On January 12, an army of law enforcement personnel and other government authorities in Hot Springs, Arkansas, removed seven children from the home of a “former pastor,” apparently for the presence of Master Miracle Solution (MMS) in the home. (For more about MMS, see the next report.) Heavily armed state troopers, sheriffs, and DHS agents descended on the home of an unsuspecting Hal and Michelle Stanley to execute a search warrant based on an anonymous tip. It is said that thirteen government officials were involved in this heavy-handed action. After finding the MMS, the officials took the children into custody. Ten days later, a judge found sufficient cause to keep them in custody, and the next hearing was scheduled for February 12. The Stanleys are Bible-believing Christians of some kind, home schoolers, home churches, Tea Party promoters, and self-professed “preppers” who grow their own food and are preparing for some type of end-times catastrophe. We don’t know their doctrinal stance or how far they take their “prepping” or what their attitude is toward government, except that we are told that “they avoid most contact with the government” (“Judge Refused to Allow Stanley Family Children to Go Home,” medicalkidnap.com, Feb. 9, 2015). Hal Stanley has five children by a former marriage and nine by his current wife. Two of the nine are in college. One of his older sons is an agnostic who has criticized the family. The Stanleys are definitely caught up in every type of “extremism,” at least in the eyes of modern society, and MMS has every sign of quackery. (See our new book The Bible and Diet, available in print and free eBook editions from www.wayoflife.org.) But this is no justification for the removal of children from what appears to be a caring, God-fearing home on a flimsy charge. No evidence has been given that the children were “poisoned” or abused. Hal Stanley told officials that he is the only one who took MMS, and hopefully that is true. I am convinced that MMS is complete quackery, but even if the entire family were taking MMS, the current action amounts to government thuggery. To our knowledge, no one has died consuming MMS, but large numbers of people have died from government-approved medical therapies. We think of the horrible side effects of government-approved cancer therapies. The fundamental issue here is how much power the government should have over people’s lives and who has authority over the children. There is zero evidence that the government is capable of caring for children better than loving parents, even loving parents with some quacky but apparently non-destructive ideas. The U.S. government is quickly becoming an enemy to the very type of people who founded the nation.

(Friday Church News Notes, February 6, 2015, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

1 Kings 9:15
"And this is the reason of the levy which king Solomon raised; for to build the house of the LORD, and his own house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer."

Secular archaeologists usually assume that the historical statements found in Scripture are overstatements or simply incorrect. It was with this attitude that archaeologists approached the ruins of Hazor to see if they could tell whether Solomon actually did add to the wall of Hazor and build other structures there, as the Bible says. Hazor was an important city on the primary military and trade routes between Israel and Phoenicia, Syria, Mesopotamia and Egypt.

Hazor had been destroyed by Joshua when Israel took possession of the Promised Land. Over the following centuries, the site began to be inhabited by Israelites. By Solomon's time, the city reached a size of about 10 acres and was home to between 800 and 1,000 people. Archaeologists found that sometime during the reign of Solomon, the city wall was expanded, doubling the size. Other buildings also were added at this time. Excavations show that at Solomon's time the city was prosperous. The city's six chambered gate is typical of the gates Israel built at this time. Gates of the same design also exist at Megiddo and Gezer, two other cities named as being fortified by Solomon, according to the same verse that mentions the fortification of Hazor!

Again, the Bible has been vindicated as presenting accurate history. We can be equally sure that the Bible's account of creation is accurate because the Bible is God's Word.

Notes: "Solomon's City Rises from the Ashes," Biblical Archaeology Review, 3 4/99.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

Isaiah 52:10
"The LORD hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God."

Historians have dismissed many allegedly ancient maps as modern forgeries because the maps show features that the ancients supposedly knew nothing about. Among the more credible ancient maps are 20 variations of ancient Chinese maps that may be as much as 4,000 years old. Some of these maps are held in museums around the world. What's more, the maps accurately record features all over the world!

One of the more well-known maps is the circular Harris map. China is depicted in the center of the map, surrounded by the rest of the world. The map does contain labels for many features around the world. Early Chinese mapmakers were fond of naming a land after a distinctive creature found there. For example, Australia – which is accurately depicted as being south of China – is called "Land of the Fire Rat people." This is thought to be a reference to the red kangaroo, which is common there. North America is described fairly accurately as being about 3,300 miles east to west and north to south. Ancient Chinese mapmakers were fascinated with the Columbia River system of the American Northwest because on a map it looks like the Chinese characters for the word "dragon." Because of this feature, the map calls North America "Uncle Dragon Country."

The claims that 4,000 years ago man could not have known this much about the world are based on evolution. As more becomes known, the facts of history are combining with the facts of science to disprove evolution.

Notes: Across Before Columbus?, pp. 279 282.
Photo: A Chinese topographic map dated to the early Western Han period (183-168 BC). (PD)
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“Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore has released a letter to Gov. Robert Bentley saying that he intends to continue to recognize the state's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage and urging the governor to do so. Moore’s office released the three-page letter that was delivered to the governor this morning in response to a federal judge’s ruling Friday striking down the ban. ... Bentley issued a statement today after Moore’s letter was released. ‘The people of Alabama voted in a constitutional amendment to define marriage as being between man and woman. As governor, I must uphold the Constitution. I am disappointed in Friday’s ruling, and I will continue to oppose this ruling. The Federal government must not infringe on the rights of states.’ Moore said the ruling by U.S. District Judge Callie V.S. ‘Ginny’ Granade ‘raised serious, legitimate concerns about the propriety of federal court jurisdiction’ over the Alabama amendment. ‘As you know, nothing in the United States Constitution grants the federal government the authority to redefine the institution of marriage,’ Moore wrote. ... Moore included a biblical passage in his letter, Mark 10:6-9, which describes God's directive about marriage.”

Mike Cason, “Alabama Chief Justice,” www.al.com, Jan. 27, 2015

Jeremiah 31:2
"Thus saith the LORD, The people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest."

What do you do when food resources are scarcer than normal for an extended period of time? People not getting enough nutrition lose weight and eventually muscle mass. It would really make more sense to proportionately shrink your body size. After all, children require fewer calories than adults. It appears that this is just what marine iguanas and perhaps some other reptiles actually do.

Researchers studying the marine iguanas of the Galapagos Islands found that sometimes individuals appeared to get smaller. For 18 years they simply blamed measurement error. Then one of the scientists studied the 18 year record of measurements and realized that something was really happening. During an El Niño weather pattern, when the algal beds offered less food for the iguanas, individuals shrank in size. In addition, the largest males showed the greatest amount of shrinking. If connective tissue alone was shrinking, the iguanas would only shrink by ten percent. But large males were shrinking by as much as 20 percent during a two year long El Niño. This means that even their bones must shrink! More research showed that the more an individual shrank, the better its chance of survival.

Iguanas need only concern themselves with survival in this life. As human beings, we need to be concerned about the next life as well. We can thank God that He has provided eternal life for us through Jesus Christ.

