The rock band U2 posted an Instagram note in support of same-sex “marriage” in Ireland’s recent referendum. The note said, “In the name of love vote yes.” The phrase is a reference to their song “Pride (in the Name of Love)” which is supposed to be about the life and death of Jesus Christ. Three members of the band (Bono, The Edge, and Larry Mullen, Jr.) profess to be Christians and have a great influence in evangelicalism, the emerging church, and the contemporary worship movement. Phil Johnson calls Bono “the chief theologian of the Emerging Church Movement” (Absolutely Not! Exposing the Post-modern Errors of the Emerging Church, p. 9). Eugene Peterson, author of The Message, says that Bono is a prophet like John the Baptist (foreword to Get Up Off Your Knees: Preaching the U2 Catalog). Brian McLaren and Tony Campolo say that Bono is moving the world toward the kingdom of God (Adventures in Missing the Point, 2003, pp. 50, 51). Bill Hybels interviewed Bono at Willowcreek Community Church’s Leadership Summit in 2006, and Rick Warren invited Bono to Saddleback Church to help launch his P.E.A.C.E. program. But when judged biblically, U2 is destitute of spiritual truth, and the fact that the band is wildly popular with contemporary Christians is a fulfillment of the apostasy described in 2 Timothy 4:3-4. Joseph Schimmel observes that “Bono has led people into a version of Christianity that is slippery, undefinable, and liberal (The Submerging Church, DVD, 2012). The members of U2 rarely attend church, and “Sundays find them in a pub rather than in a pew” (U2: The Rolling Stone Files, p. 14). In a wide-ranging interview with music reporter Michka Assayas, Bono never gives a scriptural testimony of having been born again (Bono on Bono). Bono says that he believes Jesus is the Messiah and that He died on the cross for his sins and that “he is holding out for grace,” but Bono’s “grace” is a grace that does not result in radical conversion and a new way of life. It is a grace without repentance, a grace that does not produce holiness. Nowhere does he warn his myriads of listeners to turn to Christ before it is too late and before they pass from this life into eternal hell. In fact, the only thing he says about heaven or hell is that both are on earth (Bono on Bono, p. 254). The members of U2 do not believe Christianity should have rules and regulations. “I’m really interested in and influenced by the spiritual side of Christianity, rather than the legislative side, the rules and regulations” (The Edge,U2: The Rolling Stone Files, p. 21). Yet there are more than 80 specific commandments in the book of Ephesians alone, the same book that says we are saved by grace without works. Though salvation is by grace, it always produces a zeal for holiness and obedience to God’s commands, for we are “saved unto good works” (Ephesians 2:8-10). According to Titus 2, the grace of God teaches the believer to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. Bono says that the older he gets the more comfort he finds in Roman Catholicism (Bono on Bono, p. 201). Though he speaks positively of Romanism, Bono has nothing good to say about “fundamentalism,” falsely claiming that it is a denial that God is love (Bono on Bono, p. 167) and calling it vile names (p. 147). Bono defines love by the rock & roll dictionary rather than by the Bible, which says, “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous” (1 John 5:3).

(Friday Church News Notes, May 29, 2015, www.wayoflife.org, [email protected], 866-295-4143)

In a major sign of the times, by a margin of 60%, voters in the Republic of Ireland (not to be confused with Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom) backed a measure to amend its constitution to allow gay “marriage.” Ireland is a Roman Catholic country. Leo Varadkar, a Cabinet minister, said, “We’re the first country in the world to enshrine marriage equality in our constitution and do so by popular mandate. That makes us a beacon, a light to the rest of the world, of liberty and equality. So it’s a very proud day to be Irish” (“Ireland Has Voted,” CNSNews.com, May 23, 2015). Mr. Varadkar doesn’t believe the Bible. The move to legalize gay “marriage” is not light, but darkness. Marriage was created by a holy God as the first human institution, and it cannot be shaped by human whim like a nose of wax. The God who created marriage is not dead, and every man will give account to Him. The supporters of gay “marriage” frame the issue in terms of human rights and equality, but the issue is actually about the nature of marriage. This proud generation thinks it is wise enough to change 6,000 years of human tradition based on God’s Word, but the result will be confusion and the destruction of all standards of morality.“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20).

(Friday Church News Notes, May 29, 2015, www.wayoflife.org, [email protected], 866-295-4143)

2 Timothy 3:12
"Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution."

What if explorers actually found Noah's Ark? Would it instantly change unbelievers into followers of Jesus? Would scientists suddenly drop their belief in an old earth and millions of years of evolution and start believing the Bible?

