Trick or Treat: The Darwinists Are Coming to Town. But so is ‘The Mysterious Islands’

We recently received this article from Vision Forum about this film project. I thought I would pass it along.

“There is a ghoulish specter coming out this weekend, and it’s not merely the dark message of the Halloween celebration,” stated Doug Phillips, President of Vision Forum Ministries. “This weekend marks the beginning of an international push to celebrate the 150 anniversary of On the Origin of Species, and its author, Charles Darwin — the man whose Theory of Evolution is responsible for the most devastating, life-destroying, family-undermining worldview of the 20th century.”

From October 29-31, the University of Chicago — the group that hosted the famed Darwin Centennial in 1959 that featured Sir Julian Huxley and John Scopes of the “Scopes Trial” — will host Darwin/Chicago 2009. The university event is one of hundreds of commemorative gatherings being held worldwide. Other pro-Darwin activities occurring this month include numerous television documentaries, feature films, art exhibits, stage plays, and even a Paris fashion show.
“But there is good news,” Phillips stated. “In theatrical premieres in Raleigh-Durham, Chicago, San Antonio, and other key locations, audiences can experience The Mysterious Islands, a new adventure film that offers a fresh perspective on Darwin, his theory, and the famed journey he took to the Galapagos Islands.”
The Mysterious Islands debunks the conclusions Darwin reached during his storied trip to this island chain during the voyage of the HMS Beagle. Shot and directed by the award-winning Jon and Andy Erwin of Erwin Brothers Motion Pictures, the 90-minute documentary releases on November 12, just two weeks prior to the November 24 anniversary date of Darwin’s influential book.
“The world has Darwin fever, and we think it’s making our culture sick,” noted Doug Phillips, who served as Executive Producer of The Mysterious Islands. “Because of the implications of his famous theory of evolution, Darwin was perhaps the most influential man for evil in the last two hundred years. His ideas have contributed to the rise of Nazism, the proliferation of racism, Marxism, the horrors of eugenics, and abortionism. Nonetheless, over the next month, America and the global community will be inundated with the most pro-Darwin celebrations in history.”
“The release of The Mysterious Islands, and its screening in theaters presents a fresh response to Darwin fever by taking viewers on a thrilling adventure to the Galapagos Islands — ground zero in the war of the worldviews between evolutionism and Christianity,” Phillips stated. “Rather than praising the founder of the modern evolutionary worldview, we demonstrate that he was part of a multi-generational legacy of bad science, anti-Christian sentiment, and cultural bigotry that began with his grandfather Erasmus Darwin and continued up through the work of the virulent racist Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood.”

In The Mysterious Islands, Phillips and his crew join Captain Robert Fitzroy of the HMS Beagle in opposing Darwin. Captain Fitzroy walked where Darwin walked during their famous journey together. Like Darwin, he acted as a lay-naturalist, collecting the flora and fauna of the Galapagos. “Even though Fitzroy witnessed the exact same things as Darwin, he reached vastly different conclusions. And so do we,” Phillips remarked.
The Mysterious Islands, a cinematically beautiful adventure film, was shot earlier this year and examines the same unusual creatures Darwin saw while on the Galapagos Islands and shows where he erred. Told through the eyes of 16-year-old Joshua Phillips, the documentary presents a remarkable quest to “Darwin’s Eden” with Joshua, his father, and a team of scientists and investigators, including Dr. John Morris, president of the Institute for Creation Research.
“Fitzroy disputed Thomas Huxley — grandfather to Julian — concerning Darwin’s ideas following the publication of Origin of Species as part of a famous debate that took place at Oxford University in 1860,” observed Phillips. “We are following Fitzroy’s example during this anniversary year by offering a counterpoint to Darwinism through our film that was shot where Darwin’s Theory of Evolution was formed.”

