All posts in Nuttings from the Front

Designated Infested Water

by Alpha Omega Institute on October 16, 2012 in Nuttings from the Front with No comments

 

While I was taking a walk at a lake on this speaking trip in Minnesota, I ran across a sign that caught my attention. It said, “THIS IS A DESIGNATED INFESTED WATER.” Now what did that mean? Does this mean it is OK to infest this lake with anything one would choose? Is it safe to live near the lake? What crawls out in the middle of the night? I certainly wondered what would bite or attack me if I dared to swim in this lake.

Milfoil

As I looked into it, this lake received this designation since it harbors what is now considered a noxious weed that grows in the water. It is called milfoil. It was described to me as having a long leafed stem that grows from the lake bottom then tops out on the surface of the water like an umbrella.

I am sure there are valid reasons why it has been labeled noxious, but when I found out what the plant was, the thought came to me that it might provide a wonderful place for big fish to hang out. Wherever they grow, I can imagine an avid fisherman would also be found there. I also found myself daydreaming about the time years ago, when I had hooked a huge fish in a similar fishing environment. If I had been using a heavier line that would not have been so easily broken, I might have seen more than just the tail fin of that fish (a good 8 inches wide). Yep, I wouldn’t mind going back to that noxious weed bed on that lake!

Hey, I know this is a major threat in the lakes that shouldn’t be taken lightly. And yes, I also know this a creationist blog site. However, life isn’t only about arguing with those atheists and evolutionists! It can be about truly enjoying God’s marvelous creation at the end of a fishing rod! Unfortunately, I had to settle for good memories as I didn’t bring my fishing rod on this trip. Bummer! Guess, I had better go prepare for a lecture or write another article!

 

Dave Nutting

If you would like to see if an AOI seminar is right for you, or you would like to help the work of Alpha Omega Institute, please visit our website events page or our donate page. Keep up to date with what AOI is doing.  Thanks for your partnership.

Flying Out

by Alpha Omega Institute on October 3, 2012 in Nuttings from the Front with No comments

Once again, Mary Jo & I boarded the airplane headed to Minnesota to speak at 3 universities. (See the events on our home page to find specifics.)

Getting ready is always an issue. If we were driving, we’d just throw things in the car and head down the road. Of course, the car would have the appearance of an overstuffed storage unit on wheels since “one more thing” doesn’t make much difference. However, even packing for an auto trip isn’t as easy as it sounds but flying out is a different animal altogether.

This time, I added an extra seminar in Minnesota at a church and needed to take more resources for people as it was too late to ship them out. (This is another consideration that auto travel doesn’t require.) That means the suitcases that would normally be used for clothes are now mostly filled with books and videos. Not wanting to break the bank by paying for extra baggage fees, we try to pare that down and stay just under the weight limit. Deciding what will fit and what will stay back makes for interesting discussions between Mary Jo & I. (Are you sure you really want that?????) Our handy dandy “accurate” scale was a big help in keeping us from paying huge oversize fees except for the fact that it gave readings of + or – 4 pounds on the same bag within seconds of each weighing. Oh, well, the bags made it through the check-in process fine so we must have judged the weight correctly.

Our almost 3 year old grandson wanted to come along this morning. As much as we would have loved to take him, there was no room in the suitcase. However, if we had our car…  Anyhow with him along, it would certainly change the flavor of our university lectures coming up this week.

Now that we are here, we must change our focus from the weight of bags to even weightier issues – how to best present the material for the next two weeks so that students can be released from the “heavy burden” of the lie of evolution!

Dave Nutting

If you would like to see if an AOI seminar is right for you, or you would like to help the work of Alpha Omega Institute, please visit our website events page or our donate page. Keep up to date with what AOI is doing.  Thanks for your partnership.

The Flood Tank

by Alpha Omega Institute on September 18, 2012 in Nuttings from the Front with No comments

 

This summer, I had the opportunity to speak for a Vacation Bible School and was blessed to be joined on the teaching team by Mark Sonmor. Mark had been on the AOI staff for 7 years before starting his own art company. Mark has an intense interest in Creation and currently does the art layout for our publication Think & Believe.

Besides his own lessons he taught, Mark brought several hands-on demonstrations to the VBS which helped reinforce the lessons both he and I were teaching. One hands-on activity was the Flood Tank he constructed out of a metal watering tank.  He created a raised platform in it and covered that with a plastic liner. The liner had a hole in it with a removable plug. Plenty of dirt was placed in it and then it was submerged with water. He then circulated the water and pulled the plug - allowing all the water to drain out. As the water rushed out, what was left was soft mud which had been greatly eroded. The erosional pattern looked just like the canyons we could see nearby (which could actually be seen from the tank).

