Titus 2

Bible study with Pastor Terry Gray

REVIEW

Titus was left on Creed to accomplish two things 
1. Set things in order -- morally, doctrinally, logistically 
2. Appoint elders in each church for leadership 

This mission was difficult and arduous, both physically (Creed was a mountainous island; Titus needed to cross mountains to go from church to church) and spiritually (people of Creed were corrupted).

PAUL INSTRUCTS TITUS TO GUIDE THE PEOPLE

The #1 priority of any pastor, of any church, of any Christian is to teach the sound doctrine of the Word of God (Titus 2:1).

To older men... (Titus 2:2)
Older men who have become seasoned men of God are those who have persevered in their walk with Jesus. These men are...
- Sober: not drunk; level headed, self-controlled, not just limited to alcohol
- Reverent: dignified, reputable, worthy of respect
- Temperate: self-controlled
- Sound in the faith, in the love, and in the patience of God

To older women... (Titus 2:3-5)
Godly women are...
- Reverent in behavior: sacred in behavior
- Not slanderers: not involved in malicious gossips
- Not be given to much wine
- Teachers of good things
- Good examples to younger women

This is not a section for deaconesses or female elders. Rather, Paul is using this opportunity to discuss the behavior of older Godly women in general. As elders, older women should walk with the Lord and pass on their experience and knowledge about their walk -- How to be persevere in their walk as Godly women; how to be Godly wives; how to be Godly mothers.

To young women... (Titus 2:4-5)
Godly young women are to...
- Love their husbands and children: love them enough to care for them unconditionally
- Be discreet and chaste: balanced, self-controlled; pure in heart and mind; devoted to only their husbands
- Be good, gentle, and kind to their husbands and children and others
- Be obedient and submissive to their husbands: Be busy at home, keepers of the home, caretakers of the home

The general principle here is not to imprison women or give men reason to be chauvinists. Paul is stressing that the focus of a young woman should be keeping the home in order, nurturing the home. Men are leaders; women are helpers of their husbands -- This is God's order, set as early as the time of Genesis, set as early as the first couple on Earth, Adam and Eve.

This order may not be glamorous to human eyes but in God's eyes, this is holy. This is HIS order.

This is not to say that women who work are ungodly. If women can work AND keep their homes in order, then there is nothing unbiblical about it. However, if the women who work cannot keep their homes in order, cannot be effective supporters of their husbands, then they need to prioritize God's order before their own ambition. 

The bottom line is caring for the home is a top priority. It doesn't matter how we do it, as long as we do it. 

To young men... (Titus 2:6-8) 
Titus was a young man and was told to be an example to other young men.

Godly young men are...
- Sober minded: level headed, self-controlled, serious minded -- Avoid reckless living that is common in young men
- Knowledgeable in doctrine
- Sound in speech: Speak wisely

We all know adolescence is not easy. Hormones are going, and peer pressure can be difficult to endure. However, if we are are grounded in God's Word, we can rely on the Holy Spirit to guide us through difficult decisions. Are we here to glorify ourselves or God? God's Word keeps us grounded and makes it clear the answer to that question. And once we fully understand the implications of that question, our battles against the flesh and against worldly desires aren't so impossible anymore.

To bond servants... (Titus 2:9-10)
Godly bond servants are...
- Obedient and submissive to our bosses
- Well-pleasing to our bosses
- Trust-worthy

Don't pilfer company goods. Be careful with how we use company resources. Be completely trustworthy. Be given a job to do it and to do it well. Be good, law-abiding citizens of the country of residence. Be ready for every good work. Speak evil of no one.

"Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God" (Romans 13:1).

ALL authorities are appointed by God. Even dictators. We may not agree with the leaders that God has put in place, but we are to honor them and respect them -- God put them there for a reason.

Think of Joseph's life. He met many tyrannical leaders. However, he continued his walk faithfully with God; he also followed the rules set by the government. And because he was faithful, God delivered Joseph. God eventually placed Joseph as the Prime Minister of Egypt!

Think of Paul's life. Paul wrote this letter when Nero was the emperor of Rome and was heavily persecuting the church! Paul did not call to arms a coup against Nero. Instead, he reminded us to heed God's order. Since ALL authorities are appointed by God, then as God's people, we have duties to heed God's appointments. God will hold each one of us responsible for our actions. If the leaders do not lead well, trust that God will judge them. It is not up to us to judge. It is up to us to make sure we fulfill our own responsibilities.

Be Godly, for Jesus gave Himself to save us (Titus 2:11-15)
Every Christian should be mindful of the above. All these characteristics reflect the heart of one who follows Christ. We should adorn the Word of God in all things. The grace of God motivates us to embrace and adorn the Word of God in all things.

Why should we be mindful of the above? Because Jesus is coming again for His people. We have been redeemed; we have been washed clean of our sins. Have an appreciative heart and act like one who has been redeemed!

The Last Pope

From the February 12, 2013 eNews issue
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Pope Benedict XVI (born Joseph Ratzinger) announced Monday that he will officially resign on February 28 of this year. When he does so, he will be the first pope to voluntarily leave the post since Pope Gregory XII in 1415. Speculations about possible cover-ups have already started, but Ratzinger has been in poor health for some time, and rumors that he could resign have circulated for more than a year. The Pope explained himself, saying, "In order to govern the bark of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me."

Just in time for the Lenten Season, the main topic of conversation will dwell on the next pope, due to be elected by Easter on March 31st.

Papal candidates are called "Papabili", a Latin term which literally means, "popeable" or "one who might become pope." According to modern church law, a pope is selected only from the College of Cardinals who meet in conclave to select the successor. A Papabile must be a cardinal, so the list of Papabili is fairly short, usually four of five men.

Throughout modern Catholic Church history, the man who emerges from the conclave to lead the estimated 1.2 billion Catholics worldwide has sometimes been a surprise. Those that people may think will be pope many times are not elected. There is a saying in the Vatican, "He, who enters the conclave as Pope, leaves it as a cardinal." The present pope was thought to be a Papabile, but considered a long-shot since he was 78 years old when elected pope - the oldest man to be elected pope in since Pope Clement XII (1730-40). John XXIII, John Paul I, and John Paul II were all elected pope, but not considered papabili.

While there has been a great amount of speculation in modern times about who would be the next pope, many Catholics are watching closely the next conclave, for they believe that whoever succeeds Pope Benedict XIV will be "The Last Pope".

The Prophecy of St. Malachy
St. Malachy (Maelmhaedhoc O Morgair) lived in 12th Century Ireland and was the Archbishop of Armagh, now a town of 14,000 in Northern Ireland. Attracted to the monastic life, Malachy established the first Cistercian abbey in Ireland in 1142. He also reformed the Irish Church and aligned it more closely with Rome.

What Malachy is more known for is the so-called Prophecy of the Popes, which is attributed to him. The prophecy is a list of 112 short phrases that supposedly describe each of the Roman Catholic popes beginning with Pope Celestine II (elected in 1143) and concluding with the successor of Benedict XVI.

This last pope is described in the prophecy as "Peter the Roman", whose reign as pope will see the destruction of the city of Rome.

The prophecy did not hold much interest among Catholics up until the mid-20th century because it seemed as if it would be a long time before the world would see the election of "The Last Pope".

Until the pontificate of Pius XII (1939-58), the average tenure of recent popes had been approximately 20 years. This change in 1958 with the election of Angelo Roncalli who took the name John XXIII. Elected when he was 77 years old, John XXIII was considered a "caretaker pope" who would keep the papal throne warm until the College of Cardinals could decide on a longer serving pontiff. He served for four years, but put the Catholic Church on a new course by calling the Second Vatican Council. Giovanni Montini was elected to replace John XXIII on his death and called himself Paul VI. His reign lasted 15 years. Albino Luciani followed and took the name John Paul I, combining the names of his predecessors. John Paul 1 reign lasted one month and his death was clouded in controversy.

John Paul 1 was succeeded by Karol Wojtyła who took the name John Paul II. Fairly young in papal terms when he was elected (58), his was the second-longest pontificate lasting 26 years, 168 days; only Pope Pius IX (1846-1878) who served 31 years, reigned longer.

Interest in the Prophecy of the Popes increased as John Paul II's health declined and Vatican watchers were shocked when Joseph Ratzinger, a cardinal of advanced age, was unexpectedly elected Pope Benedict XVI. According to the Malachy Prophecy, whoever succeeded Benedict would be the Last Pope. (The Catholic Church discounts the Prophecy, saying that they have no connection with Malachy except their erroneous attribution to him.)

The prophecy connected with the most recent popes is as follows:


Pope #263 - John XXIII (1958-1963) - Pastor et Nauta (pastor and marine)
Prior to his election he was patriarch of Venice, a marine city,
home of the gondolas.

Pope #264 - Paul VI (1963-1978) - Flos florum (flower of flowers)
His papal coat of arms displayed three lilies.

Pope #265 - John Paul I (1978) - De medietate Lunae (from the midst of the moon)
Albino Luciani was born in Canale d'Ogardo, diocese of
Belluno, (beautiful moon) Elected pope on August 26, his reign lasted about a month, from half-moon to half-moon.

Pope #266 - John Paul II (1978-2005) - De labore Solis (of the eclipse of the sun)
Karol Wojtyla was born on May 18, 1920 during a solar eclipse. There was also solar eclipse on April 8, 2005, the day of his funeral.

Pope #267 - Benedict XVI - Gloria olivae (The glory of the olives)
It was originally thought that this pope would be from the Order of St. Benedict (The Benedictines were known also as the Olivetans.) Traditionally, the olive branch has been associated with peace, but in both the Old and New Testaments it also has been ascribed as an emblem for the Jews. Putting the two together, some commentators believed that the reign of this pope would be a peaceful one during which, according to the Catholic Church, the prophesied conversion of the Jews will take place. People who believe in the prophecy believe that the current pope, by taking the name Benedict, fulfilled the prophecy.

Pope #268 - The Last Pope - In persecutione extrema S.R.E. sedebit Petrus Romanus, qui pascet oues in multis tribulationibus: quibus transactis ciuitas septicollis diruetur, & Iudex tremedus iudicabit populum suum. Finis.
 ("In the final persecution of the Holy Roman Church
there will reign Peter the Roman, who will feed his flock amid many tribulations, after which the seven-hilled city will be destroyed and the dreadful Judge will judge the people. The End.")

Proponents of the prophecy say that it is interesting that at least one pope had a similar mystical vision to the "Last Pope" part of the prophecy. During a papal audience in 1909, Pope Pius X claimed he had a vision of the pope leaving Rome, and in leaving the Vatican, he will have to "walk over the dead bodies of his priests."

While many may hold the Prophecy of Malachy to be true, there is a far more authoritative source to tell us what is coming in the end times.

Revelation 4:1 introduces a section of Scripture that detail "things which must be hereafter." What follows are prophecies of the end times. We have not yet reached the Tribulation, the revelation of the Antichrist, or other end-time events. What we do see is a preparation for those events.

Jesus said that the last days would be preceded by several things: many false Christs would come, deceiving many; we would "hear of wars and rumors of wars"; and there would be an increase in "famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in diverse places. All these are the beginning of sorrows" (Matthew 24:5-8).

Today's news is full of false religions, warfare, and natural disasters. We know that events of the tribulation period will include all that Jesus predicted (Revelation 6:1-8); the events of today are only a prelude for greater trials ahead.

Paul warned that the last days would bring a marked increase in false teaching. "In later times, some will abandon the faith, and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons" (1 Timothy 4:1). The last days are described as "perilous times" because of the increasingly evil character of man and people who actively "oppose the truth" (2 Timothy 3:1-9 and 2 Thessalonians 2:3).

What is important is how we live our lives in preparation for Christ's return. What witness are we giving to the world to help non-believers accept the saving grace of Jesus Christ?

In 1 Thessalonians 5:6, Paul concludes a lesson on Christ's coming with these words: "Therefore, let's not fall asleep like others do, but let's stay awake and be sober." (ISV)

The apostles understood that Jesus' imminent return meant they must busy themselves with God's work. They lived life to the fullest, as if every day were their last.

Related Links
• Pope Benedict XVI Resigns, Leaving Princes Of The Church Speechless - The Guardian
• Sleiman Hails Pope's 'Courageous' Decision To Resign - The (Lebanon) Daily Star
• Pope Benedict to Play No Role in Choosing Successor - Voice of America
• Pope Gregory XII, The Last Pope To Resign - New York Daily News

Genesis 27-28

Compiled notes from my BSF group


JACOB DECEIVES ISAAC TO GAIN HIS BLESSINGS (Genesis 27:1-29)

Isaac's family is full of deception

Examples
- They lied: Isaac lied about Rebekah being his wife (Genesis 26:7).
- They had secrets from each other: Rebekah preferred Jacob and secretly plotted against Isaac’s plan to leave his legacy through Esau (Genesis 27:5-10).

Throughout this lesson, BSF asks quite a few questions about how Isaac or Esau "defy" God's plan. Personally, I do not think the Bible provides enough information for us to make such assessments. True, prior to the birth of Jacob and Esau, God announced that "the older will serve the younger" (Genesis 25:23). True, Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, and Esau all had a hand in manipulation, playing each other in order to gain what they selfishly want. True, through these manipulations, Jacob ended up with Isaac's blessings and God's promises through Abraham and Isaac. And true, we can even speculate what might have happened if none of them manipulated each other, if they all just allowed God to work through them (as opposed to taking things into their own hands). However, I find such speculations meaningless, in the sense that we just do not know. Because they chose to manipulate, the facts we have now are the results of those actions. We do not have facts about "what could have been" because it never happened! We can guess what could have been, but at the end of the day, we have no facts to support those guesses. Hence, I think such speculations are pointless mind exercises.

For example, one BSF question asked, "How did Rebekah show she was on God’s side while Isaac really worked against God?"

This question makes some bold assumptions:
1) Isaac acted against God
2) Rebekah behaved Godly

Let's go back to the Scripture. What did the Bible really say?

For one, let us look at God's prophecy in its entirety:

The LORD said to her, "Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger" (Genesis 25:23).

That is it. It does not go on to say how Isaac was to do this and this and this to make sure Jacob inherits the blessing, for example. 

It is not the heart of God to play favoritism as Isaac and Rebekah did, but it also isn't out of the norm of Isaac's day to pass inheritance through the eldest son.

My point here is that it is presumptuous of us to assume the black and white view of Isaac acted against God.

Second, I am intrigued that BSF would assume that Rebekah showed "she was on God's side." If anything, passages throughout these couple of chapters show that just as Isaac favored Esau, Rebekah favored Jacob. That is, both Isaac and Rebekah were guilty of the same sin; Isaac fought to have Esau on top, whereas Rebekah fought to have Jacob on top. Is this really Rebekah acting "on God's side"? Or rather, is this Rebekah fulfilling her own selfish wants, and it just so happens that what she wanted was in line with God's prophecy?