The Mysterious Islands takes viewers deep beneath the ocean waves among hundreds of white-tip sharks, over lava fields covered with salt-spitting marine iguanas, and to the unusual habitat of blue-footed boobies and flightless cormorants. Featuring the only team of Creationists and Christian scientists to shoot a documentary on the Galapagos during 2009 — Darwin’s anniversary year — The Mysterious Islands brings a fresh perspective on Charles Darwin and his Theory and presents sweeping cinematography of one of the most remote, desolate, and fascinating island chains in the world.

Tar and Sin

As I mentioned before we have had some rainy weather here recently. The rain brought a problem to our attention. The roof of the business has a few leaks! So today, since it was sunny, Caleb and I went up on the roof to put a layer of tar over all the seams. During that process an interesting situation occurred. Because of the nature of the job I was wearing disposable plastic gloves to keep my hands clean. Caleb would use a trowel and put the tar on the roof and then I would use a scrubber brush to spread it out. I began using my right hand to work the tar in with the brush. Soon the glove was covered in tar and I had to change it out for a new one. The gloves were not especially durable and in many places had holes worn through them. For some reason I had tar on my knuckles. By the end of the job I had tar all over my hands. I discovered that the gloves ended up being more harm than good. When I went to change my gloves the tar on my knuckles stuck to the gloves. Something had to give and what ended up giving was the top layer of skin on three of my knuckles. The strange thing was I did not realize what had happened until I saw the skin missing from my knuckles. As we continued the project I got to thinking. The tar could represent sin that a Christian allows in their life. They go along not realizing what the sin is doing to their lives. Sometimes they don’t realize what sin has done to them until they see its effect on both their life and the lives of others. After we finished I attempted to clean the tar off my hands with some soap and water. But like most of you could have guessed that did pretty much nothing. To get something like that off your skin you really need some mineral spirits or paint thinner. However I couldn’t find any so I figured I’d try the soap and water. So it is with sin. Our own attempts get rid of sin in our lives will always be futile. Sure we may be able to bring it under control for awhile, but without the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives we will not ultimately succeed. We must daily ask for help to conquer and remove the sin from our lives. A lot like I need to probably ask someone for help finding the mineral spirits. :)

Well I just spent another long night mudding. It's 5:00 AM and I havn't slept any. Caleb and I have been helping Ryan Grice with a siding job the past couple of days. Nathan Grice, the one in the accident, usually works with Ryan but was obviously not available. It's been cold and wet here the past couple days which makes it no fun to install siding. We were able to finally finish yesterday. But then one of our neighbors in town called to see if we could help her move out today. So we'll be helping her most of the day. I'll be super tired on Sunday (thankfully it's a day of rest). :) We should be back to mudding on Monday. It will be all too soon for me. ;) As I post this I'm watching the sunrise. The heavens certainly declare the glory of God.

Update on Nathan's progress

Here is the latest update on Nathan as well as a pic of him in the hospital.

If you want to follow the updates go to http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/nathangrice