In that one demonstration, many other landform features that we see on the earth were also represented, in addition to the canyons. His demonstration showed that it certainly does not take millions of years to make canyons. Time is not the key ingredient… the conditions are.

The Flood Tank gave all the participants an idea of how the worldwide Flood in Noah’s day, and its aftermaths, could have shaped the world in one brief moment in Earth history. This helped them see the truth of the Bible.

 

Dave Nutting

If you would like to see if an AOI seminar is right for you, or you would like to help the work of Alpha Omega Institute, please visit our website events page or our donate page. Keep up to date with what AOI is doing.  Thanks for your partnership.

Desolation Canyon – Remote, But Full of History

by Alpha Omega Institute on September 13, 2012 in Nuttings from the Front with 1 Comment

 

On the exploratory raft trip down the Green River, we saw a lot of geology and wildlife and all of us likely got a bigger feel for the effects of the Genesis Flood. Another very interesting dimension of the raft trip was the historical aspect.

The canyons we went through are named Desolation and Gray Canyons. Desolation Canyon is true wilderness. There are no modern roads that meander through the canyon and no train tracks for most of it. Even though it is remote, there is still a lot of human history there.  First of all, the American Indian people groups frequented this area as evidenced by ancient drawings on the rocks. More recently in 1776, the Spanish exploration teams led by Dominguez and Escalante came through. Some of their expedition is actually recorded in some of the native petroglyphs. Fur trappers and explorers like Kit Carson, who was also a guide and Indian agent, wintered in the area in 1833-1834. Captain John Gunnison scouted the area for a railroad crossing of the Green River in 1853. (He was supposedly killed by the Indians just a short time afterwards, but many historians along with Gunnison’s wife claim that the killing was ordered by Brigham Young.) Cattle ranchers also saw the low lands as an ideal place to winter their livestock and established a few ranch sites where stone buildings still stand.

Notorious outlaws saw the canyons as a good place to hide from the law. Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch, infamous from the Midwest to the deep west with their train and bank robberies, holed up in the late 1890’s and 1900 in the remote sections. Part of the group was even overtaken and shot by lawmen along the River (George Flat-nose Curry, and Joe Walker).

For the history buffs, the trip was like stepping into the past and experiencing the life of these early inhabitants. We likely pitched our tents on the very same campsites where some of these people out of the past spread their bedrolls.

Desolation and Gray’s Canyons—remote, but full of history!

 

Dave Nutting

If you would like to see if an AOI seminar is right for you, or you would like to help the work of Alpha Omega Institute, please visit our website events page or our donate page. Keep up to date with what AOI is doing.  Thanks for your partnership.

Surveying Destruction And Beauty – While On A Discover Creation Raft Trip

by Alpha Omega Institute on September 7, 2012 in Nuttings from the Front with 1 Comment

 

Last week, Mary Jo & I led a Discover Creation Green River Raft Trip.  AOI co-sponsored the trip along with Journey Quest, a new Christian wilderness ministry and rafting company our son is helping develop. Everything went very well. We were blessed with safety, health, energy, good weather, good attitudes, great fellowship, and good learning for both the participants and the instructors! This was meant to be an exploratory trip as we had never physically explored the geology of that section of the river. We enjoyed camping in the wilderness while exploring the geology and seeing evidence of the Flood and God’s restorative power after the destruction. We also enjoyed teaching/learning more about God’s creation, and digging into His Word with fellow travelers.

Besides the landforms and geology, we saw several groups of wild horses, groups of desert big horn sheep, deer, coyotes, lots of lizards, snakes (but no rattlesnakes),  a few very old homesteads, a fossil imprint of a turtle, and drawings made by American Indians on the sandstone walls.

Mary Jo and I camped out in a tent as we are not too fond of the idea of sharing our sleeping bags with an unwelcome critter. Some of the brave ones in our group went without tents, so they could enjoy the stars since the weather was so cooperative. The days were spent floating down the river, shooting rapids, and enjoying the “mini”-lectures (we hope) and the beauty of the area.

So why do we do field trips and, in this case, the raft trip? Over the last few years, we have had many students tell us that seeing and experiencing the places we talk about not only cemented the truth of Creation for them, but also the truth of the Bible. I think all 30 of the raft trip participants, including staff, got a much bigger, hands-on feel for the scope of the Flood and how it and the aftermath of it shaped our present world.

If you want to be notified of the next field or raft trip, send an email to aoi@discovercreation.org.

 

Dave Nutting

If you would like to see if an AOI seminar is right for you, or you would like to help the work of Alpha Omega Institute, please visit our website events page or our donate page. Keep up to date with what AOI is doing.  Thanks for your partnership.

