“The old Wellhausen-type view is ruled out by the horde of contrary facts unearthed since 1878 and 1886. We have here [in Scripture] the Canaan of the early second millennium and not of the Hebrew monarchy period, in any wise. The oft-stated claim of a ‘consensus’ that the patriarchs never existed is itself a case of self-delusion on the data presented here, and (if one may be forgiven for saying so) in fact, a ‘con-nonsense-us’!”


(K.A. Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament, Eerdmans, 2003, p. 372; Kitchen is Brunner Professor Emeritus of Egyptology at the University of Liverpool)

Genesis 6:20
“Of fowls after their kind, of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.”

Can you picture Noah trying to get some of those giant dinosaurs on the ark to save them from the Flood? There’s no denying that dinosaurs really lived. The land dinosaurs were likely created on the sixth day with the other great land creatures, while the marine dinosaurs were created on the fifth day with the other denizens of the deep. So what happened to them? Today there seem to be more theories about why dinosaurs disappeared than there were dinosaurs to disappear.

One of the most popular theories is that a huge rock from space, perhaps miles across, struck the Earth. The fires, earthquakes and storms that followed so polluted the atmosphere that plants and then dinosaurs died. Evidence for this theory is lacking; every dinosaur bone found today is in rock that bears evidence of having been buried rapidly by a great amount of water. That sounds like a Flood to creation scientists.

The dinosaurs are acknowledged to be a type of reptile and are known to have laid eggs. Many hundreds of fossilized dinosaur eggs have been found. All this means that even the largest of the dinosaurs began life as little fellows. Noah would have had no problem looking after them on the ark – they were likely no larger than the family dog. And how did the dinosaurs become extinct? Probably the same way the Dodo and the carrier pigeon became extinct – at the hand of humans.

Because the world’s climate after the Flood was cooler and wetter, dinosaurs who survived the Flood did not prosper, and most – if not all – of them have become extinct. Dinosaurs are yet another witness to the incredible wisdom, power and diversity of God’s wonderful creativity.

Illustration: Many dinosaurs – such as the Eoraptor – were no larger than a dog. Courtesy of Dropzink. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

“The American Physical Society (APS) has signaled a dramatic turnabout in its position on ‘climate change’ by appointing three notorious climate skeptics to its panel on public affairs (POPA). They are: Professor Richard Lindzen, formerly Alfred P Sloan Professor of Meteorology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a highly regarded physicist who once described climate change alarmism on The Larry King Show as ‘mainly just like little kids locking themselves in dark closets to see how much they can scare each other and themselves.’ John Christy, Professor of Atmospheric Science at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, who has written: ‘I’m sure the majority (but not all) of my IPCC colleagues cringe when I say this, but I see neither the developing catastrophe nor the smoking gun proving that human activity is to blame for most of the warming we see.’ Judith Curry, Chair of the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Georgia Tech, a former Warmist (and still a self-described ‘luke warmer’) who has infuriated many of her more extremist colleagues by defending skeptics and by testifying to the US House Subcommittee on the Environment that the uncertainties in forecasting climate science are much greater than the alarmists will admit. As Anthony Watts has noted, this is news guaranteed to make a Warmist’s head explode. The reason it’s so significant is that it comes only three years after one of the APS's most distinguished members--Professor Hal Lewis--resigned in disgust at its endorsement of what he called ‘the global warming scam.’ ... [In his resignation letter, Lewis identified money as the root of the ‘Global Warming Consensus,’ saying,] ‘There are indeed trillions of dollars involved, to say nothing of the fame and glory (and frequent trips to exotic islands) that go with being a member of the club.’ [He described] global warming as ‘the greatest and most successful pseudo-scientific fraud I have seen in my long life as a physicist.’”

(“American Physical Society Sees the Light,” Breitbart.com, Mar. 20, 2014)

John 10:35b
“…and the scripture cannot be broken;”

As we read Genesis 2, we might get the idea that humans were created before the animals and even before plants. Since this would seem to be a clear contradiction of Genesis chapter 1, some have said that the creation account does not intend to offer literal history. Is this really the case?

The reason for these apparent differences becomes a little more clear to us when we realize that in some languages there is no apparent contradiction. That tells us that the reason for these apparent contradictions has something to do with how English works, not with what the original says.

That is indeed the case. Our English language has time built into our verbs. Past, present and future – we all learned these in school. But Hebrew verbs – the language in which these verses were originally written – do not have time built into them. So this problem always shows up when we try to express these thoughts in a language that has time in its verbs. Genesis 1 is very careful to express time relationships; each day is numbered. Genesis 2 is interested only in focusing on the details of the human story. The other details, covered in sequence in Genesis 1, are mentioned only as they serve to add to the story of humanity.

So there is no contradiction between Genesis 1 and Genesis 2. It only appears so in English because we have no such thing as a verb that does not express time. God’s Word stands as completely trustworthy!

Notes: Niessen, R., B. Northrup, and D. Watson. 1988. Genesis Stands. Minneapolis, MN: Bible Science Association, Inc.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

In a sign both of the Me Generation and the feminization, unisex-ation of society, there is a huge boom in men getting plastic surgery. The American Society of Plastic Aesthetic Surgery says the number of male surgeries increased more than 106% since 1997 (“Here’s Why There’s a Huge Boom,” Business Insider, Mar. 3, 2014). Douglas Steinbrech, a New York City-based plastic surgeon, lists three reasons why men use his services: to enhance one’s appearance, to enhance one’s career, and to regain a more youthful appearance. The most popular procedures are liposuction, rhinoplasty (nose job), eyelid surgery, gynescomastia (removal of breast tissue), and ear shaping.

(Friday Church News Notes, April 25, 2014, www.wayoflife.org [email protected], 866-295-4143)

Genesis 1:26
“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”

A straightforward reading of Genesis offers a very different story of humanity than does modern evolutionary science. Does the rest of the Bible contradict evolution too? Can Genesis and evolution be harmonized?

According to evolution, humans are the result of millions of years of life, struggle and death. Today, we are little more than a sub-chapter in that long story of endless struggle and death. Can this be reconciled with the Bible? Not if we let the Bible interpret itself. First, the Bible allows for only one day of history for animals before humans appeared on the scene. Second, humans were created not from some other creature but were handmade by God, in His image.

The most important difference between evolution’s story and the Bible’s story of humanity is the role death plays. According to evolution, death was already part of nature long before humans ever showed up. According to the Bible – for example, in I Corinthians 15:21 – death came upon creation because of the first man, Adam’s, sin. This is why it was necessary for another man, Jesus Christ, to do away with death.

For the Christian, the most objectionable part of evolution is that it separates sin and death from each other. This makes Christ’s death and resurrection for us completely redundant, since death has nothing to do with sin! There can be no harmony between this and the Gospel!

Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

The pollution created by Communist China’s unrestrained development frenzy is so dire that it has been likened to a nuclear winter. Not only does Beijing’s air quality regularly rise to 20 times higher than the World Health Organization’s (WHO) maximum safe level, but “the smog is even affecting China’s plants, preventing them from successfully photosynthesizing, which in turn threatens the population's food supply. ... He Dongxian, an associate professor at China Agricultural University's College of Water Resources and Engineering, notes that these kinds of conditions are ‘similar to a nuclear winter’” (“Scientists: Beijing’s Air Pollution,” Gizmodo..com, Feb. 26, 2014). The smog is so bad that luxury hotels are providing guests with gas masks. Redditor Mthomaseddy posted a picture “of an elegantly packaged gas mask, which was in his room when he arrived at the Shanghai Fairmont. It is, apparently, an air-filter mask, rather than something to use in gas attacks” (“China’s Smog Is So Bad,” Gizmodo.com, Jan. 10, 2014). The World Health Organization reports that pollution-related sickness kills 656,000 Chinese citizens annually. The Chinese government claims to be fighting the pollution problem, but in the meantime it says that the smog is good for national defense, providing cover for military operations (“Chinese Hospital Opens ‘Smog Clinic,” Gizmodo.com, Dec. 18, 2013).

