Daily Devotional – July 3

Geology

Coal deposits are found on every continent - even Antarctica. The deposits range from several inches thick to hundreds of feet thick. They can cover small areas or stretch for thousands of square miles. Evolutionists believe that coal formed in swamps over millions of years. As plants and trees died, they fell and accumulated at the bottom of the swamp. Over millions of years, the pressure and heat from slowly accumulating, overlying sediment transformed the swamp peat into coal. But students are seldom exposed to the problems with this story.

Today, we do NOT find swamps turning into coal deposits. Also, scientists have been able to identify many of the plants that were transformed into coal; most grow on the sides of mountains, not in swamps. In addition, small marine animals, not land creatures, are often found in the coal. All of this evidence leads to the conclusion that the material making up coal was transported from other locations. A modern example of this happened during the 1980’s Mt. St. Helens volcanic eruption. At the base of the volcano was Spirit Lake. The eruption caused an 800-foot wave to wash up the slope and drag a million logs back into the lake. These trees ended up floating in the lake. As wind blew the logs back and forth across the lake, the bark was rubbed off making a foot thick layer of bark at the bottom of the lake; this is the beginning of a peat deposit.

The Genesis Flood with its violent floodwaters and earthquakes would have ripped up all the plants and trees on the entire planet – resulting in huge floating log mats. As the log mats moved back and forth, the bark and waterlogged vegetation would have rubbed off and settled to the bottom. The violence of this Flood caused plant debris to be buried quickly and deeply - forming coal within a short time. The enormous coal beds that we find all over the world are a reminder of theF lood of Noah’s day.

They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.

~ Luke 17:27

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett