paleontology | Craig T. Owens

December 2025
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Links & Quotes

November 15, 2025 — Craig T. Owens

The writer of the Book of Hebrews challenges Christians to learn how to better encourage others and spur them on to their very best. This means we have to go deeper in our relationships with people. Here’s one way not to do this.

I have a lot of new video content on my YouTube channel every week. Please check it out and subscribe so you don’t miss anything.

T.M. Moore cautions us against having a “too small God” mindset. He writes, “We are short-changing the people of God unless our preaching and teaching fits them to seek the Kingdom of God and the restoration of the world in all our life and work. We do not expect to recreate the original conditions that existed before the fall, but to remember them, to recall them, to recover a measure of them for the life of the world and, by so doing, to point ahead to the new and better and fully remade world that is to come.”

More archeological evidence from the city of Jericho helps scholars date the exodus from Egypt more precisely as well. All of this reinforces the absolute historicity of the biblical accounts.

“The Pentecostal movement emerged at the turn of the 20th century, resulting from a series of overlapping revivals that occurred around the world.” One of those revivals was in Wales.

“Although [traditional scientists] feel certain that dinosaurs went extinct 66 million years ago, unremitting soft tissue discoveries from dinosaur fossils openly challenge such age options and validate the creation model.” Check out how the Raman spectroscopy tests are aligning paleontological discoveries with the biblical timeline of Creation.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: archeology, Assembly of God, Creation, dinosaurs, God's Kingdom, historicity, Institute for Creation Research, Jericho, paleontology, Pentecost, quotes, revival, T.M. Moore, video. Leave a Comment »

Links & Quotes

November 1, 2025 — Craig T. Owens

We have a culture where respect for others is eroding quickly. The Bible makes it clear that reverence for God results in respect for people, and respect for people helps us reverence the God who created them.

I have a lot of new video content on my YouTube channel every week. Please check it out and subscribe so you don’t miss anything.

AI models can develop brain rot just as assuredly as humans can. You are what you consume!

“The real great man is the man who makes every man feel great.” —G.K. Chesterton

Dr. Louis A. Markos has an insightful article on the works of C.S. Lewis that help us learn how to stay human. “Christians today who are committed to restoring a proper view of man have an ally in the greatest apologist of the twentieth century, C.S. Lewis (1898–1963). Though Lewis offers much help in his best-known apologetics books (Mere Christianity, The Problem of Pain, The Screwtape Letters, The Great Divorce) and his beloved Chronicles of Narnia, we would do well to expand our reading of Lewis to include his searing critique of modern educational philosophy (The Abolition of Man) and his anthropologically incisive science fiction novels, The Ransom (or Cosmic) Trilogy: Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, That Hideous Strength.”

The ICR has an article about a fascinating new dinosaur that was unearthed. “Even now in the twenty-first century, paleontologists are still at a loss as to the origin of the dinosaurs. As recently as 2024, five evolutionists stated, ‘Today, inspired by clues from fossils and footprints from a lost world, scientists continue to piece together the puzzle of how various dinosaur groups arose, behaved, and diversified.’ In contrast, the creation model argues that all dinosaur kinds were created during the same period—specifically on Day 6 of the creation week—several thousand years ago. From this perspective, the lack of definitive transitional forms or ancestral precursors in the fossil record aligns with the expectation that dinosaur kinds appeared fully formed and distinct, as observed in the fossil record.”

Axis’ Culture Translator discusses an article posted in Harper’s: “Many have written about how porn warps the expectations users have for relationships; this article demonstrates that, for young men in particular, pornography is often willingly embraced as a complete replacement for human connection. … Woven throughout this subculture is also conscious self-degradation; as the Harper’s article points out, ‘ruin your mind,’ ‘go deeper,’ and ‘give up on life’ are embraced as the movement’s rallying cries. Many young men and women are trapped in this spiritual prison, convinced there is nothing better to live for. Who will show them the way out?” Two helpful resources are Fight The New Drug and Pure Desire.