No, they would not. We've already seen how evolutionary-minded universities treat scientists who discover soft tissue in dinosaur remains, showing that dinosaurs couldn't possibly be millions of years old. They fire such scientists. Many other instances of the persecution of Darwin-doubting scientists can be found in Dr. Jerry Bergman's excellent book, Slaughter of the Dissidents. In this book he shares story after story of scientists who have lost their jobs, who have been denied tenure, and whose careers have been abruptly ended.

Dr. Bergman's book is dedicated "to those who have paid a high price for the discrimination they have suffered while taking a stand for freedom." Indeed, Bergman relates how creationists are often demoted, transferred to other departments, and ridiculed, while some even receive death threats.

Discrimination and persecution of Christians are on the rise all over the world. In some countries, Christians aren't just losing their jobs, they're losing their lives. We must pray for them, and we must not be caught by surprise when persecution comes to our door. When our faith is tested in the crucible of fire, we must pray for God's grace, knowing that He will have the victory no matter what happens to us. To God be the glory!

Notes: Slaughter of the Dissidents, Volume 1, 2nd Edition, J. Bergman, Leafcutter Press, 2012.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

1 Samuel 21:13
"And he changed his behaviour before them, and feigned himself mad in their hands, and scrabbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down upon his beard."

A few days ago, a light bulb on my ceiling fan exploded, showering my room with thousands of large, small, and tiny pieces of glass. I breathed a sigh of relief because I hadn't been hit by any flying glass. But there's another reason I was grateful.

At a recent Animal Behavior Society meeting at Princeton, John Swaddle of the College of William and Mary told how he and his colleagues had exposed zebra finches to an amount of mercury simulating a contaminated environment. The poisoned birds were bolder and hyperactive but spent less time feeding. Swaddle said that their hyperactivity would put them on the dementia side of mercury poisoning.

He said this because small doses of mercury are known to cause dementia in humans. And this is why I was grateful that the light bulb which had exploded near me was a regular incandescent bulb. If it had been a new compact fluorescent light bulb, I would have been exposed to poisonous mercury vapor. In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency has a ten-step advisory on how to handle broken CFL bulbs. All I had to do was sweep up the broken glass.

Since Alzheimer's disease and dementia are rising, one has to wonder why the United States would ban incandescent bulbs and insist that they be replaced with light bulbs containing mercury, a substance known to cause depression and dementia.

While Creation Moments supports good stewardship of the environment, we do not support actions that put our health at risk. After all, we were made in the image of God.

Notes: "Zebra finches go mad with mercury, and other animal updates", ScienceNews, S. Zielinski, 8-17-14. www2.epa.gov/cfl/cleaning-broken-cfl. Photo: Courtesy of Jim Bendon. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

Called “the mother of motoring,” Bertha Benz made the first automobile journey in 1888. Hailing from a wealthy family, Bertha had used part of her dowry a few years earlier to help her husband, Karl, create the Benz company, and she had helped keep the family afloat financially while Karl perfected a 2.5-horsepower, three-wheeled automobile. Karl was a great inventor, but a poor marketer. He had spent three years perfecting his Benz Motorwagen, but there were no buyers. At one of Karl’s public displays, a stranger took the Motorwagen for a spin and promptly crashed into a wall, frightening potential customers. Bertha decided to set out on a ground-breaking journey as a publicizing venture. Leaving Karl a note explaining that she and the boys were going to visit her mom, she and her two teenage sons crammed into the little automobile and headed out on the 60 mile journey. The adventure began at 5 am, when the boys pushed the car a few blocks from the house so Dad wouldn’t be wakened by the noisy engine. There were no motor roads, no gas stations, no mechanics. She purchased fuel at pharmacies in the form of the petroleum solvent ligroin and topped off the water from streams and wells. She cleared a clogged fuel line with a hair pin and repaired the ignition with her garter. She even invented the first pair of brake pads when the wood shoes failed and she had a shoemaker install leather pads. The boys pushed the underpowered car up hills and removed obstacles. Finally at dusk they reached Grandma’s house, where they stayed for a few days to show off the car. Bertha telegrammed Karl to let him know what was happening, but news of her exploit had already spread like wildfire. The Benzes received an avalanche of orders and their company became the world’s largest automobile company at the time, with annual sales of 600 vehicles. Benz eventually merged with another company to form Daimler-Benz, home to the Mercedes-Benz. Bertha lived until the dawn of the rocket age, dying in 1944 at age 95.

(Friday Church News Notes, May 22, 2015, www.wayoflife.org, [email protected], 866-295-4143) 

Matthew 7:12
"Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets."

