In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Genesis 1:1
How many of you know an atheist, raise your hand?
How many of you have ever made the mistake of stating to them that evolution is a theory?
By the way, when I was in school, I was taught it was a theory.
What was their response?
I made this mistake a few years ago. I was in a car with some other engineers from the office where I worked at in Post Falls. One was a Mormon, one a Catholic, and one was an Atheist. We had just finished lunch at Zips after a round of disc golf at Corbin park, and I don’t remember how the subject came up, but there was astonishment and almost outrage that I had called it a theory, and that I believed in creation as the actual origin of life on earth. The Mormon was more sympathetic to me, but even he was convinced that God used Evolution in the creative process! This is the popular thing for churches to teach nowadays, which makes it really difficult and confusing for Christians to understand their bibles in this context!
And this response of almost outrage seems to be the prevailing response of atheists/ evolutionists, according to Dr. Walter Veith, a former staunch atheist and professor of Zoology from South Africa. This man has quite a story to tell of his conversion to Seventh Day Adventism! You should listen to it sometime!
Dr. Veith has lectured extensively, lead cutting edge research on the effects of animal protein and dairy in diet, and has written several books including “Diet and Health”, which covers much of his research at University, “Truth Matters”, which covers evangelistic topics such as the great controversy and prophecy, and a book which I am just now reading called “The Genesis Conflict”, which argues against the evidence that scientists use for proof of evolution, and shows that much of the combined evidence is actually explained more logically in favor of Catastrophic models. He does a very good job of faithfully explaining the viewpoint of origins from an evolutionists perspective, their theories, their proofs, and evidences, all the while injecting the biblical viewpoints and pointing out the flaws in the conclusions of their interpretations of the data. He uses quotes and references where appropriate, and does a wonderful job of listing those references at the end of each chapter should one wish to follow up with their own further study on the subject.
Walter Veith is now retired from academia, and is doing full time evangelism for Amazing Discoveries, which has produced hours and hours of lecture material on different topics for our church and for the public. He has been criticized by some in our church for promoting Ellen White and Creationism (this happened in Germany), and for his lecture series “Total Onslaught” which exposes some fo the ways that Satan has worked throughout history against God’s people.
I have come to really appreciate Veith and his ministry. In his old age, he is starting to remind me of how my Grandpa Pflugrad looked (which is elderly German looking). His material is of such a nature that I feel comfortable sharing it with even my atheist friends, even that one in the car who was so adamant that I was completely out of my mind for calling evolution a theory. Even though my friend still does not believe in God, he can respect my viewpoint now after seeing some of the “Genesis Conflict” lectures, and we have had some good back and forth discussions about the videos.
The video lectures from Veith are available on YouTube, and linked from the website, AmazingDiscoveries.org. I have downloaded most of them and have them on a USB stick for anyone with a computer and limited internet capability who would like to have copies. DVD copies are available for purchase from Amazing Discoveries as well, the proceeds of which go to support that ministry.
Walter Veith loves God, and is committed to doing his work. He loves and cares for the Adventist church, and is committed to working with the church to hasten the return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Let’s be as on-fire for sharing God’s word as Walter Veith is. Only through the power of the Holy Spirit can it happen. Amen. And let us share messages on health and Bible truth from men and woman like Veith with our friends and families, and pray that God can use us and these types of media to reach their hearts for heaven!