Leaders need to learn that disagreement on your team is normal and can be healthy. Disagreement doesn’t mean people distrust their leader, but it may mean that they want the bring out the best in their leader. Check out the full conversation Greg and I had on this subject.

Links & Quotes

June 28, 2025 — Craig T. Owens

Don’t judge your creative efforts by the world’s likes (or even by its silence). If you did your best with the talents that God gave you, the applause from nail-scarred hands is all that really matters.

I have a lot of new video content on my YouTube channel every week. Please check it out and subscribe so you don’t miss anything.

“It will be vain for me to stock my library, or organize societies, or project schemes, if I neglect the culture of myself; for books, and agencies, and systems, are only remotely instruments of my holy calling; my own spirit, soul, and body, are my nearest machinery for sacred service; my spiritual faculties, and my inner life, are my battle axe and weapons of war.” —Charles Spurgeon

John Piper shares four observations and applications from Philippians 4:8 in answer to a question about how to guard our minds from the impurity in the world.

“A man who has faith must be prepared not only to be a martyr, but to be a fool.” —G.K. Chesterton

The paleontological evidence of dinosaur fossils is most easily explained by the Flood described in the Bible. ICR reports, “Virtually every dinosaur fossil ever found is ensconced in sedimentary or (rarely) volcanic sediments, indicating a sudden and catastrophic deposition. … So why would paleontologists entertain bizarre extinction explanations such as slipped discs, sunspots, or magnetic reversals? Because if a scientist dismisses the global Flood out of hand, then anything goes when trying to explain the dinosaur demise.”

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Charles Spurgeon, dinosaurs, faith, Flood, G.K. Chesterton, gifts, God's favor, Institute for Creation Research, John Piper, martyrs, mind, ministry, paleontology, Philippians, quotes, video. Leave a Comment »

Links & Quotes

May 17, 2025 — Craig T. Owens

If someone is gossiping to you about others, you can be sure that they are gossiping to others about you—shut it down! Check out this full message about gossips.

I have a lot of new video content on my YouTube channel every week. Please check it out and subscribe so you don’t miss anything.

I hope you celebrated your Mom on Mother’s Day weekend. This is a great perspective from the Axis newsletter: “Some in our culture say motherhood is a prison, or a trap set by the patriarchy. Pop singer Chappell Roan, for example, recently said she didn’t know any people who have kids and are happy. Others say it’s a paradise—with ‘momfluencers’ online making it look like having kids is a nonstop joyride where the lighting is always perfect and nobody ever cries. When ‘prison’ and ‘perfection’ are presented as the only two options, it’s no wonder U.S. birth rates are declining. One way to honor mothers this year is to admit that motherhood is work—albeit spirit-forming, richly rewarding work—and that we can’t expect to see all the fruit of that labor within our lifetime. Hales writes, ‘Christian parenting is about continually pointing to Jesus as the Author and Perfecter of our faith, clinging to the reminder that He who began a good work in us and our children will complete it.’”

In his study Bible, Dr. Henry Halley offered this comment on 1 Corinthians 6:11. “The greatest proof of the new birth is a changed life. Children of God now suddenly love the following:

They love Jesus. Before conversion the sinner might hold Christ in high esteem, but after conversion they love the Savior (1 John 5:1-2).
They love the Bible. We should love God’s Word as the psalmist did in Psalm 119. There he expresses his great love for God’s Word 17 times.
They love other Christians. ‘We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death’ (1 John 3:14).
They love their enemies (Matthew 5:43-45).
They love the souls of all people. Like Paul, they too can cry out for the conversion of loved ones. ‘Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved’ (Romans 10:1).
They love the pure life. John says that if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in them (1 John 2:15-17).
They love to talk to God. ‘Speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord’ (Ephesians 5:19).”

T.M. Moore and I share the same passion for pastors to operate as shepherds. Moore wrote, “Shepherds equip the saints who take up the works of the ministry that build the church. The work of shepherding is hard. It’s not a program that you run from time to time, hoping to enlist new folks in the training. It is the ongoing, body-building means whereby the Lord’s flocks are nourished and become equipped to use their Spirit-given gifts (1 Corinthians 12:7-11) and power (Acts 1:8) to grow their church in unity and maturity in the Lord.” Moore also wrote an endorsement for my book Shepherd Leadership.

John Piper has a thoughtful and biblical response to a question about Christians losing their rewards in Heaven. In part, he says, “All the good deeds that God approves and rewards are works of faith and the fruit of the Spirit. So, let’s get the idea of merit for these good deeds totally out of our minds.” He goes on to show the Scriptures that secure our promised rewards from God.

Paleontologists have discovered an amazing dinosaur graveyard off the coast of southern Chile. The fossilized remains here gave ample evidence to the global Flood described in the Bible.

Links & Quotes

February 15, 2025 — Craig T. Owens

God gave us a Book (the Bible) that tells us all we need to know about praying.

I have a lot of new video content on my YouTube channel every week. Please check it out and subscribe so you don’t miss anything.

T.M. is beginning a series on the ministry of the apostle Paul. He writes, “Paul was able to accomplish great things against great odds not because he was such an enthralling preacher (he was not) or had so many resources to invest in his work (he did not), but because he had such great confidence in his message and his Lord.” Check out this series.

As a father, it always got my attention when my kids would remind me, “Dad, you said….” Not that God ever forgets anything He has promised, but when He hears Moses say, “You swore by Your own self and said to them,” He is pleased because this means that Moses is banking his faith on God’s unchangeable word. Let’s follow this example from Moses and use God’s Word to form our prayers to Him.

The ICR reports, “If the earth is 4.6 billion years old, virtually every square inch of the Earth’s surface would experience a host of erosive events.” But the fact that paleontologists have found so many well preserved foot tracks is a testament to both the Creation and Flood accounts recorded in biblical history.

“When ‘Aunt’ Fanny Lack, a 100-year-old Hoopa Indian woman, accepted Christ and was healed in 1920, she became a local sensation on the Hoopa Indian Reservation in northern California.” This is an amazing story!

“When you hate, the only person that is suffering is you because most of the people you hate don’t know it and the rest don’t care.” —Medgar Evers

Axis’ Culture Translator reported, “A study from World found that 26% of respondents admitted to flirting with a chatbot or AI, either for fun or unknowingly.” I love Axis’ conclusion: “Although social media was initially pitched as a supplement to real-life social interactions, the slope from supplement to replacement is steep. This Valentine’s Day, remind your teens that although real-life relationships can be difficult, we need both the affirmation and pushback that comes with them.”

Greg Morse shares the very real danger of shepherding God’s flock. He writes, “I enlisted to teach, preach, shepherd, and guide—but also to suffer, defend, and die, if the Lord should choose. As a son with his mother, a husband with his wife, a father with his children, so a pastor with his sheep. I am to defend them against all enemies foreign and domestic—spiritual and physical.” Pastors, I encourage you to read this article.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: apostle Paul, Assembly of God, Creation, dinosaurs, Exodus, Flood, Institute for Creation Research, paleontology, pastors, prayer, preaching, quotes, relationships, spiritual warfare, T.M. Moore, video. Leave a Comment »

Links & Quotes

August 17, 2024 — Craig T. Owens

It’s easy to get along with those we like. But God calls on Christians to do the hard—but rewarding—work of getting along with everyone! Check out this full sermon about the strength in Christian unity.

I have lots of new content every week, which you can check out on my YouTube channel.

