![]() Job 38:41 “Who provideth for the raven his food? when his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat.” The shy bird called Clark’s nutcracker collects food during the growing season and stores it for the cold winter months. In one year, a bird will store between 22,000 and 33,000 seeds in as many as 2,500 locations, which can be more than ten miles apart. But does the little bird remember where he put all those seeds? Biologists tracked the activity of Clark’s nutcrackers in the San Francisco Peaks in northern Arizona. A small army of researchers tracked the birds’ seed gathering and storing activities. One of the first things they discovered was that the birds quickly figured out that they were being observed. Some refused to store food when researchers were watching them. Others faked storing seeds when they were watched. Back in the lab, researchers studied the storing activity of Eurasian nutcrackers. After the birds stored seeds in a large sand floor, the birds were removed. Then the seeds they stored were dug up. When the birds were allowed to return, they quickly discovered that their seeds had been stolen, so they refused to store any more seeds. In the end, researchers concluded that the nutcrackers recover as many as two-thirds of their stored seeds within 13 months. The remarkable memory of these little birds is their gift from God that enables them to be fed all year around. https://creationmoments.com/sermons/birds-with-a-memory-to-envy-3/ ![]() Denver is on a fast track to be the stupidest city in America, and that is saying a lot. It was the first city to vote to decriminalize marijuana possession in 2004, and now it is the first city to decriminalize the possession and use of psilocybin mushrooms, a potent hallucinogenic. On May 7, voters approved the ballot measure by a slim margin. This is not legalization, and the mushrooms won’t be on sale in Denver’s marijuana shops, but it is probably a step toward legalization. Eight years after Denver voted to decriminalize marijuana, it was legalized statewide. As with the legalization of marijuana, promoters are claiming great medical benefits for psilocybin, though none have been scientifically proven. The acceptance of a drug for medical use breaks down barriers and prepares the way for its legalization in recreational use. I know firsthand that psilocybin is a dangerous, mind-altering drug. I used it in 1972 when I was working at a psychiatric hospital in south Florida. We picked the mushrooms ourselves and boiled them to make a nasty-tasting brew. It was the most foolish and devastating thing I ever did to myself, more psychologically devastating then LSD. Of course, we had no idea of the exact potency of the brew; we were on a fool’s errand, carried along by the indulgent, libertarian philosophy of the rock & roll pop culture. The sorcery/witchcraft that is condemned in Scripture is the Greek pharmakeia, which is the use of drugs in magical arts. Psilocybin was used by the Aztecs in their demonic, idolatrous rituals, which should be warning enough for a Bible believer. “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). (Friday Church News Notes, May 24, 2019, www.wayoflife.org [email protected], 866-295-4143) ![]() Malachi 4:2a “But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings….” People and mammals have a multi-pronged immune system. When a bacterial infection is detected, cells begin to release nitric oxide, which kills bacteria, and they begin a cascade of other defense strategies. Ultimately, antibodies that directly attack any invader are produced. In recent years, scientists have discovered that even in certain plants there are immune systems that respond to infectious agents. These researchers, working with mustard plants, subjected them to 15 proteins unique to infectious microbes. In response, the plants began producing nitric oxide. Measurable increases of this gas were noted within two minutes of exposure. And, just as in people and mammals, the nitric oxide began to kill real microbes. It also begins a chain of other strategies that would enable the plant to fight infection. In some cases, the entire plant – and not just the plant cells exposed to the infectious agents – also joined in fighting the “infection.” Further research has shown that a number of genes in the mustard plant are involved in defense against infectious agents. While no plants have yet been found to produce antibodies, it appears that many plants have immune systems similar to our own. At creation God said everything was “very good” so there were no diseases, but He gave us immune systems anyway because He knew we would fall, just as He already had our salvation worked out. creationmoments.com/sermons/plants-have-immune-systems-3 ![]() “The ill-named Equality Act is making its way back through Congress this year. The act, which is being painted as a pro-LGBT law, is coming across to many people of faith as an anti-religious freedom law. As Christian Headlines previously reported, the act is seeking to make ‘gender identity’ a covered category under the Civil Rights Act, thereby overriding the protections based on biological sex. Here are 4 things Christians should know about the Equality Act: 1. It Endangers the Church. If the Equality Act passes, Churches will no longer be able to hire someone based on their beliefs. What this means is that a church could not deny hiring someone because they are an Atheist or because they live a life contradictory to the church’s beliefs. This also means that churches, like all other institutions, will not be allowed to segregate restrooms or locker rooms based on sex. According to Greg Baylor of Alliance Defending Freedom, the Equality Act is also set to repeal the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993. This means that people will no longer be able to use religious free exercise as a defense for their actions. For example, if a church declines to allow a gay couple from holding their wedding in their church because it goes against your religious beliefs, the church could be subjected to legal action. 