One of the most significant influences on my life was a very precious Sovereign Grace Baptist pastor from New Jersey who opened the words of life and took great efforts to disciple me as a young man, first as a teacher, later as a pastor, and always as a spiritual father. I can never thank him enough for his example, his courage, and his love to me. Whatever the question on the table, his response was always: “What sayeth the Scriptures?”

My dear pastor introduced me to many important doctrines of the faith, as well as to some of the great heroes of the faith alive today. One of those men was Dr. John Whitcomb, co-author of The Genesis Flood, along with Dr. Henry Morris. My pastor had been a top student at Grace Theological Seminary in Winona Lake, where he mentored under Dr. Whitcomb. He would not only introduce me to Dr. Whitcomb, but provided me with his classroom notes from his time as a student with Dr. Whitcomb, and many of Dr. Whitcomb’s books. If my memory is correct, I first started listening to tapes from Dr. Whitcomb in my late teen years. At the age of forty-three I continue to listen to his messages and thrill at his unflinching, no-compromise defense of the Word of God.

In 2006, I had the honor of hosting Dr. Whitcomb at the Vision Forum Ministries History of the World Mega-Conference. It was a dream come true to have both Dr. Whitcomb and Dr. John Morris (son of Dr. Henry Morris and my good friend from years of co-laboring with him at ICR “Back to Genesis” conferences) keynote at our event. If you have never heard Dr. Whitcomb teach, now is the time to remedy that omission. Vision Forum has posted a clip from his message “The World That Perished,” delivered at the History of the World Mega-Conference. Watch one of the great defenders of the Faith from the 20th century, and pray for him as his ministry continues.