From Atheist to Creationist (Stan Beasley, 06/21/25)

Eternal Father, again, we thank you for this

wonderful day that you've made. And Father, with

the words that I'm going to share, help it to

be yours and not mine. And please bless each

person here and what they've got on their minds

today. We ask these things in Christ's name.

Amen. All right, so a little background. Years

ago, you know, I was at the Dolphin Island Sea

Lab. That's where I did my graduate work as well

as research. And that's a little island off of

the coast of... Florida, in the Gulf of Mexico,

and it's a consortium of 21 universities throughout

the state of Alabama. And while there, I was

able to work, had a job with National Oceanic

Atmospheric Administration. And this is a dredge,

so I don't know if the kids would like to see

a ship, but anyway, there's a ship, and that's

a dredge, and that would keep the shipping channels

open because they tend to fill with sediment.

And so this would... remove the sand and sediment

from the shipping channels. And so my job was

flying with the United States Coast Guard once

a week looking for sea turtles. making sure sea

turtles weren't using the shipping channels to

take a nap because those dredges then would make

them into turtle chowder. And so, anyway, just

flying around, make sure everybody was safe,

and then continue on with the dredges. And so

I wasn't a member of the Coast Guard, but I would

fly in that gunner seat with the door that's

open and would go from Pensacola, Florida, to

New Orleans. I never met my boss. He was in Galveston,

Texas. I think God allowed me to get a lot of

things out of my system by the time I was 27

years old. I had every opportunity with science,

anything I ever wanted to do with science, either

did or was offered. And so one of the things

was doing deep sea research. And the submersible,

we'd go down about 2 ,000 feet. And people have

actually, sorry, but they've died on the submarine

before, on this one. And so when the Titan accident

happened back in June of 2023, my phone lit up

with people going, well, what do you think about

this? And I was like, they knew what they were

getting into. We had to sign off on all kinds

of papers. We'd go through decompression drills

because something unfortunate could happen. But

anyway. It was just bizarre. I got to work with

the Smithsonian Institute with these dives and

discovered a new species. I know. Who is that,

right? That was back before my hair was gray,

and I had a mullet, and mullets used to be cool

and things. So that's the submarine in the background.

These were people I worked with. They came from

all over the world. John Gage, Paul Tyler here,

they wrote the book on deep sea biology. Craig

Young, he was chief scientist. And then one of

my good friends, Tony Rice, he's the curator

of the British Museum for Natural History. He

wrote the book on voyages of discovery. And there's

more. He's such a great guy. This is one area

where we used to do a lot of our dives and sub

-crewmates here. And anyway, I worked with deep

sea coral. So all of that. We discovered a new

species of deep sea snail. This is a slit -shelled

snail. It's now at the British Museum of Natural

History. There you go, British Museum of Natural

History. And all kinds of dive sites in the Gulf.

Different deep sea corals and clams we work with.

And then what was interesting was that I was

able to go take the specimens once we brought

them up. I was over all biological specimens

on these expeditions, and then I'd package them

up, preserve them, and then I'd take them to

the Smithsonian. And what's really cool, my first,

as a visiting scientist, my first experience

there, one of the scientists met me out in the

foyer with that big elephant. Anybody ever been

to the Natural History Museum? Some of you guys

have been? Yeah. So where the elephant is, off

to the side of the marine exhibit, there was

this, it was just a keypad. And so the scientists

punched in on this keypad, and no kidding, you

got all the tourists, you know, people are there

visiting, but the wall opened up. No kidding,

a wall. There was no door. It was a door, but

it was a secret door. So they punched a little

button, and the wall opened up, and we disappeared

behind it. And a few people who were paying attention

were like, what just happened? And the wall closed

behind us. And that's happened a couple of times

in different areas. I won't talk about the others.

But anyway, what's really cool on the lower,

let me see, this portion is 99 % of... the museum's

collections over 99%, it's not an exhibit. And

they have multiple places where the collections

are kept. So anyway, it's just teeming with all

kinds of scientists in the honeycombs behind

those walls. These were people that I worked

with, Dr. Frederick Baer, he's since passed away

a couple of years ago, and Dr. Stephen Cairns.

So each year, you know, I'd give this talk, and

so for years I said, if anybody, any student,

if you want a behind -the -scenes tour of the

Smithsonian Institute, just let me know and we'll

go. And so that's been going on for like 20 -something

years now, and someone caught me about a year

ago. One of the students said... I want to do

it. Let's do it. And I was like, what? And I

was like, the behind -the -scenes tour. And I

was like, where? And they said, the Smithsonian.

And I was like, oh, okay. A couple of weeks go

by, and they said, are we going to go to the

Smithsonian? And I was like, what? And they reminded

me. It's like you said, behind -the -scenes tour.

And I kept forgetting about it. And finally,

they did this thing every couple of weeks. And

so, well, let me ask the principal. So I asked

Mr. Baldwin. I was like, hey, they want to do

a behind -the -scenes tour. We can do one. It's

okay if you say no. It's all right. And I didn't

think he'd say yeah. And he goes, yeah, go for

it. So anyway, Cairns and I, we were reunited

after a few years. And so that's Cairns and here

are the students. So we've been up a few times

giving them a behind -the -scenes tour at the

Smithsonian Institute, seeing their different

collections. And Cairns was, you know, really

awesome to do that for us. So anyway, Collegial

Academy students and other folks were able to

go up there and see the behind -the -scenes.

Anyway, there's different things that I was involved

with with other scientists, and there were museums

around, and this is one of them here with the

submarine. So during this time, again, God let

me get all of this out of my system, I'm sure.

and so during this time, I hadn't met her yet,

but it was my wife, would become my wife, Zinnia,

and we actually met at church, but during this

time when I was doing submarine stuff, she was

doing space shuttle things. She was working on

the space shuttle engines. She's an engineer

with NASA doing launch code, and she's really

humble, and she won all kinds of awards. I didn't

know. We'd been married for years, and I went

to pick up this box because we're moving again,

and I was like, I looked inside it because it

was heavy, and I was like. Here are all these

awards. And I was like, hey, what's up with this?

And she goes, oh, it's nothing. Put it back.

So anyway, now I'll put it in this presentation.

So that's why she's not here today. But anyway.

But she got all kinds of awards for that. Okay.

So everything wasn't always great. The one thing

I had always going for me was science. So let's

back up. I'm in the second grade. That was a

long time ago. Another century, actually. And

so. So anyway, I'm in the second grade, and school

had already started, and there was this girl.

She walks in the classroom. I didn't know what

love was because I was never told by my parents.

We were never told we were loved, never hugged.

We never saw our parents, period. My grandparents

raised my brothers and I. And so anyway, I didn't

know what it was, but there was something special

about this girl. She walks in, and anyway, I

thought it was really cool. And so, anyway, there

was an empty seat next to me. And I was like,

if she sits there, she likes me too. I don't

know what like was or love, but she feels the

same way if she sits there. Well, she comes in

and she sits right there. And I was like, yay,

you know. And so, anyway, she had a Miss America

lunchbox and I had a Scooby -Doo lunchbox. It

couldn't get much better. And so, anyway, it

was just really, really cool. Oh, that's creepy.

Sorry about the eyelashes. Anyway, that's a creepy

photo. Anyway, a few months later, we're on the

playground, and the playground was a public school

in the middle of nowhere, Alabama. And so, anyway,

a train track went through our playground. Okay,

you guys would go, what? Well, with second graders,

the third graders were also on the playground,

and they told us about the penny. Anybody ever

heard you can derail a train with a penny? So

that's how we enjoyed our time was trying to

derail a train. Anyway, these third graders would

take their pennies and put them on the train.

Anyway, they tried to derail our train. Anyway,

so I don't know where the teachers were, but

we were having lunch. It was kind of a winter's

kind of a day. We're sitting out there, and anyway,

I leaned over, and I kissed her on the cheek.

Yeah, her first kiss, my first kiss, I kissed

her on the cheek. And anyway, I felt bad for

her friend. She was sitting there too, so I kissed

her too. I wound up in Snoopy's doghouse. That

did not fly. Okay, anyway. So the next year,

you know, again, consider ourselves an item.

I don't know if that is in second grade, if it's

eating crayons during lunch or what. I don't

know. together anyway so the next year came by

and when it started she had already missed a

lot of school here and there but when the school

year started i was like i wonder if we're still

an item whatever that is and so i was wondering

if we're still an item and As I went into the

classroom, same teacher. We didn't fail, all

right? They used the same teacher for second

grade and third grade, different things, public

school. And so anyway, I come in, and before

we could sit down, the teacher says, no, no,

no, everyone remain standing. And then the bell

went off, and she said, okay. Just like last

year, I didn't catch this from last year. She

said, just like last year, I seat you alphabetically.