God is after our hearts. He isn't going to just look at the results, and just because the results are in line with His plan, He would say to us, "Good and faithful servant." He looks at our heart and judges us based on our heart. If we do not have the heart of God within us, then nothing we do matters, even if the results look great. 

Isaac blesses Jacob (Genesis 27:27-29)
Isaac's blessing included prosperity in the land, greatness among nations, and greatness among his people. And as God promised Abraham and Isaac, Isaac also promised Jacob: May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed.



ISAAC BLESSES ESAU (Genesis 27:30-40)

Because Isaac had already passed down God's blessing through Jacob, Isaac could only give Esau the following blessing:

"Your dwelling will be away from the earth's richness, away from the dew of heaven above. You will live by the sword and you will serve your brother. But when you grow restless, you will throw his yoke from off your neck" (Genesis 27:40).

This prophecy was fulfilled in Numbers 20:18-21, 2 Samuel 8:14; 2 Kings 8:20–22, 14:7; 2 Chronicles 28:17; Obadiah 10-15. Herod the Great was also a descendant of Esau in the time of Jesus — Matthew 2.

Edom is not rich. It is not blessed. Their nations are constantly in war. One day, they will serve Israel, but today, they are fighting hard to throw Israel off its back.



JACOB FLEES FROM ESAU (Genesis 27:41-28:1-9)

Take the plank out of our eyes (Genesis 27:41-46)
Jacob first stole Esau's birthright, and now, he's even taken the blessing that Isaac had wanted to give to Esau. Understandably, Esau is so angered, he plotted Jacob's death.

We may readily empathize with Esau, with examples and examples lined up to show how others have wronged us, how right it is for us to hold a grudge or to judge. However, we should also note how Esau not once reflected or admitted sin. For example, why did he choose to swap his birthright for a bowl of soup? Further, while Jacob heeded Isaac's dying wishes, Esau chose to disobey him just to spite him! Simply put, every one of us makes mistakes, commit sins. We can point at others, but we aren't going to stand in front of God one day to judge others. We're going to stand in front of God one day to be judged for our own choices. Each one of us has to answer to God for our own behavior. So, instead of being so ready with our fingers to point at others, it might be more worth our time to focus on ourselves.

Luke 6:42
"How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."


JACOB DREAMS OF GOD'S PROMISE (Genesis 28:10-22)

In the dream, Jacob saw a stairway to Heaven, with the angels coming and going, with God promising to look over him.

Christ uses this dream to teach Nathanael that He is the only way to God (John 14:6; Hebrews 10:19-20)
In Jacob’s dream, the angels came and went through a stairway to Heaven. In John 1:51, Christ said, "… the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man," equating Himself to that stairway, the ONLY way to God.

God's Promise to Jacob

Land
"I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying" (Genesis 28:13).

Descendants
"Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south" (Genesis 28:14).

Blessing
"All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring" (Genesis 28:14).

God’s presence with Jacob
"I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you" (Genesis 28:15).

Jacob responded humbly to God's promise (Genesis 28:16-22)
1. He humbled himself and showed reverence to God’s presence: "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven" (Genesis 28:17).

2. He worshiped God: "Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz" (Genesis 28:18-19).

3. He committed himself to God: "If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father’s household, then the LORD will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth" (Genesis 28:20-22).

Genesis 25:19–34

BIRTH OF ISAAC AND ESAU (Genesis 25:19-26)

As promised to Abraham and Sarah, God establishes a covenant with Isaac
God said, "Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him" (Genesis 17:19).

Isaac, will be the beginning of many descendants.

Isaac and Rebekah never stop seeking God amid obstacles
We see from these passages that Isaac and Rebekeh faced some similar problems as Abraham and Sarah faced. For example, Rebekeh remained childless for a long time. However, unlike Abraham and Sarah, who took things into their own hands, Isaac and Rebekeh sought God every step of the way. Because of their faithfulness, the works of God are displayed through them.

Isaac prayed faithfully for God to bring children to them. And because they prayed faithfully, God responded -- Rebekeh became pregnant. When Rebekah felt the twins fight in her womb, she was scared. But again, she did not take the matter in her hands. Instead, she took her fears and worries to God. And again, because of her faithfulness, God provided her with an answer: Genesis 25:23.

Through Isaac and Rebekeh, we witness the truth in the following passages:

Psalm 55:22
Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.

Psalm 57:2
I cry out to God Most High, to God, who vindicates me.

Psalm 119:71
It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.

John 9:3
"Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him."

When we have worries, we should cast those worries to God. God has promised to take care of us and protect us. And so, when we run into problems, we should not try to solve the problems ourselves. We should let God protect us. This is why we should go to God with our worries, and ask God to help us through our problems.

Two Nations (Genesis 25:23)

"Two nations are in your womb"
Jacob became the father of the nation of Israel; Esau became the father of the nation of Edom. 

"... and two peoples from within you will be separated"
Israel and Edom are separated. They are enemies. 

