see’ individual mutations that have a small effect on fitness, which
is the ability to reproduce successfully.
The overwhelming majority of mutations are in this unselectable
category. Such unselectable harmful
mutations accumulate, untouched by selection, generation after generation. The result is an unstoppable loss of
integrity of the genome over time.
Natural selection simply does not work as advertised by the
evolutionists. To help demonstrate this
reality, Baumgardner is developing a state of the art genetics population
computer program—part of ICR’s new GENE research initiative.
2. The complexity of biological proteins. Each of our 75 trillion cells is made up
mostly of proteins. There are tens of
thousands of different kinds of proteins.
They, in turn, are made up of twenty different kinds of amino acids. Hubert Yockey studied protein complexity for
over 25 years. He found that, on
average, half of the amino acid sites making up a protein must be specified
exactly. If we consider just a
modest-sized protein with 300 amino acid sites, the number of repeated tries we
would need in a random search process to have any chance of finding one that
works is 10195. This number
is enormous. All the people in the world
helping to construct one protein with one try per second would not begin to
dent this number in a trillion trillion trillion…(trillion
multiplied by itself fifteen times) years.
This number is so large Baumgardner concludes
that it is scientifically absurd to say that random mutations can yield even one functionally new biomolecule,
given how special their design is now known to be.
3. New radioisotope dating discoveries indicate the earth is thousands
not billions of years old (see 7Wonders newsletter #11 covering these
findings).
4. The
coded information DNA carries is
non-material and therefore requires a non-material explanation. (See our resource list to learn more about
the new field of information science.)
Baumgardner concluded that evolution is
scientifically indefensible. Maintaining
the view that it happened is deception big time. It is pseudo science, a joke. Evolution is
atheism’s creation story.
Note:
Dr. Baumgardner himself reviewed my article and made valuable
improvements to it. Therefore, it is
true to his findings and you are welcome to share it far and wide. Doris and I hope to put our recent
newsletters on the website so they can be downloaded and shared.
Another fallen
e-soldier:
Coldwater Ridge Visitors Center
News report and analysis by Doris
Anderson
Coldwater Ridge Visitors Center just
may be another fallen soldier in the fight to prove evolution. It closed November 5
with no plans to reopen due to millions of dollars needed for deferred
maintenance and lack of Forest Service funding.
You may remember this history…. At first the eruption of Mount St. Helens in
1980 appeared to be a horrendous crime upon nature. There was so much
destruction of wildlife and its habitats that scientists could not even suggest
how long it might take for life to return.
Mount St. Helens was
declared a National Volcanic Monument with many restrictions so that, unhindered by man.,
the natural workings of the ecosystem could be observed. Recreation areas
formerly enjoyed by outdoor lovers and their families were either declared
unsafe or out of bounds.
But, to everyone’s surprise, after just
two years elk were wandering in and in five years Spirit Lake was restored to
its former quality. One writer on
the eruption, Jerry Franklin, remarked,
“The ecosystem is so complex that man will never understand it.”
Yet, with all this design under their
noses, as is so often the case, CWR still remained a place for evolution-speak
and even some derogatory statements about their creationist neighbors down the
highway. Possibly, eating away at them were statements by visiting creationists who repeated
our reports that the earth was not billions of years old after all and that
rapid recovery of life was one indication.
Dermatologist
and creationist Dr. Keith Swenson had studied and written on Recovery and what
it might indicate for how life returned after Noah’s Flood, using some of the
work of the Monument scientists. (His booklet can be purchased through the
7Wonders Bookstore.)
Furthermore, books such as Footprints
in Ash were circulating Dr. Steven Austin’s research on young earth
evidences at Mount St. Helens. How loudly this buzz rang in e-scientist’s ears we
can only speculate. However, recent
meetings
at local, County and State levels about what to do with a poorly funded NVM and
the Forest Service Administration unable to achieve funding is a very loud
buzz.
Not surprisingly, people question what
more scientists need to learn after 27 years. If they are still trying to prove
biological evolution, people wish they would give it up as a lost cause because
they want to hunt, fish and play again in their own
back yard like they did before the eruption. For the most part, recreation
advocates are winning the arguments, and scientists may be losing their grip on
the purse strings.
Public input has been sought on whether
or not MSH should become a National Park under the Department of the Interior
or remain a National Monument under the Department of Agriculture run by the
Forest Service as it has been for the last 27 years.
Arguments in favor of MSH remaining as it
is presently administered hinge on the fact that many people assume there would
be less access for recreation and more severe restrictions under the National
Park Service. Some fear that lumber mills would be penalized for pollution and
helicopters prohibited. Others say it is all about money and the Park Service
has better funding options.
Privatization of government facilities has
been discussed in the past but appears overwhelming due to the huge cost of
maintaining facilities impacted by snow, cold, 90 mph winds and rain much of
the year. From early November through May there will be no visitors
centers or recreational facilities open above the 1400’ level (Hoffstadt Bluffs
Restaurant and Gift Shop).
What this means for the Seven Wonders Creation Museum now becomes a matter of faith and divine guidance. It
is more critical than ever for this Creation Museum to develop improved highway appeal and displays. It
seems reasonable that God wishes us to be a polished soldier for good science on
this Highway.
Although the 7Wonders Museum provides almost no view of the Mountain, its location
in the Toutle Valley makes it less weather sensitive. This is a distinct
advantage. The Board of Directors recently authorized paved parking for more
cars at the main entrance adjacent to the Highway, a paved walking path to the
Museum, and landscaping that hides the Director’s residence and makes the
Museum appear prominent. They also authorized funds for professional design
help.
Phase
II improvements may include updated displays in a new addition facing the
Highway and located where the current parking lot now is. Several have donated
specifically to these upgrades. If you wish to contribute or volunteer
services, please contact us by phone, e-mail or letter. Foremost we need a
professional site plan that includes landscape design features.
2007 Director’s Report
How richly
we have been blessed as we serve our Lord at the 7Wonders Museum. On October 2 the 700 Club featured the Museum to its viewers around the
world. A month later AiG featured the
Museum on its web site. In May I accompanied
Dr. Andrew Snelling for an entire week, bringing literature for his 17 Seattle area meetings while Doris
kept the Museum open. With the help of
many volunteers those sales topped $6200 and all those profits ($1524) were
turned over to the sponsor, Creation Association of Puget Sound (CAPS). In February we spoke 23 times in a tour of Northern Washington and British Columbia while Bruce Barton kept the Museum open.
Meanwhile
at the Museum, by 12/31 I estimate people will have viewed 106 PowerPoint
talks (105 in 2006), taken 38 field trips (44 last year) and found the doors
open about 340 days. We are predicting that, due to bad weather this summer,
our visitor count won’t go above 2300 this year. In 2006 it was 2600.
The appreciation of creation science
evidences by friends and visitors, I estimate, will produce the strongest
financial showing in the Museum’s nine year history—about $53,000 ($18,000
donations and $35,000 sales) vs. $45,000 last year. Our cash position tripled to about $18,000. Even after the projected paving of the
driveway and parking, $6000 should remain.
I am beside myself with delight over
recent creation research that increasingly confirms Scripture. John Morris often says it has never been a
better time to be a creationist. We
received a review copy of his revised and expanded book, The Young Earth, just yesterday.
My copy of the first edition (1994 & autographed by Dr. John) was
excellent and is well worn. The new
edition is super and even contains a CD with PowerPoint slides as a teaching
tool. Other wonderful creation resources
feature the fields of linguistics and DNA.
I wish I could sell truckloads of this new material because it is so
God-honoring and revealing. Why give
creation resources this Christmas? To celebrate Jesus, our Creator. John 1:1-12. See the
enclosed resource sheet.
Last December I shared my goal to
distribute a large number of The Case for
a Creator DVD by Lee Strobel. Thanks
to many efforts 350 were distributed, but we still have 200. Please consider sharing the DVD with youth
groups and teens positive to the creation message before they fall victim to
the incessant blasphemy of evolution. We
give various discounts on volume purchases.
Doris and I are ten years older and not
quite as spunky as when we retired to move here December 1997 to found the 7Wonders Museum. Do pray for
us as we cope with hearing loss and other old-age problems. Especially pray that our
information will prepare hearts to receive Christ as well as
nurture Christians.
Boise, Here We
Come.
FIGIO (Foundations in Genesis and Ontario) has invited me to speak at their April
meetings. They have the same program on
successive nights in Boise and Ontario (Oregon-an
hour west of Boise). The days are
Thursday and Friday (April 24 and 25). We will seek speaking opportunities in
Christian schools and churches along the way, hopefully bringing creation
conferences to churches the Sundays before and after the FIGIO meetings. On our northern trip we spoke in six
Christian schools, homes, a large home school coop, public meetings and one
church creation conference for a total of 23 talks. In some schools we spoke to one age group in
the morning and another in the afternoon.
We bring our own equipment and literature
table. Our ministry is without charge
(although many make a donation or give an honorarium). We only ask for hospitality. We come to share creation truth and can speak
three times a day. Please contact your
Christian school or home school coop early to get on our itinerary. Maybe our route will be both ways from Portland to Boise on I-84, but depending on opportunities, we may go
I-84 one way and U.S. 12 or another route the other way. FIGIO will be helping with contacts at their
end.
Mischievous MSH: MSH has continuously expelled magma/lava
since 10/04. The rate was once a dump
truck load a second. Now the speed is
1/40th that. The new lava
areas (between the old lava dome and the rim) contain more rock than the
original dome built between 1980 and 1986.
The mountain could be restored in 200 years or less.
The Sediment Dam is losing its
efficiency. Much new sediment continues
down stream instead of piling up behind the dam creating big problems. A huge sandbar has appeared in the middle of
the Cowlitz River as it flows through Kelso. The sediment which will eventually compromise
the channel/levy system is a tax burden for the four levy districts.
In Longview officials talk about abandoning their fresh water
intake system in the river because the sediment is burying it. They propose digging deep wells at a cost of
$25 million to the city’s water customers.
As you can imagine, there have been heated debates in public
meetings. After all, the sediment comes
from government land. Shouldn’t the
government pay for the damage it causes?