Beasley, that's me, here. Crocker, that's her,

here. And I suddenly went through self -doubt.

I was like, are we even an item? Is this all

make -believe, whatever? Were we ever? Anyway,

we were, and so it was really cool. It was really

cool. We picked up where we left off. But she

was missing more and more classes, and I didn't

think anything of it. And then there was a...

It was in August of 1975. I'd just turned nine

years old. I know you can do the math. I'll save

you. I'm 59. And so anyway, the principal, she

makes an announcement on the intercom. And the

principal said, students, at the beginning of

the day, she goes, could I have your attention,

please? And so we're listening. And then she

went into too much information. That's where

she said, Mary Crocker died this morning. She

had a brain tumor the size of a lemon. She's

been fighting cancer the past two years. I had

no idea. That's how I found out about death.

I thought we just lived forever. And, you see,

I was raised not knowing anything about God whatsoever.

It wasn't like my parents said, there is no God.

You can't believe in a God. Nothing was mentioned.

We had no Bible in our home, and nothing was

ever mentioned about God. And so, anyway, it

was... I didn't know what death was. And that's

what I'm thinking. Like, when people say they're

atheists, I think they're the most depressed

person on the planet. Period. We'll talk more

about that in a moment. But it's like where I

was born with a sense of forever. How do you

explain that? You have a sense of forever because

you're here today worshiping the one true God.

I had a sense of forever born with it. I think

that's the way God instills this. The condition

that we're in now, this sin condition, we're

terminal, each one of us, we're terminal. But

through God and the blood of Jesus, we have eternal

life. We're born with that sense of forever.

This is her grave. I didn't know what it was,

but I guess it would say closure a couple of

years ago. I didn't even say goodbye. I mean,

my parents knew she was dying on top of everything

else, and they didn't tell me anything about

it. It just happened. But anyway, I found her

grave. I looked and looked and looked for years,

and then I found out where. And so about a year

and a half ago, I was able to go to her grave.

Anyway, I took a picture here. So August 26,

1975. So anyway, I went into a bad way mentally

on this. About a few months later, it was in

December or January, the seniors at our school,

public school, they were having a fundraiser,

and they were going to show Treasure Island.

Well, I like ships, and I like treasure. You

put them together, Treasure Island. And so you

pay your 50 cents, and it was one of those reel

-to -reel movies. Some of you guys remember that,

those big projectors? And so we paid our money,

and you went in, and I was enjoying it right

up until the scene where... It was a black and

white film, and color had been invented for younger

people. We didn't live in a black and white world.

It was just the film was black and white. But

they had a, anyway, there was a wave washed on

the shore, and as it pulled back from the beach,

there was a skeleton. And I had, I guess you

would call it tunnel vision or something, because

it hit me. I realized, and I couldn't express

it. I'm in the third grade, but I didn't know

how to say it, but this is what it would be today.

Life had no purpose. There was no meaning to

life. I saw this skeleton in this movie, and

I'm sure there were other things going on, but

with that skeleton, it just hit me. Life has

no meaning, no purpose. We're all going to die.

Remember, I had no idea about God, and so it

was where if I get close to you and I die, you're

hurting. If I get close to you and you die, I'm

hurting. You hurt either way. So I walled myself

out from everyone. I chose no friends. That was

it, third grade. I didn't want any friends. I

didn't want to be hurt again. I didn't want them

hurt again. I didn't know how long we had, if

that makes any sense. No meaning, no purpose.

So there was this thing. Young people, you have

these devices. I'll see if I can find mine, okay?

A magic box. Okay, anyway, it's a cell phone.

But back in the day, we had these things attached

to a wall or on a counter. It's called a telephone,

and it had this cord, and we were very careful

not to, anybody ever, like, not wrap it around,

you know, you don't want to die that way. Anyway,

the corded telephone. Anyway, it made a noise,

and it went ring, ring, ring, ring. So you answer

it, you pick it up. This is a handle. You pick

it up, and then you can identify yourself if

you want to. And I went, hey, this is Stan. That's

my name. And it was my great -uncle Monroe. He

goes, this is my grandfather's brother. And he

goes, hey, this is Uncle Monroe. And I said,

well, hey, Uncle Monroe. He goes, I want to know.

This is like a Thursday. He says, I want to know,

do you guys want to go to church? Well, my parents

weren't home. It was just my brothers and I.

