*Smoke and Mirrors In Evolution

Evolution is based on evolution meaning that life started from the single cell and evolved to higher life forms. If this was true we would find this in the fossil record. What do we find in the fossil record? No clue as to how this occurred. For example, there are no intermediate jumps from one cell creatures to Metazoa. The Metazoa appears abruptly in the Fossil record fully formed with all of its necessary complex organs. Dr. Gish, a noted paleontologist, wrote:

"Nowhere on this earth—neither on any continent nor on the bottom of any ocean—have we been able to find the intermediates between single-celled organisms and the complex invertebrates. Where ever or whenever we find them, right from the start jellyfish are jellyfish, trilobites are trilobites and sea urchins are sea urchins."^326/54

The fossils have been thoroughly studied and there is no evidence of any kind of transition between any kind of animal of any species. They all appear abruptly fully formed. The supposed evolution of horses in the fossil record in America is just the opposite of what you find in the fossils of south America.^326/83-84 This means that the pictures in textbooks concerning horses are made up. This was never found in the fossil records.

The age of fossils are not determined through radiometric dating methods but through comparing them with other fossils that have been dated based on the Geologic time table that was made up by the evolutionists themselves.^326/92

Evolution is based on the survival of the fittest which is defined as those that reproduce in larger numbers. What does the Fossil record show? It shows that mammals that were few survived while life forms that were in great number disappeared from the earth.³²⁶

Most Paleoanthropologists in the world have never seen human ancestral fossils. What they have seen are only casts of the originals.^375/11 Those fossils which do exist are kept locked in huge cement vaults where even most paleoanthropologists are not allowed to go into and inspect the fossils. This means that Paleoanthropologists papers and comments on fossils are being made based on the casts of the original, not study of the actual fossils.

To illustrate how unreliable these casts are, once in 1984 the American Museum of Natural History in New York sponsored what is called "Ancestors" exhibit in which more than forty of these original fossils were brought together and placed behind one inch thick bullet proof laminated acrylic panels. Before the original fossils were put into this encasing for display, stands were made based on the only available casts. Unfortunately many of the original fossils did not fit the stands.^375/13

It is now a well known fact that the Piltdown Man fossils are fraudulent. Piltdown Man was a combination of a late-model human cranium and a piece of the lower jaw of an orangutan that had been filed down to make them look human and so they would match the upper jaw of the cranium. Louis Leakey makes comment in his book Adam’s Ancestors that each time he visited the British Museum, where Piltdown Man remains are kept, he asked to see the fossils. He was allowed to see them for just a moment and then they were taken away, but not before he was able to see the file marks on the teeth which the castings did not have.

In another case Paleoanthropologist Adrienne Zihlman, of the University of California in Santa Cruz, asked Johanson, the founder and holder of Lucy, if she could examine the fossils. She was told she could do so only if he were permitted to censor anything she wrote on the fossils before publication. As a result she declined. No one other than the people who found or hold these fossils have any access to these fossils and therefore by faith we must take only what they claim about these fossils.^375/15-16

Through Genetic Engineering we have been able to develop chickens that lay more eggs, cows that give more milk and corn with increased protein content; but chickens are still chickens, cows are still cows and corn is still corn. Through Genetic Engineering we are not able to produce a completely different and new species.

Fruit flies have been the focus of attempted mutation through exposure to radiation for years. While they have come up with many different looking mutated fruit flies, they are still fruit flies. No new species. There was even an article in the paper a few years ago about one scientists ability to produce eyes on different parts of the fruit fly’s anatomy through genetic engineering; but while the fruit fly had more eyes, it was still a fruit fly. Also no mutated fruit fly has ever reproduced a fruit fly with the same characteristics. No mutated fruit fly has ever been able to reproduce period. All mutated fruit flies are sterile and take their mutations to the grave.