Apparently the problem is not going away soon. Scientists estimate this sediment flow could
continue for another two or three decades!
Oh… the mischief of a volcano.
Global Warming: our sun does it, not CO2
by
Lloyd Anderson
Dr. Edward Blick, who was a professor at the
University of Oklahoma for over 40 years, provides the following details to show that global
warming (GL) is merely part of the earth’s temperature cycle.
For instance, recent earth temperatures
fall short of those between A.D. 1000 and A.D. 1400 when grapes were grown in England (too cold today), the Vikings had farms in Greenland and the Andes had no glaciers.
Man had nothing to do with it.
While man releases three billion tons of
CO2 into the atmosphere annually, soils and vegetation release 700
times as much and oceans release 13,000 times as much. Man’s output is almost negligible compared to
these. Polar ice cap melting added 0.05
mm to sea level between 1992 and 2002 or about the thickness of five sheets of
typing paper in ten years. At this rate
it would take 1000 years for the ocean to rise two inches. Meanwhile, GL alarmists predict a rise of 20
feet by A.D. 2100!
On the other hand, man’s recent
measurements of earth temperatures are misleading. Temperature record keeping has shifted more
to large cities which produce a “heat island” effect where mean temperatures
are higher than surrounding rural areas.
GL advocates are comparing apples with oranges.
What warms the earth? The sun!
There is a strong correlation between sunspot activity and temperatures
on earth. Greater sunspot activity
correlates with warmer earth temperatures.
When temperatures rise on earth, there is a corresponding rise on
Mars. Thus a hotter sun, not CO2
accounts for a rise in earth temperatures
Brilliant research by Svensmark and
Fris-Christiansen, unveiled in 1997, suggests a process by which sunspots might
produce warming. Sunspots are related to
the activity of the sun’s magnetic field.
This increased activity reduces the production of ions when cosmic
particles strike nitrogen in our outer atmosphere. The ions provide the nucleus around which
water vapor gathers to produce clouds. Fewer ions…fewer clouds…higher temperatures…more natural CO2
production.
Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE) analyzed
the famous list of 2600 supposed scientists allegedly showing a scientific consensus
on GW and found that 90% were unqualified to address this issue. Only one was a climatologist. Dr. James Hansen, known as the father of GW,
admitted he was willing to exaggerate science in order to get public
attention. Major discrepancies have been
found in the numbers supporting the GW issue. Space and time did not allow for
us to search the 4,940,000 entries under “no global warming “on the internet.
Conclusion: CO2 changes follow temperature changes,
not the other way around. We have 90
copies of Dr. Glick’s four-page paper free for those who request it.
Planning a
group meeting?
Featured below are two NW Creation science
speakers with their special interests. Both have prepared hours of lectures and
associated printed material. We highly
recommend them.
Monarch Creation Ministry. Bruce Barton, Vice President of the Creation
Association of Puget Sound (CAPS), has been active in creation ministry for many
years. Recently retired from
Weyerhaeuser as an instrumentation engineer, he has a background in science and
engineering. His passion is to strengthen the faith of young people, especially
those who will be facing liberalism in college and a society increasingly
materialistic and antagonistic toward Christianity. Among the subjects Bruce
speaks on are Dinosaurs, Darwinism, Bible Archaeology, Ape-Men and Cave Men,
and the Big Bang. He’s recently added a
number of programs for children including Noah’s Ark and Miracles of Creation. Also available is a semester-long course, “In
the Beginning.”
Bruce and his wife Sandra have filled in
for Lloyd and Doris at the 7WM. They
live in Auburn, where Sandra is a teacher and consultant for
homeschoolers. Bruce recently gave a
PowerPoint presentation on creation geology of Death Valley and Yosemite here at the museum, and also at a CAPS meeting. Bruce
can be reached at 253-931-8286; or check out the Monarch website at www.nwcreation.net/monarch; or,
e-mail him at monarch@nwcreation.net.
Tacoma Creation Museum in the making.
Early Eastern Washington farm boy and a former missionary, but with a yen for
fossils, Stan Lutz is also an ardent creationist. Having worked with Joe Taylor
at the Mt. Blanco Fossil Museum in Crosbyton, Texas from April 2005-March of 2006, Joe allowed Stan to
make replicas of his work. Now Stan has a storage unit full of these replicas,
plus many of his own creation, and wants to start a creation museum displaying
them in Tacoma. Most recently Stan traveled to Peru with Dr. Carl Baugh and Dr. Dennis Swift collecting
1000 photographs of those famous Ica stones with pictures of dinosaurs and man together,
man looking at the stars with telescopes, and the Nazca Lines. He now has molds
to make replicas of two of those stones and would be happy to take your order.
Some of his work will be on display at the 7Wonders Museum with some replicas for sale there. Stan gave one of
his 12 lectures at a recent CAPS meeting: It was about the mathematical
improbabilities for evolution. He spends most of his time preparing his
materials and would welcome an opportunity to speak to your group. Contact Stan
Lutz at (253-267-0618); sbglutz@juno.com;
or, visit his website at http://lutz.nwcreation.net/.