And I put my hand over the receiver, and I was

like, Uncle Monroe. You remember Uncle Monroe?

Saw him a couple of times in our life, once or

twice. And he goes, he wants to know if we want

to go to this thing called a church. And they

said, yeah, we got nothing better to do. And

I was like, okay, yeah, sure. And he goes, I

thought he was picking us up then. I thought

we were going to this thing called a church then.

He goes, I'll pick you up Saturday morning. And

I got off the phone, I looked at my brothers,

and I was like. Uncle Monroe's picking us up

Saturday morning to go to church. We were horrified.

Horrified. Why? Because on Saturday morning,

cartoons. Do y 'all remember that? It's getting

fewer and fewer people. Yeah, y 'all remember

that? It was like, it was the thing. You know,

it was the thing. You know, you had to watch

your Saturday morning cartoons. They even had

like a big kickoff, you know, in the fall of

the year. But for what's new in the slate, and

you'd talk about it with your neighbors, whatever.

But anyway, cartoons. So anyway, we go to this

thing. And it's called a church. We'd seen them

before, just never made a connection. So this

is the church. About a year and a half ago, I'm

driving through, it's in a place called Clanton,

Alabama. It's about 10 miles from where I grew

up. I grew up in Jemison, Alabama. And so you

go to this thing, it has not changed. You ever

wondered what life was like 50 years ago and

everything or whatever years ago? It hadn't changed.

The tree is bigger. This is from a year and a

half ago. The parking lot is still gravel. The

parking lot's gravel. It looked the same here,

you know. And then they have these things. It

was called Sabbath School. It was in the basement.

And so we went in. Now remember, I'm public school.

I am in high school now. Freshman, I think, in

fifth grade. We go downstairs. It's kind of dark.

They got some lights on, but it's kind of dark.

And so there was this older lady. Remember, I'm

public school. There's a difference. And so on

this part, and so the lady goes, today we're

going to do a craft. I freak out in my mind because

we just studied Salem, you know, and so. what

have I gotten myself into, okay? She goes, we're

going to do a craft. So anyway, it turns out

it was a bee, okay? It was a literal craft, okay,

what you would call a craft today. I didn't know,

but anyway, I made it. And so the other kids

were slinging them around. I was making this

buzzing noise, but I was too cool for that. I

built the thing, but I was too cool. They rang

a bell. They turned out the lights and everyone

left. And like, so I'm just down there by myself.

And I look around. Nobody's there. I'm by this

column. And I take that B. And I just want to

see if mine works. Because I'm public school.

I'm too cool for this. But I want to see if it

works. And so nobody's looking. Nobody's there.

And so I spin it. And it makes that noise. Mine

works too. This is my first craft. And so, but

anyway, the floor creaked upstairs. And so I

thought, oh, someone's going to see me. So I

darted upstairs. So we come into this thing.

Remember, I'd never been in a church. So I walk

in where everybody else was going, and I saw,

it was like the Andy Griffith show. You ever

seen that, Mayberry? And so in front of the Andy

Griffith show, Floyd's Barbershop, they always

sat like on a bench here and there. And this

was like the mother load of benches. So it had...

Anyway, this room was full of them. I don't know

if they were a friendly place. And so you call

it a pew in case you didn't. Of course you know.

These are called pews. And so it was packed with

people everywhere. And so then this person comes

out from the side, and they're soft -spoken.

And the guy goes, turn with me in your Bibles.

I didn't have a Bible. My great -aunt Maxine

had one. And so she turns here. And she goes

to, you know, they open up whatever it was in

the Bible, so they turn, and anyway, I'm following

her finger, and I'm reading along, and this guy's

just quoting it, whatever this scripture was.

And I was blown away because science was always

my thing. And I just assumed the guy had memorized

the entire book. And I was like, wow, that's

incredible, okay? That's awesome. And so when

the sermon was over, Uncle Monroe said, You guys

want to come back next Sabbath? It was still

hard for me to say, but Sabbath, okay? I'd never

heard of that before and hadn't heard of a lot

of things until then. And I was like, yeah, absolutely.

My brothers, we were all excited. Yeah, absolutely.

And so we came back the next week and the next.

And we heard about Jesus, and it was amazing.

And it was like just the truth of God is like

you have that sense of forever, and then it gets

squished. And then it's like now you're back

to forever again. And it was like this is amazing.