"We just arrived back at about 10:50 pm from seeing Nate at the hospital. Needless to say, the visit was long overdue!Not sure where to start... my poor little notepad is scrawled all over with notes on his condition, prognosis and other miscellany that needs to be shared.Please pardon me if a few details get mixed up and need corrected later. I've tried to keep all the clinical and procedural details accurate, but since I've not had the privilege of spending time in med school, there are bound to be some errors here and there.Nevertheless, here is what I have thus far:According to Dad and Mom, the first words he spoke when arriving back from surgery were: "God is GOOD and MERCIFUL." He had a little trouble pronouncing 'merciful,' but they definitely got the point!The pain has been greatly lessened now that the fragments are set in place and the swelling has gone down.Dad and Mom talked with one of the surgeons today, and he said Nate was doing "exceptionally well." After further examination, they felt fine removing the neck brace he's had on since the accident. No neck or spinal damage is apparent.The speech therapist was very impressed with his communicating abilities despite the recentness of his injury. Somehow, I don't find that too surprising... :) Nate was rather determined to do it as best he could. The therapist said she could tell "he was a fighter."She was also highly impressed that, even though he couldn't recall all the words, he could hum his way completely through a bunch of hymns without missing a note. One of the tunes he recalled is "O God, Our Help in Ages Past." How apt! What a blessing that he can still worship the Lord in some way, even if the words are not all in place!This morning they also administered a "GOAT" test (Galveston Orientation and Amnesia Test), which is designed to show the level of "post-trauma amnesia" a person is experiencing. The scoring scale goes from 0-100, with 100 being the highest.Normally, a patient with this sort of injury will be able to score about 75-80 points two weeks afterward. People that score that high will usually recover to 98-100% of what functionality they lost.Our stellar student managed to peg an astounding score of 85, the day after surgery! You can imagine how uplifting that was!The rehab people cautioned that, even though he is currently recovering rapidly, it could still be anywhere from a month to a year before he's fully back to "normal." He will probably require at least a little therapy to get all the functionality back. However, we have seen enough of our Lord's miracle working thus far... and I wouldn't be surprised to see it progress faster. We shall see, I suppose.Dr. Bill Therall, the main surgeon from the team, finally made it down to Nate's room this evening at about seven. He also agreed that Nate is doing exceptionally well, and will be ready to be moved into a regular room tomorrow. Dr. Therall said that no further surgeries should be needed, as it looks like the damage was corrected very well with this first one. He also said that Nate's head bandage can come off tomorrow too, which is a blessing. It was very tight, and causing some discomfort.However, even with these positive things, there is still a long way to go. Please pray that Nate can be moved to a room by himself, so that he will not have to deal with the noise and commotion of having someone else in there with him. Loud, harsh noises or excessive talking are very disturbing to him, as he's still pretty sensitive to sound and such.Also, please continue to pray that his digestive system will fully "come online." He's very hungry, but the doctors are hesitant to allow him to eat anything too substantial yet. He is able to spoonfeed broth to himself, but is still not ready for solids. They may try a little bit tomorrow to see what happens. Also, due to the surgery, there was a small laceration to one of his jaw muscles near the ear. This causes some pain when he tries to chew. I will be typing a second update with the details of our visit... hopefully I can get it done tonight!

Rejoicing in the goodness and mercy of Jesus,RG

Thank you again to everyone who prayed. Prayers are being answered.

Accident

Nathan Grice is a young man in our community in his early twenties. He is the second oldest of six children. He is a believer with a strong testimony for Jesus. This morning we received word that he was in a car accident on his way to work! Below I’ve pasted an email we received from his older brother Ryan as well as a picture of the vehicle. We received the email around noon today. Since then he has gone into surgery and may be there even now.

“Hello everyone!

Just wanted to give you a little more thorough update since I'm home now and have been able to accumulate a little more information. I assure you, it was a rather shocking phone call that I received from Mom on the jobsite! I pray none of you will ever have to feel that same surge of shock, pain and disbelief. God's grace is sufficient in the hour of need, and His sweet comfort has been present throughout it all.

Here are the details as best I can gather... I will not vouch for a hundred percent accuracy, as I've been known to make mistakes and hear wrong! Some of the details may be corrected as I get further information and talk more to the people involved.

Nathan's accident occurred this morning at the intersection of Hwy 71 and Hwy 92 when Nate was on his way to a job in my car. Apparently he pulled out in front of an oncoming car and was struck on the driver's side fender and door.

I took a picture of it and included it here so you can see the extent of the damage.

The driver of the other car is a Christian man in his fifties who is from out of state. He only sustained minor bumps and bruises, as he had swerved to try and avoid Nate's vehicle. He was very apologetic and encouraging to us, and insisted on praying with Mom when she visited him in his hospital room.

After the car was hit, it swerved about a hundred yards through the ditch and nearly ended up in the corn field on the east side. It's a blessing that it went off the road, instead of into oncoming traffic! In a way, I can see God's hand in this as well, as a steering tie rod was shattered at impact, and it's doubtful with that sort of damage if Nate could have guided the car into the shallow ditch and away from traffic, even if he had been conscious at the time. There is a larger ditch on the other side that could well have rolled the car a few times, had he gone down into it.

