Air Force cheating scandal;
Indiana supermarket shooting;
Egypt referendum;
Bitcoin teller machine.

Job 39:26
“Doth the hawk fly by thy wisdom, and stretch her wings toward the south?”

Aphids are tiny creatures that are often tended – even protected – by ants. Like many creatures, aphids provide a wonderful testimony to God’s ability to create endless variations on a theme.

Aphids come in many different colors: white, red, green and yellow. Aphids look defenseless. Instead of relying on teeth or stingers, aphids rely on cleverness to protect themselves. Aphids have two spikes on their backs. These spikes are not for stinging, but for gluing. Ladybugs love to eat aphids. If a ladybug tries to eat the aphid, the aphid tries to position its spikes to glue the mouth of the hungry ladybug closed. Aphids that are not protected by ants have longer, more effective spikes.

Perhaps the most clever strategy aphids use to protect themselves is the “aphid kick.” When a group of aphids sitting on a plant feel threatened, they will kick their hind legs in unison. This seems to make the would-be predator think that something bigger is after him! But who organizes the aphids?

Nothing the Creator has made is unimportant. The simple fact that He created something means that it must be important to Him. You can be thankful that no matter what other people may think of you, God has made you – and that makes you important to Him. More than that, He loves His creation.

Notes: Joanne E. DeJonge. Bats and Bugs and Snakes and Slugs. Baker Book House, pp. 38-39.
Photo: Courtesy of Sanjay Acharya. Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

President Obama stresses education and innovation in North Carolina;
Apple agress to pay parents for kids downloads;
Violence continues in Iraq;
The "V" of air travel makes news.

House budget vote expected;
12-year-old shooting suspect in custody;
Fire on California island;
Judge strikes down Oklahoma same-sex marriage ban.

Barbara Walters, longtime broadcast journalist and television personality, said recently of Barack Obama, "We thought he was going to be the next Messiah" ("Barbara Walters on Obama," Piers Morgan Live, CNN, Dec. 17, 2013). This strange and pathetic statement is a testimony to the spiritual bankruptcy of the "mainstream media." Walters has hosted TV programs such as Today, The View, and 20/20, and co-anchored the ABC Evening News. When people reject the true Messiah, Jesus Christ, and God's divine revelation, the Bible, they will grasp at any straw. Atheists and agnostics can mock and rail at Bible-believing faith all they please; I'm glad to have a Messiah that is real and all-powerful and all-knowing, compassionate and able to save to the uttermost. One day He will set this tormented world right. Until then, He is giving undeserving sinners the opportunity to receive the gift of eternal salvation that He purchased on the cross. How foolish to reject the fountain of living waters for broken cisterns that can hold no water (Jeremiah 2:13). Before the true Messiah returns, a false messiah will appear as the greatest peace maker and the grandest problem solver of history. Having rejected the true Christ, the world stands ready to receive the false one.

(Friday Church News Notes, January 10, 2014, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

Job 37:16
“Dost thou know the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him which is perfect in knowledge?”

Most of us are familiar with the fact that our Earth is being observed by dozens of satellites that keep track of weather systems, natural resources, ocean currents, sunlight, climate and animal migrations which makes every crop grown anywhere on Earth able to be identified.

In 1995, a series of data-collecting satellites called EOS, for Earth Observing System, were put into operation and are able to monitor just about any weather, climate or atmospheric activity taking place on Earth. These satellites collect about one trillion bits of information per day. In less than its first week of operation, the amount of data gathered was greater than all the geoscience information recorded in human history! Scientists are beginning to wonder how they are going to organize all that information in a usable way.

Yet, even though the sheer quantity of data collected is greater than our ability to organize it, we might be reminded that this is but a tiny fraction of all the information that God created for the Earth system. More than ever, the EOS project brings us face to face with a Creator Who put that information into the Earth’s weather and geological systems in the first place. But more than that, He is able to handle all that information on a daily basis and maintain the most complex and delicately balanced system we call Earth.

Notes: Richard Monastersky. “Global Change: The Scientific Challenge.” Science News, Vol. 135. April 15, 1989, p. 233. Visit NASA’s Earth Observing System website.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

Christie's state-of-the-state;
Retired police officer charged in fatal theater shooting;
Officers acquitted in homeless death;
NV bears not hibernating.

Romans 11:33
“O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgements, and his ways past finding out!”