So my parents were coming to church. My grandparents

on my dad's side, we had peace in our family

for the first time because, see, my dad was a

smoker, drinker, partier. He retired early. Never

saw the guy. Anyway, there's more to it. When

he was around, I just thought it was normal that

we'd have police at the house. I just thought

that was the way you grew up, you know. It was

like, here he is. There's my dad. Anyway, so

anyway, it was just rough. Rough, rough. But

we had peace in our home for the first time.

And so they had, I think my dad started having

questions whenever, because there was an evangelistic

series going on called Revelation Seminar. And

so there were some questions my dad had. I think

it was kind of when it was hitting, it's wrong

to cheat on your wife. And smoking and drinking,

probably not the healthiest move you can make

with your life. And so I'm not sure if that was

it or not. But anyway, they did a thing you would

call an altar call. So I'm sitting there. I like

sitting up close to the front. That's me. That's

where I like to be. But we're in the back. And

anyway, it says the seminar person, the evangelist

goes, if you want to accept Christ in your life,

come on down. I couldn't get down there fast

enough. Anyway, everyone steps out into the hall,

the aisle, you know, kind of a thing. Small church,

small. But they stepped out into the aisle. And

I was like, I can't get here fast enough. You

don't know. This means the world. And so anyway,

I'm just like roller derby. Boom, boom, boom,

boom, boom. All the way down. And anyway, I get

over here on this side. And there's 17 of us.

And most of them are rubbing their elbows here

because I just came down like fast. And so there's

my mom, my brothers. And I look around. My dad's

not there. And I said, I asked my mom. I was

like, hey. Shouldn't we wait for dad? And she

goes, oh, no, no, no. She goes, I'm getting re

-baptized. And when you're baptized, you'll be

fourth generation Seventh -day Adventist. Remember,

we had no Bible. God was never mentioned. But

I'm fourth generation. Wow. You know the welcome?

Some of you guys may remember the... South Carolina

welcomes you. Seventh -day Adventist church welcomes

you. My Uncle Munner started all that with the

billboards and everything and all this where

the church signs are and things. So I didn't

know. Anyway, so we're there. And so we go through

this baptismal things. And again, my dad had

a lot of questions. So it's the night for the

baptism. There are 17 of us. And so... We're

putting on our robes, got these black robes.

We're behind there. I've never seen a baptism.

They tried to describe how it was going to be.

You're going to get wet, a full immersion event.

Okay, that's cool. So these people would go up

the stairs to the baptistry dry. I'm in the back.

And they would come down those stairs soaking

wet. Okay, I got to see a number of them. I'm

going to say I'm number 13, all right? Someone's

got to be 13. I'll be 13. So I go up and I look.

It's a nighttime baptism, small church, but it

is packed. Folding chairs in the hallway down

the aisle. The foyer is open. It is packed as

well. They were worried about fire code. Would

somebody turn them in? And anyway, I get into

the water. Here's the evangelist, and I'm just

looking around. They have candles. They thought,

you know, it's like, it was beautiful. And they

turn out all the lights, and here's these candles.

And so I never seen anyone like that. And I looked,

and my dad had shown up. He's on the back row,

but he's glaring at me. He is full of hate. But

I'm not there for him. I'm there for God. I'm

there for Christ and the peace that only Jesus

can give. And so the pastor goes, the pastor

goes, or the evangelist goes, all right, you

ready? Yeah. And he goes, in the name of the

Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the Trinity.

We believe in the Trinity. Down I go. It was

a rush. It was such a rush. I'd never had such

a feeling in my life, but it was such a rush.

He brings me out of the water and I... I scream.

I've never been in a baptism. This is my first

one. I've never seen one. I saw wet people, but,

you know, and so I screamed. And I won't scream

it for you, but this is what I screamed. I screamed,

let's do that again. There's more laughter. And

anyway, there were a lot of amens. There was

laughter, but knowing now what I didn't know

then, I'm surprised you didn't go, okay. No more

bubbles. No more bubbles. He's one of us. Anyway.

It is a thrill for baptism. It is a thrill. You

have salvation. I think we take it. Anyway. I

think so often we take our relationship with

Christ for granted. When we get to the kingdom,

it's like, whew. Amazing. Eternal peace. So we

get home. Dad shows up about 30 minutes later.

He's drunk and he's in a rage. He takes our Bibles.

And it's horrible. What happened next? Really

bad. We'll leave it like that. He takes our Bibles.