One should also note that while selective breeding has produced greater productivity in animals and plants, in all cases these specialized breeds possess reduced viability. This means that they do not survive naturally in the wild. They are only able to survive in an artificially created and controlled environment by man.^326/34

Nebraska Man was discovered in 1922 by Harold Cook in the Pliocene deposits of Nebraska. So called evidence of the Nebraska Man was used in the famous Scope trial in Dayton, Tennessee in 1925. Several so called experts stood up and gave several facts of the so called Nebraska Man. The primary basis for fact of the Nebraska Man was a tooth which scientists all over the world appraised as proof positive of a prehistoric race in America.

Several years after the trial an entire skeleton of an animal from which the initial tooth came was found. It turned out that the tooth came from an extinct species of pig.^190/120 Concerning this Dr. Gish wrote, "I believe this is a case in which a scientist made a man out of a pig and the pig made a monkey out of the scientist!"^326/188

Another so called discovery also based on a tooth was the Southwest Colorado Man. It was later discovered that this tooth did not come from a man but a horse.^190/120

The Java Ape-Man, also known as Pithecanthropus erectus (erect ape-man), was discovered in 1891 by Dr. Eugene Dubois, a committed evolutionist. Java Ape-man was based on a small piece of the top of a skull, a fragment of a left thigh-bone, and three molar teeth. These fragments were found over an area of 70 feet mixed in with the bones of extinct animals in an old river bed. Java Ape-Man was claimed to be 750,000 years old.

There are many problems with this find: Since the bones were not petrified how did they manage to survive so long without disintegrating? Since these fragments were found mixed in a whole bed of extinct animals, how can the "experts" be certain that all the pieces came from the same animal? The renowned professor Virchow of Berlin said: "There is no evidence at all that these bones were parts of the same creature."^190/120 Later Dr. Dubois himself reversed his opinion and concluded that the bones came from some sort of gibbon. Despite this the textbooks and museum exhibits display Java Ape-man as dogmatic fact.

In 1912, Arthur Smith Woodward, Director of the Natural History Museum of London, and Charles Dawson, a medical doctor and amateur paleontologist, discovered what is known as the Piltdown Man in a gravel pit at Piltdown, Sussex, England.^326/188 Piltdown Man consisted of some bones, teeth, and primitive implements. They were taken to Dr. Arthur Smith Woodward, a paleontologist at the British Museum. After examining the discovery he proclaimed the remains to be about 500,000 years old. Over 500 doctoral dissertations were written on Piltdown Man.^327/4

For several decades this seemed to solidly establish evolution as a fact of science until 1956 when the entire discovery was shown to be a complete hoax documented in an article in the October 1956 Reader's Digest titled, "The Great Piltdown Hoax." Using fluoride absorption, a new bases to date bones, the Piltdown bones were found to be false. Also it was discovered that the jaw-bone actually belonged to an ape that had died only 50 years previously. The teeth had been filed down and both the teeth and bones had been discolored with bichromate of potash to conceal their true identity. According to M. Bowden: "... the person responsible for placing the faked fossils in the pit at Piltdown was Teilhard de Chardin S.J."  Scott M. Huse wrote,

"Teilhard authored several philosophical books in which he attempted to harmonize evolution and Christianity. Exasperated by the lack of convincing evidence for Darwin's theory, Teilhard was apparently motivated into assisting the theory of evolution by fabricating the needed missing link."^191/101

Neanderthal Man was discovered at the beginning of the century in a cave in Neanderthal Valley near Düsseldorf, Germany. He was described as a semi-erect, barrel chested, brutish sort of fellow, an intermediary link between man and apes. Since then several Neanderthal skeletons have been found and it has been concluded that he was fully erect and fully human. In fact his cranial capacity exceeded modern man by more than 13%. The initial mistake of evaluation was made because the first specimen was crippled with osteo-arthritis and rickets.¹⁹¹

Dr. Gish concludes about these discoveries about supposed prehistoric man:

"An ape’s jaw in 1912, a pig’s tooth in 1922, a dolphin’s rib and donkey’s skull in the 1980s—the script is the same, only the actors and props have changed. Perhaps Lord Zuckerman was right when he declared that ‘It is doubtful whether there is any science at all in the search for Man's fossil ancestry.’"^326/190

For years there was a sign in Yellow Stone National Park stating that the Petrified Forest was proof positive of long geological ages, that each layer represented hundreds of thousands of years. However, do to new geological evidence the sign has been removed.⁴¹¹

There are twenty-seven distinct layers of logs in the Petrified Forest. In many cases in these layers the logs are standing upright. Evolutionist over the years have stated that this is proof of several different forests over time, having grown and then being buried and then another forest growing over and on top of the previous layer.