"... one people will be stronger than the other, Israel is stronger than Edom, and the older will serve the younger"

In the end, Edom and all other nations in the world will serve Jesus, leader of Israel (Revelation).

Isaac and Rebekeh show favoritism

Isaac loved Esau more because Esau also loved to hunt. Rebekeh, on the other hand, loved Jacob.

It is God’s love to love ALL. Not just the "good" people, but ALL people. In our eyes, we can deem people as nice people or bad people. But, in God’s eyes, WE ARE ALL SINNERS. God does not deem us sinners and therefore decides not to save us. Instead, it is in God’s heart to save EVERYONE.

Both Isaac and Rebekeh showed favoritism. He favored Esau because Esau liked the same things that Isaac liked. Isaac did not love his sons like God loves His children.

Esau sells his birthright (Genesis 25:29-34)
Birthright includes inheritance of promises. Responsibilities of birthright include being godly leaders.

In this passage, we see that Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of stew. We learn a couple of things from this passage:

1. Jacob was an opportunist. He recognized an opportunity to gain something from Esau, and he took advantage of the situation.

2. Esau was more focused on satisfying hungers of the flesh than fulfilling his duties as the elder son. He did not view his role as the elder son seriously enough to overcome lusts of the flesh.

We are all capable of making the same mistakes that Esau made. We all have a choice to make. Every choice we make, we choose to either listen to God’s calling or cave in to sins of the flesh. God will not force us to follow Him. He will warn us and give us guidance, but it is up to us to walk His Way.

Like Abraham, Jacob takes things into his own hands
Even though Jacob knew of the prophecy that "the older will serve the younger" (Genesis 25:23), he still took things into his hands to make it happen – For example, by asking Esau to sell him his birthright. This is like Abraham and Ishmael because Abraham, who knew God had promised him a son in due time, still took things into his hands and had a child with Hagar. This decision brought Abraham and Sarah many headaches, one of which is the birth of a nation (Ishmael) that would become one of Israel's major enemies. Similarly, Jacob's actions caused a great rift between him and Esau, and today, Esau's descendants continue to be great enemies of Israel.

The Grand Canyon Formation - Alternate Theories

From the January 29, 2013 eNews issue
(Visit Koinonia House for a FREE subscription)


The Grand Canyon is a geological wonder, a vast chasm stretching 277 miles west to east through northern Arizona. The canyon offers one of the best geological cross sections in the world, with nearly 30 distinct layers found from the bottom to the top; its mesas, buttes, colorful slopes and spires illustrate the geological story of the great American southwest. School children are fed a simple tale about how the canyon was formed, but as any honest geologist will admit, nobody knows exactly how it got there.

The true cause of the Grand Canyon is still hotly debated among geologists, and all recognize there's no solid answer. There are too many missing pieces. The basic park ranger explanation is that the Colorado Plateau - 130,000 square miles covering northern Arizona, southern and eastern Utah, western Colorado and northwestern New Mexico - began to rise up 50-70 million years ago, causing the existing Colorado River to downcut. [See maps and diagrams at links below.] After millions of years of steady uplift, the Colorado River carved out the Grand Canyon. The higher the plateau rose, pushed upward by magma from deep in the earth, the more powerful the erosional forces of the river proved to be.

The Colorado River was tamed a great deal when the Glen Canyon Dam was finished in 1966. The dam controls the flow of the river now. The Colorado's flashfloods once carried boulders the size of VW Buses, and it transported an estimated 160 million tons of sediment every year, scouring the canyon bottom. Still, many people consider the vast expanse of the Grand Canyon and despise the Colorado as an underfit river, one that could not have possibly hauled out all the necessary sediment.

A Few Puzzles
The simple explanation does have serious geological issues. The Colorado River flows into the Gulf of California – the Sea of Cortez - which contains sediments from geologically young Pliocene layers - not older layers. It appears that the eastern part of the Grand Canyon is much older than the western part of the Grand Canyon, but nobody knows exactly what happened.

The western end of the canyon is fairly young. Local sediments come from the Basin and Range area to the west of the Canyon and are from Miocene layers. No river could have carved through there until after the Miocene. There's also no evidence that an older Colorado River ran through the Grand Wash Cliffs at the western end of the canyon. There is therefore an upper Colorado River system to the east that did not originally continue west of the Colorado Plateau.

Alternate Theories
The first thought, of course, is that the deposits were carried away by a different route. Perhaps the canyon was carved by a river that flowed down through Marble Canyon through what is now the Little Colorado River, draining into the Rio Grande. According to the theory, another small but steep and vigorous river rushed westward across the Basin and Range. It moved eastward by headward erosion until it ran into the upper Colorado. It "captured" the Colorado , caveman style, and the two married and carved the Grand Canyon in 4-6 million years, dumping into the Sea of Cortez like today.

There's a problem there, though. The Continental Divide would have prevented the Little Colorado River from reaching the Rio Grande, and the sediment evidence is not there.

Some argue that the old river flowed south at Peach Springs Canyon, until the river burst through whatever blocked the way to the western part of the Grand Canyon. Some argue that the Colorado Plateau tipped one way and then the other as it rose so that the Colorado River flowed in the opposite direction. Some argue the river flowed underground, or flowed northwest, draining into lakes in Nevada and Utah.