He forbids to ever go back to church again. Who

could do that to a kid? I've got kids. Like,

we named Christian our firstborn. We named him

Christian so my dad would have to acknowledge

Christ. I told him, yeah, his name's not Chris.

It's not CB, you know, for Christian. No, no,

no. It's Christian. If you want anything to do

with him. You got to call him Christian. So we

never talked again. I'm kidding. Yeah, he would

call him Christian. Anyway, no Bible, no church.

But this is where that one -on -one thing, you

know, it's like your little time of trouble.

I know we haven't been through it yet, but we

went through something really bad. No Bible,

no church. But here's the thing. You cannot take.

that relationship with Jesus Christ away from

any individual. That is your choice. That is

your individual choice and nobody has a right

to do it. There is nothing. Satan himself can't,

can't take Christ away from you. Freedom of choice.

Praise God for freedom of choice. And so, I didn't

know how to pray. I still don't know how to pray.

It's just talking with God. So I'm at university

now. This is the University of Montevallo. And

so I'm majoring in biology, and I only had a

few weeks of exposure to Christianity, formal

Christianity, and a Bible. And that was it. Now

I've gone years without a Bible. That was my

freshman year in high school. Now that I'm in

college, and they're telling me there is no God.

If you acknowledge God and you bring it up in

class, you're labeled. You're one of those. And

so all my classes were evolution -based. And

so my question then was, God, I have peace. I

pray to God, I talk to God, and I say, God, I

only have peace with you. Please show me you

exist where they're telling me you don't. Please

help me. And so the only thing I had was science.

And what I'm about to share with you was never

meant for anybody. It was just between God and

I. And I do a number of these presentations,

you know, out of the country and in the country.

But it was just really what helped me was through

God's creation. Not let evolutionists and Satan

hijack God's creation, God's second book. So

I'm taking this class, Evolution, and it is evolution.

And on this one, I don't know if you can see,

but you start off like an invertebrate or biochemistry,

whatever, and then you wind up with a human.

And that's what evolutionists buy into. And so

a few years ago, A student asked, hey, what's

it say on the bottom? Oh, what's it say over

here? And I was like, oh, huh, chaos. And I was

like, isn't that opposite of God? God is of order.

We have six -day creation. We have a seventh

-day Sabbath. You can't explain it by the moon

or our orbit around the sun. Thanks for bringing

that up earlier, you know, that we're really

close to the sun now. You can't explain. This

week. And you've heard that before. And then

a couple of years after that, I hadn't noticed

this. I was so busy on this thing. Somebody said,

hey, what's it on the bottom? It's bold. I miss

things. I can't see the forest because of the

trees. And it goes, man is but a worm. And I

was like, isn't that what Satan would have you

believe? Is that you ultimately came out of a

biochemical accident. You became an invertebrate.

And over time, that first cell. And over time,

you evolved into what you are. And then you die.

But that is not it. Yes, we came from mud. Adam

was formed in the very image of God himself through

that dirt, that mud, that God. That is where

we came from is that God formed Adam in his image.

There is no other creature in this universe that

is made in the very image of God. You are special.

When you're feeling down, where we live now in

this time in Earth's history and everything,

Whoo, mercy. It's easy to get down. There's so

much garbage going around with the news and this

war and that war and everything else going on,

whatever's going on in your life. But please

remember, you are special. You are created. You

are the creature created in the image of God.

You're hit and you have purpose. You have meaning

in your life. Share the good news of Christ.

If you have no other purpose, that is your higher

calling. So when I'm taking this course, Evolution,

this is my mentor. And it hit me a few years

ago. It's like, wait, what's opposite of mentor?

Tor -mentor. Tor -mentor. Tor -tear you apart.

Mentor builds you up. And so Sledge and I were

good friends. I would house -sit for him when

he was away. And he was very humble. Any of you

guys ever heard of what is it called? Band of

Brothers? Band of Brothers, it was like a series

or something. Have you heard of the Pacific,

anyone? There's usually maybe one, but it was

a 10 -part miniseries. Sledge wrote a book with

the old breed at Peleliu in Okinawa. He was a

Marine in World War II. And to help him cope

with survivors' guilt from World War II, he ultimately

wrote this book, his memoir. And he was very

humble, and it was meant to help his combat veteran

friends and other combat veterans. I would house

sit for him when he was on book tour. Again,

he was never full of himself. Tom Hanks, Steven

Spielberg, other producers wanted the movie rights

to this book, but he didn't want to sell it.

