Daily Devotional – December 30

Geology

In October of 2015, a massive crack mysteriously opened up in the foothills of the Bighorn Mountains (Wyoming, USA). This massive gash appeared within two weeks. The “gash” (as the locals like to call it) measured 2250 feet long and 150 feet wide. There were no earthquakes reported in the area. One geologist wrote, “It’s an impressive example of just how quickly very large geological events can occur under the right conditions.” Another wrote of being “awed to see the Earth change so dramatically, so quickly.”

Evolutionists are trained to interpret almost all geological features in terms of slow, gradual processes; so rapid changes such as this are a surprise to them. Meanwhile, those who have a “Flood geology” framework realize that catastrophes can happen in the present and have happened in the past. The Earth can change dramatically and quickly.

And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up together with Korah….

~ Numbers 26:10

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

References for this devotional.

Daily Devotional – December 23

Geology

Visitors on cave tours are almost always told that the stalactites and stalagmites have taken thousands, if not millions, of year to form. The claim is frequently made that a stalactite takes a full century to grow only one inch. Always consider, however, what you are not being told! For instance:

1. Stalactites in the basement of the Lincoln Memorial are huge. The memorial was built during the 1930s with a basement. Rainwater seeping through the marble floor has formed stalactites up to five feet in height!
2. A concrete railroad bridge in Wooster, Ohio, had a stalactite growing underneath that was over 12 inches long. Only twelve years earlier, the bridge had been cleaned of stalactites.
3. Foot-long stalactites have grown in lime-rich mines of Newcastle, Australia. These mines are less than 40 years old.

Stalactites grow where water seeps through limestone rock, dissolving limestone. When water containing the dissolved limestone enters the cave roof, the water evaporates leaving the limestone behind. If there are any remaining water droplets, they fall to the cave floor and evaporate, leaving behind the deposit, in this case, a stalagmite.

During past periods of massive water movement through the ground (such as during the Ice Age), water would percolate through the ground into empty cave formations to form many stalactites and stalagmites very rapidly. After the Ice Age, there was a great drying out of climates worldwide.

To make a stalactite and stalagmite doesn’t take millions of years, just the right conditions.

I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.

~ Luke 19:40

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

Daily Devotional – December 22

Geology

Deep below the ground near a silver and lead mine of Chihuahua, Mexico, at the Naica Mine, two men were blasting a tunnel and discovered a cavern crammed full of colossal crystals as large as mature pine trees - 50 feet long and 4 feet across. These are the largest known crystals in the world!

These crystals were made of a mineral called selenite. The cavern’s unbearable heat measured 150 degrees Fahrenheit with 100% humidity. Geologists believe that under this cavern is a huge chamber of superheated molten rock that forced fluids rich in minerals up through the fault lines to the surface. These fluids dissolved the limestone caverns and filled some with silver, lead, and zinc deposits; others became nurseries for gypsum crystals (selenite is one variety). The selenite crystals would have grown while the fluid completely filled the cavern. Roberto Villasuso, the mine exploration superintendent, stated that these crystals probably formed within a 30-50 year period. Why such a short time and not millions of years? Because the minerals grew so evenly. If there had been any movement of water, it would have altered the crystallization patterns. The crystals’ clarity and size testify to rapid formation, not millions of years. It does not take millions of years, just the right conditions.

And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature was as the colour of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above.

~ Ezekiel 1:22

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

Daily Devotional – December 19

Geology

Where did the Great Salt Lake get its salt? Why is it not a fresh water lake? The Dead Sea, Aral Sea, and Caspian Sea are also dried up ocean water lakes. Evolutionists believe that the waters are from oceans that were trapped; creationists agree. Salty waters were caught in basins as the Genesis floodwaters rushed off the land.

After Noah’s Flood, the Ice Age began. About a thousand years later, the Ice Age ended bringing on dramatic, worldwide climate change. Lakes dried leaving dry basins. Lake Bonneville (Utah) has ancient shorelines that can be seen 1,000 feet above the basin in the surrounding mountains. Salt lakes, dry lake basins, and elevated shorelines testify to one worldcovering flood, the Flood of Noah’s day.

Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?

~ James 3:11

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

Daily Devotional – December 14

Geology

Have you noticed that many mountain ranges lie next to deep valleys?

• The Himalaya Mountains lie next to the Ganges Plain. The Ganges Plain is a deep valley filled in with sedimentary rocks.
• The Teton Range of mountains is adjacent to Jackson Hole (which lies in a valley) where there appears to be only 6,000 feet of vertical change from the valley to the top of the mountains. Jackson Hole is built on the top of many layers of sedimentary rock. If we go all the way to the bottom of this sediment, all the way to the basement granite rock layers, we find this sedimentary rock has dropped down 20,000 feet below sea level. Now add the Teton Mountains (13,000 feet above sea level) to the 20,000 feet of sedimentary rock at the base of that mountain, and it represents a sediment thickness of 33,000 feet!

