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.