Notes: "Famine reveals incredible shrinking iguanas," Science News, 1/8/00, pp. 20 21.
Photo: Courtesy of Bjørn Christian Tørrissen. (CC-BY-SA 4.0)
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An official of the Kurdistan Democratic Party in Mosul, Iraq, told IraqiNews.com, “ISIS militants blew up today large parts and expanses of the archaeological wall of Nineveh in al-Tahrir neighborhood” (“ISIS destroys large parts of Nineveh historical wall,” Archaeology News Network, Feb. 2, 2015). It was possibly the walls and gates that have been reconstructed on original foundations that were blown up by the Islamic State. Nineveh was founded in the 23rd century BC during the era of the Tower of Babel by Asshur, a confederate with Nimrod, and about 1,500 years later it was glorified by Sennacherib, king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. In his day, Nineveh’s massive outer walls were about 7.5 miles long, 50 feet high, 50 feet thick, and pierced by 15 great fortified gates. Water was brought from up to 40 miles away by an aqueduct and a series of canals to irrigate beautiful parks, gardens, and fountains. Sennacherib built an extravagant 71-room “palace without rival” filled with amazing statues and with walls lined with carved stone depicting hunting and military scenes. It was Sennacherib who, after mocking Jehovah God and threatening Israel’s king Hezekiah, woke up one morning to find that his army had been slain by the angel of the Lord. He went back to his palace and died at the hands of his own sons while worshiping his god in 681 BC. In 612 BC, Nineveh was destroyed by an alliance of armies led by Nabopolassar of Babylon, father of Nebuchadnezzar. During excavations by the famous British archaeologist Henry Layard in the mid-19th century, many artifacts were excavated from Sennacherib’s palace and transported to the British Museum, where they can be seen today. For more about the fascinating ancient kingdoms, see Bible Times & Ancient Kingdoms, available from www.wayoflife.org.

(Friday Church News Notes, February 6, 2015, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

Acts 14:2
"But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles, and made their minds evil affected against the brethren."

The hooded pitohuis is an evil-smelling, blue jay sized bird that is native to New Guinea. The bird has been known to science since 1827, but they held a secret that only began to be uncovered in 1989.  

An American graduate student made the discovery while studying another local bird – the bird of paradise. Unfortunately, hooded pitohuis kept getting caught in his nets. As he released the unwanted pitohuis, they would claw and peck at him. After he released the birds, he licked the wounds they had caused. As a result, his mouth began to burn and finally became numb for several hours. This led the graduate student to send dead hooded pitohuis to the National Institutes of Health for further study. The poison they produce was finally identified as one of the most poisonous substances known. It is hundreds of times more poisonous than strychnine. The amount of poison in one bird can kill 500 mice. Most amazing is that only one other creature produces the same poison, the poison dart frog of Central America.

Those who believe in evolution maintain that the ability to produce the poison must have evolved twice. But it's not that simple. Not only do both bird and frog, half a world apart, have to evolve this unlikely ability twice, but they both had to evolve immunity to their own poison. Ultimately, evolution is a faith. It is a faith that is poisonous to Christianity because it makes death natural rather than a result of the first Adam's sin. And without the fact of the first Adam, there is no need for the Second Adam, Jesus Christ.

Notes: Natural History, 2/94, pp. 4 8.
Photo: Courtesy of Berichard. (CC-BY-SA 2.0)
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“Mr. and Mrs. Politically Correct have laid down the law at City University of New York, where gender-specific salutations are now a no-no. School officials sent out a memo barring professors and other staffers within the graduate program from addressing students with titles like ‘Mr.’ and ‘Mrs.,’ according to the Wall Street Journal. ... ‘Effective Spring 2015, the (graduate center’s) policy is to eliminate the use of gendered salutations and references in correspondence to students, prospective students, and third parties,’ read the memo to employees. ‘Accordingly, Mr. and Ms. should be omitted from salutations.’ While the directive specifically targets written interactions with students and prospective students, Tanya Domi, a spokesperson for the school told the newspaper that the policy should be ‘interpreted as broadly as possible.’”

“New York college bans,” Fox News, Jan. 29, 2015

Psalm 71:17
"O God, thou hast taught me from my youth: and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works."

St. John's wort or Klamath weed is not native to North America. Until it was brought from Europe in colonial times, North American insects had never seen the plant. St. John's wort quickly spread because it was poisonous and thus not eaten by most insects. The plant manufactures a poison called hypericin that is activated by light. This poison is powerful enough to kill even livestock that might be foolish enough to eat it.