As the waters rushed off the rising mountains at the end of the Flood, sediments were carried with it. This filled the basins we see near the mountains. The mountains did rise up, and the valleys did sink just as it says in Psalm 104:8. The earth’s landscapes bear witness to an absolutely devastating Genesis Flood.

They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them.

~ Psalm 104:8

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

Daily Devotional – December 12

Geology

Imagine walking through an underground city carved out of salt. Imagine this underground city with chapels, bedrooms, dining rooms with chandeliers and sculptures of biblical scenes, saints, and famous historical figures – all carved from salt. Since the 13th century, over 700 years ago, the Wielickzka salt mine near Krakow, Poland, has been mined, and an underground city has been carved out in the process. This salt mine is over 1,000 feet deep and 180 miles long. But how did all this salt get there?

Seawater contains salt. When seawater evaporates, it leaves behind salt and other minerals. Evolutionists believe that these thick, extensive salt deposits came about from the evaporation of seawater over great ages. These underground salt deposits, however, are ultra-pure sodium chloride, free of contaminants and ready for use on roads and for consumption. Where are all the sand and sea creatures trapped in this evaporating seawater over millions of years?

A better explanation is that during the Flood of Noah’s day, “all the fountains of the great deep (were) broken up” (Genesis 7:11), spewing out hot liquids into the cooler, deep oceans. Once cooled, these superheated, super-saturated waters lost the ability to hold their load of dissolved minerals, resulting in great layers of precipitated salts. Salt deposits are better explained as precipitates, not evaporites. So if you ever spend the night in a “salt bedroom,” or just add salt to your popcorn, think biblically about where that salt originated; salt is a result of Noah’s Flood--and then tell others from where it came.

As Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth….”

~ Matthew 5:13

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

Daily Devotional – December 2
Geology


Diamonds are valuable because they are rare. Diamonds are rare because they formed almost 90 miles below the surface of the Earth and were only thrust up to the surface in a few localized areas. But when did this release of these beautiful gemstones occur? One of the clues is the relatively unstable nature of the carbon structure that created the diamonds.


Diamonds are made from pure carbon, but they are dazzlingly clear - unlike black carbon that makes up coal, or the grey form of carbon, called graphite (used in pencils). Although diamonds are the hardest known naturally occurring mineral, they are both brittle (easily fractured along their crystalline lines) and unstable. Temperatures and pressures slightly below and above where they form cause diamonds to rapidly degenerate to a softer and more stable form of carbon known as graphite. Thus, it is believed that diamonds could only have formed about 90 miles below the Earth’s surface where the temperature is between 900 degrees Celsius – 1200 degrees Celsius (~1,650 degrees Fahrenheit - 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit) and the pressure is just right for the diamond crystal structure to form. IF it took years (or even days) for these diamonds to travel to the surface of the Earth, they would have passed through a zone where the temperature and pressure would have forced the diamond structure to revert into a more stable graphite structure. But they did not revert and made it to the Earth’s surface as diamonds. Thus, most experts accept that diamonds must have been explosively spewed from 90 miles below to the Earth’s surface within a matter of 7-20 hours. What event in history would cause this to happen?


During Noah’s Flood, the Bible states that “all the fountains of the deep broke up” (Genesis 7:11). This was a unique one-time event, and nothing like it has happened before or since. For diamonds to be carried rapidly to the surface, molten blobs of lava rock from the mantle of the Earth needed to burst through the rock layers of the Earth. This molten mantle material called kimberlite would have had to burst from sources starting 125 miles below the surface of the Earth and travel all the way to the Earth’s surface through chimney-like pipes. The process carried diamonds with it as the molten rock passed the 90 mile “diamond-making” depth. We do not see this happening today; today’s volcanoes spew lava slowly from depths much closer to the surface. It is in these kimberlite crater areas (primarily at specific locations in southern/central Africa, Canada, Siberia, Australia, and Brazil) where modern diamond hunters seek their fortunes. It was the fracturing of the Earth during Noah’s Flood that made it possible for us to enjoy the beauty of the diamond. In fact, every woman wearing a diamond can use it as a witnessing tool. Diamonds were formed at the diamond-making depth and then thrust upward with the magma in the kimberlite pipes in a matter of hours during the violent upheaval of the Flood of Noah’s time. How diamonds are made proclaim that the biblical Flood is truth!

In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up,.…
~ Genesis 7:11

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

Daily Devotional – November 30

Geology

What is the tallest mountain in the world? This record actually belongs to Mauna Kea in Hawaii that rises 30,610 feet from the bottom of the sea…and a staggering 56,447 feet from its underground mountain roots.1 Mt. Everest is only 29,029 feet. Whereas Mt. Everest is made primarily of sedimentary rock, Mauna Kea is entirely composed of volcanic lava. Both mountains were formed during or shortly after Noah’s Flood.

