...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,...

(Romans 3:23 ESV)

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

(Romans 6:23 ESV)

...but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

(Romans 5:8 ESV)

For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, "Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame." For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

(Romans 10:10-13 ESV)

In This Issue

Safari to Ha Ha Tonka, and Lake of the Ozarks

Two Disappointments:
Mastodon Museum,
and
the Illinois Cahokia Mounds Interpretive Center

Safari Report: Finding Keokuk Geodes

Note: Starting in October, this newsletter will be e-mailed on the 15th of the month.

Safari to Ha Ha Tonka, and Lake of the Ozarks

by Douglas Roger Dexheimer

Tour Missouri’s most fascinating park; see incredible scenery, great beauty, and internationally famous geology; explore a cave; and hear a talk explaining the geology and wildlife of central Missouri.  This year we hope to visit Ha Ha Tonka when the fall colors are at their peak.

On Saturday morning, October 17th, we’ll drive to Ha Ha Tonka State Park near Camdenton, Missouri at the Lake of the Ozarks. We'll hike through some of the most unique geology and scenery in the world: oak forests and flowered savannas, all of which experience (and require) annual fires to burn off the undergrowth, which is then replenished annually with many varieties of wild flowers and grasses.

We'll explore some of Missouri's world-famous karst topography.  There are more varieties of "natural phenomena" packed in a small area at Ha Ha Tonka than most of the places you've ever seen.  We'll climb down into enormous sinkholes up to 1/4 mile long, examine an underground river, tour an island that was formerly the roof of an enormous cave, relax by a spring-fed waterfall, and climb over and under a natural bridge where many Indian pow-wow’s were once held.

Lunch is lakeside in Ha Ha Tonka State Park, and is accompanied by a talk relating all we've seen to the Bible and science. For final "food for thought," we'll tour the ruins of an enormous castle with a breathtaking view of the lake, built by a Kansas City businessman who seemed to be trying to capture eternity in a building... but failed.

Saturday late afternoon we’ll tour Jacob’s Cave near Versailles, Missouri, a fully handicap-accessible cave that has lots of speleothems, or cave formations. (For more information, see http://www.jacobscave.com/ .)

Come prepared for some hiking, several informative talks, and good fellowship... all presented in a manner to pay homage to the only One to whom it is due. Everyone -- no matter the age -- has a ball, and will learn something about God's incredible creation.

Please (!) pre-register for this and all other CSAMA Safaris at this website, so we can plan ahead, and keep you apprised of any changes in plans:

www.csama.org

Ω

November Monthly Meeting

November 3^rd, 2015

"CREATION SCIENCE EVANGELISM
Moving the Heart as Well as the Mind"

by Ken Carlson

The most fundamental question of all is, “Where did we come from?”  The working answer to this question is the foundation upon which one’s philosophy of life or worldview is constructed.

To genuinely love our neighbor is to be deeply concerned about his everlasting future, and to help him to have and enjoy the ultimate relationship, the one we can have with the Son of God through His word and the Holy Spirit.  It is not about trying to win a debate or argument with him about origins, but rather about winning his heart, soul, and mind.

“And He [Jesus] said to them, ‘Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.’”  This is an amazing passage because it tells us that even with all the miracles that Jesus performed to establish his bona fides, even after seeing His resurrected body, some of His disciples still had doubts that He had arisen from the dead.  (Matthew 14:28-32; 28:16-18, Mark 11:23; Luke 24:37-42; James 1:5-9.)

Our objective should be to take believers and unbelievers to an “aha!” moment that moves them from doubt or unbelief to a doubt-free belief -- not unlike that which occurred with doubting Thomas, one of Jesus’ disciples (John 20:24-29).  When he met the risen Lord, doubting Thomas exclaimed, “My Lord and My God!”  He then knew beyond ALL reasonable doubt that ALL scripture really is God-breathed and true!  (2 Timothy 3:16.)

We are not wrestling with flesh and blood (i.e., contending with only physical opposition), but against the despotisms, against the powers, against [the master spirits who are] the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) sphere (Ephesians 6:12, Amplified Bible, Classic Edition).  Many Christians still doubt the spiritual dimension of this war.

It appears that in this war our opposition is very well organized and committed, while our side is not.  In fact sometimes we are fighting one another.  This war is stifling our ability to reach our objective which Jesus set forth in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20).

This presentation will consider the following topics:

• The nature of this war and the enemy.
• How our enemy focuses on winning the heart, while we are focused on winning the mind (facts and data).
• If our enemy is able to win your heart over to a lie, your mind will be “closed” to the truth.  This was the tactic employed by Satan prior to the commission of the first sin. (Genesis 3:1-6.)
• Which battlefields, as seen from God’s perspective, are the most important?
• On which of these battlefields are we most likely to win, and which battles are the easiest to win?
• Which victories will lead to maximum gain toward winning the war?

Ω

Monthly Meetings

2015

(1st Tuesday of each month; content subject to change; no registration necessary.)