The deposits to prove these drainage systems haven't been found. That's part of the problem; there is a lot of data that is just plain missing.

A Breached Dam
According to one theory, two major lakes formed in the so-called Bidahochi Formation to the east of the current day Grand Canyon. The Colorado River overflowed the basins of the Colorado Rockies, filling the vast Hopi Lake and Grand Lake to the east. When the natural dam holding back the lakes broke, they gushed down, tearing out the soft limestone and sandstone layers of the Grand Canyon. With a rupture in the Kaibab Upwarp, the Colorado River changed course and followed the fissure down through what is now the western end of the canyon and south into the Gulf of California. In other words, the Colorado did not really cause the Grand Canyon at all, it merely followed the easiest path down to the Sea of Cortez after the Canyon had been formed.

The breached dam theory has an interesting bit of support from the legends of the local tribes. More than 500 Native American sites in the Grand Canyon park indicate that significant populations lived in the vicinity throughout history. In his video Grand Canyon, part of the Great National Parks series, Dan Goldblatt refers to a Navajo legend about the formation of Grand Canyon. In the full story, it rained in the land for many days. It rained so much that waters rose high over the tops of the mountains. After the rain stopped, whatever was holding back the waters broke, and the waters rushed down and carved out the canyon.


Young Earth geologists like Steve Austin believe that these great lakes were leftover from the Flood of Noah. When the natural dam that held them broke, the waters ripped through the Kaibab Plateau with a fury. If the lakes were quite large - three times the size of Lake Michigan, by some estimates - the erosion would not have had to take the millions of years that geologists would have expected.

In the end, the scientists will keep battling it out. Only God knows exactly how that fantastic crevasse in the earth was formed, but every bit of information adds to the tremendous fun of figuring out the mystery.

Related Links
• The Breached Dam Theory - Advanced Creationism
• Sedimentation in the Colorado River delta and Upper Gulf of California After Nearly a Century of Discharge Loss - Marine Geology
• The Grand Canyon as a Creationist Clock - University of South Dakota
• The Mystery Of The Pre-Grand Canyon Colorado River: Results From The Muddy Creek Formation - GSA Today
• The Muddy Creek Formation at the Mouth of the Grand Canyon: Constraint or Chimera? - USGS
• Making Sense of Grand Canyon's Puzzles - The New York Times (June 2000)

Isaiah 3 and the Fall of Nations

From the January 29, 2013 eNews issue
(Visit Koinonia House for a FREE subscription)


America doesn't look exceptionally healthy these days. The fiscal cliff and mountainous national debt, attacks on children in schools and school busses, flagrant drug abuse and high divorce rates all bode poorly for the land of the free and the home of the brave. Isaiah 3 touches on the age-old question, "Why do nations fall?" - a question important to every nation that seeks to survive. Isaiah describes what a falling nation - a nation that rejects God - looks like.

We read in verse 1 of this chapter that "The Lord takes away the stock and the store and the whole supply of bread." That is economic deprivation. If we drop down to verse 4, "I will give children to be their princes." In other words - unexperienced, foolish, childish individuals will be in charge. Verse two details the loss of the "mighty man and the man of war, The judge and the prophet, And the diviner and the elder." In fact, it is so bad that down in the last verses of chapter three and first verses of chapter four, there are so few men that seven women approach one man to wear his name and have his children in order to remove the reproach of having no children.

Three things happen in this passage from which no nation has ever recovered. There are nations that have endured two of these attributes and survived but not three. The United States, for example, survived economic catastrophe and poor leadership during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Yet, the United States survived because the third attribute of Isaiah 3 did not occur; most men returned home from World War II.

In other words, stupid leadership not only drives good leadership out of the arena, it destroys the ability to provide for one's family, kills fathers, husbands, and wise leaders as the nation happily races with their immature leaders to destruction.

FM 3-24
In 2006, General Petraeus and a combined Army and Marine Corps group wrote FM 3-24, the Counterinsurgency Field Manual - the "COIN" manual for short. Though well written, the manual drives a population-centric, guerrilla strategy that utilizes the conclusions of preeminent asymmetric warfare scholars, Mao Zedong, David Galula. A population-centric strategy seeks to partner with the main population to protect it from the enemy, in contrast to an enemy-centric strategy that seeks to capture and kill an enemy. FM 3-24 is a good historical read, and its principles worked in Iraq and Afghanistan, but what about the land of Cell Phones and the Internet? How should a state deal with terrorism in Iraq versus people angry at the government in Seattle or New York?

FM 3-24 proclaims a limited set of historical case studies to support the argument that counterinsurgency should be oriented towards winning the "hearts and minds" of the population through increased reliance on soft power. The manual even enumerates soldier-to-population ratios and soft power capabilities such as strengthening host nations, creating freedom of movement for the "good" or approved general population, providing stability, etc. The major weakness of the manual is its advocacy of a population-centric approach as the only path to success. FM 3-24 did not consider the merits of alternative counterinsurgency strategies, thereby assuming, rather than proving, its primacy.