He just wanted to do his thing. His wife did

sell upon his death. She sold it, and they, anyway,

Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, they made this 10

-part miniseries called The Pacific. Sledge never

got over the war. Anyway, Sledge is my mentor.

So I'm taking evolution, and in this evolution

class, God impressed me. I say, God help me.

Every day it was something. It's like, God help

me. And God impressed me. Here's one of them.

It's like, ask Sledge two questions. Have you

ever had one of those gotcha moments? You know,

where you just, they set you up and then you

get blindsided. I think it's happened to all

of us and it doesn't feel good. And God was like,

don't do Sledge this way. Here are the two questions.

Wait a couple of weeks in between them. And so

here we go. It was like, here's the two questions

that God impressed me to ask. I was like, Sledge,

where did life on this world come from? And he

goes, ah, glad you asked. He said, consider this.

Consider our universe. If we were to bring into

our lecture hall here a wheelbarrow full of sand,

each sand grain represents one galaxy. He said,

in our universe are billions and billions and

billions and billions and billions of galaxies.

And then he said, now consider a second wheelbarrow

full of sand. And each sand grain now represents

a star system in that galaxy, like our solar

system here. There are billions and billions

and billions of star systems in each galaxy.

So you have trillions and trillions and trillions.

And he said, that's not even counting the moons,

the stars, the asteroids, the cosmic debris,

dust. But now then consider everything. He said,

everything in the universe. He said, at one time,

was squeezed down to the size of a basketball.

And then he said, then we thought about the size

of a football. And he said, then we thought the

size of a baseball, a golf ball. I don't know

what it is about evolution in sports, okay? But

it was like, he says, at that time, he says,

we now believe that all the matter, like what

this is made of, everything was squeezed down

to the size of a head of a pin. That takes a

lot of faith. And so... I was teaching this class.

It was a dual credit class a few years back.

And on this one, the latest on this is that they

say that all the matter in the universe was squeezed

down to billions of billions, with a B, of times

smaller than the tip of a needle. That takes

faith. And then they said something happened.

Something happened, and then it just blew out.

Boom. About 13 billion years ago. Evolutionists

will hide in time. And so on this one, if you

think about all of our matter, like this room

squeezed down our planet, squeezed down billions

of times smaller than the tip of a needle, our

solar system, our galaxy, the whole universe,

everything squeezed down smaller than the tip

billions of times smaller than the tip of a needle.

Something happened, he said, 13 billion years

ago, and it blew out. Then he said about 425

million years ago, you had the early Earth. Then

he said that about... 400 million years ago,

roughly, there was a planet the size of Mars,

hits our planet, blows out the back of Earth,

and that becomes the moon. Right? Okay, I heard

somebody go, huh, and that's where I am with

it. It's like... No way. That moon is round.

There's some other things we can talk about later.

There's something called gravity. It wouldn't

be that perfect sphere. How many remember it

was about, was it 10 years ago? They had that

perfect eclipse here. Did anybody see that? The

full solar? Yeah, there you go. It's just, I

wouldn't say magical. It was amazing. And so

the moon is the correct distance from the earth

and the correct distance from the sun and the

right size to cover up to get that diamond effect.

Anyway, it's just amazing. The moon had to be

created. It couldn't come from a collision. And

then he said, hundreds of millions of years ago,

the earth was covered in an ocean. And this was

full of chemicals. And because of volcanic activity

and different chemistry going on, these chemicals

started bouncing into each other. So you had

this primordial sea. And then he said, because

this thing was filled with chemicals, Then, ultimately,

by accident, he didn't say by accident, but these

chemicals just bounced into each other and became

a cell. And then he said, in that cell, given

time, divided. Millions of years later, ancient

marine life. millions of years later, the evolution

of land animals. And this was crazy because you've

got the perfect environment in the ocean or land

or lake or whatever. Why in the world do you

want to pop out where the air is toxic to that

individual? You already have a niche. It's almost

like, oh, I'm going to tell my kids, yeah, we're

going to go to Mars. You're going to be a colonist

there. And you know what? The atmosphere is mostly

CO2. That will kill you. But I want you to just

take off your helmet and just take a little breath.

So that in so many generations, your offspring

will be able to breathe CO2 and live. No, it'll

kill you. So anyway, age of dinosaurs. And then

what he said was, every living thing on this

planet came from that one cell. Okay? All the

biodiversity, every living thing came from that

one cell. And I was like, okay. So I waited two

weeks. Here's the other question. Okay, catch

that. That's what the evolutionists say. So two

weeks later, here's the question that got impressed.

