We just finished an eye-opening and impactful conversation with Dr. Terry Mortensen from Answers in Genesis. It was one of those talks that will make you sit up and take notice. Dr. Mortensen walked us through the origin of old-earth thinking, the deception behind it, and the devastating impact it has had on the church and the world. It was clear, powerful, and anchored in Scripture. What became undeniable by the end of the discussion is this: the battle over the age of the earth is not about science at all. It’s a battle over worldviews, and the stakes are spiritual.

For two centuries, the church has been fighting a war many never recognized. Not a war of swords, but a war of ideas. Second Corinthians 10:4 warns that our weapons are for tearing down speculations raised against the knowledge of God. Colossians 2:8 tells us not to be taken captive by the philosophies and empty deceptions of men. Yet those very deceptions slipped into the church through the back door, disguised as geology, and they reshaped the faith of millions.

Where did old-earth thinking begin? Not with Moses. Not with Jesus. Not with any prophet. It began with James Hutton and Charles Lyell, two men who approached the rocks with hearts already determined to exclude the Bible. Hutton insisted that the past must only be interpreted through processes observed in the present, which automatically rejects creation and the flood before the evidence is even examined. Lyell openly said he wanted to free geology from Moses. He told scientists to leave their Bibles at home. That is the foundation of the millions of years idea. A lie at the root produced a forest of confusion that still blinds people today.

From that faulty premise came a counterfeit history. From that counterfeit history came a counterfeit science. And from that counterfeit science rose a counterfeit church that tries to blend the word of God with the opinions of men.

Next, Darwin borrowed directly from Lyell. He admitted that his theory depended entirely on the millions of years. And once the timeline shifted, seminaries followed. Today some of the most influential evangelicals William Lane Craig, John Lennox, Wayne Grudem, Norman Geisler, Hugh Ross, John Collins, Davis Young, William Dembski promote old earth timelines without ever tracing where those timelines came from. They have not only trusted the conclusions of secular geologists who rejected God in their methodology from the beginning, but they have built entire methods of theology on this faulty foundation. That is not neutral. THAT, my friends, is compromise.

And the theological cost of compromise is enormous. If millions of years of death happened before Adam sinned, then death is not the punishment for sin. If the fossil record existed before the fall, God called millions of years of carnage very good. If natural processes explain the rocks, the global flood did not happen. Yet Jesus affirmed the flood. Peter affirmed the flood. Genesis records its catastrophic power with precision. You cannot uphold Scripture while tearing out the foundation beneath it.

This is not a debate about sediment rates. This is a war between worldviews. One begins with the word of God. One begins with the word of man. There is no neutral ground. Jesus said in Matthew 12:30 that whoever is not with Him is against Him.

And look at the fruit of rejecting Genesis.Take Europe as an example, which abandoned the literal history of Scripture in the mid-1800’s. Fast forward to today less than five percent of England attends church. When the foundation falls, morality collapses. The millions of years timeline gave birth to Darwinism. Darwinism gave birth to the mass abandonment of Scripture, eugenics, abortion, secular humanism, gender confusion, and identity chaos people struggle with today. When a culture rejects Genesis, it rejects everything built upon it.

Dr. Terry Mortensen laid bare the truth. Old earth geology is not built on science. It is built on naturalistic assumptions designed to keep God out of history, or erase Him altogether. It is time for the church to stop pretending this does not matter.

So to every old-earth creationist, here is the challenge today. Not tomorrow, but today. No more hiding behind theologians who never examined the origins of the theory they defend. No more blending the assumptions of naturalism into the book of Genesis. No more pretending you can affirm a global flood and accept the millions of years that deny it.

The God who spoke creation into existence in six days, or the men who tried to erase Him from the rocks. The choice is not between science and faith. The choice is between God’s eyewitness account and the imaginations of men.

The lenses are on the table. One says God is true. The other says man is. Put on the wrong pair and the world is random chaos and confusion. Put on the right pair and creation snaps into clarity and you finally see the world the way the Creator intended you to see it.

As Joshua said, choose this day whom you will serve. The hour is late. The foundation is shaking. It is time to stand.

If you hold to an old-earth view, or if you have ever wondered where the idea came from, or if you simply want clarity in a world drowning in confusion, you need to watch this conversation with Dr. Terry Mortensen. Not to score points. Not to argue. But to see the history uncovered, the assumptions exposed, and the truth laid bare.

Watch the Show Here: