Psalm 119:18
"Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law."

The University of Tübingen's Institute of Anatomy recently discovered a fish with what they called "a previously unknown type of eye." The glasshead barreleye has a cylindrical eye pointing upwards to see prey, predators and potential mates. But the eye also has a mirror-like second retina which is able to detect bioluminescent flashes created by deep-sea denizens to the sides and below, reports Professor Hans-Joachim Wagner.

Actually, it's not really a previously unknown type of eye. Reflector eyes are usually only found in invertebrates, such as mollusks and crustaceans, but there is one other vertebrate that also uses a combination of reflective and refractive lenses in its eyes – the deep-sea brownsnout spookfish.

Now this is where it really gets interesting. According to the report, both the glasshead barreleye and the brownsnout spookfish developed this amazingly complex eye from different kinds of tissue. So if you're going to believe in evolution, you'll have to deal with the fact that this unusual type of eye had to evolve twice, independently of one another, using two different solutions to the same problem.

Those of us who accept biblical creation as true often wonder at the blindness of evolutionary scientists. How can they continue to cling to mindless mutations and natural selection when only a supremely intelligent Creator could account for the incredibly complex eye of the glasshead barreleye?

Notes: "Researchers discover fish with a previously unknown type of eye", Phys.Org 3/20/14.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

“Anita Dittman has been speaking about the Holocaust for more than three decades, telling everyone who will listen of her survival and how Jesus Christ helped her escape the trap that was ‘Hitler’s hell.’ She has reached thousands through her book, Trapped in Hitler’s Hell, co-authored with fellow Minnesotan Jan Markell. ... At 87, she still speaks to audiences large and small, sometimes several times a month, recounting the story of a happy, five-year-old Jewish girl when Hitler came to power in 1933 and how life changed over the next 12-and-a-half years living under Nazi rule. She would emerge on the other side of the concentration camps as a young woman of devout Christian faith, severely scarred but full of powerful stories. ... ‘When I started speaking in 1978-79, people would ask me, “Do you think it could happen here in this country?” And I said, “Oh no, people are used to so much freedom in this country, it could never happen here,”’ Ditmann told WND. ‘When they ask me that question now, I say, “It is already happening.”’ Americans are not ‘disappearing’ as in Nazi Germany, but Dittman says something has changed. ‘The country that I came to in 1946 was very different,’ she said. ‘I can’t speak in public schools anymore. They won’t let me.’ When she informs educators that her message will contain strong Christian themes, she usually gets a few seconds of awkward silence. Then a polite rebuff. ... Some schools still allow her to speak but require parents to sign a form saying it’s OK for their child to sit through a presentation that contains religious themes. But more often, the parents don’t even have a say in the matter, and she is barred upfront from speaking. ‘It’s getting worse, I tell you,’ she said. ‘It’s so dictating to the parents now. This is how it started in Russia and Germany.’ ... And it’s not just public schools where free speech is being curtailed. Dittman said she has friends on the East Coast who have a religious radio program, and they are being monitored by the federal government. They watch what they say now. ‘She said please don’t use the name of the man that rules our country because they are monitoring our calls,’ Dittman said. ‘And they even use fake names because they already got a warning sent to them.’”

“Holocaust Survivor,” WorldNetDaily, Jan. 30, 2015

Pope Francis’ popularity continues to grow in the United States, both among Catholics and non-Catholics. According to a Pew Forum survey conducted in February, the pope is viewed favorably by 90% of Catholics, by 74% of mainline Protestants, and by 60% of evangelicals (March 5, 2015, PewForum.org). Even among the non-religious, 68% hold a favorable opinion. Rome is at the heart of the “one world church,” and the popularity of her popes is a major prophetic sign of the times.