Welcome to Australia! This delightful continent is home to many of the world's most poisonous snakes and spiders, not to mention deadly sea creatures like the box jellyfish, salt water crocodiles, and everybody's favorite – the great white shark. Today, however, we're going to talk about another creature you don't want to meet on your next trip down under. It's called the jumper ant because it can jump as high as two inches into the air. But most people call it the bulldog ant, and with good reason.

These aggressive ants got their name from their powerful sting, strong grip, and savage biting behavior. Bulldog ants are fast and they're big, growing up to 1.6 inches in length. This makes them among the largest ants in the world. Their eyes are big, too, so they don't miss a thing. Their long mandibles are menacing, especially with their rows of long teeth.

But they're even more dangerous at their posterior end, where their venomous stinger is located. The ant's aggressive behavior is so famous, it was even immortalized in one of philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer's major works. "If it is cut in two," he wrote, "a battle begins between the head and the tail. The head seizes the tail in its teeth, and the tail defends itself bravely by stinging the head."

While aggressive behavior is the rule in a world that has been corrupted by sin, Christians exhibit a different kind of behavior – looking out for the benefit of others.

Notes: ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/05/bulldog-ants/moffett-text. www.animalspot.net/bulldog-ant.html. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulldog_ant. The World as Will and Representation, A. Schopenhauer.
Photo: Courtesy of Matt Inman. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

Acts 1:8
"But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth."

One of our listeners – pastor and creationist Phil Spry – told us a remarkable story that I'm going to share with you in his own words.    

Shortly after the old USSR dissolved I was in Moscow teaching Creation Science seminars in Russian high schools. At one school the missionary who set up the meeting of about seven students had to go to the school office to get a screen for my overhead projector. He came back with the school principal, who wanted to know what we were doing in that 800-seat auditorium with just seven kids. My translator told him, "This American has come here to tell the students how God created the world." He got very agitated and told us to stop. He quickly exited the room through a side door. I thought I was going to be arrested.

The principal went down the hall to the first classroom, opened the door and said to the teacher, "Bring all of your students and come with me." He then went to every classroom in the building and did the same thing. It took about thirty minutes but I had every student, teacher, administrator, custodian, counselor and cook were in the auditorium. He then came to me and in animated Russian spoke to my translator. "For seventy years our country has lost the knowledge of God. Please; tell my students how God created the world." Then he gave me the rest of the day with about a thousand people.

Creationists, do not lose heart! That day I shared the message of Genesis chapter 1, but more importantly, of John chapter 3!

Notes: Correspondence with creationist, church planter, author and pastor Phil Spry.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

Last week, there was another “honor killing” by a Muslim man in London. Shighi Rethishkumar murdered his wife and 13-year-old twin daughters before hanging himself. He claimed that the West had corrupted them (“Honour Killings,” Breitbart, May 15, 2015). An honor killing is defined by the Human Rights Watch as “acts of violence, usually murder, committed by male family members against female family members, who are held to have brought dishonor upon the family.” These are very common in the Middle East and Turkey. According to the United Nations, 5,000 females are murdered every year (“Murder in the Family,” Fox News, July 26, 2008). The Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organization says, “We’re seeing an increase around the world, due in part to the rise in Islamic fundamentalism.” Honor killings are on the rise in the West. The first documented case in America was in November 1989, when Zein Isa, a Palestinian terrorist living in St. Louis, murdered his 16-year-old daughter, Tina, for having a boyfriend, going to a school dance, and applying to work at Wendy’s restaurant. Her mother held her down while her father plunged a 9-inch knife into her chest 13 times, the mother shouting “Shut up!” in response to the girl’s pleas for help (Ellen Harris, Guarding the Secrets: Palestinian Terrorism and a Father’s Murder of His Too-American Daughter, 1995).

(Friday Church News Notes, May 22, 2015, www.wayoflife.org, [email protected], 866-295-4143)

Acts 1:11b
"Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven."

Though we are aware of no confirmed reports of meatballs falling from the sky during a rainstorm, there have been hundreds of reports of strange things falling from the clouds during strong storms. And sometimes, this even includes living animals.

According to the Weather Channel, one such instance happened in 2013 when live crabs fell on the community of Lynn Haven, Florida. Another storm of living creatures happened on June 28, 1957, near Thomasville, Alabama. This was when thousands of live fish, frogs, and crayfish fell from the sky during a heavy rain. It was thought that an F2 tornado fifteen miles to the south was responsible for this strange phenomenon.

Creationist Donald DeYoung writes about a storm in 1984 that dumped live six-inch flounder in a London suburb. Rains of flightless animals have been reported throughout history. In the first century AD, Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder documented storms of frogs and fishes. Indeed, the most common type of creature to fall from the sky is fish. It is thought that they get picked up by waterspouts and are then dropped over land, sometimes miles away.

While there are hundreds of stories like these from all over the world, the most unusual living creatures ever to appear out of the sky were horses of fire just before Elijah the prophet was taken up by a whirlwind into the heavens. But even that extraordinary historic event will pale in comparison to the return of Jesus Christ in the clouds.

Notes: "World's Strangest Weather Phenomena," The Weather Channel, 4-7-14. "Has it ever rained frogs or fish?", 101 Questions and Answers About Weather and the Bible, D. DeYoung, p. 84, (Baker Books, 2014). "Raining animals," Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raining_animals. Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

Last week, the Southern Baptist Convention dropped its rule barring “tongues speakers” from being missionaries (Christianity Today, May 14, 2015). Also dropped was the rule barring divorced people to serve as long-term missionaries. The allowance for “tongues” speaking is evidence of the ongoing inroad of the charismatic movement into the SBC. The charismatic practice of a “prayer language” has no support in Scripture and is mystical nonsense. Biblical tongues were earthly languages that were imparted supernaturally as a sign to the Jews of God’s new work of building the Church composed of Jews and Gentiles in one body. Paul made this crystal clear. “Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men. In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord. Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not: but prophesying serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe” (1 Cor. 14:20-22). (See the report “A Private Prayer Language” using the search engine at www.wayoflife.org.)

(Friday Church News Notes, May 22, 2015, www.wayoflife.org, [email protected], 866-295-4143)

In a new treaty finalized on May 13, the Vatican has officially recognized “the state of Palestine.” Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said, “Yes, it’s a recognition that the state exists” (“Vatican recognizes state of Palestine,” The Times of Israel, May 13, 2014). In a papal audience on May 16, Pope Francis called Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas “an angel of peace.” Three years ago, the Vatican had “welcomed the decision by the UN General Assembly to recognize a Palestinian state.” The Roman Catholic Church has long been opposed to Israel. Jews were slaughtered during the Catholic crusades and placed in ghettos in Catholic-controlled cities. The heresy of Replacement Theology, which replaces Israel with the Church, was fathered by Rome and borrowed from her by Protestants. In 1922, Cardinal Gasparri, Vatican Secretary of State, voiced concern that the British Mandate on Palestine might “give Israel a privileged position and might compromise the rights of the Catholic Church regarding the protection of the Holy Places” (“The Holy See and the Postwar Palestine Issue,” International Affairs, Spring 1984). In 1950, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that the Vatican was “intensifying its campaign for the internationalization of Jerusalem” (JTA, Nov. 21, 1950). That campaign did not cease until the 1980s when the Vatican began to support the PLO and its goal of making East Jerusalem its capital. In 1982, Yasser Arafat was received at the Vatican “with all the honor and dignity accorded a head of state.” With the 2015 treaty, the Vatican’s support shifts from the PLO to the Palestinian State. The Vatican is comfortable making treaties with Muslim terrorist organizations that hate Israel, vow her destruction, and persecute professing Christians because she is one of the devil’s chief instruments in human affairs. One day, Mystery Babylon will yoke together with the very Antichrist himself, according to Revelation 17, and Rome doubtless is at the heart of this end-time phenomenon. “And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it” (Zechariah 12:3).

(Friday Church News Notes, May 22, 2015, www.wayoflife.org, [email protected], 866-295-4143)

On the so-called International Day Against Homophobia on May 17 President Obama released a statement declaring, “We take this opportunity to reaffirm that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights are human rights, to celebrate the dignity of every person, and to underscore that all people deserve to live free from fear, violence, and discrimination, regardless of who they are or whom they love.” Obama has been the most pro-homosexual president in U.S. history and has laid the groundwork for broad-scale persecution of anyone who does not accept “homosexual rights,” because when homosexuals gain the right to live as they please, Bible-believing Christians lose the right to oppose homosexuality as a sin. This is a major sign of the times, as Bible prophecy likens the end times to the days of Lot (Luke 17:28-30). The International Day Against Homophobia began in 2005, and one of the founding organizations was the World Congress of LGBT [Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transexual] Jews. In 2009 “transphobia” was added, and in 2015 “biphobia” was added, so it is now called The International Day of Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia. This illustrates how that there is no end to the moral abominations that will be lumped into the category of homosexual rights. The U.S. State Department issued a statement “reaffirming our commitment to the equality and dignity of all people, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Discrimination against LGBTI persons must end--and it must end now.” The U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo was illuminated with rainbow colors to mark the occasion. The day is officially recognized by the European Union Parliament.

(Friday Church News Notes, May 22, 2015, www.wayoflife.org, [email protected], 866-295-4143)

Ephesians 6:10-11
"Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil."

How many times have you seen headlines proclaiming that "Sixty billion planets in the Milky Way could support life" or "One hundred billion planets in our galaxy may harbor complex life"? It seems that the numbers change with each new announcement. Where did those numbers come from in the first place?

It all started when astronomer Frank Drake, a firm believer in extraterrestrial life, hosted the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute's very first meeting back in 1961. He wanted to inspire the other scientists in attendance, so he developed an equation which has been described as a "probabilistic argument used to estimate the number of active, communicative extraterrestrial civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy."

The Drake Equation, as it has come to be called, sounds mathematical and scientific, but when you examine the equation, you will see that it is based on conjecture after conjecture, guess after guess. In fact, most scientists today totally reject it, calling it a guesstimate or meaningless. Nevertheless, we keep seeing headlines about the fifty or sixty or one hundred billion planets out there which are capable – or even likely – of having life. After all, if life evolved on Earth, surely it evolved on any planet capable of supporting life.

But as scientist Donald DeYoung points out in his book Astronomy and the Bible, the first variable in the Drake Equation actually turns out to be zero. So when you multiply all the variables together, you end up with not billions but a big fat zero!

Notes: Astronomy and the Bible, D. DeYoung, pp. 117-118, (BMH Books, 2010). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_equation.
Photo: Courtesy of Raphael Perrino. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

Hebrews 2:6b-7
"What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him? Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands:"

One of the most interesting artifacts at the British Museum is the Lycurgus Cup, a beautiful goblet made by the Romans sixteen hundred years ago. The cup depicts the story of King Lycurgus, entangled in grapevines for his treachery against Dionysus, the god of wine in Greek mythology.

But it's not the design that makes the cup of such great interest to scientists. When viewing the cup in normal lighting, the glass is jade green. But when the cup is lit from behind, the glass changes to a bright ruby red. What is this ancient sorcery that gives the cup its color-changing properties? It's the precise amount of silver and gold nanoparticles dispersed throughout the glass material.

New research has discovered that the cup even changes colors when liquid is poured into it. Scientists replicated the makeup of the cup and then filled it with various liquids. Their results suggest the cup might have displayed many different colors depending on what sort of beverage was poured into to it.

As one science website puts it, "researchers are just now, all these years later, learning about such color changing properties of materials with embedded nanoparticles. The hope is that these properties can be exploited to perform chemistry or medical tests cheaply and quickly by displaying different colors under different conditions."

Creationists need not wonder how the ancient Romans knew about nanotechnology. However far back you go in history, the ingenuity of man points to the even greater ingenuity of his Creator!

Notes: phys.org/news/2013-08-goblet-ancient-romans-nanotechnology.html#jCp. Photo credit: The Trustees of the British Museum. Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

“A Chinese preacher who opposed an ‘anti-church’ demolition campaign that saw hundreds of places of worship partially or completely destroyed has been jailed for one year on charges supporters claim are trumped up. Huang Yizi, 40, was sentenced before a packed courtroom on Tuesday afternoon for ‘gathering crowds to disturb social order,’ Zhang Kai, his lawyer, said. ‘I think the whole trial was manipulated by the authorities,’ Mr Zhang told The Telegraph, adding that his client would appeal. The lawyer said around 1,000 Christian supporters gathered outside the court in Pingyang County in the eastern province of Zhejiang. He met the pastor before the hearing and believed ‘his state of mind was good.’ Last year Mr Huang, who has a wife and young son, said he was ‘grateful that God has given him the chance’ to go to prison for speaking out against the demolition of churches and crosses in Zhejiang province where he is from. At least 400 churches were affected by the one-year campaign that saw elderly Christians repeatedly try to defend their places of worship from demolition teams and security guards. Authorities denied Christian churches were being targeted claiming they were taking action against all ‘illegal structures.’”

“China Jails Christian Pastor,” The Telegraph (London), Mar. 25, 2015

Revelation 16:18
"And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great."

Behold the giant oarfish – a creature of which legends are made. With its snake-like body that can grow up to fifty-six feet in length, the longest bony fish in existence has inspired countless legends about sea serpents.

Strangely enough, one of these legends just happens to be true. Japanese folklore relates that oarfish were the messengers from the sea god's palace that were able to predict a tremendous catch of fish or a disastrous earthquake. While we can't say they are good luck for fishermen, their earthquake-forecasting ability is a verifiable fact.

Numerous sources cited at the CreationWiki website relate that unusual numbers of dead oarfish have been observed to wash up on shore shortly before an earthquake. In Japan, for instance, whenever an earthquake followed by a tsunami is about to hit, several oarfish wash up on shore dead, indicating the disaster is imminent.

Many of you listening to me now will remember the devastating earthquake that hit Japan in 2011 and the tsunami that caused the catastrophic Fukushima nuclear reactor meltdown. You probably don't know, however, that many oarfish washed up on shores just before the earthquake struck. Scientists believe that this happens because the oarfish's large body makes it vulnerable to underwater shock waves or because poison gases are released during seismic activity.

Whatever the cause, the oarfish is not a sea serpent we should fear. The oarfish is one of God's creatures we should pay attention to!

Notes: creationwiki.org/Oarfish. Photo: Courtesy of CIMI.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

Psalm 1:6
"For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish."

Most evolutionists today hold to the belief that modern-day birds evolved from dinosaurs. In fact, they now feel that large, carnivorous theropods like T. Rex rapidly shrank over a period of 50 million years until they evolved into our fine feathered friends.

But not all evolutionists agree with this belief. Some, in fact, claim that birds evolved into dinosaurs. A study published in PNAS, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, provides evidence that birds did not descend from ground-dwelling theropod dinosaurs.

According to Oregon State University zoology professor John Ruben, the research was well done and consistent with a string of studies in recent years that pose an increasing challenge to the birds-from-dinosaurs theory. The weight of the evidence, he added, is now suggesting that not only did birds not descend from dinosaurs, but that some species now believed to be dinosaurs may have descended from birds.

Professor Ruben's most revealing comment, however, was that the old dinosaurs-to-birds theories, instead of carefully interpreting the data, had public appeal, and that "many people saw what they wanted to see."

How true for scientists on both sides of this issue! When scientists start with the assumption that evolution is true, then every bit of evidence they uncover will support evolution. They don't even consider a third option – that God made the birds on the fifth day of Creation Week and the land-dwelling dinosaurs on the sixth day.

Illustration: An image drawn in 1915 by naturalist William Beebe suggests a hypothetical view of what early birds may have looked like.

Notes: "Bird-from-dinosaur theory of evolution challenged: Was it the other way around?", ScienceDaily, Source: Oregon State University, 2-10-10. Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

“Officials in Colorado have ruled in favor of a baker who refused to decorate two Bible-shaped cakes that featured messages and images against homosexuality, finding that she did not discriminate against the Christian who placed the order. William Jack of Castle Rock visited Azucar Bakery in Denver last March, at which time he placed an order for two cakes, both of which were to be shaped like Bibles. The first was to have read, ‘God hates sin. Psalm 45:7’ and ‘Homosexuality is a detestable sin. Leviticus 18:22’ and the second was to have stated ‘God loves sinners’ and ‘While we were yet sinners Christ died for us. Romans 5:8.’ Both cakes were to feature an image of two groomsmen with an ‘x’ through them ‘to illustrate that such a union is unacceptable biblically.’ Marjorie Silva, the owner, told Jack that she would bake the cakes, but would not write the Bible verses on them nor place the images on the cakes. She instead offered to give Jack a pastry bag and icing so that he could decorate the cakes himself. ... Following Silva’s refusal, Jack filed a complaint with the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Regulatory Agencies, alleging discrimination based on his Christian beliefs. But on Friday, the Division ruled that there was “insufficient evidence” to support Jack’s claim that he was being treated unfairly. It said that Silva had a right to refuse the order because the decoration requested was deemed ‘derogatory’ and that Silva would refuse all ‘derogatory’ cakes to anyone. ... Jack said that he plans to appeal the ruling. ... ‘I find it offensive that the legal director of the Colorado division of the ACLU called the Bible verses on the cakes obscenities...’ He says that he placed the order and filed the complaint to make a point that business owners should have the right to operate in accordance with their conscience and convictions, and that if bakers have the right to refuse cakes against homosexuality, Christians should also have a right to decline cakes in favor of homosexuality. ‘I believe the baker should have the right to deny me service if my request violates her conscience or creed,’ he told the Christian Post in January. ‘[But] this statute is being applied inequitably; it so far is only being applied against Christians … If we do not have liberty for all, then we have liberty for none.’”

“Commission Rules in Favor of Baker Who Refused to Decorate Cake with Bible Messages,”Christian News Network, Apr. 5, 2015

Psalm 141:1
"LORD, I cry unto thee: make haste unto me; give ear unto my voice, when I cry unto thee."

Try as they might, evolutionists are powerless to account for the microscopic rotary motor that propels bacteria through fluid just like a powerboat skims along the surface of a lake. But if the bacterium's flagellar motor troubles evolutionists, they must really be puzzled by the fast-moving MO-1 bacterium. After all, its hair-like flagellum isn't powered by just one motor. It uses seven motors all hooked up in parallel!

