Dragons &
Dinosaurs
What does the secular world tell us about dinosaurs and evolution?
The secular world today, teaches us that Dinosaurs died off 65 million years ago from a deadly asteroid that crashed into the earth.
Why dinosaurs died and other reptiles (like crocodiles) didn't, will always be a mystery.
They say, that before this Great Extinction Event, some of the dinosaurs died near rivers or lakes, to be covered by mud, and slowly fossilized over millions of years. Other dinosaurs got caught in mud pits and died, where they too eventually fossilized.
They say that some of the dinosaurs (the ones that didn't die from mud-pits and asteroids), evolved into birds, by growing feathers, wings, beaks, and a completely different respiratory system.
Over the course of millions of years, and millions of random mutations (adding to their genetic information), working through “Natural Selection”, slowly, one step at a time, creatures evolved into mammals.
Some of these mammals evolved into Simians, and then into Hominids, and then into Neanderthals, and finally into Homo Sapiens.
Never mind the fact that we have no transitional fossil evidence of this, other than a handful of highly debatable examples. Even after hundreds of years of searching, the missing links are still missing.
We have already discussed some of the major problems with the theory of evolution,
but here is another big one.
Normally, through the fossilization process, microbes in the bones, will break down soft-tissue, leaving behind hard stone-like fossils. In 2005, a paleontologist named Mary Schweitzer, discovered red blood cells in a Tyrannosaurus femur bone. Since her discovery, numerous other scientists have found blood cells, blood vessels, proteins, and possibly even DNA, in many other fossils as well.
The reason why this is such a significant discovery is because the laws of chemistry and biology (as we understand them today), do not allow for this. Soft tissue shouldn't be able to survive a million years, let alone 65 million years. The fact that there is soft tissue in these bones indicate that these fossils are much younger than what evolutionists claim them to be.
Mary Schweitzer’s findings call into question the age of these fossils, and if we begin to question the age of fossils, then we might also question the age of the earth. And in order for the Theory of Evolution to seem even remotely possible, secularists need long ages of time for the process of evolution to take place.
The theory of evolution dies on the vine (or tree) if there isn't enough time for natural selection (through random mutations) to take place. How many millions upon millions of years of evolution do we need to get a single celled organism to evolve into a Clydesdale? How many generations of simians, hominids, and Neanderthals do we need to produce the Homo Sapien?
What does the Bible say?
The Bible teaches us that the earth is about 6,000 years old, not millions, like secularists would have us believe. We know this from the Bible's many detailed genealogies and recorded historical events.
The Bible also tells us that God created Adam and Eve, and all the animals in six literal days, without the use of random mutations, as evolutionists would have us believe.
God would have created the dinosaurs as well. Adam would have named each kind of dinosaur, but he wouldn’t have called them dinosaurs, because the word "dinosaur" wasn’t coined (invented) until AD 1841 by Sir Richard Owen.
After Adam and Eve sinned, God cursed the world with death and suffering. Animals became violent and began killing one another.
Not only did animals start killing one another, but humans did as well, grieving God greatly.
Because of this violence, God told Noah that He was going to send a Great Flood to destroy the earth and every living thing on it. But God, in His mercy, told Noah to build an ark in which he and his family and the animal kinds could escape this judgment. This would have also included young (small and fertile) dinosaurs.
Fountains of the deep burst forth and the windows of heaven were opened, covering the earth with muddy water. The world was flooded for about a year. After this, the waters receded back into the earth, leaving behind billions of dead animals, including dinosaurs, buried in flood sediment (mud), just waiting to be dug up.
Whale skeleton found in Sahara Desert.
This is also why we find whale fossils on mountain tops, and sea fossils in deserts. We find these fossils all over the world, evidence of a world-wide-flood. Eventually, these bones are sold to museums, usually for millions of dollars.
After the waters drained off the continents, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat (present day Turkey). Here the animals got out of the ark and Noah presented a sacrifice to God.
Noah’s sons’ wives began having children and grandchildren. Eventually the community settled in the region of Babel (modern day Iraq) and began building a tower, against God’s command. So God confused their language forcing them to spread across the earth.