A neighbor of ours was the first to stop, and checked on both vehicles. She then stopped up at our house after the occupants of both cars were safely on their way to the hospital in Atlantic. If she had not came by to let us know, we may not have found out until he'd been in the hospital for quite a while. May God bless her for stopping and helping out in the mode of a Good Samaritan, when she could have easily passed by.

He was coherent by the time he arrived at the hospital, but was extremely confused and agitated. He can recall nothing that happened all of today. He recognized Mom, Dad and a few other relatives who were present. The doctors and nurse teams were disturbing to him, as they were unfamiliar, but he seems to have calmed down a bit as Mom and Dad explained the situation to him.

The hospital in Atlantic examined him and found no exterior injuries except for a bump on the side of his head where he hit the door. After some x-rays of his head, chest and pelvis, they found a v-shaped crack running up from near his ear. It has been causing him considerable pain, and even a dose of morphine was unable to quell it.

The x-rays revealed minor hemorraging, but nothing too serious given the magnitude of impact. There is some swelling, and so they were careful to keep him awake and talking so they could be assured of no further damage.

After a further examination they elected to Life-Flight him to Omaha's UNMC Hospital, which has a dedicated neurological team. Atlantic didn't feel that they could properly address a trauma fracture of this order, and thought it would be best to send him where he could get the best care.

The preliminary prognisis is hopeful, but he may require a series of surgeries to relieve pressure, and then to install a plate. As it is a v-crack, it is doubtful if it could heal properly without the support of a plate.

So, he is on his way (and may have already arrived) at UNMC. Please pray that God will guide the hands of the doctors, surgeons and nurses as they seek to mitigate the injury. Lift Nate up in prayer for the pain as well, as it's nearly unbearable even with drugs. Pray that he will make a full recovery and be the stronger in Jesus for it.

Also, I would ask that you lift up our family before the Throne of Grace in the time of need. It's very hard on all of us to see our good, strong, bold, happy Nate reduced to a confused, helpless and hurting man like this. It's quite hard to believe. :'(

We know that God has allowed this to happen, and we GLADLY say "AMEN!" to His will, no matter what the outcome. His faithfulness is everlasting, and will keep us till we see His face in the fair land of Grace and Glory, when "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away."

Please feel free to forward this to anyone you feel would like to know. We will try to keep the updates coming as we receive more information.

Rejoicing in Jesus Christ,
The Same Yesterday, Today and FOREVER!
RYAN GRICE”


Below I’ve pasted a later email we received about a website they have set up for him:


Dear Family and Friends,
To keep you up to date on Nate, I created a CaringBridge website. You can follow Nathan’s progress and show your support.
Visit Nathan’s website in two easy ways: 1. Visit the CaringBridge website by clicking the link below. http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/nathangrice 2. Enter the website name, nathangrice, at http://www.caringbridge.org/?utm_source=siteannounceLOW&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=home.

Show your support for Nathan• Visit and keep up to date.• Leave a message in the guestbook.• Receive e-mail notifications when the journal is updated.
Thank you.
Ryan

As Ryan said please pray for Nathan and his family as they go through this time.

A Wasted Life?

I was recently studying the life of a man who was considered a leader in a major war. The war was considered to have a greater number of casualties than the Civil War(casualties in proportion to population). He was responsible for the deaths of many innocent women and children. History records that many tried to convert him to Christianity but he refused saying it would make him weak. In the end he lost the war, was betrayed by one of his own followers, was killed, and his followers were scattered. After he was killed, his follower who betrayed him said "He was a brave man who made many brave men fear him". As I study his life I ask myself "Why?". How can someone give their life for a cause like that? And to his death he believed he was right.

Finally was able to post some pics.
These first two are from the photo shot I recently helped my sis with.
I was the lighting guy.

This is the group from our Iowa Bible Bee. I'm the tall one about in the middle between the two windows.