The possibilities for well-organized, networked battles among the common people is stronger than ever; insurgencies are taking place constantly from northern Africa to Syria... and even in the West, which has so long prided its civilization. Marches, protests, battles can be planned quickly and communicated quickly through social networking. Sometimes there are small groups of insurgents in among the people, and sometimes the insurgents include the majority of the population itself.

James Dunnigan wrote in his excellent tome, A Quick and Dirty Guide to War that smaller and smaller groups are able to wield greater and more lethal power. Dunnigan theorized that the velocity of information would make those groups faster on their feet, forcing opponents into a much more rapid battle-decision cycle. The dramatically networked battle space seems exclusive to military units but in reality, the creativity of a domestic insurgency with just a little communications discipline and cryptography could make that battle space a dynamic and very interesting place to fight. Use of the "New media" (e.g. Facebook & Twitter) alone will guarantee that the Federal Government does not possess networked battle space monopolies.

The gun control debate in the United States raises the specter of possible battles between the government and the general population. Not only are many U.S. citizens up-in-arms over the prospect of greater gun control, but law enforcement officials in several states have declared flatly they would not enforce unconstitutional laws limiting gun ownership in their jurisdictions. A significant number of Americans have a "You're taking my rifle over my dead body" attitude.

Current estimates place the total number of gun owners at 40-50 million citizens who possess approximately 300 million firearms. In the current climate, gun legislation and federal action could push most of those citizens into the category of closet law breakers as they hide their weapons and ammo against a rainy day. It is a foolish and childish government that takes away a deeply felt right, transforming a large block of citizens into determined closet criminals who fear the very government that is supposed to defend them.


Continuing to analyze the numbers, perhaps ten percent of that 40 to 50 million, 4-5 million citizens, would support action more volatile than participating in protests or writing their Congressman, but not to levels of violence that threaten life or property. One percent, perhaps 400,000-500,000 people would go so far as to provide safe haven, supplies, money, and hidden support for active insurgents. At the end of this equation, maybe one tenth of one percent, 40,000-50,000 Americans, would form small independently-functioning active resistance cells, or become lone-wolves. Many of these with prior military service would approach Operator levels of performance.

As this scenario solidifies, the government would attempt to move against gun owners and a number of those seizure actions will go bad, like Waco and Ruby Ridge. If the 40-50,000 angry insurgents push their battles to logical ends - to force a change in government - unnamed citizens (most believed to be in support of the government) and federal agents could die by the dozens, maybe even hundreds. Press Wonks and pundits on the Gun Control side might be attacked, and one will wonder if the left or the right is laughing the loudest. 

The Secret Service will be able to protect the President in the White House, but he will not dare leave except under carefully controlled circumstances. Even then, he will be forced to move under cover, like a criminal. Will the government employ the population-centric principles of COIN in this scenario?

Will there be a population whose hearts and minds can be won, or will freedom-loving Americans be considered the enemy?

The above scenario walks simple numbers across insurgent action that is not population-centric. Instead, it is asymmetric against selected federal targets and individuals with the intent of boxing the Executive Branch into a gilded cage and destroying the effectiveness of the Federal Government. It is roughly equivalent to dumping tea in Boston Harbor, tar and feathering colonial tax agents, and hanging His Majesty's Judges and Governors. The insurgents might even utilize disinformation campaigns that maximize federal belief in population-centric insurgencies.

The gun control scenario is just one example of how childish leadership can make bad decisions on one issue and drive its people to domestic insurgency. It is unlikely that Americans will truly lose their gun rights at this point; too many people still value the right to self-protection, even against their own government. If the day should come, though, the larger arena of ideas could easily explode into violent action. Using the framework of analysis provided by Isaiah 3, we might only be waiting for the loss of the Judge, the Captain, and the mighty man of war to take us beyond the edge of what nations can endure and still survive.

Related Links
• Population-Centric Counterinsurgency: A False Idol? - School of Advanced Military Studies
• Beyond Population-Centric Warfare - Prism
• Oregon Sheriffs Sending a Message: We Won't Take Your Guns - Oregon Live
• W.Va. Sheriffs Say They Wouldn't Enforce Assault Weapons Ban - The Charleston Gazette
• Why The Assault Weapons Ban Is (Probably) Going Nowhere - The Washington Post

Young Islands, Canyons, and Dinosaurs

From the January 15, 2013 eNews issue
(Visit Koinonia House for a FREE subscription)


According to most respected geologists, the Earth is 4.7 billion years old, give or take a few days. Suggesting that the Earth is much younger can raise the ire of even the most chipper, likeable geology professor. Yet, there is evidence that geological processes can take place in a much shorter time span than historical geologists tend to assume, and odd things have been found out of place – in the wrong time and the wrong geological layer.

The true age of the planet remains somewhat of a mystery, and geologists certainly have reason to regard the world as fairly old. After all, Hadrian's Wall cuts along northern England, relatively solid after two-thousand years of weathering. The Great Pyramid of Giza remains more than 4500 years after its completion. When geologists consider that mountain ranges have washed away and the once jagged peaks of the great Canadian Shield have been worn down to rolling hills, they reason that such massive erosion could not have taken place in a mere few millennia.

