Creationism - National Center for Science Education

conflict with the Scriptures in any way. When we take both the Biblical record, and the facts amassed by
science, and let the facts speak for themselves, then we must conclude that God indeed created the world,
and life upon it. But much time passed in the process. The geologic record indicates that God created new
forms of life at various stages of His Divine plan. [1984:168]
“In the beginning,” we read, “God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). The angels were
created before the earth was founded (Job 38:4-7). This ancient conflict, therefore, was probably millions
of years ago—maybe even billions of years ago. Satan’s Rebellion, with one third of the angels composing
his aggressing army invading heaven, must have been responsible for the chaos and destruction which is
recorded in Genesis 1:2—the tohu and bohu and darkness which covered the earth, long before the creation
of Adam and Eve. The cataclysm in Genesis 1:2 is undoubtedly related to the cataclysmic fall of Lucifer
from heaven. [1984:197]
After the chaos and destruction which occurred, in verse two of Genesis one, God began a process of
recreation, reconstruction, if you please, which lasted for seven days. [1984:203]
Dankenbring suggests that the neanderthals were surviving remnants of the pre-Adamic
Nephilim of Genesis 6:4 (1984:229), a theory proposed by Kenneth Hermann of the
Texas branch of Ambassador College. Adam was probably created 4024 B.C.
Dankenbring’s The Creation Book for Children (1976) also presents the Gap
Theory, and includes another Foreword by von Braun. Beyond Star Wars (1978) carries
this blurb, referring to Satan’s pre-Adamic rebellion:
Star Wars really happened! Long ago great battles raged in the universe. A great war caused vast
destruction throughout the cosmos and upon the earth. Super beings battled for control of the universe,
space, and time.
Contemporary UFOs, explains Dankenbring, are really a diversion to scare people into
expecting an invasion from outer-space, then to reject Christ at His Second Coming.
Other subjects covered include Joshua’s Long Day (caused by a comet disturbing the
earth’s rotation), the Lost Continent of Atlantis, Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings, the
Great Pyramid (Pharaoh Cheops was actually Job; the Pyramid itself was a memorial to
the Flood), the Tower of Babel, frozen mammoths, and surviving Neanderthals. “There
can be no doubt that pre-Adamic races of mankind—from the so-called man apes of the
Australopithecines and Homo erectus to Neanderthal man and Cro-Magnon man—
walked the earth before Adam was ever created.”
Joel and Jane French continued this theme with War Beyond the Stars: Angelic
Encounters (1979). Joel French, a staff engineer with a NASA contractor, is with the
NASA chapter of the Full Gospel Business Men Fellowship International in Houston, and
has “shared testimony” with astronaut Tom Stafford. Their book concerns the heavenly
war following the rebellion of Lucifer and one-third of the angels. Man was created later,
where the dethroned Satan had once ruled: in other words, the Gap Theory. The
Frenches are particularly concerned with UFOs, which are supernatural space vehicles,
either of Gad or Satan. They also discuss Hitler’s Satanic inspiration, but explain that
there was godly intervention in World War II as well. A mysterious stranger, for instance
—really the Archangel Michael—appeared at the Nazi General Staff meetings and
persuaded the fiendishly clever German High Command to adopt disastrous strategy
decisions, providentially affecting the outcome of the war.
Benny Hinn, an Israeli-born, Canadian-bred televangelist who heads Orlando
Christian Center in Orlando, Florida, also exploits the star wars motif in War in the