While this was going on, the animals, including the dinosaurs, were also breeding, and spreading across the empty earth.
Some animals would have survived better than other animals, as some animals may not have been as resilient in the newly changed climate. The Ice Age had begun.
Warm ocean water (due to the increase in volcanism), would have evaporated into the sky bringing incredible amounts of moisture, in the form of snow, onto the cold continents. Year after year this snow would have piled up on the continents making vast areas of land near uninhabitable, for the time being.
The Ice age would have changed the climate worldwide. Reptiles, like the dinosaurs, would have struggled in the cooler climate. Their numbers would have remained relatively low compared to other animals and would have largely died off in those regions. Not only would dinosaurs have struggled in the cooler climate, but these large, dangerous, creatures would have been a threat to the human populations.
Eventually, men would have started hunting these beasts, just as they have hunted predators throughout history. Making these animals rare and pushing them into secluded areas like swamps, caves, and uninhabited forests.
These are the beginnings of
Dragon Legends.
What would these dragons have looked like?
We know from the fossil record that these dinosaurs (or dragons) came in many shapes and sizes. Some lived on land, others swam in the sea, while still others inhabited the skies. Many dragons had sharp teeth and claws, some had armor plates, some had clubbed or spiked tails, others had horns on their heads, some had sails or spikes along their necks and backs.
If humans and dinosaurs lived at the same time,
wouldn't we have some evidence of this?
One of the earliest encounters written for us, is in the ancient “Epic of Gilgamesh”, very soon after the Tower of Babel incident, even within the same geographical region. It happened in the cedar forest of Enlil, that King Gilgamesh fought and killed a dragon known as Humbaba. (Within this epic it is also recorded that Gilgamesh met a man who survived the Great Flood.) To the right is an ancient Mesopotamian cylinder seal, with what looks like a couple of fighting Sauropods. Notice the interlocking necks.
In truth, there are hundreds of ancient legends and accounts, written documents and artifacts, all over the world, of people having encounters with these amazing beasts, even into modern times! Here below, we will discuss a few of them.
Not long after this, we have the account of God confronting Job (a contemporary of Abraham) and asking him some thought provoking questions. During this dialog, God describes two creatures in detail: the Leviathan and the Behemoth. Both of these animals match the descriptions of dinosaurs. Notice that the Bible says that the Behemoth had a tale that swayed like a cedar tree, and that the Leviathan breathed fire.
Job 40:15-24
“Look now at the behemoth, which I made along with you; He eats grass like an ox. See now, his strength is in his hips, And his power is in his stomach muscles. He moves his tail like a cedar; The sinews of his thighs are tightly knit. His bones are like beams of bronze, His ribs like bars of iron. He is the first of the ways of God; Only He who made him can bring near His sword…Indeed the river may rage, Yet he is not disturbed…"
Job 41 “Can you draw out Leviathan with a hook…7 Can you fill his skin with harpoons, Or his head with fishing spears?...9 Indeed, any hope of overcoming him is false…10 No one is so fierce that he would dare stir him up. Who then is able to stand against Me? …12 “I will not conceal his limbs, His mighty power, or his graceful proportions. 13 Who can remove his outer coat?...14 Who can open the doors of his face, With his terrible teeth all around? 15 His rows of scales are his pride, Shut up tightly as with a seal…19 Out of his mouth go burning lights; Sparks of fire shoot out. 20 Smoke goes out of his nostrils, As from a boiling pot and burning rushes. 21 His breath kindles coals, And a flame goes out of his mouth…”22 Strength dwells in his neck, And sorrow dances before him…24 His heart is as hard as stone... 25 When he raises himself up, the mighty are afraid… 26 Though the sword reaches him, it cannot avail; Nor does spear, dart, or javelin. 27 He regards iron as straw, and bronze as rotten wood. 28 The arrow cannot make him flee…He laughs at the threat of javelins. 30 His undersides are like sharp potsherds; He spreads pointed marks in the mire. 31 He makes the deep boil like a pot…33 On earth there is nothing like him, Which is made without fear…”
Flavius Josephus (referring back to the time of Moses).