“Dad always said you could fall off the same ladder you climbed up.” —Hank Aaron

Paleontologists have noted that what Creationists would call pre-Flood mammals lived longer than similar mammals today. “This research should be of interest to Bible-believing Christians because, as chronicled in Genesis 5, humans in the pre-Flood world were experiencing much greater lifespans. Moreover, the advanced ages of the Genesis 5 patriarchs at the births of their sons strongly suggest delayed sexual maturation and possible delayed skeletal maturation, too. The Bible gives no hint that this amazing longevity was in any way supernatural.”

“If we leave our failure, we don’t learn from our failure. If we learn from our failure, we seldom have to leave because of our failure.” —John Maxwell

Dr. Steve Nichols hosts a great podcast called 5 Minutes In Church History. In the episode this week, he talked about the church politics Jonathan Edwards had to confront when he first arrived in Stockbridge. It came to a head in a letter Edwards received: “All it did was go into, again, politics, accusing Edwards of mis-running the school, which wasn’t true, and deflecting the blame and the focus away from the Williams family. And now Edwards needs to vindicate himself. Well, all that to say, we think of these church history figures, and we see their portraits, we sometimes forget that they’re actually people, and they had to deal with challenges too.” These types of faultfinding accusations are what I address in my book When Sheep Bite.

If God would say this (Ezekiel 5:7-9) about His chosen people Israel, how much more so should other nations take notice, repent of their egregious sins, and plead with God for mercy!

Links & Quotes

August 10, 2024 — Craig T. Owens

No one wants what the gloomy person has. Joy is a Christian’s testimony—it’s what attracts others to Jesus! Check out this full message from my series on the Songs of Ascent.

I have lots of new content every week, which you can check out on my YouTube channel.

“At first glance, people may not see how these different forms of sexual violence connect to each other. But, in fact, experts are increasingly recognizing that they may all stem from one common source—sexual objectification. Sexual objectification occurs when people perceive others as sex objects rather than complex human beings deserving of dignity and respect.” Pornography is a major contributor to the sexual objectification which leads to sexual violence.

Dr. Brian Thomas describes why fossils are found where they are and why land animals may even be found near marine animals: “This fossil discovery [a bone from a South American megaraptor found near Cape Otway, Australia] fits well with a biblical history, which goes something like this: Around 2348 BC, a worldwide flood crushed and reshaped the earth’s surface, breaking up a single landmass (Pangaea) into continents and fossilizing countless living things. Prior to the Flood megaraptors roamed Pangaea, during the Flood they were fossilized, and in the late Flood stages the boundaries of new continents (along with their fossils) were roughly shaped. Unlike the standard story, the outlines of this history have been testified to by reliable eyewitnesses, and this testimony has been faithfully preserved in Genesis.”

“The more we let God take over us, the more truly ourselves we become—because He made us.” —C.S. Lewis

J. Warner Wallace shares two trends in American society that are contributing to the decline of religious adherence in America.

“There is no way around hard work. Embrace it.” —Roger Federer

Shame on my thoughts, how they stray from me!

During the Psalms, they wander on a path that is not right; they run, they distract…

One moment they follow the ways of loveliness, and the next the ways of riotous shame…

Swiftly they leap in one bound from earth to heaven…

O beloved Christ… may the grace of the sevenfold Spirit come to keep them in check!

Rule this heart of mine, O swift God of the elements, that You may be my love, and I may do Your will! —Anonymous, On the Flightiness of Thought, Irish, 8th-9th century

Ungodly leaders become more and more selfish, while shepherd leaders become more and more God-fearing and more and more attentive to the needs of others (Jeremiah 12:10-11). Check out my series of posts for godly leaders and my book Shepherd Leadership.

Links & Quotes

June 15, 2024 — Craig T. Owens

There’s no secret formula to fruitfulness as a Christian. We just stay connected to Jesus and the fruit will grow. This clip is from this sermon.

I have lots of new content every week, which you can check out on my YouTube channel.