We all know that it takes time to plan even simple projects. But did you ever think about the planning that God had to do when He created all the different kinds of living things? How many plans did He make? A billion? A billion times a billion?

The first chapter of Genesis tells us that in just a few days God created all the different “kinds” of living things. It seems that He designed the genetic code within each “kind” to produce all the variations we designate as “species.” Just think, there are more than twenty thousand different species of bees, these are the bee kind. There are over seven thousand species of segmented worms, the worm kind. 
    
The numbers and the beauty of it all make one wonder at God. Why are there more than four thousand different species of sponges? Why are some creatures, never seen by man until this century, so eerily beautiful? For that matter, why do we have so many different kinds of beautiful flowers?

The variety in the creation reflects some of the joy of creating that God felt as He made the world. This variety shows us the incredible creativity of our wonderful God. And amidst all this, the fact that there is only one species of man – all related – helps confirm the history of man given to us in the Bible.

Notes: Close-up photos of several types of bees can be seen at this University of Minnesota webpage.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

NJ legislature intensifying probe of Fort Lee traffic jam;
WV starts lifting tap water ban;
Pilots grounded in Southwest Airlines landing error;
Israel says goodbye to Ariel Sharon.

Israel mourns Ariel Sharon;
Plane lands at wrong airport;
West Virginians wait for water;
Rodman says he's sorry.

When CCM singer Josh Wilson got stuck at the Newark airport on January 2 last year and decided to entertain his fellow travelers, he didn't choose a hymn. Instead, he led them in a rousing rendition of the Beatles' "Hey Jude" (www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_awnM6WnAo). Wilson is a touring partner on Steven Curtis Chapman's 2014 tour, and we believe it is absolutely unconscionable for Christian musicians to encourage an appetite for Beatles' music. That most of them do it is evidence of the extreme worldliness of CCM. It's true that "Hey Jude" isn't wild rock & roll. It doesn't scream out, "Let's commit immorality and use drugs and break laws." It's a soft rock ditty, the lyrics of which are typically ambiguous, saying nothing and anything. Author Paul McCartney says he wrote it for John Lennon's son Julian on the occasion of Lennon's cruel action of leaving his first wife Cynthia for Yoko Ono, but John Lennon said it sounded like it was written for him, and other people believe it was written for them, and the listener can read into it his or her own situation in life, whatever it might be. Rock & roll isn't about thinking; it's about emoting. It's blind mysticism. It's the sound track to end-time global apostasy. To promote anything by the Beatles is to promote the Beatles, and no rock band has had a more spiritually-destructive influence. This is no light matter. The Beatles were doubtless controlled by the "god of this world" as they captured the affection of a generation with their "magical mystery" music and carried millions of young people along on their journey to free sex, unisex, easy divorce, eastern religion, atheism, drug abuse, and rebellion against law and order. In his 1965 book, A Spaniard in the Works, John Lennon called Jesus Christ wicked things that we cannot repeat. He viciously blasphemed the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In the song "God" (1970), Lennon sang: "I don't believe in Bible. I don't believe in Jesus. I just believe in me, Yoko and me, that's reality." Lennon's extremely popular song "Imagine" (1971) promotes atheism and a global New Age unity. The lyrics say: "Imagine there's no heaven ... No hell below us, above us only sky ... no religion too/ You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one/ I hope someday you'll join us, and the world will live as one." How many millions of people throughout the world have followed John Lennon in this dream? Yet time will prove that it is actually the most horrible nightmare imaginable. The Beatles' influence is unabated. On January 27, the 50th anniversary of their 1964 appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show will be celebrated by "The Night That Changed America" extravaganza by the Grammys. Indeed, it was a night that changed America and the entire globe, and it was entirely to the glory of the god of this world and the furtherance of the "mystery of iniquity" (2 Thessalonians 2:7). To every contemporary Christian musician who promotes the Beatles I commend the following Scriptures, which are anything but ambiguous: "And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them" (Ephesians 5:11). "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? ... Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you..." (2 Corinthians 6:14-15, 17).

(Friday Church News Notes, January 10, 2014, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

Matthew 13:39
“The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.”

The ability to control someone else’s will is the stuff of classic horror movies. Thankfully, science has never devised a way whereby one person can take over another person’s will and control their every action. But there is a certain parasitic wasp that may, in fact, be able to control the actions of the aphid that it uses.