“[Moses] took and led his [Egyptian] army before those enemies were apprised of his attacking them; for he did not march by the river, but by land, where he gave a wonderful demonstration of his sagacity; for when the ground was difficult to be passed over, because of the multitude of serpents, (which it produces in vast numbers, and indeed, is singular in some of those productions, which other countries do not breed, and yet such as are worse than others in power and mischief, and an unusual fierceness of sight, some of which ascend out of the ground unseen, and also fly in the air, and so come upon men at unawares, and do them a mischief,) Moses invented a wonderful stratagem to preserve the army safe, and without hurt; for he made baskets, like unto arks, of sedge, and filled them with ibis [a kind of bird], and carried them along with them; which animal is the greatest enemy to serpents imaginable, for they fly from them when they come near them; and as they fly they are caught and devoured by them, as if it were done by the harts…”
Isaiah 14:29 “Do not rejoice, all you of Philistia, Because the rod that struck you is broken; For out of the serpent’s roots will come forth a viper, And its offspring will be a fiery flying serpent.
Isaiah 30:6 “…Through a land of trouble and anguish, From which came the lioness and lion, The viper and fiery flying serpent…”
Herodotus (the Father of History)
"There is a place in Arabia, situated very near the city of Buto, to which I went, on hearing of some winged serpents; and when I arrived there, I saw bones and spines of serpents, in such quantities as it would be impossible to describe. The form of the serpent is like that of the water-snake; but he has wings without feathers, and as like as possible to the wings of a bat."
"and the story goes that at the beginning of spring winged serpents from Arabia fly towards Egypt, and the birds called ibises meet them at the entrance of this country and do not suffer the serpents to go by but kill them. On account of this deed it is (say the Arabians) that the ibis has come to be greatly honored by the Egyptians, and the Egyptians also agree that it is for this reason that they honor these birds."
The ancient writers:
Aristotle, Philae, Aelianus, Ammianus, Mela, Solinus, Pliny the Younger, Cicero, anonymous 4th century Coptic monk, and the 13th century Armenian historian Matthew of Edessa
all referenced flying serpents.
Apocrypha: Bell and the Dragon
In this account, the Persians were worshipping a large “dragon” as a god. Daniel proved to them that it was not a god by feeding it poisoned grain and killing it. These slides are of the Ishtar Gates of Babylon. Notice the three types of repeating animals: a bull, a lion, & a Sirrush (dragon). Why would the Persians carve a mythical animal alongside two very real animals?
The ancient Greeks and Italians were also fully aware of dragons and have many mosaics, pottery, and other artwork depicting them, both on the land and in the sea. Here are a few examples.
The ancient Chinese (and surrounding provinces) were also very familiar with different types of dragons. They are described in their myths, made into statues, painted on their walls, imprinted on their temples, carved into figurines, and used in their zodiac among other real animals.
For hundreds of years, dragon bones, skin, horns, teeth, and blood was used to create medicine and magic, supposedly curing people of many types of illnesses.
Chinese dragon
1750 BC
Parasaurolophus
When Marco Polo traveled to Asia between AD 1271 and 1298, he chronicled nearly everything he witnessed. Within his writings, he recorded detailed descriptions of the types of dragons he personally witnessed.
"Leaving the city of Yachi, and traveling ten days in a westerly direction, you reach the province of Karazan, which is also the name of the chief city.... Here are seen huge serpents, ten paces in length (about 30 feet), and ten spans (about 8 feet) girt of the body. At the fore part, near the head, they have two short legs, having three claws like those of a tiger, with eyes larger than a forepenny loaf (pane da quattro denari) and very glaring."
“The jaws are wide enough to swallow a man, the teeth are large and sharp, and their whole appearance is so formidable, that neither man, nor any kind of animal can approach them without terror. Others are met with of a smaller size, being 8, 6, or 5 paces long; and the following method is used for taking them. In the day-time, by reason of great heat, they lurk in caverns, from whence, at night, they issue to seek their food, and whatever beast they meet with and can lay hold of, whether tiger, wolf, or any other, they devour…”
Marco Polo even reported that the emperor had specific families that would raise and train dragons to pull the emperor’s chariots (matching this artwork). There is a definite similarity between these Chinese dragons and the Sirrush of Babylon from above.