The “Ten Commandments” are not explicitly listed or reiterated in the New Testament. Does that mean they are obsolete? No, says David Mathis, it means they are fulfilled. “Jesus Himself says He did not come to destroy the Law and Prophets, but to do something even more striking: fulfill them (Matthew 5:17). That is, fulfill like prophecy. Not simply keep the Ten in place, or remain under them, or leave them untouched, but fulfill them—first in His own person, and then by His Spirit in His church. He came not to cast off Moses, but to fulfill Jeremiah, and in doing so, He accomplished what is even more radical: establishing Himself as the supreme authority, putting God’s law within His people (rather than on tablets), writing it on their hearts (rather than stone), and making all His people to know Him (Jeremiah 31:31–34).” Check out my post The 10 Commandments in the New Testament.

More archeological evidence supporting to the historicity of the Bible. You can check out the full article, but this paragraph is a good summation: “One of the surprising findings was that, according to the results of their tests, the Broad Wall in Jerusalem, also known as Hezekiah’s Wall, was likely built during the reign of Uzziah, who Scripture says built fortifications in Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 26:9). Another finding was that Jerusalem was much more heavily populated and urbanized in the 12th through 10th centuries BC than some scholars previously thought. This would align with the biblical description of Jerusalem, particularly during the days of David and Solomon.”

“There is much of beauty, goodness, and truth to be discovered in the city of man, as Augustine pointed out toward the end of his great treatise, City of God. But all the culture and best intentions of men turn to corruption apart from the power of God to redeem and renew them. We who live also in the heavenly city now possess the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16); we are able to see the ways that culture can be ‘taken captive’ from the clutches of sin and unbelief and made to serve the purposes of Christ in all things. Thus, for the honor and glory of God, we commit ourselves daily to using all our time, activities, relationships, roles, responsibilities, and culture to furthering His rule on earth as it is in heaven.” —T.M. Moore

“Have movies and most conventional paleontologists got it all wrong? T. rex and other theropod dinosaurs (the meat-eaters) are often portrayed as intelligent predators that can outmuscle and outsmart their opponents. But is that really supported by science?” A very interesting compilation of research can be found here. The conclusion is exactly right: “God designed dinosaur brains that were perfectly suited for their lifestyles and body size when He created dinosaurs on Day 6 of the creation week (Genesis 1:25).”

Links & Quotes

February 10, 2024 — Craig T. Owens

Our anxiety is usually tied to our insecurity about our needs being met. Philippians 4:6-7 counsels us to turn those anxieties into prayer. It’s not what we can provide for ourselves, but trusting what our Heavenly Father has already provided for us. Check out this amazing series on prayer. I have lots of new content every week, which you can check out on my YouTube channel.

A recent post at the Institute for Creation Research says, “despite popular perception, the impact theory of dinosaur extinction has problems and is still a source of contention among even conventional scientists.” In fact, “Despite uniformitarian claims to the contrary, these rocks and fossils are best explained by the Genesis Flood that covered the earth about 4,500 years ago. All the air-breathing, land-dwelling creatures outside the Ark perished. However, the representatives of these animals that God brought on board the Ark, including dinosaurs, survived, reproduced, and spread across the Earth after the Flood. Many ancient peoples wrote about and described what appear to be dinosaurs, even though they called them by other names, e.g., dragons. In the creation Flood model, impacts may have hit the earth during the Flood, but none of them caused the dinosaurs to go extinct.” This article is a good overview of the geological and paleontological evidence that supports the biblical account of the Flood.

“Scripture teaches us that there are two points of view from which we may regard Christ’s death upon the Cross. The one is the redemption of the Cross: Christ dying for us as our complete deliverance from the curse of sin. The other, the fellowship of the Cross: Christ taking us up to die with Him and making us partakers of the fellowship of His death in our own experience. … O Christian, when the world crucified Christ, it crucified you with Him, when Christ overcame the world on the Cross, He made you an overcomer too. He calls you now, at whatever cost of self-denial, to regard the world, in its hostility to God and His kingdom, as a crucified enemy over whom the Cross can ever keep you conqueror. What a different relationship to the pleasures and attractions of the world the Christian has who by the Holy Spirit has learned to say: ‘I have been crucified with Christ;…[the crucified] Christ lives in me!’ (Galatians 2:20).” —Andrew Murray

Sullivan and Addie Chainey were both deaf, but that didn’t stop them from becoming premier missionaries in the Assembly of God fellowship. Their work with other deaf people was amazing! I love this concluding thought in this short biography of their ministry work: “The Chaineys’ story testifies that God can empower those who are marginalized in society to do redemptive work in their own communities and beyond.”