(Friday Church News Notes, April 25, 2014, www.wayoflife.org [email protected], 866-295-4143)

Heaven Is For Real, the account of a four-year-old boy’s supposed visit to heaven, has sold over 2 million copies in book format and has been turned into a movie which grossed $21.5 million when it opened on Easter weekend. One pastor told me that the book is “circulating around many of our Independent Baptist camps; many are recommending it.” It is about Colton Burpo, a Methodist pastor’s son who allegedly visits heaven during emergency surgery. There he meets a dead sister and great grandfather, sees Jesus, God the Father, the Holy Spirit, and Satan, and learns things not revealed in Scripture. We don’t doubt that the little boy is convinced that he visited heaven, but we don’t believe for a minute that it actually happened.

First, the apostle Paul said that when he had visited heaven, he heard things that he was not allowed to repeat (2 Cor. 12:4). Obviously, then, a person cannot visit heaven and then describe whatever he sees and hears there.

Second, the book Heaven Is for Real is contrary God’s emphasis on the priority and sufficiency of faith and Scripture. The book contains testimonies of how people have believed in God and heaven because of Colton’s alleged visitation, but the Bible says that without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb. 11:6), and faith comes by hearing God’s Word, not by signs and wonders (Romans 10:17). In his account of the rich man and Lazarus, Jesus taught that if someone does not hear the Scriptures, he will not “be persuaded, though one rose from the dead” (Luke 16:31). All of the signs and revelation we need are found in the completed canon of Scripture (John 20:30-31). The Bible is able to make the man of God “perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works “(2 Timothy 3:16-17). God has told us everything He wants us to know about heaven at this time.

Third, the book Heaven Is for Real is contrary to the Bible’s plain teachings. For example, Colton says Jesus’ horse is rainbow-colored (p. 63), whereas the Bible says it is white (Rev. 19:11). Colton says the Holy Spirit shoots down power from heaven (p. 125), whereas the Bible says the Holy Spirit came from heaven at Pentecost and He is the power (Acts 1:8). Colton says everyone has wings in heaven except Jesus (p. 72), that the angel Gabriel sits on the left hand of God’s throne (p. 101), that the Holy Spirit is blue and sits in a chair near the throne of God (p. 102), and “for our Catholic friends” the book is happy to report that Mary stands in heaven beside Jesus (p. 152). Some might ask how Colton could learn secrets about his dead sister who died in the womb and facts about his great grandfather that he had not been told. The answer is demons. Paul warned that Satan transforms himself into an angel of light and his ministers as ministers of righteousness (2 Cor. 11:14-15). The book Heaven Is for Real also promotes the visions of child progeny Akiane Kramarik, who began “seeing heaven” at age four (pp. 141-144). Colton claims that the “Jesus” that he saw in heaven is the same “Jesus” that Akiane drew from her visions at age nine. But Akiane’s religious faith is a New Age type faith in a vaguely defined “God.” It is religious mysticism rather than faith in an infallible Revelation from God and the blood atonement of Christ. Even if we knew what Jesus looked like, we are forbidden by God’s law to make His likeness (Exodus 20:4).

(Friday Church News Notes, April 25, 2014, www.wayoflife.org [email protected], 866-295-4143)

This month, Rick Warren of Saddleback Church gave an exclusive interview with Catholic television channel EWTN, complete with effusive praise for the Catholic Church and the popes and a call for unity with Rome. He praised the works of Catholic contemplative “saints” such as St. John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila, calling their books “great classic devotional works,” ignoring the fact that they held to a false sacramental gospel and venerated Mary as the Mother of God and the Queen of Heaven. Warren said that Saddleback uses Roman Catholic contemplative prayer methods such as the very dangerous “centering prayer,” and Saddleback’s “spiritual director” was trained by a Roman Catholic named Jean Vanier. (See “Silence vs. The Silence” at www.wayofife.org.) In fact, he said that when he was writing The Purpose Drive Church he would get up in the morning, light candles, and start writing. He called Pope Francis “our pope” and said, “For authenticity, humility, Pope Francis is the perfect example. He is doing everything right.” Warren said that Saddleback recently received a delegation from the Vatican consisting of about 30 Catholic bishops to study the church’s “style of evangelization.” Warren said, “I fully support the Catholic Church’s New Evangelization,” which is a program to regain lapsed Catholics to the false Catholic faith and which is centered around veneration of Mary. When asked by EWTN’s Raymond Arroyo, “What is keeping Christians apart from the unity that John Paul II and all the recent popes have called for?” Warren replied: “I think we need to go back to the words of St. Augustine. ‘In the essentials we have unity; in the non-essentials we have liberty; in all things we show charity.’ I think this is really true. I think as the world, particularly the western culture, becomes more secular, more anti-Christian ... it is really incumbent on all Christians of every brand and stripe that we join together on the things that we share in common” (Rick Warren, EWTN, “World Today,” Apr. 10-11, 2014). Rick Warren is one of the most influential Christians on earth and also one of the most dangerous. He is enthusiastically building the end-time, one-world church.

(Friday Church News Notes, April 25, 2014, www.wayoflife.org [email protected], 866-295-4143)

Isaiah 45:9
“Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?”

Did you ever try to plan all the details of a simple project? How many plans do you think the Lord had to make when He created living things? A billion? A billion times a billion?

We all know that it takes time to plan the most simple project. Did you ever think about the planning God had to do when He created all the different kinds of living things? Our word “species” today includes many creatures that the Bible counts as being the same “kind” – as when God created the kinds. But God did design the genetic information that allowed the kinds to produce these variations.

Yes, God’s act of creating living things was much more than just wishing. Just think that there are more than 20,000 different species of bees – some with very complex societies – and their own languages! The figures and the beauty of it all makes one wonder at God. Why are there 4,500 different species of sponges? Why are some creatures – never seen by humans until this century – so eerily beautiful? For that matter, why have so many different kinds of beautiful flowers?

The variety in the creation reflects some of the joy of creation that God felt, and shows us the incredible unbridled creativity of our wonderful God. The fact that there is only one species of human – all related – confirms the human history related in the Bible.


Diagram: The hierarchy of biological classification’s eight major taxonomic ranks. The biblical “kind” is roughly the same as the “family” classification.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

Psalm 8:3-4
“When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?”

What is the most awesome show of God’s power? It may not be what you think.

In Psalm 8:3-4, the psalmist is led to exclaim, “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him…?” If the night sky is a glory we can only stare at in awe, our telescopes and space probes have shown us that we can see very little of its true glory.

Consider our sun. Less than 0.10 percent of all the sun’s energy falls on the Earth. Yet if just that small fraction of power could be harnessed, we would never have any energy shortage. But we have learned that our sun is only an average sized star in our galaxy of over 1 billion stars! We have no way to even measure that kind of energy! Even more awesome is that our galaxy is only one of more than a million galaxies! What is a billion times immeasurable energy? And God made and energized it all in just one day!

As hard as all of this is to understand, what is even harder for us to comprehend about God’s working is that all of this was created through the power of God’s Word – that same Word that became flesh and dwelt among us! Truly, His love for us is beyond our comprehension!

Photo: Extreme Deep Field photo taken by the Hubble space telescope. Each speck is a galaxy. Courtesy of NASA.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

“Consider well what He hath done for you. He made you at the first like unto Himself, in wisdom and holiness, and when you were by sin made like the devil, and must therefore have been condemned to hell torments, God sent His only son who taking unto him a body and soul, was a man and suffered great wrong and shameful death, to secure your pardon, and to buy you out of the devil’s bondage, that ye might be renewed to the likeness of God ... to the end ye might be fit to keep company with all saints in the joys of heaven”

(Richard Kilby, KJV translator, sermon “The Burden of a Loaden Conscience,” cited rom Paine, The Men Behind the KJV, p. 48).

Genesis 1:12
“And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.”

How wonderful! Your dog has just had puppies! But do you now have to sort through the litter and make sure there are no baby giraffes or kangaroos?

In God’s account of creation in Genesis 1, we repeatedly read that both plants and animals were created to reproduce “after their kind.” Genesis 1, in speaking about the creation of plants, repeats three times in just two verses that they are to reproduce “after their kind.” We see the same phrase repeated later in the chapter when animals are created. This is not just empty repetition. God is stressing a fundamental principle that all things reproduce “after their kind.” Mother dogs have puppies and mother cats have kittens. You can count on it.

Why does God stress this principle? Even before creation, God knew that humans would eventually sin and then seek to hide their responsibility by trying to explain things without a Creator. God knew that this idea of evolution would capture the faith of millions over the history of the world.

God stresses what our experience shows so that He might be harder for us to hide from. All things do reproduce after their kind. And despite evolutionists’ strong faith in evolution, they cannot offer one established scientific fact to explain how one kind of creature might eventually make a completely different kind!

Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

“A street preacher in the U.K. has been awarded £13,000 ($21,664) by the local police after he was arrested for preaching against homosexuality in September 2011. The Greater Manchester Police Department recently reached a settlement out of court with John Craven, a 57-year-old street preacher who frequented Market Street in Manchester, U.K., twice a week in 2011, where he would preach the Bible to passersby. In one incident on September 17, 2011, Craven was reportedly preaching on Market Street when two young gay men asked what his thoughts on same-sex marriage were. The preacher reportedly responded, ‘Whilst God hates sin He loves the sinner.’ According to Craven's report of the incident, the two young men then reportedly began to taunt him by kissing in front of him and mimicking suggestive acts. They then reported Craven to a local police constable and the preacher was arrested for ‘public order offenses.’ The preacher was then reportedly kept in a holding cell for 15 hours without food or water. Additionally, the preacher was reportedly denied his medication for rheumatoid arthritis after multiple requests. He was eventually given a bowl of cereal and a microwave meal after a friend complained. The Manchester Police Department paid a total of £50,000 in legal fees and compensation. ... Colin Hart, director of the Christian Institute, the group that funded Craven's case, called the police department’s actions ‘disgraceful.’”

(“Street Preacher,” Christian Post, April 1, 2014)

Genesis 1:6
“And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.”

What was the Earth like before the Flood? Bible believing scientists are giving us some surprising answers about the incredibly beautiful Earth God originally created.

In Genesis 1:6 we read that God divided the waters, leaving waters above and below the firmament. The firmament spoken of here is our atmosphere. We can easily understand that the waters below the firmament are the oceans. But what are the waters above the firmament?

One theory offered by Bible believing scientists is that the waters above the firmament may have been a water vapor canopy. A water vapor canopy above most of the atmosphere would have had the same effect as the roof of a greenhouse does today. The Earth would have been a warm, tropical place, with very even temperatures from pole to pole. Under such conditions there would be no storms nor winter as we know it. This theory, say creation scientists, would explain why we find evidences of tropical plants and animals even in the far north and on the Antarctic continent.

Creation scientist who hold to this theory have suggested that Genesis 7:11 may be referring to the collapse of this canopy when it says that the windows of heaven “opened up.” Yes, the Bible offers us a believable history of major events that can be accounted for in only thousands of years instead of millions!

Notes: Bixler, R. Russell. 1986. “Does the Bible speak of a vapor canopy?” Bible Science Newsletter, Nov. p. 1.
Photo: The vapor canopy theory was proposed in The Genesis Flood by John C. Whitcomb and Henry M. Morris.
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The popular Christian rock band MercyMe, whose music is used in some independent Baptist churches, renounces “legalism” in its new album Welcome to the New. Lead singer Bart Millard says the title song is about “the liberty of not being under legalistic bondage” (“Band Ditches Legalistic Christianity,” Breathecast.com, Apr. 3, 2014). He says that “growing up in a legalistic church had him constantly working to please God rather than embracing God’s free gift of grace.” The cry against “legalism” is a foundational principle of Contemporary Christian Music which is based on a heretical view of Christian liberty. Whereas the believer’s salvation is 100% in Christ and the true Christian life is to live by the faith of Christ who lives in me (Gal. 2:20), and whereas the Lord’s yoke is easy and His burden is light (Mat. 11:28-30), this does not mean that the believer has no work to do. The free grace that saves, saves “unto good works” (Eph. 2:8-10) and teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world (Titus 2:11-12). If the believer is as free from “works” as Bart Millard claims, why does the New Testament warn about loss at the judgment seat of Christ (1 Cor. 3:11-14; 2 Cor. 5:10)? Why does John warn about the sin unto death (1 John 5:16-17) and why did God kill Ananias and Sapphira and the believers at Corinth who were abusing the Lord’s Supper (Acts 5; 1 Cor. 11:29-30)? Why did James call the brethren adulterers and adulteresses for loving the world (Jam. 4:4)? Why did Paul fear being castaway (1 Cor. 9:27)? Why did Paul instruct believers to always abound in the work of the Lord (1 Cor. 15:58)? The grace preached by the Contemporary Christian Music crowd is not biblical grace, and the liberty they embrace is not biblical liberty. It is rather a license to love this present world which is the enemy of God (James 4:4). It is a license to participate deeply in the wicked, end-time pop culture. MercyMe’s love for the world is evident in their “Cover Tune Grab Bag” series wherein they sing songs by trashy rock artists such as Van Halen, Cyndi Lauper, Michael Jackson, Outkast, Vanilla Ice, R.E.M., and the Beatles.

(Friday Church News Notes, April 18, 2014, www.wayoflife.org, [email protected], 866-295-4143)

Job 26:7
“He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.”

The Earth floats in space, attached to nothing, surrounded by a thin layer of air. What science has only just learned, the Bible has taught for thousands of years! Yes, while other ancients pictured the world as flat or resting upon giant turtles or some other animal, God told the Jews in Job 26:7 that He “hangs the earth on nothing.”

In Genesis 1:6 we read that God created a firmament. In recent times, some have said that this word proves the Bible is based on ancient myths. New discoveries, however, are challenging these doubts about the Bible.

The word translated “firmament”, from the Hebrew ragia in these verses, comes from a Hebrew root word that refers to the process of making a statue. In making a statue, the ancient artisan would take a soft metal – like gold – and begin to carefully pound thin sheets of it onto a wooden form of the statue until the wood was completely covered by a thin, form fitted layer of gold.

The use of this word puzzled many people until the Earth was first viewed from space. Then we saw it – the Earth suspended on nothing in space, surround by a thin, form fitted layer – our atmosphere! So the Bible tells the truth in all the subjects it mentions. But no matter how long science studies, it cannot learn about God’s love to us in Jesus Christ. This is revealed to us only by the Bible!

Photo: Earth's atmospheric gases scatter blue light more than other wavelengths, giving the Earth a bluish layer when seen from space. Courtesy of NASA.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

“An atheist legal group has filed a motion accusing commissioners in Maryland of repeatedly defying a judge’s order prohibiting them from praying during public meetings. The American Humanist Association is accusing Carroll County, Md., commissioners of again violating a preliminary injunction after the board apparently invited Bruce Holstein, a campaign manager for one of the commissioners, to speak at Monday’s meeting. Holstein reportedly read a statement that criticized the judge’s order and uttered a prayer explicitly invoking Jesus Christ’s name. Since none of the commissioners stepped in to stop the speech, the association is now taking action. ... The move comes after commissioner Robin Bartlett Frazier also ignored the order and opened last Thursday’s budget meeting with an invocation referencing Jesus Christ, saying she was willing to go to jail over her religious views. ... The American Humanist Association is asking that the court impose a $30,000 fine on Carroll County to be paid in full to the secular group. The organization is also asking for $10,000 for each additional infraction. The preliminary injunction against sectarian prayer was signed last month by U.S. District Court of Maryland Judge William D. Quarles Jr.”

(“Will Lawmakers Be Fined $10,000 Per Prayer,” The Blaze, April 2, 2014)

In the last month Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy has twice apologized to the press for his stance on “gay rights.” This month he told USA Today that his public statements against homosexual “marriage” in 2012 and the financial support the company has contributed to fighting it was a mistake. He said, “All of us become more wise as time goes by. ... I’m going to leave it to politicians and others to discuss social issues” (“Chick-fil-A wings in new direction after gay flap,” USA Today, April 8, 2014). Last month Cathy told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “Every leader goes through different phases of maturity, growth and development and it helps by (recognizing) the mistakes that you make.” Cathy is positioning the company to expand aggressively from its base in the South into parts of the country that are more liberal-minded, such as Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles. Instead of moral issues, Cathy indicated that the company will focus on nutrition, environmentalism, and other socially-acceptable concerns, such as antibiotic-free chicken and the removal of corn syrup and artificial ingredients from its products. The homosexual mafia has marked up another win against cowardly people who appear to love money more than Jesus Christ and His Word. Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council told Mike Huckabee of Fox News, “I think we’re seeing those in the business community becoming cowards.” Where are the professing Christians in influential places who will “dare to be a Daniel” or who will take the stand that Esther took when she determined to plead with the pagan king for her people and, “If I perish, I perish” (Est. 4:16). In August 2012, shortly after Chick-fil-A Day in which tens of thousands of people showed their support for the company’s stance, Floyd Perkins entered the Family Research Council’s headquarters and started shooting. Angry at the company’s moral stance, his objective was to kill people and then stuff a Chick-fil-A sandwich in their mouths. He had 15 chicken sandwiches in a backpack, but by God’s grace he was stopped by a guard and is now serving 25 years in prison.