But there are several types of insects that not only eat St. John's wort, but thrive on it. Some beetles, larvae of moths and butterflies and leaf miners munch happily away on the plant. No, they're not immune to the poison. Instead, they have figured out how to prevent light from activating the poison. The leaf miners chew tunnels inside the leaves, staying out of direct sunlight. The moth and butterfly larvae use a similar approach. Some even tunnel inside the stem. A European beetle and its larvae also eat the plant. Adult European Beetles have a thick shell that shelters their bodies from the light. Their larvae eat St. John's wort only at night, and then, before the sun comes up, they burrow into the ground.

If evolution were true, these insects would have had only a few centuries to identify how the poison works and evolve a counter to it. It clearly makes more scientific sense to conclude that God taught these creatures what they needed to know to eat St. John's wort without harm.

Notes: Bombardier Beetles and Fever Trees, William Agosta, pp. 12 15.
Photo: Courtesy of fir0002 | flagstaffotos.com.au. (CC-Noncommercial Unported 3.0)
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The large GracePointe Church near Nashville has changed its stance on “gay Christianity.” After country music star Carrie Underwood, who attends GracePointe, spoke in favor of “gay marriage” in 2012, the pastor led the church in a three-year process of “listening on the topic of sexual orientation and identity.” Though the issue has been settled in Scripture for thousands of years and Bible-believing churches since the apostles have universally treated homosexuality as a sin to be repented of, the very modern senior pastor Stan Mitchell has led GracePointe to accept homosexuals into “the full privileges of membership,” including “being able to serve in leadership.” It is yet another example of how that the ears of this generation itch for new things, and there are heaps of teachers willing to scratch that itch (2 Timothy 4:3-4). Mitchell said that the responsibility for homosexual church members will be the same as for heterosexual members, which includes “holiness and godliness,” thus calling good evil and evil good. No amount of “listening” and cunning exegesis can change the Bible’s simple and clear teaching that marriage is limited to one man and one woman and that any sexual relationship apart from sacred marriage is sin before God. “Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge” (Hebrews 13:4). Mitchell framed the issue in terms of “love.” If we love the homosexual, we are supposed to sympathize with his condition rather than sit in judgment on him. In fact, the issue is love, but the first direction of our love must be toward God, as per His first law, and toward His infallible Word which cuts against the grain of this proud generation. Further, the call for sinners to repent is the truest definition of love, for this makes it possible for them to have a right relationship with God. Mitchell also framed the issue in terms of inclusion. He said, that “inclusion means that we can live together in agreement and disagreement.” That is not what Paul taught the churches. “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be NO DIVISIONS among you; but that ye be PERFECTLY JOINED TOGETHER IN THE SAME MIND and in the same judgment” (1 Cor. 1:10). There is no unity in diversity here. We don’t know what the long-term effect will be at GracePointe, but in the short-term, Time magazine reports (“Nashville Evangelical Church Comes Out for Marriage Equality,” Jan. 29, 2015) that the church’s attendance and offering are half of what they were before the announcement.

(Friday Church News Notes, February 6, 2015, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

The following was sent to me by Pastor Steve Rogers, pastorsteverogers@gmail.com: “The music drift continues in ‘fundamentalism’ as Bob Jones University, under new head Steve Pettit, hosted the men’s music group Cantus for their Artist Series, Jan. 27, 2015. I called the school because I have friends and family that attend BJU, but no one would talk to me and my call has not been returned. Cantus’ web site contains information about the performers. Tenor Zachary Colby says the person he most admires is Oprah Winfrey. Tenor Blake Morgan said that his idea of a great evening is ‘sunsets and craft beer’ and he is ‘a huge fan of vocal jazz.’ Tenor Aaron Humble is a homosexual who commutes from Minneapolis, where he works, to Seattle, where his ‘husband’ lives with their two cats. Tenor Shahzore Shah lives in Saint Paul with his ‘husband,” and his most admired living person is Thich Nhat Nanh, a Zen Buddhist master.”