Examination of the layers shows that they are indeed placed one layer upon another in succession. Also in these layers, however, are many different plants and shrubs of different habitats that do not grow together: plants that grow in dry climates and plants that grow in wet climates and plants that grow in water. Also found were trees from tropical regions, trees from temperate regions, etcetera. Could all these trees be evolving and growing at the same time in the same place and climate?

Also discovered were stumps lined up in the same compass direction which indicated mud slides which moved the stumps around and in the same direction. The fossil tree rings also revealed some interesting facts which conflicted with the separate forests theory: studies of the separate layers showed that the trees had identically matching tree rings indicating they were of the same forest and period. Since it is impossible for the different climatic trees to have grown together, they had to have grown somewhere else. This means something happened cataclysmically which brought them together in the same place.

Growing forests should have roots, but when petrified logs are dug around, even in other petrified forests, it is found that the roots are broken off abruptly indicating again some kind of cataclysmic force bring this about. Also there is an absence of weathering. Hardly ever is found any evidence of decay or weathering among these petrified forests. This would have to be present if there was any significant time involved in the growth and development of a forest.

Another problem in these layers is the soil itself which is not soil but silt. Also you don’t just find healthy leaves higher up on shrubs and bushes, you find healthy leaves throughout as if something has completely brushed off any dead and decaying leaves of any kind. You don’t find any development of humus anywhere like you find in a normal forest growing today.

On May 18, 1980 a cataclysmic event took place on Mount St. Helens. A gigantic land slide and steam explosion occurred and over whelmed Spirit Lake just north of the volcano. This created a miniature laboratory for a petrified forest. The giant water wave up to 160 feet high was created by the land slide. The steam blast placed 1,000,000 logs in a three square mile area lake. This was a mixture of ten different species of trees. Since then about 500,000 logs have been deposited at the bottom of the lake. They discovered that these logs would first float upright, one end down and the other end up and then would eventually float to the bottom of the lake standing up. They have found tens of thousands of logs standing planted upright in the bottom of the lake. If Spirit Lake were drained You would find a forest of trees standing upright.

They also discovered that different species deposited at the bottom of the lake at different times. Noble Fir sunk first. After two years they could not find any more floating logs of Noble Fir. Other trees like Silver Fir and Hemlock went next. Also great sedimentation was taking place at the same time. Douglas Fir seemed to be the last still floating. Now there is a species stratified deposite of logs on the Bottom of Spirit Lake, all standing upright through several layers from Noble Fir first upward. All of these different strata of trees deposited did not take place over hundreds of thousands of years, but rather in a very short time right before our eyes.

As a result they no longer have the sign at Yellowstone indicating that the 27 layers of petrified forests happened over millions of years because within our life time we have witnessed it taking place very quickly before our eyes.

1. Carl E. Baugh and Clifford A. Wilson. Dinosaur, Scientific Evidence that Man and Dinosaur Walked Together. Orange: Promise Publishing, 1989.
2. Gish, Duane T. Evolution: The Challenge of the Fossil Record. El Cajon: Creation-Life Publishers, 1985.
3. Gish, Duane T. Evolution: the Fossils Still Say No! El Cajon, CA: Institute for Creation Research, 1995.
4. Gish, Duane T. Creation Scientists Answer Their Critics. Colorado Springs: Master Books. 1993.
5. Lubenow, Marvin L. Bones of Contention. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 1992.