Ancient Plant Fruit in Siberia

by Alpha Omega Institute on August 28, 2012 in Nuttings from the Front with No comments

I was sent an article regarding the discovery of ancient plant fruit found in Siberia. It was supposedly 32,000 years old and they were able to grow a plant from it. Somebody suggested I write a blog on it. Dozens could be written, but I’m not a botanist. So I asked Stephen B. Austin, who has been a valuable volunteer with AOI, about it. He is well noted in Colorado for his botanical knowledge.  His comments follow:

 

“I was surprised to read about the discovery of the fruits of that “campion plant” in the frozen tundra of northeastern Siberia.

It would be most interesting to see if it is identical to an existing plant of that family and genus that is growing today.

Some observations:

1. I do not accept the date of 32,000 years, because of the inaccuracies of carbon dating, especially that far back.

2. The Noahic Flood produced unusual conditions about 4,500 years ago, such as abnormally warm arctic oceans. As you know, Michael Oard has written about such conditions, especially in regard to the existence of huge Mammoth herds in the Arctic, and how they more than likely met their demise. (“Frozen in Time” by Michael Oard is one such writing)

3. There have been other ancient seeds found in such places as the Egyptian pyramids, and how those seeds have germinated. It is my belief that the most ancient of the Egyptian pyramids were more than likely built in the decades and immediate centuries following the Noahic Flood, when life spans were still rather lengthy and technologies hadn’t been lost. The seeds in the Egyptian pyramid were some sort of grain crop.

4. Technologies back then were quite amazing. One case in point I remember is the ancient map of Antarctica (Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings) revealing an almost precise coastline of that continent. We were not able to determine that coastline until we developed satellite technology and were able to see beneath the ice existing there today. No doubt that map was produced within the few hundred years following the Noahic Flood, when glacial ice had not yet totally covered Antarctica. (See page 3 of the March/April 2012 Think & Believe for some additional info on this)

Thanks, Steve!  What tremendous design by our awesome God!  I find it exciting for a plant to be able to grow from very ancient fruit, even with an age correction of no more than 4500 years as evidenced not only by the Biblical history, but as well,  by the ancient mapping of Antarctica since then.

To the right is a modern Campion. To see the “ancient” one and for more information on the discovery, see their article.

 

Dave Nutting

If you would like to see if an AOI seminar is right for you, or you would like to help the work of Alpha Omega Institute, please visit our website events page or our donate page. Keep up to date with what AOI is doing.  Thanks for your partnership.

Solar Flares Affect Radioactive Decay Rates

by Alpha Omega Institute on August 21, 2012 in Nuttings from the Front with 5 Comments

An article in the August 13 Science Daily reports on research in progress by Purdue University physicists which could lead to ways of protecting satellite and Earth communication/energy systems and even give warnings to astronauts on space missions . The danger is in the neutrino emissions from solar flares which have knocked out equipment in the past and exposed astronauts to extreme radiation. The researchers are working on technology which could warn of solar activity so we could prevent damage from serious solar flares.

NOTE: The key element of this research has spinoffs to the reliability of radioactive decay dating methods. It appears that solar flares are preceded by particle emission which changes the decay rate of radioactive elements! Since that can be measured, a sudden increase of the decay rate will warn of radiation danger from a flare.

Why is this significant to radioactive decay dating? One of the huge assumptions (and supposedly “proven” facts of science) for the radioactive dating methods is a constant decay rate. If this is not true, then “absolute” dating methods aren’t as reliable as presented. This present research actually documents not only changes in the decay rate preceding a solar flare, but also seasonal fluctuations of the decay rate! Although the measured variations are not huge, this opens the door for research on other ways decay rates can be altered. Therefore, this is very significant research!

I will be looking into this more and try to report on it in the next issue of Think & Believe. So stay tuned!

Dave Nutting

If you would like to see if an AOI seminar is right for you, or you would like to help the work of Alpha Omega Institute, please visit our website events page or our donate page. Keep up to date with what AOI is doing.  Thanks for your partnership.

An X-class flare such as this one, if directed at the earth, could be deadly on electronic equipment including aircraft/ship navigation and power systems. This burst from the sun was on Aug. 9, 2011 as seen by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) satellite.

Date 19 December 2011 Source Goddard Multimedia Author NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

The Monkey’s Disgrace

by Alpha Omega Institute on August 14, 2012 in Nuttings from the Front with No comments

In the  January/February 1991 issue of Think & Believe, we included a poem written by an unknown author titled Darwin’s Mistake. Just recently, a good friend of ours gave us a copy of the same poem titled The Monkey’s Disgrace that she ran across out of the Coloradoan newspaper (March 20, 2002) in a Dear Abby column.  My Google search led me to the website, http://www.rampbbs.net/monkey.htm where the below picture was found with the same poem. The site makes a good case that the author of the poem is Gilliam S. Weaver.  The poem is fun and is repeated below.  I use their title and subtitle.