At the same time, sometimes geological events do much greater creation and destruction in a short time than we'd ever have expected.

Surtsey
On the 14th of November in 1963, a steaming, smoking volcanic eruption that had started 426 feet below sea level produced enough cooled rock to peek out of the water. Over the course of that week, the island grew to a height of 145 feet. When the island finally stopped rising in June of 1967, it had matured to a height of almost 500 feet and covered an area of two square miles. The island was named Surtsey after the Norse god of fire, Surtur.

Because of its newness, Surtsey has been closely studied by scientists who want to watch how the flora and fauna of the island develop and by others who have monitored its growth and its subsequent decay. The amazing thing about Surtsey, though, is not just its rapid birth, but its rapid aging as well. In 1964, when Surtsey was just a year old, Iceland's top geophysicist Sigurdur Thorarinsson described the island in his book, Surtsey: The New Island in the North Atlantic:
"On Surtsey, only a few months sufficed for a landscape to be created which was so varied and mature that it was almost beyond belief... You might come to a beach covered with flowing lava on its way to the sea with white balls of smoke rising high up in the air.

Three weeks later you might come back to the same place and be literally confounded by what met your eye. Now, there were precipitous lava cliffs of considerable height, and below them you would see boulders worn by the surf, some of which were almost round... and further out there was a sandy beach where you could walk at low tide without getting wet."


The geologist continued his amazement later in National Geographic (127(5):712–726) in 1965, saying: " … in one week’s time we witness changes that elsewhere might take decades or even centuries … Despite the extreme youth of the growing island, we now encounter a landscape so varied that it is almost beyond belief."

Perhaps "elsewhere" the changes did not take decades or centuries after all. Perhaps geologists just assume they did. Without the ability to watch features form firsthand, geologists can infer the history of a site based more on reasoning than on experimental evidence. Unless they can watch the same geologic processes take place elsewhere, producing the same results, they can err in the story they put together from the rocks.

Mt. St. Helens
When Mount St. Helens erupted in late May of 1980, it created geological results in minutes and days that were previously believed to take vast lengths of time. On June 12, 1980, a mud flow left a deposit 25 feet thick with thin laminae and beds. These kinds of sedimentary laminae and beds had been assumed to represent thousands or millions of years as they were laid down one season at a time. Instead, this mud flow produced 25 feet worth of thin layers in a single day.

Mount St. Helens taught geologists that erosion can take place rapidly as well. Badlands topography in the form of rills and gullies appeared at the margins of seam explosion pits within five days after the Mount St. Helen's pumice had been deposited in May of 1980. Nearly two years after the explosion, on March 19, 1982, a mud flow eroded a canyon much like a miniature form of the Grand Canyon in the headwaters of the North Fork of the Toutle River Valley. It did not take millions of years for this canyon system to erode; it took a day.

Mount St. Helen's rapid formation of geologic features should give geologists pause. The results of the mountain's eruption and mud flows do not prove that Earth is extremely young, but they do demonstrate that canyons and thick layers of sediment are not necessarily old.


There's more than growing islands and volcanic eruptions to disrupt the textbook story about the age of the earth. From their early school days, children are taught that dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous. Yet, in art and in mud, there are signs that dinosaurs and humans weren't always apart.

Dinosaur Art
Legends of dragons can be found in cultures across the world, from China to Norway. Dinosaur-like creatures are also found in a wide variety of ancient art that can be readily seen today - at ancient sites around the world, at various creation museums and in pictures conveniently placed online [see links below]. Sauropod-shaped handles on pottery jugs from the Mississippi Caddo Indians of the 13th century AD; a stegosaurus carving on a column of the Ta Prohm monastery in Cambodia, dedicated in 1186; burial stones from Ica, Peru showing pictures of dinosaurs and humans together; the faint, desert varnished pictograph of a sauropod on the wall next to other Anasazi wall art on the inside of the Kachina Bridge at the Natural Bridges National Monument in Utah, and many other forms of dinosaur art demonstrate that human beings did see dinosaurs in times far more recent than 65 million years ago.

"And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." - Genesis 1:24-26

"Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee;" -Job 40:15

This world is a mystery. The pages of its history given to us have left many stories untold. We do not necessarily have tales for every flood or hurricane or tsunami. We don't know what earthquakes or volcanic eruptions or glaciers rocked and carved the earth. The more data we collect, carefully and honestly, the greater the clues we have of the tales that are still written to us in the very rocks. Which, if we don't beat them to it, may still cry out in praise to our God.

Related Links
• Mount St. Helens and Catastrophism - ICR.org
• Ancient Dinosaur Depictions - Photographs - Genesis Park
• Surtsey Volcano - Iceland On The Web
• The Effects of Mud Flows - Geologic Survey Professional Paper 1250
• The Paluxy River Tracks - The Institute For Creation Research
• Dinosaur And Human Footprints - Paleo Group