This tiny, parasitic wasp injects its eggs into the body of the aphid. The larval wasps are nourished by the aphid’s body. Aphids do not like this and some will actually commit suicide after they have been injected with eggs. Others, according to scientists, seem to follow the commands of the tiny wasp parasites within them. Aphids, carrying wasp eggs that will require hibernation over winter, often leave their plants to die in a protected spot. There the young wasps will have the best chance of making it through the winter. Aphids carrying eggs that will hatch before winter remain on their plants to die to provide the best place for the young wasps to start their adult life.

Jesus Christ pointed out that until He returns to this world, His enemy and ours, the devil, will try to get us to follow his evil commands. But unlike the aphids, we have a way out of his control because of what Jesus Christ Himself has done for our salvation.

Notes: R. Weiss. “Dying Aphids obey wasp’s commands.” Science News, April 15, 1989.
Photo: Courtesy of Sarefo. Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

Iran and 6 world powers agree to nuclear deal;
Iraqi violence leave at least 20 dead;
Israelis pay respect to Sharon;
Supply ship arrives at International Space Station.

Nothing more dramatically shows the moral downfall of America and the rise to power of the forces of darkness and the onslaught of end-time apostasy than the legalization of "same-sex marriage." In a mere nine years, the practice has been legalized in 18 states and the District of Columbia. Three of these were by majority vote of the citizens, seven were by act of state legislatures, and eight were by judicial fiat based on mythical concepts not found in the U.S. Constitution. Following are the states: Massachusetts (May 17, 2004), Connecticut (Nov. 12, 2008), Iowa (Apr. 24, 2009), Vermont (Sep. 1, 2009), District of Columbia (Dec. 18, 2009), New Hampshire (Jan. 1, 2010), New York (July 24, 2011), Washington (Dec. 9, 2012), Maine (December 29, 2012), Maryland (Jan. 1, 2013), California (June 28, 2013), Delaware (July 1, 2013), Minnesota (Aug. 1, 2013), Rhode Island (Aug. 1, 2013), New Jersey (Oct. 21, 2013), Hawaii (Dec. 2, 2013), New Mexico (Dec. 19, 2013), Utah (Dec. 20, 2013), and Illinois (law to take effect June 1, 2014).

(Friday Church News Notes, January 10, 2014, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon dies at age 85;
West Virginia chemical spill threatens residents' clean tap water;
Dallas group set to auction right to shoot black rhino;
Alex Rodriguez suspended.

In 2013 the first book-less public library in America opened in Bexar County, Texas. The $2.3 million library's book collection is entirely digital. It features rows of iMacs and iPads for in-house browsing and hundreds of tablet computers and eReaders for checkout. Bexar County's BiblioTech library hosts a steady stream of visitors from other states and from as far away as Hong Kong to learn from the experiment and to gain ideas for local applications. eBooks and eBook readers didn't catch on until Amazon produced the Kindle in late 2007. The sale of eBooks was almost flat before that, but by 2008 sales increased to $100 million and by 2012 that number was $1.3 billion. The hugely popular Apple iPad, which was released in 2010 and had sold 121 million units by the first quarter of 2013, provided a further massive surge in the popularity of eBooks. In addition to being an all purpose tablet computer, the iPad is an excellent eBook reader with a wide variety of reader applications available for every format of eBook. I love a printed book as much as anyone, having built a 6,000-volume personal library, but I do most of my reading digitally today. When I travel or just stop somewhere for a cup of coffee or whatever, I can carry hundreds of books, including a serious Bible study library, instead of the one or two books I was limited to in the past. It is my habit to underline and annotate books as I read, and I can do all of that and more with eBooks. There are downsides to eBooks compared to print books, but like it or not, Bexar County's BiblioTech library is the future.

(Friday Church News Notes, January 10, 2014, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

Chemical spill shuts down much of W.Va. Capital;
Activists: Nearly 500 dead in Syria rebel clashes;
Target: Data breach caught up to 70M customers;
Pro Football Hall of Fame finalists announced.

More Christie documents to be released;
A chemical spill in West Virginia;
Hundreds mourn a slain Venezuelan beauty queen;
A trucker is rescued from freezing temperatures.