Both of which seem to match the dinosaur known as Silesaurus Opolensis. Keep in mind that most dinosaur fossils are just the skeletons of the dinosaurs and do not tell us about the skin, texture, the amount of fat on the animals, if there are any ears, skin folds, tufts of hair on the tail, etc.
In Angkor, Cambodia there is a Buddhist temple called Ta Prohm. It was dedicated in AD 1186. On the walls of the temple are many carvings, one of which strongly resembles a stegosaurus.
In Briton, between 341 and 336 BC a brave man named Morvidus was king, when a dragon appeared in his kingdom and started killing his people. Morvidus fought against it singlehandedly, according to Geoffrey of Monmouth (author of the History of the Kings of Briton), and after a long battle, the dragon lunged at Morvidus and consumed him.
Geoffrey described the animal as a type of dragon called a Belua, which:
"gulped down the body of Morvidus as a big fish swallows a little one".
In 330 BC, after Alexander the Great conquered India, he brought back reports of a great hissing dragon that lived in a cave.
Also, his Lieutenant Onesicritus reported that king Abisarus (from India) kept serpents that were 120 and 210 feet long.
Titus Livius Patavinus (64 or 59 BC – AD 17) known as Livy, was a Roman historian. He wrote that when the Roman army (under General Regulus) was in Africa the army was attacked by a dragon.
“After many soldiers had been seized in its mouth, and many more crushed by the folds of its tail, its hide being too thick for javelins and darts, the dragon was at last attacked by military engines and crushed by repeated blows from heavy stones.”
These next 4 slides below are from a 2nd century mosaic from Palestrina (just south of Rome) depicting wildlife from Egypt and Ethiopia. The animals are detailed and very clear to make out. There are birds of various types, camels, lions, elephants, hippos, and monkeys, among other animals. Notice the scene that has the three African men hunting a strange creature. The inscription above the animal reads “Crocodile-leopard”. But this is clearly not a crocodile. Not only does it not look like a crocodile but lower to the left on the mosaic there is a perfect depiction of a crocodile and it looks nothing like this animal. The only likely possibility is that they had given this animal a name implying a cross between these two animals. A cross between a leopard and a crocodile, possibly emphasizing the speed or claws of a leopard mixed with the reptilian characteristics of a crocodile. It seems similar to a dinosaur called Postosuchus.
In the reign of Emperor Diocletian, around the 4th century AD, St. George killed his first dragon in Libya, Africa. At first the pagan village people were trying to appease it by feeding it sheep. Eventually they drew lots to see who would send their own children as sacrifices.
Eventually, the lot fell to the king himself, who had his daughter tied to a stake. But before the dragon was able to eat the young woman, St. George came along and ran it through with his lance and took it into town where he killed it. The king and village then converted to Christianity. St. George killed other dragons as well.
Nothosaurus
Sometime between AD 600 and 700, the warrior Beowulf gives aid to king Hrothgar of the Danes. After killing two giants (Grendel and its mother), Beowulf eventually becomes king of the Geats. When his kingdom comes under attack by a dragon, Beowulf, who is now an old man, fights and kills the beast, but not before it fatally wounds him.
In the year AD 793, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles records ruthless attacks from the Vikings against Lindisfarne and the monastery at Jarrow. This was expected since:
“fierce foreboding omens mentioned by the chroniclers had been ignored– ‘whirlwinds, lightning storms and fiery dragons…seen flying in the sky.”
The Norse Vikings have several dragon legends in their writings, the most famous is probably of the Midgard Serpent.
The Vikings feared and respected these creatures to such an extent that they carved dragon figureheads onto the bow of their ships, in an attempt to keep Sea Dragons away.
The Vikings were not the only ones who were aware of what lurks in the Great Deep. For hundreds of years cartographers would place images of Sea Dragons on their maps, along with the words:
"Hic sunt dracones."
(“Here be Dragons”) for areas they believed dragons lived.
Throughout the Middle Ages, there were numerous accounts of knights and “saints” killing or encountering dragons.
European artwork is filled with examples of such beasts in the margins of ancient books, maps, flags, carvings, statues, tapestries, stain glass windows, and ancient bestiaries.
