Creation Chronicle - June, 2012

May our Creator bless each one of you! We are grateful for each one who prays for us as we labor in the field of creation. We are very grateful to be able to come to you with our newsletter. We trust it’s a blessing!

“New” Home

After a total of three trips to repair shops this past year, we’ve got a “home” that is better than it was from the factory! What began as preparing our rig to sell ended up causing us to decide to keep “Dutchess” for awhile. After over $8,000 in repairs/upgrades since last July, we are planning to save for the next unit. In this economy, we can’t beat no payment, no interest, and no debt! We are very grateful for how the LORD has supplied through special gifts from individuals to help with these expenses!

2012 Sea Theme

We’re busily preparing materials for our upcoming VBS meetings that will have a sea theme: “Secrets of the Sea.” The website is up and running… SecretsoftheSea.org …with information about water, the flood, and sea creatures such as sharks, whales, and cuttlefish! Through Job, God said to us:

“…speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.” (Job 12:8)

What do the creatures declare?

"Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this?" (Job 12:9)

“Watered-Down” Messages?

Not only does the earth and its creatures declare a Creator, but also this God has a great purpose for all that He made--from the physical and spiritual message of water, to the flood, to Biblical creatures such as whales or sea monsters! Biblically, the flood of Noah speaks not only of past judgment, but also of future judgment and holy living (2 Peter 3:5-11). We need to speak of it as often as we can, and fossils are an excellent tool to use for this! The whale holds an extremely important place in Scripture, as the prophet Jonah was swallowed by one! Jesus referred to the account of Jonah as true (Matt. 12 & 16; Luke 11) and even used it to teach of His coming burial and resurrection.

"…as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." (Matthew 12:40)

Of all our subjects for this summer, water is the greatest topic of all! Jesus sought out a woman in Samaria who came to a well (John 4:7-26). This setting in the life of Christ is perhaps the most teachable one regarding witnessing, as He used the most common element on earth to bring a sinful woman to Himself! What about water as a tool to teach faithfulness in marriage?

"Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well…Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth" (Proverbs 5:15-23)

Could the sea be a tool of God to instill fear and trembling in His people? To Jeremiah, God said

"Fear ye not me? saith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree…" (Jeremiah 5:22)

In short, we look forward to preaching the messages of God’s water in IN, TN, SC, VA, NC, & IL (see schedule other side).

Weekend at Victory

We were richly blessed to serve in a conference at Victory Baptist in Nokesville, VA (Pastor Clinton Owens) April 27-29. We look forward to what the LORD has in store there! Comments like this one from an older gentleman are a HUGE blessing: “I’d heard messages about the rain of Noah’s flood, but I had never heard about the ‘fountains of the great deep.” It is a real privilege to show people evidences that the Bible is true and that they have a reasonable faith! We request your prayers for this church as they seek the LORD’s will in the use of some property. We are presently looking at plans for the fall and spring. Our 2013 “Secrets of the Sea” conference may be three-fold, as we plan one for the Hickory area, one at Sweethaven Baptist in Portsmouth, VA, and possibly another one in Virginia Beach. Throughout this summer, we ask for prayer as we make decisions and plans for these events and the future.

Missin’ the Wild West

For some time now, we have already been missing our western trip this year! What we won’t miss are the fuel bills, though. However, from the looks of our schedule next year, we will head west much earlier than normal. We already have a VBS scheduled in Kankakee, IL the week of June 9. Our theme will be “Wilderness Wonders,” and there are even tentative plans for a Creation Camp in WY!

The Next Step

Recently, we are asking ourselves: “What is the next step?” The need is greater than we can imagine! The recent conflict in our home state of North Carolina over the Marriage Amendment shows just how great the need is for preaching creation and the design of God! In fact, God tells us how homosexuals started down the path:

"Because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God… but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” (Rom 1:21)

The next verses describe for us the “vain imaginations” and how they degenerate into “men with men working that which is unseemly” (vs. 14) in “leaving the natural use of the woman.” In short, homosexuality is an end result of rejecting God as Creator! “When they knew God” does not refer to knowing Him in salvation, but as Creator:

"For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made… so that they are without excuse: (Rom 1:20)

Even the heathen in “deepest, darkest Africa” are “without excuse” because of creation! So, we can help homosexuals out of their perversion by pointing them to the design of their Creator! They may not be open to truth, but we can speak it “in love…” (Eph. 4:15). We ask for your prayers as we seek to influence our culture by presenting the foundational truths of creation, and as we seek the LORD’s direction for the next step. Please keep our itinerary handy and remember us in your prayers. May the LORD bless you!

Remembering the Creator, Jeff & Heather