CONCLUDING NOTE FROM BRO. CLOUD: Someone wrote to Pastor Rogers with the following comment: “It is common knowledge that BJU has always had secular artist groups in as part of their Artist Series. This is hardly a ‘drift’ as it has been going on for decades. The University has a liberal arts philosophy that exposes the students to various classical expressions of art and culture. Whether you agree with it or not, it is nothing new and unsaved classical performers have always come to the campus for these events. ... I believe the leadership also uses it as an opportunity to give the gospel to these accomplished performers.” In response to that I would say that I truly doubt that BJU has had open homosexuals with “husbands” as performers before. Therefore, this probably does represent a further drift and a sad milestone for the school. And though the “art” thing might explain their action, it doesn't justify it before God. Sharing the gospel (assuming they do that) does not justify bringing unbelievers and mockers of God’s holy laws on campus to entertain Bible students. “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them” (Ephesians 5:11).

(Friday Church News Notes, February 6, 2015, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

Ezekiel 32:2
"Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say unto him, Thou art like a young lion of the nations, and thou art as a whale in the seas: and thou camest forth with thy rivers, and troubledst the waters with thy feet, and fouledst their rivers."

If the biblical account of history is true, then man and dinosaurs lived at the same time. Some believe that this accounts for the almost universal legends of dragons. In many parts of the world, these legends were passed orally from generation to generation. Unfortunately, it takes only a few hundred years for such legends to become distorted. America was already a country when Europeans got around to settling in Australia. There they found that the local Aborigines had oral accounts of monsters. The Aboriginal people insisted these were real flesh-and-blood creatures.

Aborigines in the northern and eastern parts of Australia tell of the burrunjor. Their descriptions matched that of the allosaurus. As late as 1961 in this part of Australia a tracker reported a bipedal reptile 25 feet long. Aborigines in central Australia tell of the kulta, which is described very much like a diplodocus or apatosaurus. Like these dinosaurs, kulta lived in swamps and ate plants. Cave drawings in northern Australia depict similar creatures. Aborigines refused to settle on Lake Galilee in western Queensland because a monster lived in the lake. This creature, which they called a bunyip, sounds like a plesiosaur.

The fact that the Aboriginal descriptions so accurately match dinosaurs known to the rest of the world show that these are recent memories – exactly what we would expect if the biblical history is accurate.

Notes: "Australia's aborigines ... did they see dinosaurs?" Creation, 12/98 2/99, p. 27.
Photo: Allosaurus model in Bałtów, Poland. Courtesy of Jakub Hałun. (CC-BY-SA 3.0).
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The late astronomer Edwin Hubble said, “Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure Science” (The Nature of Science, 1954). To our knowledge, Dr. Hubble made no profession of faith in Christ, so he did not even begin to understand what an adventure science can be. Before I was saved I enjoyed reading. I read widely, and I was interested in many things, but there was something missing in a deep, fundamental way. Learning wasn't really an adventure. It was interesting and even exciting at times, but overall the study of life was confusing, discouraging, and disappointing. Two thoughts came to me frequently in those days: Who can know for sure what is true? And what does it matter if I learn many things, since I am going to die? But since I have been saved, everything has been different. I have the “key” to learning, which is the knowledge of the true God in Jesus Christ and the possession of His Revelation in the Bible. I have been “called out of darkness into his marvellous light” (1 Peter 2:9). Now, learning is indeed an adventure. No matter what I study, from human history to natural science, I have light to interpret the subject properly, and I have the motivation to do so because I know the Creator, and I know that I have eternal life. Everything I learn about life points me to God, and that makes everything an adventure. Johannes Kepler, discoverer of the laws of planetary motion, understood this. Like most of the fathers of modern science, he believed in the God of the Bible and in divine creation, and he said, “I was merely thinking God’s thoughts after him. Since we astronomers are priests of the highest God in regard to the book of nature, it benefits us to be thoughtful, not of the glory of our minds, but rather, above all else, of the glory of God.”