For a more detailed discription of the monthly meeting topics visit www.csama.org.

• January 6th: “Formed to Fly” DVD, by Dr. David Menton,
  moderated by Kevin Anderson.
• February 3rd: “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed” (the 2008 motion picture) DVD,
  moderated by Bob Farwell.
• March 3rd: "Lunar Eclipses,"
  by Douglas Roger Dexheimer.
• April 7th: “Canopy Theory,”
  by Dave Penny.
• May 5th: “Living Fossils Evolution: The Grand Experiment” DVD, episode 2,
  moderated by Bob Farwell.
• June 2nd: “Evolution’s Achille’s Heels” DVD, by Creation Ministries International,
  moderated by Kevin Anderson.
• July 7th: “Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings,”
  by Dave Penny.
• August 4th: "Compromise,”
  moderated by Kevin Anderson.
• September 1st: “Creation Variations,”
  by Dave Penny.
• October 6th: “Genesis, Babel, and the Chinese Language” DVD,
  by Dr. Andy McIntosh moderated by Bob Farwell.
• November 3rd: "CREATION SCIENCE EVANGELISM
  Moving the Heart as Well as the Mind"
  by Ken Carlson.
• December 1st: “The Chair” DVD, by Frank Peretti,
  moderated by Kevin Anderson.

CSA Monthly Meeting Location

Westbrooke Church
9777 Antioch
Overland Park, KS 66121
10 blocks east of 69 Highway (or Switzer) on 95th St. to Antioch, south two blocks on Antioch, on east side of street.
Fellowship & book table: 6:15PM. Meeting: 7:00PM.

For detailed Monthly Meeting information:
www.csama.org

Two Disappointments:
Mastodon Museum,
and
the Illinois Cahokia Mounds Interpretive Center

by Douglas Roger Dexheimer

Over this past Labor Day weekend, several of us traveled to the St. Louis, Missouri area to look for evidence of biblically-consistent migration which would be in line with Genesis 10 and 11. Both of our first two stops were disappointments in this regard.

MASTODON MUSEUM
We went to this museum expecting to see evidence of creation in the baramin examples of mastodons, mammoths, and elephants.   We had read articles in creation.org that described the possibility that one pair of this kind had been on Noah's ark, and that other varieties were minor genetic relatives of the same kind. For example:

More recently, mitochondrial DNA has been obtained from the (non-fossilized) remains of mammoths and mastodons, allowing geneticists to speculate on the origins and evolution of the proboscideans. Currently, the mammoth is seen as more closely related to the Asian elephant than both of those are to the African elephant. Thus, it may not be a surprise that some mammoth-like traits have remained in isolated populations of Asian elephants. The mastodon, with its very different teeth, is seen as a sister taxon to the Elephantidae.¹

There was a small chart suggesting the ontological relations of the varieties of proboscideans kind, but no mention of DNA or genetics.  (Ontology looks at the physical appearance of creatures, and attempts to make evolutionary connections.)

The display in the museum showed tiny models of these creatures, and tried to explain that they evolved millions of years ago.

• The Mastodon Museum has a fiberglass copy of mastodon bones that were not found locally, but in Illinois: i.e., "phony phossils."

• The bone field is down a long flight of stairs from the museum, estimated at 100 feet, to the bed of the ravine, which ruled out viewing by those unable to deal with the physical exertion involved.

• The bone field is covered by a slab of concrete…, so that it was protected from vandals….and fossil hunters… and anyone else making the trip to see the authentic bones.

• The museum does not open until noon, so those who expected to see the displays at 10:00 A.M. went home without seeing anything inside the museum, or at the bottom of the bluff.

CAHOKIA MOUNDS INTERPRETIVE CENTER
We went to this museum to look for evidence explaining the migration of the Mound Builder people into this area of the Mississippi Valley, and their unusual height, technical capabilities, and agricultural practices, guided by their solar calendar, known as Woodhenge. 

We were looking for evidence that the Mound Builder people had come to North America by way of the Bering Land Bridge, and that they had been influenced to an extent by alien groups who came from the north.  A starting point for this concept:

The possibility that the Arctic Ocean was navigable about 4,000 years ago is a novel idea. However, the Bible documents the migration of many people groups from Babel. This historical event, combined with the concept that the Genesis Flood caused a significant increase in the temperature of the earth’s oceans, provides an extraordinary possibility for a post-Flood human migration route. Ancient mariners may have navigated an ice-free Arctic Ocean after the Noachian Flood, connecting the North Atlantic and North Pacific Oceans. Arctic Ocean navigation soon after the dispersion of groups of people from Babel would explain mysteries such as the similarities in human DNA, linguistics, pottery and archaeo-astronomical sites from Great Britain and north-western Europe with those in Japan and Russia.²

Also note:

• At the Interpretive Center, we saw typical maps showing the migration of humans across the Bering Land Bridge.  There was no mention or implication of the migration of European men.