(Friday Church News Notes, March 13, 2015, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

Taizé (pronounced teh-zay), an ecumenical monastic community on the cutting edge of contemplative prayer, has released a collection of chants entitled “Music of Unity and Peace.” Based in Burgundy, France, the community consists of about 100 monastics from Catholic and Protestant backgrounds, but its influence is vast. Hundreds of thousands of young people flock there from all over the world, and thousands of congregations in the U.S. and elsewhere hold Taizé contemplative prayer services and sing Taizé songs. Taizé is a major force for ecumenism. Founder Roger Schutz participated in the Second Vatican Council, and Pope John Paul II visited Taizé in October 1986. Since Schutz’s death (he was murdered by a deranged woman during a Taizé service), the community has been led by a Roman Catholic priest named Alois Loeser. The Taizé services are non-dogmatic and non-authoritative. There is no preaching. “It does not dictate what people must believe. No confessions of faith are required. No sermons are given. No emotional, evangelical-style salvation testimonials are expected.” Schutz described the philosophy of Taizé as, “Searching together--not wanting to become spiritual masters who impose; God never imposes. We want to love and listen, we want simplicity” (“Taizé,” Religion and Ethics Newsweekly, Sept. 20, 2002). This is blind mysticism loosed from the authority of Scripture. It is not building the true church of Christ; it is building the Mystery Babylon. Taizé’s non-doctrinal ecumenical Christianity is fueled by mystical practices. A “shadowy medieval” atmosphere is created with the use of such things as candles, icons, and incense (Vancouver Sun, April 14, 2000). The goal is to bring the “worshiper” into a meditative state, “to a place beyond words, a place of just being.” There is a lot of repetition, with “one-line Taizé harmonies repeated up to 15 times each.” Catholic contemplative prayer has swept through “evangelicalism” over the past 20 years, as we have documented in Evangelicals and Contemplative Prayer, available in print and as a free eBook from www.wayoflife.org.

(Friday Church News Notes, March 13, 2015, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

Ephesians 4:28
"Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth."

As you know, bats are able to find their way around and locate their prey using echolocation – high-pitched sounds that they also use to keep from flying into trees and other bats. But scientists have now learned that one particular kind of bat emits another call that warns other bats to stay away from bugs they've claimed for themselves.

A five-person research team from the University of Maryland recently discovered that male big brown bats produce a special sound called a frequency-modulated bout, or FMB, that sounds a warning to other bats. The FMB is an ultrasonic social call that uniquely identifies the bat emitting it. Its sequence of three to four sounds are longer in duration and lower in frequency than typical echolocation pulses that the bats use for navigation. After hearing the FMB, other bats moved away from both the caller and its lunch.

Biology Research Associate Genevieve Spanjer Wright said: "When two males flew together in a trial, it was not uncommon for each bat to emit FMBs. We found that the bat emitting the greatest number of FMBs was more likely to capture the mealworm."

While only a few talented humans have learned to use echolocation, all of us have been blessed by our Creator with a conscience that acts like a warning signal from God. Let us be like the male big brown bat that not only heeds these warnings but also warns others to avoid things that would displease their Creator.

Notes: "Foraging bats can warn each other away from their dinners." 3/27/14. ScienceDaily online. Genevieve Spanjer Wright, Chen Chiu, Wei Xian, Gerald S. Wilkinson, Cynthia F. Moss. Social Calls Predict Foraging Success in Big Brown Bats. Current Biology, 2014; DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2014.02.058. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140327123538.htm.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

Judges 9:10
"And the trees said to the fig tree, Come thou, and reign over us."

For many years, Creation Moments has been sharing information about the ways that plants and trees talk to one another to protect each other from invaders. Many scientists have ridiculed us for making such outrageous claims. But they're not laughing any longer.

As Wired online recently commented, "The evidence for plant communication is only a few decades old. The first few 'talking tree' papers quickly were shot down as statistically flawed or too artificial and research ground to a halt. But the science of plant communication is now staging a comeback."

Though plant communication is still a tiny field, the scientists who study it are no longer seen as a lunatic fringe. Richard Karban, an ecologist at the University of California in Davis, said: "It used to be that people wouldn't even talk to you: 'Why are you wasting my time with something we've already debunked?'" they said.

But scientists are now saying that plants not only communicate with other plants, they communicate with insects as well, sending airborne messages that act as distress signals to predatory insects so that they will come and kill the plant-eating bugs.

Though scientists are now learning more about how plants communicate, they appear to have little interest in learning about how God communicates with man. But scientists who are Christians know the blessing of communicating with God through prayer and the reading of His inspired Word.

Notes: "How Plants Secretly Talk to Each Other." Wired online, 12/20/13.
Photo: Photo from Wired online used for educational purposes under U.S. fair use doctrine.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

Proverbs 1:7
"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction."

How smart are Americans when it comes to science? That's what the National Science Foundation attempts to find out every two years. The results of their 2014 survey – which included more than 2,200 adults – gave Americans a rather poor grade. But are Americans really less knowledgeable about science or is the NSF's survey biased against the many Bible-believing Christians in America?  Let's take a look.

While the survey included such questions as "Does the Earth go around the Sun or does the Sun go around the Earth?", the survey also included questions like: "True or false: the universe began with a huge explosion." And true or false: "Human beings, as we know them today, developed from earlier species of animals." For people who believe what the Bible has to say, their answers were scored as "wrong" by the NSF survey.

Interestingly, more than 60 percent of Americans gave the so-called "wrong" answers to these questions. They simply do not accept the Big Bang theory despite what they were taught in school. And more than 50 percent of Americans disagreed with the NSF when it comes to evolution. According to the Atlantic Online, "This seems to indicate that many Americans are familiar with the theories of evolution and the Big Bang; they simply don't believe they're true."

What the unbelieving world views as right is often wrong in light of what God tells us in the Bible. For Christians, the Bible is the ultimate authority – not what we're told by Bible-denying evolutionists.

Notes: "What Americans Don't Know About Science". Atlantic online. 2/15/14
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

“The recently-released findings from an in-depth study of nearly 10,000 young adults show that Millennials who were homeschooled are less likely to leave the faith than individuals who attended private or public schools. Late last month, Generations with Vision and the National Home Education Research Institute published the results of their Gen2 Survey. The study explores the correlations between different educational methods and the spiritual decisions of Millennials who were raised in the church. ... Using a sample size of 9,369, 18 to 38 38-year-olds who were churched while growing up, the Gen2 Survey collected data on Millennials’ educational backgrounds, worldviews, and religious beliefs. The study found that individuals who were homeschooled, attended church regularly, and had good relationships with their parents were most likely to remain involved in the Christian faith. ... 87% of study participants who were homeschooled said they have strong Christian beliefs. ... Statistically, homeschooled young adults were six times as likely to be believers and seven times as likely to be stronger in their Christian beliefs as Millennials attending private schools. Homeschooled Millennials were also two times as likely to be stronger in Christian beliefs as those who attended Christian schools or public schools. ... Kevin Swanson, director of Generations with Vision, said the Gen2 Survey is ‘vitally important,’ because ‘it comes just as the largest numbers on historical record are migrating away from the Christian faith. Some other surveys indicate as many as 70-90% of millennials and mosaics are leaving the Christian church,’ Swanson said. ‘This is a major spiritual collapse.’ One of the best ways to fend off the widespread secularism and apostasy of our culture is through homeschooling, Swanson contended. ... ‘If your children are discipled in a Muslim mosque or by NBC, ABC, CBS, or Facebook for 35 hours a week, they can generally be expected to take on the faith that disciples them,’ he asserted. ‘If they are discipled by parents or pastors for 35 hours a week, they will generally walk in the ways in which they are discipled. It really is that simple.’”

“Study finds homeschoolers less likely to leave faith,” Christian News Network, Feb. 16, 2015

Psalm 5:8
"Lead me, O LORD, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make thy way straight before my face."

Mechanical gears – like those found in clocks – have been around since the Greeks are thought to have invented them around 300 B.C. But scientists have now discovered a small hopping insect equipped with a set of living gears!

University of Cambridge biologists discovered that Issus coleoptratus have an intricate gearing system that locks their back legs together. This allows both legs to spring at the exact same instant, propelling the tiny creatures straight forward. If one of the bug's legs jumped a fraction of a second earlier than the other, this would push the insect off course to the left or right.

The gears are located at the top of the insects' hind legs and include 10 to 12 tapered teeth. The teeth of the gear lock together neatly, and they even have curves at the base, a design incorporated into man-made mechanical gears to reduce wear over time.

Researcher Gregory Sutton said, "We usually think of gears as something that we see in human-designed machinery.... These gears are not designed; they are evolved – representing high speed and precision machinery evolved for synchronisation in the animal world."

What we'd like to ask him is how did this insect survive for thousands of years while it couldn't jump straight? No, there is a much simpler explanation that scientists might see if they weren't so biased against a Creator. The gears were designed by God, who gave all of His creatures – including you and me – all of the intricate parts we need!

Notes: "This Insect Has The Only Mechanical Gears Ever Found in Nature." Smithsonian.com, 9/12/13.
Photo: Courtesy of Malcom Burrows. Used for educational purposes under U.S. fair use doctrine.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

Several people have died while taking selfie photos. While there is nothing inherently wrong with taking a photo of oneself, there can be no doubt that the selfie craze is a sign of the times, being an evidence of the “me, me, me” generation. I love photography and I get to take photos of beautiful places in many parts of the world, and everywhere I go I see people who are too busy taking pictures of themselves to study the scenery! The latest victim of the selfie madness was an unidentified man who was killed on Feb. 21 in Washington State when he was so busy posing for a selfie on a railroad track that he didn't notice an oncoming train. Other victims include 17-year-old Xenia Ignatyeva, who fell from a bridge in Saint Petersburg, Russia; Courtney Sanford, who died in a car crash apparently while taking a selfie; Puerto Rican reggae musician Jadiel (Ramon Gonzalez), who died in a motorcycle crash moments after taking a selfie; Oscar Otero Aguilar, who accidentally shot himself while taking a selfie using a gun as a prop; 13-year-old Karen Hernandez, who fell into a river and drowned while taking a selfie; a 21-year-old man in Spain, who was electrocuted while trying to take a selfie from the top of a moving train; two men, who were trampled to death in the Kiptagich Forest in Africa while trying to take a selfie while holding on to an elephant’s trunk; a Polish nursing student, who fell off a bridge in Seville, Spain; a 16-year-old Italian girl, who fell 60 feet from a cliff while taking a selfie; and a Polish couple on vacation in Portugal, who fell off a cliff while taking a selfie. Meanwhile, two unidentified Iranian women who had a car crash while taking a selfie while singing karaoke survived and took another selfie on the way to the hospital!

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

1 Corinthians 15:39
"All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds."

Evolutionists tell us a 66-million-year-old feathered dinosaur resembling a giant demonic bird was discovered in the fossil-rich Hell Creek formation of South and North Dakota. Not surprisingly, this newly discovered dinosaur species was dubbed the "chicken from hell".

It was "as close as you can get to a bird without being a bird," said vertebrate paleontologist Matt Lamanna. In addition to its long limbs, the research team found that the 11-foot-long, 500-pound dinosaur sported a stubby tail, likely framed by a fan of tail feathers."

What's this? A tail likely framed by a fan of tail feathers? Not even National Geographic could stop themselves from telling the truth when they admitted: "Though the team didn't find direct evidence of feathers, the species was so closely related to birds that it was very likely covered in feathers that looked identical to those of modern birds."

The illustration accompanying the article shows the dinosaur's forelimbs and tail covered with large feathers. Indeed, National Geographic and others have been doing this for years as they attempt to show that modern-day birds are the evolutionary descendants of dinosaurs. No real evidence required!

The Bible, on the other hand, is supported by a large amount of evidence, including archaeological discoveries, the fulfillment of Bible prophecies and much more. Christians also have the internal witness of the Holy Spirit that convinces us that God's Word is true and that His Son is the Truth who alone provides salvation from sin.

Notes: National Geographic Daily News, 3/19/14.
Illustration: Courtesy of Mark Klingler, Carnegie Museum of Natural History.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

"Barronelle Stutzman, a Washington State florist who declined to provide flowers for a gay wedding, has rejected a deal by the attorney general’s office that would've forced her to betray her religious beliefs--much like Judas betrayed Jesus. “You are asking me to walk in the way of a well-known betrayer, one who sold something of infinite worth for 30 pieces of silver,” Stutzman wrote in a letter to state Attorney General Bob Ferguson. ‘That is something I will not do.’ Ferguson had offered to settle the case if she paid a $2,000 penalty for violating the Consumer Protection Act, a $1 payment for costs and fees, and agreed not to discriminate in the future. ‘My primary goal has always been to bring about an end to the defendant’s unlawful conduct and to make clear that I will not tolerate discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation,’ Ferguson said in a prepared statement. On Feb. 18 a judge ruled Stutzman had violated the law by refusing to provide flowers for the same-sex wedding of a longtime customer. The state had not only gone after the flower shop but also Stutzman personally. Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the religious liberty law firm representing Stutzman, said legal bills could be as high as seven figures. ‘He’s using the full power of his office to personally and professionally destroy her,’ ADF attorney Kristen Waggoner told me. But the 70-year-old Southern Baptist grandmother said she will not violate her religious beliefs--no matter what. If that means losing her house – so be it. ‘I certainly don’t relish the idea of losing my business, my homes and everything else that your lawsuit threatens to take from my family, but my freedom to honor God in doing what I do best is more important,’ Stutzman wrote in a letter to the attorney general. She said the attorney general simply does not understand her or what the conflict is all about. ‘It’s about freedom, not money,’ she said. ‘You chose to attack my faith and pursue this not simply as a matter of law, but to threaten my very means of working, eating and having a home.’”

“Flower Power,” Todd Starnes, Fox News, Feb. 23, 2015

Television talk show host Larry King says he doesn't believe in God or life after death, but he wants to make a “grab after” it anyway through the bogus science of cryonics. In an interview on the Breakfast Club radio program in New York City, Feb. 19, the 81-year-old said, “I’m not religious, so I believe when you die you die and that’s it. [But] I’m so curious, and I like living and so I want one little chance. If I’m frozen and then they find a cure for whatever I died of and they could cure me ... It’s the one way grab at eternity to live. I don’t want to not exist. I think it’s the biggest fear people have. ... I’m probably an atheist. Ah, I respect religion. ... [But] I don’t buy it. I think the only reason for religion is death.” King said that the main reason he doesn't believe in God is “probably not getting answers to questions. The simple answer you get all the time is when you ask why does a baby die? Why is there a holocaust?” Contrary to what Larry King says, the evidence for God is literally everywhere. Everywhere! As for the problem of evil events, the condition of this world can be laid on man’s shoulders, not God’s. It is man who rebelled against God, not God who rebelled against man. The Bible reveals the secrets of man’s heart, saying the atheist is willfully blind because he does not want to submit to God’s authority. “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened” (Romans 1:20-21). “The foolishness of man perverteth his way: and his heart fretteth against the LORD” (Proverbs 19:3).

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

Tennessee Temple University of Chattanooga, Tennessee, has announced that it is closing after almost 70 years of operation and will merge with Piedmont International University of Winston-Salem, NC, thus reaching the end of the death spiral it has been on since the 1990s. My wife and I graduated from Temple the 1970s. In those days there were over 3,000 students in the Bible school, college and seminary (2,200 in the dorms), and the average Sunday School attendance at Highland Park Baptist Church was about 4,500. The founding vision to reach the world for Christ permeated everything. Half of the church’s income was given to church planting and world missions. The annual missions conferences featured 80-100 missionaries. Hundreds of Temple graduates dedicated their lives to world missions and preached the gospel in the far-flung corners of the earth. Great changes came in the 1990s, with the introduction of rock music and a “broader” evangelical philosophy. By April 2005, Highland Park and Tennessee Temple were rocking out, no holds barred, with a concert featuring the ecumenical Bebo Norman, Fernando Ortega, and Sara Groves, held in Highland Park’s main auditorium. In about 2006 emerging church leader Dallas Willard taught the Spring Lecture Series at Temple. Willard believes that “it is possible for someone who does not know Jesus to be saved” (“Apologetics in Action,” Cutting Edge magazine, Winter 2001). He rejects the infallible inspiration of Scripture, saying, “Jesus and his words have never belonged to the categories of dogma or law, and to read them as if they did is simply to miss the point” (The Divine Conspiracy, p. xiii) By 2008, Highland Park had joined the Southern Baptist Convention. In 2012, Highland Park Baptist Church became the Church of the Highlands to reflect a location change as well as its new generic contemporary philosophy. Jeremy Roberts, Highland Park’s 28-year-old Southern Baptist pastor, said, “It’ll be the funnest church around” (“Chattanooga’s Iconic Highland Park,” Chattanooga Times Free Press, Sept. 10, 2012). In the book The Old Highland Park Baptist Church, we have documented some of the reasons for the downfall of this institution as a warning to others. It is available in print or as a free eBook from www.wayoflife.org. Pastor Terry Coomer, who attended Temple in the 1970s, commented to me as follows: “It is a sad time for all those who have attended and received degrees. New Evangelicalism leads people to destruction a little bit at a time and they do not even realize it is happening. As you know, when people go down this path they are defiant. They will not listen to correction. How many warnings did they receive? They have defied themselves into destruction!”

(Friday Church News Notes, February 27, 2015, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

John 7:38
"He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water."

When one hears the term "pyramid builders," one usually thinks of the Egyptians, Incas or the Aztecs, whose famous pyramids were built for religious purposes. You may not know that the Greeks also built pyramids. But as we might expect of the Greeks, their pyramids served a practical, everyday purpose.

Thirteen Greek pyramids have been identified; all are about 2,500 years old. The forty-foot-high pyramids are located in the hills around the cities of Theodosia and the Crimea. They are constructed of loose limestone rock, through which the arid wind of the region could blow. As the cooling evening wind blew through the loose arrangement of rock, moisture in the air would condense on the rocks. The condensation would flow to the base of the pyramid where it was collected and piped to the city for use. A study of the clay pipes running from the pyramids led one archaeologist to calculate that each pyramid could produce a surprising 14,000 gallons of water per day!

These ingenious and practical pyramids reflect the truth that man has always been intelligent. Perhaps you didn't even know that water could be condensed from the atmosphere in usable amounts in this way. But the pyramids meant temporary survival in the dry climate. Permanent survival comes only from the living water that Christ gives through the forgiveness of sins. His water gives eternal life.

Notes: "Ancient Greek Pyramids?" Science Frontiers, William Corliss, p. 17.
Photo: Courtesy of Schuppi. (CC-BY-SA 2.0 and GFDL)
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

One of the “theories” proposed as an evolutionary explanation for the universe is the concept of a multiverse, which derives from “quantum cosmology.” It is a metaphysical abuse of quantum physics, but it has become a convenient hiding place for some 21st century evolutionists, including Richard Dawkins, when they need to explain how the amazing universe could come from nothing. Quantum physics has given us such mind-numbing and incomprehensible concepts as “quantum fuzziness,” “maybe-space-maybe-time fuzziness,” “eternal inflation,” and “the bubble bath universe.” Quantum physicists are the modern Gnostics, delving into mysteries they cannot understand and pretending knowledge they don’t possess. Asking foolish questions and making foolish assumptions, they arrive at foolish answers. Dr. David Berlinski, who is not a biblical creationist but who is brave enough to say publicly that Emperor Darwinianism has no clothes, gives a humorous critique of quantum cosmology in his book The Devil’s Delusion. “The details may be found in [Stephen] Hawking’s best-selling A Brief History of Time, a book that was widely considered fascinating by those who did not read it, and incomprehensible by those who did. Their work will seem remarkably familiar to readers who grasp the principle behind pyramid schemes or magical acts in which women disappear into a box only to emerge as tigers shortly thereafter. The wave function of the universe cannot be seen, measured, assessed, or tested. It is purely a theoretical artifact. Physicists have found it remarkably easy to pass from speculation about the wave function of the universe to the conviction that there is a wave function of the universe. ... the doctrines of quantum cosmology are what they seem: biased, partial, inconclusive, and largely in the service of passionate but unexamined conviction. ... Quantum cosmology is a branch of mathematical metaphysics. It provides no cause for the emergence of the universe, and so does not answer the first cosmological question, and it offers no reason for the existence of the universe. ... [The string theory] was an idea that possessed every advantage except clarity, elegance, and a demonstrated connection to reality (David Berlinski, The Devil’s Delusion, pp. 98-107, 119).

(Friday Church News Notes, February 27, 2015, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

Genesis 1:14
"And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years…"

Did you know that there was no October 5, 1582? There wasn't even an October 6 that year. Why? The story begins with the Earth's orbit. A year is exactly 365 days, 5 hours 48 minutes and 46 seconds longer. This means that every year when the day of your birth arrives, the Earth is not exactly where it was in its orbit on the day you were born. Though the eleven-minute error is small, it does add up over hundreds of years.

The Julian calendar, with its leap day every four years, helped correct this problem to some extent, but not completely. That's because the year is not quite 365 and one-quarter days long. Over the 1,600 years of its existence, the minutes and seconds not reflected in the Julian calendar added up. So in 1582, Pope Gregory XIII announced refinements to the calendar by adding leap years. Moreover, every 400 years, a year ending in "00" received a leap day. This system keeps the calendar accurate to one day every 3,300 years. The old calendar had become inaccurate by ten days over its 1,600 years of use. To correct it, Pope Gregory declared that October 4, 1582, was to be followed by October 15!

The fact that man has always been making fairly accurate calendars reflects his intelligence, given to him from the beginning by an intelligent Creator.