If the MO-1 bacterium were the size of a small speedboat, its proportional speed would be ten times the speed of sound. You'll need a microscope to actually see one. The bacterium measures only about 225 nanometres wide, so you'd need forty-four of them side by side to amount to the width of a single grain of talcum powder.

According to a team of researchers working in France and Japan, the flagellar apparatus of marine bacterium MO-1 is a tight bundle of seven flagellar filaments enveloped in a sheath. The motors are arranged in an intertwined hexagonal array similar to the thick and thin filaments of vertebrate skeletal muscles. There are also twenty-four fibrils in the sheath that are thought to counter-rotate between the flagella to minimize the friction of high-speed rotation.

From the Scriptures we see that God moves quickly when we call upon Him in prayer. God is never far from us, of course. But He is never nearer than when we draw near to Him in prayer.

Notes: "Architecture of a flagellar apparatus in the fast-swimming magnetotactic bacterium MO-1," PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences), Ruan et al, www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1215274109. "The Multiple flagellar Motor, evidence of evolution, or design?" 8-2-14, elshamah.heavenforum.org/t1850-multiple-flagellar-motors#3091.
Diagram: Representation of the seven motors and counter-rotating fibrils inside the sheath of the MO-1 bacterium. Used for educational purposes under U.S. fair use doctrine.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

“Traditional parenting is being drowned out by ‘gay rights sharia,’ the respected journalist Charles Moore has said. Commenting on the recent spat between fashion designers Dolce and Gabbana and Elton John over the rights of gay parents to have children, Mr. Moore opined that the holding of socially conservative views is now ‘teetering on the edge of criminality.’ ... Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana hit international headlines last week when, during a magazine interview, they described children born via IVF treatment as ‘chemical’ children and said that, despite being gay themselves, they supported traditional families. ... Their comments drew the ire of the gay rights lobby, mostly via singer Elton John who called on people to ‘boycott’ the pair’s high end fashion line. ‘How dare you refer to my beautiful children as ‘synthetic.’ ... Your archaic thinking is out of step with the times, just like your fashions. I shall never wear Dolce and Gabbana ever again. #BoycottDolceGabbana.’ His boycott was backed by a number of celebrities including Martina Navratilova and Ricky Martin. Yet writing in today’s Telegraph, Mr. Moore insisted that ‘to think that a heterosexual man and a heterosexual woman, preferably married to one another, are--other things being equal--the best parents, is common sense. It derives from an inherited knowledge of the complementary nature of the sexes, the need for security and burden-sharing, and the fact that blood is thicker than water.’ ... But he pointed out that holding the common sense position was now close to being tantamount to thought crime. ... ‘Socially conservative moral views are now teetering on the edge of criminality, and are over the edge of disapproval by those who run modern Britain.’ ... Mr. Moore predicts that, as the children raised by gay couples, grow up, more and more will ‘be finding their voice,’ speaking up about ‘how difficult it was for them.’ One such voice is that of Heather Barwick, a former gay marriage activist turned children’s rights activist and mother of four.”

“Charles Moore: Gay Rights Sharia Has Silenced Common Sense,” Breitbart.com, Mar. 22, 2015

“Greed, selfishness, too much spare time and access to the internet can have a curious effect on some people. And when you throw in the modern tendency toward whining entitlement and the perpetual broadcast of every thought, feeling and inclination, something truly weird emerges: people who demand to be regarded and treated as things they are self-evidently not, such as white girls advertising to the world that they are ‘mentally black’ and tortured musicians who advertise their ‘true’ Romany identity despite having no gypsy blood in their veins whatsoever. ... To understand this bizarre world of people who believe they are trans-species or trans-ethnic or trans-cultural, it is best to start with the marginally less weird world of ‘furries.’ Furries are people who have created a ‘fursona,’ a sort of animal character to which they relate and which in many cases they leverage as part of their sexual identity, normally to overcome self-doubt or self-confidence issues. ... Yet furries are merely a stepping stone between normal people and online cultures where people reject their real identity entirely, because they say there is a mismatch between their mental identity and their physical bodies. The largest of these subcultures, after trangenderism itself, is known as ‘otherkin.’ ... Like furries, otherkin often create online avatars which they hide behind, but instead of keeping their real selves separate from psychosocial or sexual imaginings, they seem to believe that the character they have created is a truer reflection of who they ‘really are.’ Some otherkins believe they are literally not human, while others believe that only their soul is non-human and that they are trapped in the wrong body. It can sometimes look like an unintentionally funny free-for-all. But whether you think you are a reincarnation of a Cherokee man-beast, you think you come from a long line of otherkin field mice or you think your soul flew in from a parallel universe (we do not jest), anything is permissible in the ego-centric world of otherkin. .... And otherkin can sometimes believe they are very strange things indeed. Dragons, werewolves, angels, demons, elves, cartoon characters. It’s amazing what alienation from mainstream society can do to the imagination.”