Dave Nutting

The Monkey’s [Disgrace]
(Evolution — The Monkey’s Viewpoint)

 

Three monkeys sat in a coconut tree

Discussing things as they are said to be.

Said one to the others, “Now listen, you two,

There’s a rumor around that can’t be true

That man descended from our noble race

The very idea is a great disgrace.

No monkey has ever deserted his wife

Starved her babies and ruined her life

And you’ve never known a mother monk

To leave her babies with others to bunk 

Or pass from one on to another

Till they scarcely know who is their mother.

And another thing you’ll never see,

A monk build a fence round a coconut tree,

And let the coconuts go to waste,

Forbidding all other monks to taste;

Why, if I put a fence around a tree,

Starvation will force you to steal from me!

Here’s another thing a monkey won’t do

Go out at night and get on a stew.

Or use a gun or club or knife

To take some other monkey’s life.

Yes, man descended, the ornery cuss

But, brother, he didn’t descend from us.”

 

If you would like to see if an AOI seminar is right for you, or you would like to help the work of Alpha Omega Institute, please visit our website events page or our donate page. Keep up to date with what AOI is doing.  Thanks for your partnership.

Danger! Cliff Ahead! – Confirmed!

by Alpha Omega Institute on August 2, 2012 in Nuttings from the Front with 2 Comments

Mary Jo and I are at AOI’s Creation Family Camp at Redcloud Ranch for this week and next.  We spoke to a long-time friend after the church service we attended that first Sunday we arrived in Lake City. God has a way of reinforcing the message we have been sharing. Justin recounted an incident he had experienced about being on a horse on a dark night. The horse would not proceed forward and no amount of coaxing could get the horse to “cooperate.” When Justin got off of the horse he found out the reason. He and the horse were at the edge of a cliff.

Since he was on our mailing list, I told Justin that he needed to read our next issue of Think and Believe in which I wrote an article entitled Danger, Cliff Ahead describing an almost identical incident regarding the brother of AOI’s Board president.  In fact we had mailed that issue a few days before we left Grand Junction. Our arrival in Lake City had beaten the mail system’s delivery. I guess cars are faster than “pony express”!

If you haven’t yet read the last issue, click above on the link where it is posted. There is a cliff ahead for students and they need to be warned. What is the cliff? It is the barrage of evolutionary and other anti-Biblical arguments waiting to be leveled at their faith in Christ when they arrive on the campus. Most students and their parents are caught totally unaware of the real danger that lies ahead at the university. Please read the article.

 

Dave Nutting

If you would like to see if an AOI seminar is right for you, or you would like to help the work of Alpha Omega Institute, please visit our website events page or our donate page. Keep up to date with what AOI is doing.  Thanks for your partnership.

Giving Thanks Where Thanks Are Due!

by Alpha Omega Institute on July 26, 2012 in Nuttings from the Front with 2 Comments

I received the following forwarded email from one of our good Creationist friends who used to work at NASA.  Many times there is a lot of bogus information in forwarded emails, but this is reputed even by Snopes to be genuine. What I would like to add with this, is that the communion “service” mentioned is just a taste of what we should be doing daily – communing regularly with our Creator – the One who not only created the moon, but the whole Heavens and Earth! He is also our God, Who wants to commune with us!

Today marks the 43rd anniversary of the first lunar landing.  In 1969, July 20 was a Sunday.

After safing the Lunar Module following touchdown, and making sure that all systems were ready for an emergency liftoff, the crew activity plan called   for a couple of hours of rest before Neil Armstrong would become the first man to walk on the moon.  Early in this “rest period” something happened that is not widely known.  Buzz Aldrin was an Elder in the Webster Presbyterian Church near the Johnson Space  Center.  As part of his personal gear Buzz had packed a small communion service.  Aldrin informed Mission   Control that he wanted a few minutes of radio silence.  During this time Buzz read John 15:5, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing,” then he ate a communion wafer and drank a small cup of wine.  Neil did not participate but maintained a respectful silence.  Thus the first food consumed on the surface of the moon was a communion service.

The event was low-key and done during a communication blackout because NASA was being sued by Atheist Madalyn Murray O’Hair over the earlier Apollo 8 reading of Genesis 1 by Frank Borman on Christmas Eve, when the Command and Service Module made the first circumnavigation (went around the moon) prior to its return to earth.

Buzz may have draw his inspiration from Christopher Columbus, who celebrated his discovery of the new world by taking communion.
For more information, you check out Snopes on the subject  and also an article from USA Today.

Dave Nutting

If you would like to see if an AOI seminar is right for you, or you would like to help the work of Alpha Omega Institute, please visit our website events page or our donate page. Keep up to date with what AOI is doing. Thanks for your partnership.

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