(Friday Church News Notes, April 18, 2014, [email protected], 866-295-4143)

In last week’s Friday Church News Notes we reported on a video clip posted at Benny Hinn’s web site featuring Hinn and two men identified with Liberty University: Dan Reber, Director of Liberty University Institute of Biblical Studies, and Ronald Godwin, Liberty University Provost. The three men announced an alliance between Liberty University Institute of Biblical Studies and Hinn’s World Healing Fellowship. I wrote a report about the alliance, queued it up to go out last week, and then left on a two-week preaching trip to the States. The day we published the report, Liberty University’s President, Jerry Falwell, Jr., posted a statement denying that the school is partnering with Hinn. The statement says that Dr. Godwin made a mistake in appearing with Hinn and that though Liberty “transferred the operations of Liberty Home Bible Institute ... to Mr. Dan Reber in 2011,” he wasn't authorized to form an alliance with Hinn. I find this move by Liberty curious for a number of reasons. Reber and Godwin are long-time employees of Liberty, going back to the time of Liberty’s founder, Jerry Falwell, Sr., and they learned their compromise directly from him. Is Jerry Falwell, Jr., now renouncing what his father did when he tried to rescue Jim Baker’s PTL Club? Or what Falwell, Sr., did in 2004 when he praised Pat Robertson and Rod Parsley as “courageous and brilliant evangelical mega-leaders” (fundraiser mailer for the Faith and Values Coalition, “a 21st Century Moral Majority,” Nov. 16, 2004). These men are as heretical as Benny Hinn. In fact, does this mean that Falwell, Jr., is renouncing Falwell, Sr.’s close association with Roman Catholics and Mormons and with cult leader Sun Myung Moon who helped rescue Liberty University from bankruptcy in the early 1990s? (“The GOP’s Own Asian Connection,” Los Angeles Times, Nov. 16, 1997, articles.latimes.com/1997/nov/16/opinion/op-54375). Why draw the line with Benny Hinn, Liberty? (For further documentation of Liberty’s compromise see “Jerry Falwell: Should We Warn or Praise” at the Way of Life web site.)

(Friday Church News Notes, April 18, 2014, www.wayoflife.org, [email protected], 866-295-4143)

Genesis 1:5
“And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.”

Silently, a huge, powerful form slides through the deep, cold, dark depths of the sea. The men aboard the nuclear submarine have seen neither sun nor daylight for months, yet each one knows what day it is. The men know what day and what time it is even without seeing daylight because the sun’s movement – like a clock – only measures time; it doesn't create it.

God doesn't need the sun to measure time either. When He tells us in Genesis 1 that He created everything in six days and rested on the seventh, we know these are days like ours, even though the sun was not created until the fourth day. Some people wonder whether the days of Genesis 1 could be figurative days. Well, the best interpreter of Scripture is Scripture itself. What does it say?

The word translated “day” in Genesis 1 is the Hebrew word yom. Whenever that word is used anywhere else in the Old Testament with a number – like 10 yom – it always means a 24 hour day. And whenever yom is used anywhere else in the Old Testament with the phrase “evening and morning,” it always means a 24 hour day.

Going back to Genesis 1, we see that the Holy Spirit has made sure that both of these rules are in force to assure us that the Genesis days are like ours!

Notes: Bartz, Paul A. 1988. “Days in Genesis one and the week.” Bible Science Newsletter, Aug. p. 10.
Photo: The Sun, as seen from low Earth orbit overlooking the International Space Station.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

2 Timothy 3:14-15
“But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”
Did you know that the Bible never tries to convince the reader that there is a God? As surprising as that sounds, it’s absolutely true. The Bible’s very first words begin by identifying God – but nowhere does the Bible try to prove there is a God.