Here is a portion of a tapestry in the Chateau de Blois, in France,
(c. AD 1500), with what, very much, looks like a mother Tenontosaurus and her baby.
Again, the image below looks a little different, as fossils would not include the ears or colorization.
Beneath Carlisle Cathedral in northern England, lay the marble tomb of Bishop Bell, who died in AD 1496. Surrounding his grave are various types of plants and animals inlayed into the brass work. But there is one particular animal of interest to us. It would appear to be two sauropods fighting. Notice the interlocking necks. The image below is enhanced for clarification.
There are a people living in Mali, Africa known as the Dogon. Even as late as the 1800s, they have depicted their people with decorative figurines.
Some ride on horses, camels, or even alligators, but here we have a man riding atop of some other strange creature, looking very much like a kind of dinosaur.
But it is not just the “Old World” that has these creatures, we find evidence of such beasts in the Americas as well. Here is a Native American petroglyph under the Kachina Bridge, Utah.
Here at Agawa Rock, Lake Superior Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada we have a petroglyph of a canoe full of paddlers, two giant serpents, and Michi-Peshu, a horned monster. It looks similar to an Elginia Mirabilis, albeit much larger. Elginia Mirabilis is a small dinosaur only known from a few fossils, including the skull, making its length only about two feet long. But this fossil could have simply been a baby, not yet fully grown.
Discovered in Arizona (Wupatki National Park), this next petroglyph strongly resembles a fire-breathing dragon. Could the Native Americans have been killing dragons here while knights were killing them in Europe?
In AD 1673, Father Jacques Marquette discovered a large petroglyph that was painted on the side of a cliff at Alton, Illinois along the Mississippi River. It was a frightening creature, with a long tail, scales, four clawed feet, wings, and horns on it’s head. Apparently, the Indians were so terrified of the painting that they would shoot arrows at it whenever paddling by. The monster was called the Piasa bird (meaning a bird that devours men). As the story goes, this creature would fly down and carry people away to eat them. Many great men died trying to fight this dragon, but nonetheless, entire villages were eaten in this manner, until Chief Ouatoga had twenty of his men dip their arrows in poison and hide in the brush, while Ouatoga stood out in the open, offering himself to the beast. Ouatoga began singing a warrior chant, encouraging the creature to come out and get his meal, but before it could reach the chief, his men popped out of the bushes, shot their bows, and killed the creature. It then floated down the Mississippi, and the people eventually painted its image on the cliffside. Since this time, it has been painted over three times; most recently in 1998. There is much speculation on whether or not this “Piasa bird” is the famed “Thunder bird” of Indian myth, whose legend stretches almost the entire United States, among many Native American tribes.
Down in Mexico, we have the Mayan people, who were known for their artwork. This painting shows the presentation of various war captives to their ruler, Chaan Muan, along with some trophy heads. Each of these men are wearing an animal head on top of their own head. Take notice of the lower left corner where there is a man wearing a velociraptor head.
Here is another pictograph found on a rock ledge in the Amazon rain forest in northern Peru. It is said to be thousands of years old, by secular archeologists. It shows nine warriors with spears surrounding what appears to be a Sauropod dinosaur.
Amazingly, the 1940s American explorer Percy Fawcett, brought back reports of a large dinosaur-like creature from this same region of the Amazon.
Moche Indian tribes inhabited northern Peru about AD 100 - 800. Among the artifacts currently in the Lima museums are the Moche stirrup-spout pots, bearing dragon-like images. In Lima’s Larco Museum there are numerous ancient vases that quite clearly depict long-necked reptilian monsters with three or four toes, in some cases carrying a trophy head on their tail. These creatures bear a resemblance to those shown on the Ica stones, including the dermal frills. They have been dubbed “Strombus Monsters” because they are sometimes shown hiding in a Strombus shell.
Also in Peru, we find some of the famous Ica stones with depictions of Inca civilization, some have carvings of dinosaurs. Many archeologists today, claim these to be fakes and forgeries, because they have a preconceived belief that humans and dinosaurs never coexisted. As we can see from above, that is not the case. There are currently about 50,000 discovered stones, brought in by the local inhabitants.
