Dear Friend of Creation,
Forty-five years ago this month, the volcanic Mount St Helens exploded in southern Washington State. Because it happened in a technological era in a technologically developed place, it became a well-studied, tremendous example for modern creation science. The volcanic explosion and aftermath became a natural outdoor laboratory of what took place on a much, much larger scale in the Great Flood of Noah’s day (Genesis 7-9). And a reminder of His word about uniformitarian “scoffers” who are “willingly ignorant” of the Great Flood’s place in history (2 Peter 3:3-6).
What we have seen in these forty-five years since is a story of how new life proceeds from catastrophic occurrences. We don’t need millions and billions of years, natural change can and does take place in days, months, or a few years.
Billions of tons of soil on Mount St Helens slid away as a fluid, caught up with hot volcanic ash and gases, upsetting lakes, filling in valleys, and carving out deep canyons in the largest recorded landslide in modern history. An earthquake triggered the slide immediately preceded the bursting forth of pent-up pressure and pulverized molten rock from great depths of the Earth which knocked down huge forests of trees like matchsticks for many miles! An additional five explosive eruptions occurred through October 1980.
If this had taken place much earlier than 1980, and in another part of the world, we would not have the data and recordings that we do today of the explosion in Washington State. As part of the modern creationist movement, the Mount St Helens volcanic event has become a testimony in these “last days” of the power of a great cataclysm to greatly accelerate change in Earth science and Earth history. And to leave behind features of Earth’s landscape (like a “little Grand Canyon”) that have previously been interpreted as requiring the long ages of evolution. But these are now known through data and firsthand experience to have occurred in a few years, a few months, a few weeks, or a few days.
Evolution theory requires so-called “deep time” – billions of years, in order to hypothesize the development of great complexity through natural processes. Evolutionists argue by, in effect, saying, “I know we don’t see evolution happening now, but if you give it enough time, it “could” happen. Therefore evolutionism requires that the history of the Earth be viewed through long natural processes we measure in the present (uniformitarianism).
A key point they ignore with their God-less “natural” philosophy is that the “natural” direction of change is away from complexity. Things naturally decay, as is proven over and over by all kinds of applications of the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics – entropy (decay) always increases. Indeed, the Bible said it first in Romans 8:20,21 – the creation is in “bondage to corruption/decay”.
In the 45 years since the Mount St Helens event, we have also witnessed a tremendously rapid restoration and proliferation of all kinds of plant and animal life! This, in an area that was predicted by many “officials” to continue as a “moonscape” for a thousand years. Legumes and other plant species that have a symbiotic relationship between nitrogen-fixing bacteria and their roots have been able to fertilize the soil so that other plants and trees can grow in the once sterile ground.
Salamanders have been found to acquire a highly accelerated breeding cycle after the eruption eliminated much of their population from the area. They sexually matured before metamorphosis and bred as tadpoles, greatly accelerating the initial population increase. When the population stabilized, they returned to normal breeding cycles. Elk cows as well were giving birth to 2-3 calves per year in the initial re-population instead of the normal 1 calf every 2 years. Life is teeming on the old “moonscape”!
Thus, in the Mount St Helens outdoor laboratory, we are witnessing how the creatures, when they were released from the Ark, could indeed “…breed abundantly in the Earth, and be fruitful and multiply in the Earth” (Genesis 8:17). They refilled it rather quickly indeed! And what evolutionists seem to be “willingly ignorant” of, to use the Scriptural phrase again from 2 Peter 3, is the greatly accelerated changes that make the Biblical time-frame highly plausible. You don’t need a whole lot of time for Earth history, for human history, for re-population, for growth and development. You don’t need millions and billions of years. All you need is a few thousand – just as the Bible says!
Today, with science and educational institutions and their government and media outgrowths dominated by a materialist, godless evolutionary system, we are in much need of the message of Biblical creation – including the all-essential piece of the puzzle, the great cataclysm of the Great Flood. This tremendous cataclysm of history included huge expulsions of water and other fluids from underneath the ground in a “wrenching” of the Earth’s crust as “the fountains of the great deep” were “broken up” (Genesis 7:11). There was lots of volcanic action. God is using the mounting scientific evidence in these times to expose the great deception underlying the worldviews of so many “global elites” – though many choose to be, or are deceived into being,“willingly ignorant” (2 Peter 3:3-5).
We have a vital message to proclaim in “these last days”, and that is the message of God the Creator, who will hold those in His image accountable, but who is “longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). The good-news of creation-evangelism is that God has made a way back to Him through the Savior, Jesus Christ! Won’t you please help us in this critical proclamation of truth, strengthening and enabling faith all over the world? We cannot do it without your partnership in prayer and finances!
Yours in Christ,
Mark Cadwallader, Board Chairman
P.S. This month, I’d like to promote Volcanoes: Earth’s Explosive Past. This “explosive” book uncovers Earth’s dynamic volcanic history! Supervolcanoes erupted with a force many times greater than today’s eruptions, and their destructive power is seen in the earth beneath your feet. What caused such cataclysmic explosions, and why are volcanoes different now? ICR scientists demonstrate that the global Flood recorded in Genesis resolves the Earth science and offers the best explanation.
And if you haven’t seen it yet, or would like your own hard copy, this is the year to order The Mount St. Helens Creation Experience on DVD! Walk the once scarred hills with Paul Taylor, a previous voice of Creation Moments, and be amazed by nature’s powerful testimony. I’ve only scratched the surface of the story in this letter - order today and dive deep into this great mountain of evidence.
To get both or either of these resources, click here or call us toll-free at 1-800-422-4253 during regular office hours (Mon – Th 8:30am-4:30pm CT).
Images: MSH80 St Helens Eruption plume, Mike Doukas, PD, Wikimedia Commons. StHelen eruption sequence, Johann Dréo (Nojhan), CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons, Changes Made. 024the column eruption, U.S. Forest Service- Pacific Northwest Region, PD, Wikimedia Commons. Reid Blackburn car discovery, USGS image taken by Pete Lipman., PD, Wikimedia Commons. Mount. St. Helens today, Envato.
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