The first verse of Genesis reads, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Here we learn that the God of the Bible is our Creator. We also see here, although less clearly until we look at the next two verses, the Prime Actor in creation – the Father.

In the second half of verse 2 we read, “And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.” Now it is clear that the Trinity is being presented. Here is the Holy Spirit, moving over the as yet unformed Earth, anticipating the people yet to be made who would serve as His temples.

Verse 3 opens with, “And God said…” That simple phrase introduces the very heart of Scripture, the Word of God Himself. This is the very Word of God who would come and take upon Himself our earthly form in order to accomplish our salvation.

So even here in Genesis, we have the beginning of God’s revelation of the Person and work of the Son of God – our Savior. Truly all Scripture has been given to make us wise unto salvation.

Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

Fourth year master’s students at Leicester University’s Department of Physics and Astronomy in England have determined that Noah’s ark described in Scripture could have born the weight of 2.15 million sheep (“The Animals Could have Floated Two by Two according to Physicists,” University of Leicester, www2.le.ac.uk, April 3, 2014). The findings were published in the Journal of Physics Special Topics, a peer-reviewed student journal. One of the students remarked, “You don’t think of the Bible necessarily as a scientifically accurate source of information, so I guess we were quite surprised when we discovered it would work.” Who would have known! The Ark was massive. “Its carrying capacity equaled that of 522 standard railroad stock cars (each of which can hold 240 sheep). Only 188 cars would be required to hold 45,000 sheep-sized animals, leaving three trains of 104 cars each for food, Noah’s family, and ‘range’ for the animals” (Ryrie Study Bible).

(Friday Church News Notes, April 11, 2014, www.wayoflife.org [email protected], 866-295-4143)

John 3:12
“If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things.”

Scientific principles learned in the Bible have led to countless scientific discoveries and saved millions of lives. It’s true. Without the Bible, we would never have the blessings of modern science.

Isaac Newton became one of the greatest scientists in history because he learned from the Bible to look for intelligence and order in the handiwork of the Creator. Louis Pasteur knew from the Bible that life could not come from non-life. After all, he said, the Bible teaches that God is the Creator and author of life. Pasteur’s scientific work laid the foundations for modern medicine and new techniques for storing food – both of which have saved millions of lives.

In the 19th century, Matthew Maury, the father of the science of oceanography, read in Psalm 8:8 that there are paths in the sea. Taking God at His word, Maury went on to discover the great sea currents that span the globe and nourish most of the oceans’ life. He wrote: “The Bible, they say, was not written for scientific purposes, and therefore is no authority in matters of science. I beg pardon! The Bible is authority for everything it touches. The agents concerned in the physical economy of our planets are ministers of Him who made it and the Bible.”

God has given us the Bible to make us wise unto salvation. But to paraphrase Jesus’ words to Nicodemus, if the Bible tells us about earthly things and we don’t believe it, how shall we be able to believe the Bible when it tells us about heavenly things?

Photo: Bust of Matthew Maury in the Hall of Fame for Great Americans, New York, NY.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

Matthew 10:30
“But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.”

In showing how the Creator is intimately involved with His creation, Jesus said that the very hairs of our heads are numbered by Him. No detail is too small to escape His attention; no change misses His careful and loving eye.

The hair that you see is nothing more than dead protein produced by the cells of the hair follicle anchored inside the layers of the skin. The total number of hair follicles in an adult is about 5 million, with only about 100,000 on the scalp. Each hair grows out of one follicle for about three to five years. Then the hair is shed and the follicle rests for about three months before starting to grow hair again.

So, you see, even once you know how many hairs are on your head, it’s no easy job to keep track of their changing number. The average scalp hair grows about one inch every two or three months. This means that each day your head is growing the equivalent of one 100 foot long hair – that’s nearly seven miles per year!

Yes, it’s true; the Creator cares so much about you that He knows from moment to moment how many hairs are on your head. He has not created our world and then left us to drift through space and life all alone. He has even expressed His love and purpose for you in the words of the Bible. Take a look today at what Scripture says about His Son, who loved you so much that He even gave His life for you!

Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com