In legalizing recreational marijuana use, Colorado and Washington state are engaged in a foolish experiment that will have terrible repercussions. (Colorado's law has been called "a springboard for other states.") I know the repercussions of this all too well, having been a drinker and drug user before I was saved. I began drinking at age 16 and it had a fearful effect on my youth, reinforcing and amplifying a teenager's innate sense of lawlessness and indestructibility. Stationed in Vietnam in the Army in 1970-71, I became a marijuana user. After I was discharged, I was immersed in the hippy rock & roll drug culture, joining a large percentage of my generation on the Beatles' very stupid Magical Mystery Tour. Liquor is a powerful, transformational drug, but marijuana changed my thinking more than liquor. It is a psychoactive drug with hallucinogenic properties. It is not an innocent play thing. It can mess with the depths of a man's soul. Not everyone has bad experiences with the drug, but a lot do. It affects people differently, but depression, intense anxiety, and paranoid fear are common side effects, and acute psychosis is not infrequent. It has often been labeled a "gateway" drug, and it was definitely that for me. It removed inhibitions and led to the use of other drugs. The American Medical Association has warned that "cannabis is a dangerous drug and as such is a public health concern. ... Heavy cannabis use in adolescence causes persistent impairments in neuro-cognitive performance and IQ, and use is associated with increased rates of anxiety, mood, and psychotic-thought disorders." The nation is already filled with people who are addicted to liquor and drugs. What folly to encourage even more of this. Public polls show that there has been a dramatic increase in support for the legalization of marijuana in recent years, but this is not driven by properly informed wisdom. It is driven by the influence of the pop culture, the entertainment industry, an educational system devoted to moral relativism, a society that celebrates scofflaws, and the gross lack of wisdom typically reflected in mainstream media reporting. "The wise in heart will receive commandments: but a prating fool shall fall. ... It is as sport to a fool to do mischief: but a man of understanding hath wisdom. ... The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise. ... A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil: but the fool rageth, and is confident. ... A reproof entereth more into a wise man than an hundred stripes into a fool" (Proverbs 10:8, 23; 12:15; 14:16; 17:10).

(Friday Church News Notes, January 10, 2014, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

Proverbs 17:17
“A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.”

Creation Moments has often talked about the social activities of bees, and we tend to think that all bees live together in large colonies or hives. In fact, not all of them do. Like people, bees can actually be found in a variety of social relationships, including those who live most of their lives alone.

Some female bees of a species that live underground build their homes next to another female. They often connect their separate underground homes with a tunnel so they can visit each other. Sometimes they even lay their eggs near each other and raise their young together. Often one female will babysit both sets of young while the other goes out for groceries.

The almost universal need for companionship among living things should tell us something about the One Who created them. Our need for companionship should tell us that this is something that our Creator values too. In fact, the message throughout the Bible is that He made mankind so He would have someone to love.

Is He your number-one companion in your life? Do you know His love for you through His Son, Jesus Christ? Whether you don’t know Him at all, or whether you would like to know Him better, most Christians can attest to the fact that He really does speak to you through the pages of the Bible.

Notes: Joanne E. DeJonge, Bats & Bugs & Snakes & Slugs (Baker Book House), p. 60.
Photo: Courtesy of Alvesgaspar. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

NJ Gov. Christie says he didn't know of traffic jam plan, fires top aide;
Pentagon Chief visits nuke missile base;
Bombing kills 21 in Iraq;
VA company launches cargo ship to space station.

Rodman's apology;
Christie calls bridge lane closure inappropriate;
Obama's NSA changes;
South America heat wave.

Exodus 12:15
“Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.”

Probably the first thing that comes to your mind when yeast is mentioned is its use in making bread. Even three and a half thousand years ago, when Israel left Egypt, yeast was in common use.

Physicists at AT&T Bell Laboratories have learned that yeast has yet another amazing ability. For years, scientists have tried to make semi-conducting crystals for modern electronics that are as small as individual molecules. But scientists had difficulty making such crystals consistently small enough. Now they know that yeast can do it. When fed cadmium sulfide, yeasts try to detoxify the metal and in the process, produce precisely those tiny electronic crystals scientists have been looking for. Someday you may bake bread made with yeast in a microwave oven that is controlled by a computer containing tiny electronic parts also made by yeast!

Because the Bible is a real-life book that tells about a real-life God – the true God – we should not be surprised to learn that the Creator is interested in man’s real-life everyday activities. We can also explore what He has created, always expecting to learn some new thing that He has placed in His creation to help us. But the most important thing we can learn is how excellent and true is the real life-saving Word of our Creator for us today!

Notes: F. Flam. “Semiconductor studies get a rise from yeast.” Science News, April 15, 1989, p. 231.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com