“Not White in the Head: The Tumblr teens convinced they were born the wrong species, sex and even race,” Breitbart.com, Jan. 16, 2015

Gustavo Gutierrez, founder of Liberation Theology, was welcomed this week at the Vatican by Pope Francis. This is the second visit of Gutierrez to Rome during Francis’ papacy, and it marks the mainstreaming of the Catholic version of the social gospel. Liberation Theology seeks to analyze and solve the underlying cause of poverty rather than preach the gospel to the poor. It is a Marxist approach to the solving of societal ills. It is shortsighted, focusing on this present life rather than eternity. It blames poverty on capitalism. It focuses more on America as the cause of global social injustice than on Communism and petty dictatorships, even though America has lifted more people out of poverty than any communist government. “The literature of liberation theology consisted of the usual Marxist cant sprinkled with holy water, with unoriginal references to class struggle, oppression, imperialism, dependence, and especially how Latin America poverty was all the fault of capitalism emanating from the United States and western Europe” (Steven Hayward, “How Is Liberation Theology Still a Thing?” Forbes, May 10, 2015). The social gospel has become one of the major uniting factors of a one-world “church.” Even “evangelical” missionaries today tend to focus more on healing “social injustices” than preaching the gospel and building biblical churches, but there is no liberation theology or social gospel evident in the book of Acts.

(Friday Church News Notes, May 8, 2015, www.wayoflife.org, [email protected], 866-295-4143)

Genesis 8:22
"While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."

What scares you more – the polar ice caps melting and a worldwide cataclysm or the increased prices of everything you buy because of exaggerated global-warming claims? What upsets thinking people are all of the false and preposterous claims about global warming they hear on the nightly news.

A new study in the journal Nature Climate Change compared 117 climate predictions made in the 1990s to the actual amount of warming. Out of 117 predictions, only three were roughly accurate, while 114 seriously overestimated the amount of warming. On average, the predictions forecasted two times more global warming than actually occurred.

"It's a real problem," said climate scientist John Christy, a professor at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. "It shows that there really is something that needs to be fixed in the climate models." He added, "I looked at seventy-three climate models going back to 1979 and every single one predicted more warming than happened in the real world."

Exaggeration and scare tactics seem to be the name of their game. Remember how in 1972, Arctic specialist Bernt Balchen said that a general warming trend over the North Pole is melting the polar ice cap and may produce an ice-free Arctic Ocean by the year 2000? This and many other failed predictions reveal that climate science forecasting is even less reliable than the weatherman on your TV.

No, Christians need not fear anything, especially global warming!

Notes: "Climate models wildly overestimated global warming, study finds," Fox News, 9/12/13.
Photo: Caption on right: Contrary to predictions that the ice would have vanished by this summer, it has actually increased by 29 percent from last year. Courtesy of MailOnline. Used for educational purposes under U.S. fair use doctrine.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

Romans 5:6
"For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly."

"That's a knotty problem!" This figure of speech is used to describe a problem that's complex and difficult to solve – filled with knots, so to speak. Today, we're going to talk about a knotty solution that God has given to a fish that's been called the most disgusting creature in the sea.

The hagfish has a rather nauseating form of self-defense. As soon as a predator disturbs it, the little creature instantaneously releases slime into the water. This slime quickly clogs the predator's mouth and gills, causing it to beat a hasty retreat. The microfibrous slime absorbs water, creating a huge amount of the gooey stuff. In fact, a hagfish can fill a large home aquarium with slime within a matter of seconds.

But the slime isn't healthy for the hagfish either. What is he going to do to keep from clogging his own gills? His Creator has given this creature the ability to literally tie itself into an overhand knot by curling its own body around itself. The fish then manipulates the knot toward its other end, scraping the slime off its body.

The knotty solution that God has given to the hagfish can't begin to compare to the solution that God has given us to escape from the knotty problem of sin. We don't have the ability to rid ourselves of the sin that clings to us like the slime on a hagfish. That's why God removes the penalty and power of sin when we put our faith in Jesus.

Notes: www.seasky.org/deep-sea/atlantic-hagfish.html. www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrPvMMkQkk0. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb2EOP3ohnE.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com