“Earth, I think, will not be found by anyone to be in the end a very distinct place. I think earth, if chosen instead of Heaven, will turn out to have been, all along, only a region in Hell: and earth, if put second to Heaven, to have been from the beginning a part of Heaven itself.” —C.S. Lewis, in The Great Divorce

Years later, Boaz was obeying this commandment in Leviticus 19:9. That allowed Ruth to be in his field, which led to a marriage that began the family line of King David, which traces all the way to Jesus! Obedience matters. Just imagine if Boaz had been disobedient in this. The Messiah still would have come, but Boaz and Ruth (and their children and grandchildren) would have missed out on this blessing.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Andrew Murray, Assembly of God, Boaz, C.S. Lewis, Flood, Galatians, geology, Heaven, Hell, Institute for Creation Research, Leviticus, Lord's Prayer, missionary, paleontology, prayer, quotes, Ruth, video. Leave a Comment »

Links & Quotes

December 16, 2023 — Craig T. Owens

On the latest episode of The Craig And Greg Show, Greg and I talked about Christmas traditions. I have lots of new content every week, which you can check out on my YouTube channel.

“Always be sure of your ground and be sure that you are honoring God. If there is anything about the situation that will make you special, it will bring you sorrow. Your whole ministry has to be along the lines of His grace and blessing.” —Smith Wigglesworth

“Leaders have the responsibility to keep evil out. Government is incapable of making men and women moral and, in fact, it is not given that assignment, for it does not have that power. God grants government the right to make laws to hold back the power of evil, for only the church through the gospel can help men and women be good. Conversely, leadership and government can do much harm if they, through injudicious application or partial enforcement of law, let evil in. Government cannot make people good, but it can certainly make them bad. We need leadership and government to build barriers against what is wrong, but neither leaders nor external human powers can usher us to what is right. Only Jesus, full of grace and truth, can do that.” —Dick Brogden, in Proverbs: Amplified and Applied

The celebration of Christmas is obviously not seen in the Bible, but it has always seemed to be closely connected to the church’s calendar. Scott Hubbard has an eye-opening history of Christmas in his post The Curious History of Christmas.

Scientists have learned from butterflies’ amazing vision how to better detect cancer cells. The way our Creator has designed these winged marvels is truly astounding!

The ways the biblical text has been preserved and transmitted down to us today is nothing short of miraculous! Daniel Wallace is at the forefront of continuing to preserve the Word of God for future generations. Here is an example of the dedication of the biblical scribes: “The hand that wrote [this] is rotting in the grave, but the letters remain until the fullness of the times. Completed with [the help of] God. February 23, Friday, the second hour, during the eleventh indiction, in the year 1079, through the hand of Andrew, scribe and calligrapher. And if it happens that any error of omission [remains|—this, for the sake of Christ, forgive me.”

Just as archeological finds continue to confirm biblical accounts, fossil discoveries continue to confirm the biblical claim of Creation. Paleontologists have now created the term “problematica” to try to address fossil finds that don’t fit their evolutionary models.

T.M. Moore is sharing a thought-worthy series of posts on the biblical view of our economic activities, including a look at how governments and businesses should operate under God’s laws. Moore says, “Since God has written the works of the Law on the heart of all His image-bearers (Romans 2:14, 15), we should expect that awareness (if only subconsciously) to find expression. Put another way, whether they know it or not, people long for an economy guided by Biblical principles and guidelines.”