Notes: "Fixing the Calendar," Discover, 2/00.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

“William W. Walford was a blind English preacher of lowly birth. Although he did not possess a formal education, people called him ‘the walking Bible’ because of his ability to quote Scripture with great preciseness. Although he was unable to see the beauty of this world, the glories of heaven were opened to him through the privilege of prayer. Spending many sweet hours in the throne room of intercessory prayer, he was moved to pen these words in 1842: 

‘Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer
That calls me from a world of care,
And bids me at my Father’s throne
Make all my wants and wishes known.
In seasons of distress and grief,
My soul has often found relief,
And oft escaped the tempter’s snare,
By thy return, sweet hour of prayer.’”

(David Levy, The Tabernacle)

Genesis 1:25
"And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good."

Rove beetles are found in the rain forests of Costa Rica and have three different ways of making a living. Their largest prey are the blow flies that frequent animal dung. The beetles wait on the dung for a blowfly to land, then stalk their prey with the skill of a cat. They can even capture their prey in the air if it tries to escape. But dung doesn't last long in the rain forest, because dung beetles quickly haul it off. So, as a second career, rove beetles also frequent corpses of dead animals. These are blowfly favorites, so rove beetles can make a good living on these, too. But the rain forest has many creatures that clean up after a corpse, so they don't last long on the forest floor either. The rove beetle thus needs a third career.

That third career is carried out on leaves. Flies have little incentive to visit leaves. So the rove beetle has a special strategy to succeed in its third career. First, it positions itself on the leaf so that it looks like an innocent bird dropping. but smells like ripe and rotting fruit. This attracts fruit flies, which will approach the rove beetle unaware until it is snatched for lunch.

While the rove beetle and its way of life are not attractive to us, it is an important part of the cleanup crew in the rain forest. It, too, is part of God's design to make His complex Creation work.

Notes: "Masters of Deception," Natural History, 11/94, pp.18 23.
Photo: Courtesy of © Entomart.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

Michael Faraday, one of the fathers of modern science, was a devout Christian in a strict group of churches called Sandemanians, who tried to follow the New Testament pattern for churches in a way similar to the Brethren. Consider just how strict they were. When Faraday received an invitation in 1844 to meet with Queen Victoria on a Sunday, he accepted, though it would entail missing church services. Two weeks later he was forced to forfeit his position as elder since he refused to repent of what he had done. He was restored to church fellowship after a few weeks, but it was 14 years before he was restored to eldership. The church’s position was that he should have put Christ before Queen. They had a point, but they enforced it too strictly, in our estimation, especially since Faraday delighted in church attendance all his life and almost never missed services, following in the footsteps of his godly parents. At the same time, most churches today are frightfully loose in regard to church membership and its obligations. The members of the first church “continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers” (Acts 2:42). If that biblical standard were applied to church members today, most congregations would find their “membership” numbers decreased in a most dramatic way, and in our way of thinking, that would be a good thing. Like most of the fathers of modern science, Michael Faraday believed in divine creation and accepted the Bible as divine revelation. He said: “The Christian religion is a revelation, and that revelation is the Word of God.” Of his scientific research he said, “The book of nature which we have to read is written by the finger of God.” When reporters inquired about his “speculations” as to life after death, he replied, “Speculations! I know nothing about speculations. I’m resting on certainties. ‘I know that my Redeemer liveth,’ and because He lives I shall live also” (Charles Ludwig, Michael Faraday: Father of Electronics). The Sandemanians did not obey the Great Commission, being inward looking rather than evangelistic, and the last Sandemanian church closed in 1984. Though one of the founders taught that saving faith is mere mental belief in Christ, in Faraday’s case, he made a public profession of faith at age 29, even though he had “believed” from his earliest years.

(Friday Church News Notes, February 27, 2015, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

Proverbs 16:18
"Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall."

Are we, as human beings, as good as it gets? According to several influential evolutionary scientists, human beings are as good as it gets, and evolution has stopped for us. Some dispute this, saying that human evolution is still happening, but it's invisible. Although none of this sounds very much like science, such claims have fueled new debate among evolutionists.

These debates are puzzling, considering man's supposed evolutionary history. According to evolution, modern man evolved in a blink of evolutionary history from some ape like creature. As we have pointed out many times, if evolution and its time scales were true, virtually every generation of our ancestors would have had to have evolved improvements over the last generation. Why would evolution have stopped so suddenly? Has modern medicine, which saves even the weak, stopped evolution?  Mutations are also decreasing among us, they point out. In the primitive past, women had children throughout their reproductive life. Older women give birth to children with more mutations. But today, women have their children when young, then stop reproducing.