• We saw no mention of DNA studies of the ancient skeletons that were buried under the mounds.  Such a study would have confirmed traces of the European genome, in addition to the oriental genome coming from across the Pacific.  (Genome studies have been performed on many ancient human bones much older than these.)

• Placards stated that the Mound Builders had no written language, but we had read of hieroglyphics on sandstone, which are similar to uppercase Roman characters. (These may have been runic inscriptions, left by Viking explorers who came down from the Hudson Bay in Ontario. 

The excavations have not only confirmed elements of truth in the sagas of the seafaring adventurers from Norway and the rest of Scandinavia who crossed the North Atlantic and, for a brief time, tasted the berries and grapes in North America, their Vinland. They have also inspired new scholarship revising the legendary image of the Vikings….  Yes, they were feared warriors who plundered the coasts of Europe and the British Isles, especially between 750 and about 1050; the term Viking, strictly speaking, refers only to men who went on raids. (This time frame lines up with the period of the Mound Builders at Cahokia.)  ….  But they were also farmers and herders at home and no less sophisticated in arts and invention than other medieval Europeans. They were successful ship builders who engaged in ever-widening trade.³

… the expedition traveled into Hudson Bay and up the Nelson River to Lake Winnipeg and then followed the Red River into Minnesota, where an attack by Indians left ten expedition members dead.⁴

Viking explorers came down the major rivers and left their runic inscriptions at many places across the Midwest.

• There is no mention of red-haired aliens in Indian legends, and myths telling of alien strangers who came by boat.  (A possible explanation would be that these red-haired aliens were tall Vikings who left the Indians with knowledge of solar calendars, metalworking techniques, and agricultural practices, and may have mated with the Indian squaws, resulting in taller red-haired leaders.)

• We had read that informed guides led visitors on a walkthrough explanation of Woodhenge every Saturday afternoon.  This tour was not conducted on the Saturday we visited the area. 

Conclusion:  I would not recommend a repeat of this safari, unless and until more evidence of biblical migration of man and beast is made available at the locations we visited.  The displays are not detailed enough to satisfy a well-informed young-earth creationist.

Rather they are typical of the blather of materialist evolutionists who explain things by "millions of years" of random changes.

A more detailed discussion of this writer's train of thought "connecting the dots" between the Mound Builders and Viking explorers is available to anyone requesting it.

¹ http://creation.com/mammoth-clones "Mammoth clones coming to a zoo near you," by Dr. Robert Carter, Creation 34(2):47 April 2012.

² https://creation.com/images/pdfs/tj/j19_1/j19_1_65-72.pdf "A possible post-Flood human migration route," by  Lawson L. Schroeder.

³ http://www.nytimes.com/2000/05/09/science/ancient-site-offers-clues-to-vikings-in-america.html

⁴ http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/Kensington.shtml

Ω

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

(Titus 2:11-14 ESV)

Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out,...

(Acts 3:19 ESV)

...yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

(Galatians 2:16 ESV)

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

(Philippians 2:9-11 ESV)

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Why not attend via audio or video tape?

Attend CSA Meetings by ordering the audio ($5) or video ($13) copy.
A full list of what is available can be found in a link at:
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To order, request by meeting date and topic. Copies of above items may also be borrowed from...

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(913) 492-6545

Safari Report: Finding Keokuk Geodes

by Douglas Roger Dexheimer

(Note: For more information on this topic, and the safari itself, please refer to the article in our July 2015 newsletter:
http://www.csamanewsletter.org/archives/HTML/201507/index.html )

This is a report on the third phase of our Labor Day safari, which took us to Keokuk, Iowa.  We did not solve the riddle, “How were these beautiful hollow rocks formed?”

We arrived on Sunday afternoon, finding a pleasant campsite on the outskirts of Keokuk:  Hickory Haven Campground.  The clean restroom and shower were well appreciated.  On Monday morning, the proprietor gave us directions to two likely locations to hunt for geodes.  We called ahead to Jacobs Geode Mine, located on the outskirts of Hamilton, Illinois, where each of us found a good number of unopened geodes.

This location is a little off the beaten path.  Surprisingly, Jacobs Geode Mine is not where I expected to find it: neither on the Mississippi River, nor on one of its tributaries.  It is surrounded by agricultural land.  Gary Jacobs bought the property years ago, and subsequently discovered the rich vein of geodes.  He now uses heavy earth movers to turn over the piles of rock mixed with geodes. 

Each of us found abundant geodes -- enough to temporarily satisfy our thirst for mineral beauty in GOD's creation.

Ω

Help Wanted

CSAMA is seeking an editor for, and contributors to, our newsletter. If you are a born-again Christian, believe the Bible is the infallible word of God, subscribe to the literal 7-day creationist viewpoint, if you have researching and writing skills, and if you have suitable ideas for articles to contribute to our publication and can meet a monthly deadline schedule, please contact the newsletter webmaster via the link at www.csama.org.

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Thank You!

The Editor

Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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