(Friday Church News Notes, January 23, 2015, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

Matthew 28:19
"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:"

It has long been debated whether Christopher Columbus or Leif Eriksson was the first European explorer to discover America. But it's beginning to look as though this debate is beside the point. One surprising clue is found in inscriptions in West Virginia. These inscriptions are in a language called Ogam. Ogam is a written, alphabetical language in which the orientation of vertical and angled lines to a central horizontal line determines each character. The inscriptions were made sometime between the early sixth and late eighth centuries A.D., almost a thousand years before Columbus.

The form of Ogam writing used in the inscriptions found in West Virginia was developed by the ancient Irish Celts. How did ancient Celtic writing find its way into West Virginia only six or seven centuries after Christ? The answer may be in the inscriptions. Each inscription offers a Christian message! One reads: "The season of the blessed advent of the Savior, Lord Christ." It has been suggested that the writers were Irish monks who, in obedience to the Great Commission, set off to make disciples of the American Indians.

In previous programs we have looked at some evidence that people in the Old World commonly had knowledge of the New World before the Dark Ages. We are also planning more such programs. These inscriptions may easily be a sign of Christian missionary work in the New World.

Notes: "Ogam Inscriptions in West Virginia?" Science Frontiers, William Corliss, p.31.
Illustration: Wikipedia.
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President Barack Obama’s unwavering support for the murder of unborn children is again on display by his administration’s opposition to a bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks. The White House called it an “assault on a woman’s right to choose” and “oppressive.” Bill H.R. 36 was introduced by Sen. Trent Franks (R-AZ) and has broad support, with nearly 160 co-sponsors. The White House Office of Management and Budget opined, “Women should be able to make their own choices about their bodies and their health care, and government should not inject itself into decisions best made between a woman and her doctor.” Abortion is not about a woman’s body; it is about a baby’s body. And the hypocritical Obama administration has no qualms about injecting itself into anyone’s private business when it wants to. With the new Republican-controlled congress at the helm, the next two years will probably be known as the presidential veto years. The Christian News Network reports, “The majority of children who are aborted after 20 weeks gestation lose their lives through a procedure known as dilation and evacuation (D&E). Dilation and evacuation involves first administering medication that will stop the baby’s heart from beating. The mother’s cervix is then dilated and the baby is removed piece by piece with forceps. According to reports, the abortionist assembles the baby’s body parts on a tray to ensure that nothing is left behind” (“Obama Administration Opposes Bill,”Christian News Network, Jan. 21, 2015).

(Friday Church News Notes, January 23, 2015, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

1 Corinthians 2:7
"But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:"

One of the common methods of finding the age of rocks, and ultimately the age of the Earth, measures the decay of radioactive uranium into lead – the more lead, the older the rock. The method, however, makes some very big assumptions. First, scientists assume there was no lead in the rock when it first formed, but this is unprovable. Then, they assume that rocks are like locked vaults and that no uranium, lead, or the in between decay elements can ever enter or leave the rock.

The fact is, numerous scientific studies show all these assumptions are wrong. Studies have shown that commonly dated rock material can have lead in it as it crystallizes. Other studies have shown that lead, uranium and the other elements important for dating can be removed from the rock by simple weathering or other conditions. In other words, while evolutionary scientists compare rocks to locked vaults, we are learning they are more like sponges. This explains why evolutionary dating methods have found, for example, one part of a rock to be 30 times older than another part of the same rock.

The next time you hear someone say that certain rocks or the fossils in them are millions or billions of years old, just remember that rocks are not like vaults. They are more like sponges that gain or lose elements, making accurate dating impossible. There is no good scientific evidence that the Earth is any older than the few thousand years indicated by the Bible.

Notes: Impact [ICR], 1/00.
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On a recent trip to Israel, John Baird, Canadian Foreign Minister, was unapologetic for his country’s support for the Jewish state. Baird said, “People may disagree with our position with respect to Israel, but so be it. It’s always wise to speak with moral clarity” (“Canada’s FM: A Jewish State today is more important than even a few years ago,” Times of Israel, Jan. 21, 2015). When Baird visited Palestinian-controlled Ramallah, he was booed and shoes and eggs were hurled at him. Saeb Erekat, former chief Palestinian “peace” negotiator, said Baird should apologize to the Palestinian people for his country’s support of Israel. America and Canada are among the few countries that recognize Israel as a Jewish state.

(Friday Church News Notes, January 23, 2015, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

Psalm 141:2
"LORD, I cry unto thee: make haste unto me; give ear unto my voice, when I cry unto thee."

When a young man prepares himself to meet his young lady, he slaps on a little cologne, hoping to please her. It turns out that the males of at least some species of bats do the same thing. Researchers have recently discovered how a small North American tropical bat prepares to attract and keep his harem of up to eight females. In late afternoon the bat begins a ritual that takes more than half an hour to complete. The bat starts by licking scent sacs in its wings. Then it gathers secretions, including urine, from various parts of its body, depositing each secretion on its wing sacs. Despite what you might imagine, the resulting odor is sweet and spicy.

Once he is finished primping, the bat goes to his harem and hovers above them like a hummingbird. The bat can hover for up to 15 seconds. As he hovers, he flaps his wings hard enough to disturb nearby leaves, and he chirps at each female. At the same time, his frantic flapping distributes his special scent. The females respond to the scent by chirping back at him. Males will also spread their scent around, hoping to attract more females to their harems. Researchers think this behavior is more than just ritual. They point out that the complex mix of scents in urine can indicate whether a creature is in good health. For example, female mice will not respond to males whose urine indicates that they are ill.

Many creatures communicate through scent. Scripture even speaks of our prayers as rising to God as sweet-smelling incense. But only the cleansing blood of Christ can sweeten us before God.

Notes: "Male bats primp daily for odor display," Science News, 1/1/00, p. 7.
Photo: Courtesy of Mnolf. (CC-BY-SA 3.0)
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Government education inspectors in Britain have forced a Christian school to close after a young student was asked who are Muslims and replied that they are involved in terrorism. The true but politically incorrect answer was one of the reasons why the British government has labeled the school bigots and withdrew funding (“Christian School Forced to Close,” Brietbart.com, Jan. 21, 2015). Under new guidelines, inspectors rate schools on how they promote “British values.” Toward this end they nose around and ask individual students questions about their beliefs. The report on Durham Free School stated: “Leaders are failing to prepare students for life in modern Britain. Some students hold discriminatory views of other people who have different faiths, values or beliefs from themselves.” Another Christian school, Grindon Hall, has been placed in “special measures.” The fact that the school’s exam results are the best in the area is far less important to the inspectors than such essential matters as whether the students “knew what lesbians did, and whether their friends felt trapped in the wrong body.” As for preparing students for life, the Bible not only prepares students for life, it also prepares them for eternity, and secular schools are grossly inadequate to do either.

(Friday Church News Notes, January 23, 2015, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

Job 42:2
"I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee."

According to those who believe that all living things are a result of evolution, life evolved from simple to complex. Plants, which are simpler than animals, are believed to have evolved before animals. When we started learning about the genetic codes of living things, it was expected that plants would have simpler genetic codes than complex living things. This is turning out not to be the case.

Almost 300 researchers completed their work in 1999 to learn the exact DNA sequence of two of the five chromosomes of the wild mustard plant. They learned that chromosomes #2 and #4 of the plant have almost 8,000 genes. By contrast, human chromosome #22 has only 550 genes. To be sure, humans are more complex than the wild mustard plant. But, researchers say, the wild mustard is definitely more complex than animals such as worms and flies! Scientists point out that the reason for the unexpected complexity is that while worms and flies can only adapt to limited environmental conditions and remain worms and flies, the mustard plant can adapt to a great range of conditions and produce very different types of plants.

These findings strike two blows to evolution. Plants can be genetically more complex than some so called "highly evolved" animals. Second, this genetic complexity is wisely designed to give plants greater adaptability in a wide range of conditions. Our Creator designed the DNA code with purpose; He certainly did not let it develop by chance.