The claim that we are as good as it gets reveals the pride of earthly thinking inherent in evolution. In truth, we can only be as good as we can get through the forgiveness of sins that comes by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ.

Notes: "Are we the best our species will get?" Toronto Star, 12/26/99, p. J7.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

I received the following email recently from a pastor: “I just wanted to say thanks for your warning ministry.  I've always despised CCM, but I thought you were going overboard a few years ago when you started taking shots at West Coast. Now I’m seeing all of my friends who went to West Coast cave on the CCM issue. You were right. I’m an author and teacher in a Bible Institute, and this year I’m teaching Galatians-Colossians. When I reach Ephesians 5:19, I’m looking forward to using much of your material. ... I want my students either to be inoculated to the stuff or to be so ashamed of it that they keep it to themselves and out of my church which has been traditional for 25 years. Thanks and God bless you. The 7,000 are still out there.”


(Friday Church News Notes, February 27, 2015, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

Psalm 33:6
"By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth."

We have noted many times the different ways in which bats defy evolutionary explanations. For their echolocation systems to evolve, bats had to develop simultaneously the ability to make high pitched sounds, hear those sounds, and figure out what they mean. How did they eat before they evolved these abilities? Then there is the problem of evolving typical mammalian forearms into bat wings without crippling the creature in the process. Even evolutionists admit that the evolution of all these features even once is highly unlikely.

Bats are divided into two sub orders. Smaller bats, like the free tail bats of Mexico, are classified in the sub order of Microchiroptera. Large bats, like the fruit bat, are classified into the sub order of Megachiroptera. The brains of the larger bats have very different visual pathways than those in smaller bats. The visual pathways of the larger bats are more like those of primates! But no evolutionist would dare suggest that they evolved from primates. The second complication is that this means that both small and large bats could not have evolved from a common ancestor. It further means that all the unlikely features of bats had to have evolved at least twice, if evolution were true.
    
The Bible offers a simple explanation for the design of the bat and the differences between their brains. They were made by God using whatever designs He knew would be best for that creature's way of life, without regard for later, humanly devised classification systems.

Notes: "Bats: Sophistication in Miniature," Creation, 12/98 2/99, pp. 28 31.
Photo: Giant golden crowned fruit bat. Courtesy of LDC, Inc. Foundation. (CC-BY-SA 3.0)
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

“A Christian florist in Washington State who refused to provide flowers to two homosexuals for their wedding violated state consumer protection and anti-discrimination law, a judge ruled Wednesday. Benton County Superior Court Judge Alex Ekstrom rejected arguments from the owner of Arlene's Flowers in Richland that her actions were protected by her freedoms of speech and religion. While religious beliefs are protected by the First Amendment, actions based on those beliefs aren't necessarily protected, he said. ‘For over 135 years, the Supreme Court has held that laws may prohibit religiously motivated action, as opposed to belief,’ Ekstrom wrote. ... Barronelle Stutzman, the owner of Arlene’s Flowers, sold flowers for years to customer Robert Ingersoll. She knew he was homosexual and that the flowers were for his partner, Curt Freed. After Washington State adopted homosexual marriage in 2012, Ingersoll went to the shop the following spring to ask Stutzman to do the flowers for his wedding. ... She placed her hands on his and told him she couldn't, ‘because of my relationship with Jesus Christ,’ she said in a deposition. As a Southern Baptist, she believed only in opposite-sex marriages. Ingersoll and Freed sued, as did Washington State, alleging violations of Washington’s Law Against Discrimination and Consumer Protection Act. Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson and the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington, which represented the couple, welcomed the ruling. ... The law allows for penalties of up to $2,000 per violation, as well as legal fees. The state will likely seek those against Stutzman individually as well as her business, said Peter Lavallee, a spokesman for the attorney general’s office. Kristen Waggoner is a lawyer with the Alliance Defending Freedom and represented Stutzman in court. She says, ‘The message from this ruling is clear: the government will bring about your personal and professional ruin if you don't help celebrate same-sex marriage.’”

“Judge tells Christian florist she is entitled to her beliefs, but not to act on them,” OneNewsNow, Feb. 19, 2015