Sledge, what would happen if you took two complex

organisms, a male deer and a female deer, and

you put them on a deserted island somewhere?

No animals, no squirrels, no rabbits, no birds,

nothing. You got plants and you got two deer,

a male deer, a female deer. What happens? And

he goes, oh, great question. Thank you, God.

They will mate, have offspring. The offspring

grow, become mature, they interbreed. And he

said, because of it's such a limited gene pool,

you get mutation and disease. And he says, within

300 or 400 years, extinction. I said, thank you.

That's all I needed. So catch this. Contradiction.

Evolutionists would say, they don't say it, they

don't want to say it, but all the biodiversity

on our planet came from one cell, and at the

same time, from this one, isolated complex organisms

go to extinction. So every living thing came

from one little cell, extinction. You can't have

it both ways. On this one it says, no pets allowed,

all pets must be on a leash. You can't have it

both ways. In the beginning, God created the

heaven and the earth. I mean, that's where it

starts, is with God. God is the Alpha and the

Omega. He's always been. God saw everything that

he had made, and behold, it was good. So God

started it and created us. So in closing, you

know, it's just like, you know, growing up with,

in a way, absentee parents, absentee dad. You

long for a relationship. I try to be the dad

to my kids that I never had. And I want them,

and I stress it, please be a good parent to your

kids when you have them. We all make mistakes.

And so, with my dad, he was like, He continued

to make some poor choices. But he did call Christian,

Christian, my son and mother's son, Caleb. And

so he had had a stroke. It was a bad one. And

so the family called us, and we were supposed

to go down and unplug. And so we go down there,

and they said, hey, we don't know what it is,

but he's going to make it. He wasn't going to

make it, but now he is. And so going to the hospital

room, he said he's paralyzed on his left side.

And so we go into the hospital room, and his

eye opened. I'm the only one in there. And they

said he could only speak in a whisper. And so

he's coming to, and I said, I'm looking at a

dead man. I said, your funeral is supposed to

be today, but by a miracle, you're here, whether

you believe in miracles or not. You're paralyzed

on your left side, and there's nothing you can

do about it, but it's a miracle you are here.

And so what I'm going to do starting now, and

every time I see you, I'm going to pray for you,

whether you like it or not, beginning now. I

know it's kind of harsh, but what do you do,

right? And so I had prayer with him. And in wood,

it got to where we would form a circle around

him, you know, around his chair, whatever. And

he didn't invite it. He would allow us to pray

for him for the next year and a half. It was

near graduation time. And a year and a half later,

and there was... So I called my parents. My dad

never answers the phone because he's really not

able and you can't hear him. I called that day.

He answers the phone. And I was like, oh, great.

I don't want to talk to you. Because he's at

a whisper, but I'll continue. And he goes, I'll

sit where you can hear it. It's at a whisper.

He goes, hello. So he said, hello. And I was

like, hey, dad. Just bring the kids down. Graduation's

coming up in a couple of days. And then we'll

bring them. Then you can see your grandkids.

And I said, okay, I've got to go. And he said.

And then he goes, I love you. I was floored.

We got off the phone. That night, he has a massive

stroke. We go down and I had one last prayer

with him before literally, you know, you unplug.

But it was crazy. The words that I longed to

hear my entire life. were the last words said

to me. It's never too late. And as much as I

wanted him to be that present father and it didn't

happen, I heard the words I needed to hear before

he passed away. You have, there's the one true

father. You've got Jesus Christ who died for

each one of us for that relationship. That's

the most important thing. We're imperfect here

on this world. And as it says in 1 John 3, 1,

see what great love the Father has lavished on

us that we should be called the children of God,

each and every one of us. This is the last slide,

if that helps you. But love is so amazing, so

divine, demands my soul, my life, and my all.

May God bless you, each and every one of you.

As we prepare for his kingdom, it's coming soon.

Dear Jesus, again, we thank you for your love.

We thank you for creating us. We thank you for

paying the price on the cross. Your blood is

as fresh today as it was 2 ,000 years ago. Please

be with each one of us in our struggles. Give

us your strength. Be with our friends and family

members wherever they are and whatever concerns

they have. And please help us to go both ways.

in your name this week. Time is drawing to a

close, and we long to see you face to face. Help

us to remain faithful, and we ask these things

in Christ's name. Amen.