Notes: "Chromosomes show plants' secret complexity," Science News, 12/18 25/99, p. 389.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

George Perdikis, co-founder with Peter Furler of the Christian rock band Newsboys, has come out as an atheist. The band has always had at least one foot in the world. They were “influenced by everyone from the Police, Cure, and Rolling Stones to Keith Green and Jimmy Swaggart” (Jesus Rocks the World: The Definitive History of Contemporary Christian Music, vol. 2, p. 101), and, “Initially they played for the rowdy patrons of the local clubs and pubs, who threw beer bottles at them if they didn't meet their standards” (Ibid., vol. 2, p. 100). In his testimony, Perdikis says that he was only ever really interested in rock & roll and living as he pleased. He says: “I always felt uncomfortable with the strict rules imposed by Christianity. All I wanted to do was create and play rock and roll... and yet most of the attention I received was focused on how well I maintained the impossible standards of religion. ... I left the band in 1990 and went back to Adelaide. ... As I carved out a life for myself away from the church, I began my own voyage of inquiry into what I believed. My perceptions started to transform when I became interested in cosmology in 1992. I soon found myself fascinated by the works of Carl Sagan, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Lawrence Krauss, Brian Cox, and Richard Dawkins. I learned so much and was blown away by all the amazing scientific discoveries and facts. When my marriage dissolved in 2003, I turned my attention to human psychology. By 2007, I renounced Christianity once and for all and declared myself an atheist” (“Co-founded of Newsboys: ‘Now I’m an Atheist,’” standupforthetruth.com, Jan. 22, 2015). For a man to believe that Carl Sagan and Richard Dawkins are men committed to scientific facts is evidence of the grossest sort of spiritual blindness, which is always driven by the desire to walk after one’s own lusts (2 Peter 3:3). Perdikis concludes his testimony by saying, “The truth is--from someone who knows what went on then and what goes on now--the Newsboys aren't as holy as they profess.” That Perdikis is doubtless correct in this observation is obvious by the Newsboys’ history. Christian rock is worldly music produced by professing Christians who love the world. In the fourth chapter of his epistle, James pronounced Ichabod and Tekel (1 Sam. 4:21; Daniel 5:27) over the entire field of Christian rock with the following words: “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4).

(Friday Church News Notes, January 23, 2015, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

It appears that a first century fragment from the Gospel of Mark has been recovered from an Egyptian mummy. The fragment was part of the mummy’s face mask, which was composed of papyrus sheets glued together in layers and painted. Scientists and scholars led by Craig Evans of Acadia Divinity College have discovered how to loosen the glue and extract individual sheets with the original ink writings intact (“Ancient Biblical text discovered in an Egyptian mummy mask,” Science Alert, Jan. 20, 2015). Evans told Live Science, “We’re recovering ancient documents from the first, second and third centuries. Not just Christian documents, not just biblical documents, but classical Greek texts, business papers, various mundane papers, personal letters. From a single mask, it’s not strange to recover a couple dozen or even more. We’re going to end up with many hundreds of papyri when the work is done, if not thousands.” The team has dated the Gospel of Mark fragment to about AD 90, by carbon-14, by handwriting analysis, and by the documents found with it. When the document is published, possibly later this year, more will be revealed, including what portion of Mark is written on the papyrus. The dating will then be critiqued by other scholars. This appears to be a major find. It could be the earliest fragment of the Gospels ever found, which would further authenticate the authenticity of the New Testament Scripture and provide yet more evidence to refute the old liberal theory that the Gospels were written long after the events. Currently, the oldest Gospel fragment is the Rylands Library P52 (P stands for papyrus), a portion of the Gospel of John dating to between AD 117 and 138. Previously, the oldest portion of Mark’s Gospel extant was P45, which is dated to AD 200-250.

(Friday Church News Notes, January 23, 2015, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)