Skeptics of a biblical timeline point to the enormous size of the Hawaiian Island volcanoes, measure how slowly volcanoes are growing today, and state as a fact that the Earth must be millions of years old for such large volcanic mountain chains to have formed. What they fail to realize is that during the Flood of Noah, “all the fountains of the deep broke up” (Genesis 7:11) causing copious amounts of lava to pour forth. The rate of volcanic activity today can be compared to a leaky faucet slowly dripping water while during the Flood of Noah, the lava would have been like a torrent of water coming from a fire hose. During the Flood, lava was pouring forth to form Mauna Kea and could easily have been flowing at 1000 times the rate we see today. Although no one knows when the peak first broke through the surface of the Pacific Ocean, there is no reason to believe it could not have been during or subsequent to the Flood of Noah’s day about 4400 years ago.

Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the people renew their strength: let them come near; then let them speak.…

~ Isaiah 41:1

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”

~ Proverbs 3:5-6

“Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.”

~ Dr. Seuss (1904 – 1991), beloved children’s book author

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

References for this devotional.

Daily Devotional – November 27

Geology

The apostle Peter tells us that at a time, which he calls “The last days,” scoffers will laugh at the Genesis Flood account (2Peter 3:3,6). I think we are there! What evidence is there for a worldwide flood? One evidence comes from observing sedimentary rock layers. Sedimentary rock layers cover ¾ of the world’s continents. Try this simple experiment to see how rapidly sedimentary layers can form. (I am using food, but two different sizes of sand grains will work just as well.)

Blend together the following recipe for “Russian Tea”:

• 2 cups orange-flavored drink mix (e.g. Tang)
• 1½ cup sugar • 1 cup instant tea powder
• 1 (3 oz.) pack lemonade mix (or 2 packs of lemon Kool-aid)
• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• ½ tsp. ground cloves
• Mix well.

Now, slowly pour the mixture through a funnel into a tall, clear glass. What you should observe is layering as the mixture separates. Multiple thin layers result as the falling materials sort themselves. Evolutionists would have us believe that layers form slowly over time, yet in this demonstration (which can also be done with different sized grains of sand), we see that layers actually form rapidly. The same thing can happen over huge regions as water sorts sediment into distinct horizontal layers.

So make yourself a cup of Russian Tea (2 Tbs. or more of the mixture to a cup of water, heated), sit back, look at your layers, and know that God’s Word is true. There was a world-wide Genesis Flood that produced the sedimentary rock layers that cover 75% of the world’s continents.

Fifteen cubits [22 feet] upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.

~ Genesis 7:20

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

References for this devotional.

Daily Devotional – November 22

Geology

You may have watched CSI (Crime Scene Investigation) shows on TV. These detectives use various clues left at the scene of a crime to reconstruct an event, which they were not present to witness. The same can be done at the scene of the greatest catastrophe in Earth history – the worldwide Flood. But the “crime scene” of this event is the entire Earth! How the evidence is interpreted depends on your starting philosophical viewpoint. If you are trained to believe in enormous periods of time in Earth history, evidence that supports the worldwide extent of Noah’s Flood is missed or denied. The Tapeats Sandstone deposit, as found in the Grand Canyon, is a perfect example.

This sedimentary rock layer was deposited right at the bottom rock record, on top of a scoured and often tilted layer of the Earth’s foundational rock layers. Tapeats Sandstone is a bed of sand that has been cemented together. It shows a distinct pattern of waves and cross bedding - which indicates the direction and speed with which the water deposited this sand. A clue used to identify the Tapeats Sandstone is its chemical composition. This rock layer contains a specific amount of the mineral feldspar and more potassium than any other common sandstone layers, such as the overlying Coconino Sandstone. The final clue that can be used to identify this very specific sandstone layer is its fossil content. The Tapeats Sandstone often contains an extinct creature called the trilobite, while sandstone layers further up (which would have formed later in the worldwide Flood) often contain amphibian or reptile fossils (because these creatures would have been more mobile and able to survive into the later stages of the Flood.)

The reason a scientist can reconstruct the “crime scene” of Noah’s Flood and know it was worldwide in extent is because of the characteristics of the Tapeats Sandstone- its chemical composition and fossil content. This extensive rock layer extends across entire continents (often given different names at different locations) from the Grand Canyon, AZ (Tapeats Sandstone); Chippewa Falls, WI (Mt. Simon Sandstone); Libya, North Africa (Sauk Sandstone); and Timna, Israel (Amudei Sandstone). All are identical - indicating that they are all the same deposit, laid down at the same time, by the same event. Only a world-covering Flood could explain such evidence.

And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.

~ Luke 19:40

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

References for this devotional.