2. It Encourages the Suppression of Religious Freedom. According to The Hill, the Equality Act moves to elevate the protection of LGBT people over people of faith. If enacted, the Equality Act will prevent religious people from denying a service, employment, housing or public accommodations among other things, to LGBT persons, despite the fact that homosexuality contradicts their religious beliefs. Alliance Defending Freedom’s Sarah Kramer summed up the effects of the act on religious people, ‘Essentially, the Equality Act gives people of faith an ultimatum: Change your faith-based practices or face government punishment.’ 3. It Will Obliterate Women’s Rights. The Equality Act is seeking to make ‘gender identity’ a covered category under the Civil Rights Act. By doing this, the protected category of ‘sex’ is being eliminated. In an interview with Fox News, Doreen Denny, the Senior Director of Government Relations at the conservative group Concerned Women for America, said ‘In a bathroom, or locker room or a dressing room, any biological man at any time that wants to come in and say, I’m now a woman could just have access to that.’ The Equality Act will outrightly let any person who feels like a woman, compete [in sports] as a woman even if they are a biological man. 4. It Will Affect Your Kids. The Heritage Foundation reports that the Equality Act will force doctors to ignore parents’ wishes and give kids--no matter the age--transgender operations and puberty blockers if the child asks for it.” “4 Things Christians Should Know about the Equality Act,” ChristianHeadlines.com, May 17, 2019 ![]() Genesis 2:7; 7:22 “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died.” There are so many things to do with fossils that we just take for granted. Sometimes, fossils suggest mysteries which are not easy to explain. And some of these mysteries may not immediately occur to people. One such mystery is that of fossil dinosaur eggs. We take it for granted that we know all about fossils and how they are produced, and we also know that there are fossilized dinosaur eggs. But have you ever stopped to ask why there are fossil dinosaur eggs? Fossils are produced when an object is covered with sediment. We have suggested on a previous Creation Moment that this fossilization must have been rapid. But why are there so many examples of dinosaurs having laid eggs? More than that, very few of these eggs are found in nests. Most are found in bedding plains. Mostly, dinosaurs seem not to have had time for nests. Creation researcher Michael Oard has suggested that there could have been moments in the Flood when certain sediments were briefly exposed to the air as floodwaters oscillated. He has shown that there are some places where eggs of the same species have been laid in sediments supposedly millions of years apart. His idea of waters washing fore and back, while panicked female dinosaurs laid eggs, is a better explanation for this phenomenon. The model is referred to as Briefly Exposed Diluvial Sediments and is one of many ways where creation scientists show that biblically based models make more sense than evolutionary conjectures. creationmoments.com/sermons/the-mystery-of-the-fossil-eggs ![]() After many years of persistent labor, the supporters of the so-called Equality Act saw the bill approved by the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday, May 17. The margin was 236-173. If ever passed by the U.S. Congress and signed by the President and approved by the Supreme Court, the Equality Act will singlehandedly overthrow the Constitution’s guarantee of liberty of religion and speech. Every Democrat approved the bill, proving themselves to be the party of homosexual rights vs. religious rights, but they were joined by eight Republicans, including one from Texas. More than 160 major businesses, with 8.5 million employees and a total revenue of $3.7 trillion, backed the measure, including Airbnb, Alaska Airlines, Amazon, American Airlines, Apple, Bank of America, Capitol One, Chevron, Coca-Cola, Corning, Cox, CVS, Dow, DuPont, eBay, Expedia, Facebook, Food Lion, General Electric, General Mills, General Motors, Google, Hershey, Hewlett Packard, Hilton, IBM, IKEA, Intel, Johnson & Johnson, JP Morgan Chase, Kellogg, Levi Strauss, Marriott, MasterCard, Merck, MGM Resorts, Microsoft, Monsanto, Nike, Northrop Grumman, Office Depot, Pinterest, Procter & Gamble, Symantec, T-Mobile, Target, Twitter, Uber, Unilever, Visa, Wells Fargo, Whirlpool, Xerox, and Yelp. At present, the Equality Act does not have a chance of approval by the Republican-controlled Senate or the Trump administration, but that could change with one election cycle. This is a spiritual issue, and the battle must be fought with spiritual weapons (2 Corinthians 10:3-5; Ephesians 6:10-18). Since Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority in the 1970s, Bible-believing churches have been trying to fight spiritual battles with carnal weapons, and they have been losing ground to the enemy every decade. It is long past time for those who have access to the throne of grace to rise up and approach boldly through Christ and find grace to help in our nation’s time of need (Hebrews 4:16). The One who sits on that throne is the One who has said, “Lift not up your horn on high: speak not with a stiff neck. For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south” (Psalm 75:5-6). Jesus said, “With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible” (Mt. 19:26). God has specifically and pointedly commanded His people to pray “for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.” That entails praying against the Equality Act, which would destroy the peace we have so long enjoyed in the world’s premier Bastion of Liberty. It is holiness and prayer in God’s house that can make a real difference in Washington D.C. (Friday Church News Notes, May 24, 2019, www.wayoflife.org, [email protected], 866-295-4143) ![]() Genesis 2:7; 7:22 “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died.” Fossils are fascinating. Most of us love to find common fossils such as ammonites or gryphaea (the so-called “devil’s toe-nails”). How much more exciting to find a large fossil of a big plant or maybe even a dinosaur. Fossils are usually found in sedimentary rocks. The fossil is usually enclosed within the rock. The sediment must have been laid down over and around the dead animal. Usually, much of the tissue of the organism has been replaced over time by the mineral of which the rock is made. It is assumed in many high school textbooks that the sedimentation has taken place over a long period of time. One science textbook, to which I referred in order to write this piece, suggested that it could be assumed that the sedimentary rock had been laid down at a steady rate. This could have produced perhaps half an inch every million years. But many fossils are bigger than half an inch. A large dinosaur skeleton could be taking up a couple of feet depth of rock. Therefore, we could assume that it would take tens of millions of years for the dinosaur to be covered. Is it realistic to suppose that the bones would have lain there, partially sticking out of the ground, for so long? The worldwide Flood would have caused lots of sediment to be formed rapidly, covering the dinosaur very quickly. Possibly this violent fossilization is what killed the animal. Once again, the Bible’s explanation makes more sense. creationmoments.com/sermons/the-story-with-the-fossils ![]() In an upset victory that surprised pollsters, Scott Morrison, Australia’s conservative prime minister, won the national election on May 18. The Labour Party, which was expected to win, has vowed to instigate a radical homosexual rights agenda and ban religious exemptions for those who oppose it. A friend in Australia wrote, “Final results are still to come to see if the Coalition (Liberals/Nationals) will be a majority Government, but at least Labour is not going to be running the show--not for a while anyway. When Labour does get back in, which they will eventually, they will be gunning for people like us. People they see as xenophobic Christian extremists, anti-Muslim, anti-gay, etc., etc., etc. And worse still, some of us religious fanatics actually think Trump is a good bloke. The difference between Bill Shorten and his gang, and Scott Morrison and his gang, is that Bill Shorten will try to outlaw Christianity, whereas Scott Morrison is willing for everyone to have their own religion (and morals), providing they don’t try to impose their beliefs and standards on others.” In a mailing on May 9, we asked for prayer for this election. “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:1-4) (Friday Church News Notes, May 24, 2019, www.wayoflife.org, [email protected], 866-295-4143) ![]() Genesis 2:7 “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Very little has been said about the dwarf people know as homo floresiensis since their discovery in a blaze of publicity in 2003. This is partly because of rumors that some of those associated with the discovery did not subscribe to the “normal” evolutionary model of humans, known as the “Out-of-Africa” model, but thought that humans could have evolved in different places in the world. It soon turned out that this small people group on the island of Flores in Indonesia were not, even by evolutionary classification, a different species. Their small stature led to their being nicknamed hobbits, after the little people in Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings, the movie versions of which were showing in theaters at that time. The latest news concentrates on the differences between the so-called hobbit people and the current tribe of dwarf people that live in Flores. It would seem that they are not closely related. Modern Flores pygmies average 7 feet 8 inches, compared with 3 feet 5 inches for the extinct hobbit people. Both people groups are, however, fully human. A recent article describes their “evolution”, but the local multiplication of mutant genes is due to geographical isolation. Neither group has “evolved” in the Darwinian understanding of the term. In addition, Flores contained other isolated animal groups, such as giant rats, pygmy elephants and giant monitor lizards. Such developments are not part of an upward march of evolutionary progress. Geographical isolation produces dead-end adaptation, not new genetic information. creationmoments.com/sermons/return-of-the-hobbit-people ![]() Isaiah 40:22a “It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth,” It is often supposed that ancient people believed the Earth was flat. This conjecture – which we can show to be false – is used to criticize the truth of the Bible, or to suggest that the Bible teaches a flat Earth. We can, however, challenge the assumption that ancient people believed in a flat earth. They did not. For example, in the third century BC, a man named Eratosthenes actually calculated the circumference of the Earth. It was already known that the Sun was directly overhead at noon at the Midsummer Solstice in the Egyptian city Syene. So Eratosthenes traveled north to Alexandra – a distance of 5,000 stadia, which had been repeatedly measured by frequent surveys. He measured the angle of the Sun’s rays in Alexandria to be 7°. This is about a fiftieth of a whole circle (360°), so he calculated the circumference of the Earth to be 250,000 stadia, which is 40,000 km or 25,000 miles. This is remarkably close to modern calculations. But the only reason he could do the calculation was because he knew the Earth to be spherical and lived in a society that believed the Earth to be spherical; otherwise, his famous calculation would not have occurred to him. The Bible, as always, has the right of it. creationmoments.com/sermons/did-the-ancients-believe-the-earth-was-flat ![]() A new leaf-like energy harvester is the latest in a series of “nature inspired” technologies from a field called “biomimicry.” “Inspired by aspen leaves, which tremble in the slightest of breezes, scientists at the University of Warwick have developed a leaf-shaped energy harvester. Researchers suggest the device could power weather sensors in hostile environments, like those deployed by Martian rovers. Researchers used computer models to better understand the unique sensitivity of aspen leaves to wind. The analysis showed the leaf's thin, flat stem plays an important role. The stem's tendency to twist in two directions causes the long, thin leaf below to quiver. Armed with their new knowledge, scientists designed a model to produce a mechanical representation of an aspen leaf. They produced a device characterized by a flat stem, cantilever beam, curved blade tip and an arced cross section” (“Shaking aspen leaves inspire,” UPI, Mar. 18, 2019). The field of biomimicry has exploded in the 21st century. Edward Kelley copied the human eye’s design to create a camera that has 70 times better clarity and resolution in dealing with lens flare. Anthony Brennan developed Sharklet by studying how shark’s skin prevents fouling by algae and barnacles via a microscopic toothlike pattern of the scales. Eiji Nakatsu patterned the nose of a bullet train after the design of the kingfisher’s beak. WhalePower Corporation created superior fan blades by mimicking the bumps on the flipper of the humpback whale. Mick Pearce created the non-air-conditioned cooling system of a building in Harare, Zimbabwe, by mimicking the design of termite mounds. Dozens of other examples could be cited. Biomimicry scientists typically describe nature both as a product of blind evolution and as a design factory, which is an impossibility. A report by Hewlett Packard at hpmegatrends.com on “BioConvergence” begins with this astonishing statement: “After about 4.5 billion years of solid research and development, nature has developed some ingenious solutions.” But it is complete nonsense to describe non-directed, non-intelligence-driven evolution as “research and development”? How can the processes of natural selection and genetic mutations see the need for something and produce genetically complex solutions? Scientists involved in this field continually express amazement at “nature’s” fantastically complicated designs. Geri Richmond of the University of Oregon says, “We’re in the stone age compared to nature” (“Sponge Has Natural Glass Fiber Optics,” San Francisco Chronicle, Aug. 8, 2000, p. A2). Isn’t blind evolution amazing! It supposedly creates “ingenious,” “exquisite,” “complex” designs that cause the most brilliant scientists and engineers to marvel. Though most scientists who operate in the field of “biomimicry” believe in evolution, their own work disproves it if they would but open their eyes and stop blindly following a man-made theory. (Friday Church News Notes, May 17, 2019, www.wayoflife.org, [email protected], 866-295-4143) ![]() Psalm 119:160 “Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.” We need to be very careful about our terminology. One example of incorrect terminology is when a fellow creationist argues with an evolutionist by saying: “Evolution is only a theory.” In the popular understanding, the idea is that there are facts, which are fully provable, and theories, which are just people’s ideas. These uses of the words fact and theory are, unfortunately, somewhat naïve. There are very few scientific facts. A fact needs to be observed over and over again, and no known observations are found to the contrary. But not everything that we call a “fact” is as certain as we think. There are some “facts” from history which had not been found wanting for centuries. Laws are related to facts. Take Newton’s Laws of Motion, for example. These laws still work in conditions with which we are familiar, but we know that they do not apply when we study objects moving at velocities approaching the speed of light. The National Academy of Sciences defines a theory as “a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world, based on a body of facts that have been repeatedly confirmed through observation and experiment”. But evolutionary ideas are not confirmed by experiment and definitely not by observation. So evolution does not fulfill the definition of a scientific theory. We can state that evolution is not actually a theory; it is a statement of someone’s worldview, the belief system with which they interpret the world. creationmoments.com/sermons/only-a-theory ![]() Pentecostals are hoping to rekindle the wildfire with “Light the Fire Again Pensacola,” scheduled for September 4-7. A quarter century ago, “spirit drunkenness,” “holy laughter,” and other unscriptural phenomena broke out in multiple places, most prominently at Carpenter’s Home Church in Lakeland, Florida (began May 1993, led by Rodney Howard-Browne), Airport Church in Toronto, Canada (began January 1994, led by John Arnott), and Brownsville Assembly of God in Pensacola, Florida (began June 1995, led by Steve Hill and John Kilpatrick). The “fire” was also associated with Claudio Friedzon in Argentina, who in November 1993 taught John Arnott to “dial down the analysis” so he could “receive the spirit of fire” (Guy Chevreau, Catch the Fire, p. 24). This is the unscriptural Pentecostal doctrine of “open up; don’t judge; just receive the Spirit,” which is clear disobedience to God’s command to “be sober, be vigilant” (1 Peter 5:8) and therefore a path to spiritual delusion. At the beginning of the “outpouring” at Brownsville, Pastor John Kilpatrick fell to the floor and lay there for almost four hours. He said, “When I hit that floor, it felt like I weighed 10,000 pounds. I knew something supernatural was happening” (Charisma, June 1996). Church members had to haul their pastor out of the church in a wheelchair because he was too drunk to walk. There was also “spiritual jerking.” A 19-year-old female college student jerked so uncontrollably as she “prophesied” that she appeared to be suffering from seizures. A female choir member experienced wild and uncontrollable jerking of her head whenever she was near the church. At Toronto Airport Church there were spirit slayings, uncontrollable bodily jerks, birth groans, drunkenness, hysterical laughter, roaring, howling, braying, clucking. In Lakeland, the focus was on drunkenness and laughter. Rodney Howard-Browne called himself the “Holy Ghost bartender.” Oral Roberts’ son Richard, who flew to Florida to catch the fire, said he and his family ended up on the floor laughing at every service. On the flight back to Tulsa, Richard laughed so uncontrollably that the flight attendant thought something was wrong with him. Perpetually in financial straits, Oral and Richard Roberts claimed that God was helping them laugh their way out of debt. Marilyn Hickey (author of God’s Seven Keys to Make You Rich) also spent her time in Lakeland on the floor laughing. When Howard-Browne called this loquacious Pentecostal female preacher to the microphone, she laughed and fell down and could not speak, which in her case was doubtless a miracle. (For more about the “fire” in Brownsville, Lakeland, Toronto, and elsewhere see The Pentecostal-Charismatic Movements, available from www.wayoflife.org.) (Friday Church News Notes, May 17, 2019, www.wayoflife.org [email protected], 866-295-4143) ![]() Genesis 15:5 “And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.” The Universe is full of WIMPS. That is not meant to be an insult. It is an acronym and stands for Weakly Interacting Massive Particles. The WIMPS comprise the matter known as dark matter. We have discussed dark matter before on a previous Creation Moment. But it might be worth briefly reminding ourselves of what it is. Astrophysicists are concerned because all their measurements of the interactions between star and star, or between galaxy and galaxy, reveals an approximate mass for the universe. But when astrophysicists do their calculations on how much mass seems to be available in all the stars, they find that the visible, or at least potentially visible universe, accounts for only a twentieth of the total mass that they have calculated should exist. A writer in New Scientist magazine writes as follows: All the stuff we can see, from stars and planets to galaxies and supernovae, makes up a paltry 5 per cent of the contents of the universe. The majority of the rest consists of dark energy. The dark energy is even more mysterious than the dark matter. Scientists assume that it is spread out evenly over the universe, but they have no way of detecting this or the dark matter. The obvious question should be – is it really there? In contrast, God tells us that He has the universe numbered. The Universe is finite, and knowable, because it was created by Him. We can make sense of the Universe only by starting from knowing Him. creationmoments.com/sermons/a-universe-full-of-wimps "Hillsong is lying to this generation, offering no repentance “cheap grace” which is no grace at all." ![]() Hillsong is one of the most influential names in contemporary Christian music. Hillsong began in a mega-church in Sydney, Australia, with music produced under the direction of worship leader Darlene Zschech. It has since multiplied into a group of churches in 21 countries. Hillsong is Pentecostal (the original Hillsong was an Assemblies of God church) and radically ecumenical, with close ties to the Roman Catholic Church. It preaches the Word-Faith heresy and a no-repentance, “you don’t have to change anything” false gospel. Joel Houston, Hillsong United worship leader who is currently on tour in the United States, says, “God loves you more than you could ever imagine just the way you are, you don’t have to change anything, just you, He knows you” (“Hillsong’s Joel Houston declares God is doing something new in America,” Christian Post, May 10, 2019). God does love sinners, and He does love them as they are, in their sins, which is why Christ shed His blood in the sinner’s behalf; but the “you don’t have to change anything” is a damnable lie. Consider the clear Word of God: “Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3, 5). “O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision: But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance” (Acts 26:19-20). Salvation is God’s free gift without works, but it is received by repentance and faith and always produces a dramatic change of lifestyle. “He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 John 2:4). Hillsong is lying to this generation, offering no-repentance “cheap grace” which is no grace at all. It wasn’t that long ago that Hillsong was too charismatic, too radical, too hard rocking to be heard in an Independent Baptist church, but that has changed. “Toned down” editions of Hillsong’s music are heard in many Independent Baptist churches and schools today. We suggest that if a church is going to use CCM, it should use it properly, which requires full-blown rock & roll that captures the people’s very souls and sweeps them into fleshly, charismatic mysticism. It requires giving oneself over 100% to the power of the music. That’s what CCM is all about and that’s where it always leads. So if you intend to go in that direction, then go for it full bore and skip the ridiculous “adaptation” middle ground. If you love CCM, stop pretending that you don’t! (Friday Church News Notes, May 17, 2019, www.wayoflife.org [email protected], 866-295-4143) ![]() Genesis 1:28 “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” It was atheist and evolutionist Dr. Richard Dawkins who once famously said: “Biology is the study of complicated things that have the appearance of having been designed with a purpose.” In terms of the initial appearance of design in many animals, this quote makes a lot of sense. We see that, for example, polar bears are suited to a life in very cold conditions. Dawkins could therefore argue that natural selection had left the polar bear with its thick, warm, white coat, which insulates, and that this appears to be designed, but has been selected naturally. Closer analysis, however, shows that the concept is over-simplistic and does not work for all creatures. Human beings, for example, seem to have the capacity to be able to live almost anywhere they choose by changing their own environment. Thus, those in warm climes may wear fewer clothes or may wear loose-fitting, light-colored clothes. Peoples of the Arctic will, in contrast, make and wear thick, warm, well-covering clothing. One recent article has suggested that human beings are adapted to be “generalist specialists”. It will not escape listeners’ notice that these words contradict each other; yet, serious evolutionary studies suggest that humans developed genes enabling them to adapt anywhere. Yet, this does not fit with the concept of an environmentally led natural selection. However, the idea fits very well with God’s design for a human race which was to fill the Earth and subdue it as an essential part of their mandate. creationmoments.com/sermons/designed-for-diverse-conditions ![]() Steven Anderson has been banned from yet another country. This time it is Ireland. Anderson was scheduled to preach in Dublin on May 26, but the Minister for Justice signed an exclusion order against him. This is the first time that someone has been banned under a 1999 immigration law that allows exclusion “in the interest of national security or public policy.” The decision followed a gay activist petition that received over 14,000 signatures. Anderson is targeted for his statements that homosexuals should be killed. After the mass shooting at a gay-friendly nightclub in Orlando, Florida, in 2016, Anderson said, “The good news is that there’s 50 less pedophiles in this world, because these homosexuals are just a bunch of disgusting perverts and pedophiles” (“Gay Hating Preacher,” Sunday Express, Sept. 16, 2016). Anderson said it was too bad some of the homosexuals survived. Of transgender celebrity Bruce (Caitlyn) Jenner, Anderson said in a sermon, “Listen to me--I hate him with a perfect hatred. I have no love for this Bruce freak. ... This person is just the evangelist of sodomy and filth to the world, and people are like, ‘Oh, we need to pray for him so that he finds Jesus.’ I’m going to pray that he dies and goes to Hell” (Adam Salandra, “Pastor Prays Caitlyn Jenner’s Heart Explodes,” NewNowNex, n.d.). Anderson has also preached “Why I Hate Barack Obama” and said that he prayed for the death of the former President. Anderson calls himself an Independent Baptist, but he is a deeply confused individual who should not be in the ministry. When James and John wanted to call down fire upon those who rejected the Lord, Christ rebuked them and said they were of the wrong spirit (Luke 9:54-56). Anderson denies the Holocaust, holds to Replacement Theology, believes that God is finished with Israel, rejects biblical repentance, believes that salvation doesn’t have evidence, and denies the imminency of the Rapture. Anderson has also been banned from or denied entry to the Netherlands (2019), Jamaica (2018), Canada (2017), South Africa (2016), Botswana (2016), Malawi (2016), and the United Kingdom (2016). (For more on this see What about Steven Anderson? a free eBook available at www.wayoflife.org.) (Friday Church News Notes, May 17, 2019, 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.” Penguins are disappearing. Don’t worry – it’s not all of them that are disappearing. But the world’s largest colony of king penguins appears to be only 10% the size it was 50 years ago. The colony, which lives on Île aux Cochons in the southern Indian Ocean, is quite difficult to count. Nevertheless, surveys over the years have shown that it has shrunk dramatically. Reasons given for the decimation include climate change and outbreaks of diseases such as avian cholera. Penguins are among our favorite animals. Many of us, when we go to the zoo, will make our way quickly to see the penguins. We love to see the endearing, adorable way they walk and then marvel at their grace as they “fly” through the water. Some species of penguins have remarkable habits. One unsubstantiated urban myth about penguins in the Falkland Islands suggests that they watch the overflying planes of the Royal Air Force so intently that they eventually fall over backwards! One comedian complained about the Emperor Penguins, saying that they have the ability to make us feel complete failures as fathers. Of course, not all penguins are dying out. We are referring to one colony of one species. But does it matter? The answer must be that, yes, we ought to have a concern. We are used to opposing climate change mythology and, therefore, sometimes go to the other extreme, forgetting that God gave us a stewardship to look after this world and protect it. creationmoments.com/sermons/disappearing-penguins ![]() 1 Chronicles 1:1-4 “Adam, Sheth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalaleel, Jered, Henoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.” There are ten names in the first part of the Genesis 5 genealogy, from Adam to Noah. These names also appear in order in 1 Chronicles 1:1-4. What can these verses mean? 1 Chronicles is particularly unusual because it simply lists the names without any explanation. I would argue that the fact that we have the same list in Genesis 5 and 1 Chronicles 1 indicates that there are no gaps in this genealogy. It is popular to believe that the genealogies have gaps. Perhaps some genealogies do, but those of Genesis 5 and Genesis 11 are different because they contain numbers. The numbers of years listed seem to suggest that they can be used to calculate a simple chronology. The meanings of the names give a clue to why there are no gaps. Adam means man, Seth means appointed, Enosh means mortal, Kenan sorrow, Mahalalel the God who is to be praised, Jared He shall come down, Enoch teacher, Methuselah means his death shall bring it about, Lamech weary, Noah rest. Put the names together, and we find that the first section of 1 Chronicles actually reads: “Man is appointed mortal sorrow, but the God who is to be praised shall come down, teaching that His death shall bring the weary rest.” This is a statement of the Gospel! Yet, this does not work if there were to be any gaps in the Genesis 5 genealogy. It is no coincidence – this line of descent would eventually culminate in Jesus Christ Himself. creationmoments.com/sermons/a-line-of-ten ![]() Genesis 1:2 “And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” Why doesn’t an atom fly apart? It really ought to do so. School children are taught that atoms basically contain three types of particles – protons, neutrons and electrons. The protons and neutrons are in the atomic nucleus. They are roughly the same mass, but neutrons are neutral, whereas protons have a positive electrical charge. Tiny electrons, with a negative charge, whizz around the parent atom at great speed. If you rub a balloon on your hair, you know that you can probably make it stick to a wall. The balloon will pick up a negative electrical charge. Suppose you charge two balloons, each with a string attached. Hold them hanging from your hands, and bring them close. They repel because they have the same charge. The protons in the atomic nucleus have the same positive charge. They should repel. The fact that they do not do so suggests that there is a stronger force present keeping the protons together, even though the electric charge wants to push them apart. This strong force does not have a large sphere of influence. It only seems to operate when objects are 10-15m apart. At such a small distance, the strong force seems to be 137 times stronger than the electrical force. Outside this distance, the electromagnetic force is stronger, so the protons would push each other away. God has balanced these forces exactly. If the strong force were a little weaker, then large atoms would easily fall apart. If a little stronger, then no chemical reactions would occur. creationmoments.com/sermons/forcing-matter-to-stick ![]() Proverbs 16:33 “The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the LORD.” Every so often, it is important to remind ourselves why we believe what we believe. The reason why we do not believe in the theory of evolution is that it is contrary to the way God said He made things. It is said that evolution tells us how God made the world, while Genesis tells us why God made it. This is not the case. There are places in the Bible, such as Isaiah 45 where God indeed tells us why He created, but Genesis 1 is not one of them. Genesis 1 simply reports how God made everything. If evolution were true, then the very first living cell would have had to be formed from inorganic molecules getting together and producing a self-replicating structure. This would require information, and that information would presumably be in a molecule similar to DNA, or perhaps RNA. Yet, molecules do not react by themselves to cause such a structure to emerge. Chance does not create the required structures and information. As long ago as 1966, H. Enoch was saying, “Our hope of producing life seems to be dwindling away as our knowledge of cell chemistry advances.” A random selection of letters does not produce the works of Shakespeare. In the same way, order and complexity in nature exist only because that is the way God has planned and designed it to be. Some things may look random at times, but they are not. creationmoments.com/sermons/chance-couldnt-make-life ![]()
“The Muslim American Society (MAS) Islamic Center in Philadelphia posted the video to its Facebook page celebrating Ummah Day in which young children wearing Palestinian scarves sang and read poetry about killing for Allah and the mosque in Jerusalem, Fox News reported. ‘One girl talks about martyrs sacrificing their lives without hesitation to conquer Jerusalem.’ ‘We will defend the land of divine guidance with our bodies, and we will sacrifice our souls without hesitation,’ another girl says. ‘We will chop off their heads, and we will liberate the sorrowful and exalted Al-Aqsa Mosque [the mosque on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount]. We will lead the army of Allah fulfilling His promise, and we will subject them to eternal torture.’ In a statement to Fox News, MEMRI wrote: ‘These are not isolated incidents; they are happening in major centers of the country--including in Pennsylvania.’ Hassan Sajwani, an Emirati writer, tweeted: ‘I hope the world now realizes why did the #UAE back in 2014 designate #MuslimAmericanSociety @mas_national a terrorist organization! This is what they preach to kids as young as 5 yrs of age !!’”
“Kids in Philadelphia,” Daily Wire, May 3, 2019 ![]() Isaiah 45:18 “For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.” Many Christians are troubled by the idea of the Earth being unique. After all, the universe is vast, so surely God could have put life elsewhere, as well as on this planet. Of course, many Christians still struggle with the idea of evolution. They assume that the world’s scientists cannot be so wrong about evolution. Surely God is big enough to have used evolution if He wished. They forget that what God could have done is not the issue. What matters is what God actually said that He did – and He said that He directly created all life rather than leaving it to a process of blind, random chance, which is not actually able to create anything. Even those who have rejected evolution worry about being dogmatic that we are alone in the universe. Surely the Creation Week could have been achieved elsewhere also? No, it could not. The Bible is clear that the Earth is unique. To emphasize that point, God made the Earth before He made all the other objects of the universe. There could be no comparison between the plant life that God made on Day Three, a whole day before He made other planets, stars, galaxies, etc. It is the first chapter of the Bible that makes clear the uniqueness of the Earth and the fact that it was and is the special focus of God’s provision. It is why God reminded us through the prophet Isaiah that it was the Lord who formed the Earth and made it. creationmoments.com/sermons/the-earth-is-unique ![]() The first televised rock worship service, a half-century ago, had all of the earmarks of Contemporary Christian Music today and all of the loud warning signs for wise, Bible-believing Christians and churches. The date was April 27, 1969, the year I entered the U.S. Army. The band was The Mind Garage; the broadcaster was ABC (American Broadcasting Corporation); the forum was Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church in Bowery, Manhattan. The event was called “14th Electric Mass.” It was seen by thousands of people in the United States and rerun annually into the 1980s (classicchristianrockzine.com). Consider the earmarks of this proto-rock worship service: First, from its inception rock worship was pagan in sound. The music of the first rock worship band was borrowed directly from the secular world. There was nothing sacred or holy about it. It was described as “psychedelic,” which was 1960s drug music. Journalist Joyce Tracewell described it as “deliberate alien music, the kind that makes you shiver.” She said “they sing in voices that should have belonged to Druids or Incas or Gypsies” (“Mind Garage Deliberate Alien Music,” Mindgarage.com, Apr. 19, 1970). I know this music. I lived this music as a drug-using “hippie” before I was saved. There is nothing godly about it. It is “spiritual” only in the sense that it is of the spirit of this world. From then until now, Contemporary Christian Music has borrowed at its pleasure from the cesspool of the world’s party music, pretending to have this liberty, but it is not a liberty justified by God’s Word. It is confusion; it is apostasy; it is rebellion to incorporate the sexualized, demon-influenced music styles of this wicked world into the worship of a thrice-holy God, the God who has commanded His people, “Be not conformed to this world” (Ro. 12:2). Second, from its inception rock worship was ecumenical. The Mind Garage Band members were Baptist, Catholic, and Protestant. “It was not uncommon to witness Episcopalians, Catholics, Protestants and Jews together, all taking Communion” (“The Electric Liturgy of ‘The Mind Garage,’” Classic Christian Rockzine, 2015). The Mind Garage performed in Episcopal, Catholic, Presbyterian, Baptist, and Methodist churches. Ecumenism requires an unscriptural non-judgmental stance toward doctrine and practice and an openness of heresy and apostasy. Nothing is building a “one world church” more effectively than Contemporary Christian Music. Even the more conservative contemporary worship people, such as the Gettys, are ecumenical (e.g., their non-critical relationship with Roman Catholic Matt Maher). It is telling that the first televised rock worship service was held in an Episcopal congregation, seeing that the Episcopalians have been on the cutting edge of theological modernism and apostasy. Earlier in the 1960s, Episcopalian Bishop James Pike called the virgin birth of Christ a “primitive myth” and said that Joseph was probably Jesus’ real father (Redbook magazine, August 1961). He also said that Adam and Eve, the Garden of Eden, heaven, and hell are myths. In 1963, Episcopal theologian Paul van Buren started the God-is-dead movement with the publication of The Secular Meaning of the Gospel. Third, from its inception rock worship was worldly. The longhaired men of The Mind Garage “were not overly religious” and cared little to nothing about biblical precepts against unisex and immodest fashion, alcohol and drug use, separation from filthy things such as secular rock music. The Mind Garage associated with and performed with filthy bands such as Iron Butterfly, Sly and the Family Stone, and Canned Heat. In practice, they ripped verses such as the following from their Bibles: Romans 12:2; 1 Corinthians 11:14-15; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; Ephesians 5:11; 1 Timothy 2:9; James 4:4; and 1 John 2:15-17. Worldliness continues to be a prominent feature of Contemporary Christian Music, as we have documented in Baptist Music Wars and A Directory of Contemporary Worship Musicians, both of which are available as free eBooks from www.wayoflife.org. Fourth, from its inception rock worship was focused on a feeling. A Mind Garage advertisement said, “We welcome you to the electric liturgy, a festival of feeling.” We are reminded that from its inception, contemporary Christian music has been experience oriented, which is largely a product of its intimate association with the charismatic movement. Contemporary worship music is a rock & roll feeling-fest. It is designed to create an emotional experience, a sensual experience, as opposed to a sacred music style that edifies through the mind and heart. We are taught to learn of Christ, not feel Christ (Mt. 11:28-30). But Graham Kendrick, one of the biggest names in contemporary worship, says, “The old way of preaching and singing began to give way to an expectation that ... God would visit us, and we’d EXPERIENCE HIS PRESENCE IN A TANGIBLE SORT OF WAY” (interview June 11, 2002 with Chris Davidson of Integrity Music). Hillsong United’s Matt Crocker says, “My goal is to create an atmosphere for people to be able to enter into the presence of God” (“Seeing the World in Wonder with Hillsong United’s Matt Crocker,” WorshipMusician.com, Jul. 21, 2017). The search for feeling in worship drives the choice of a rock style of music. Unlike traditional sacred music styles, rock music produces strong sensual feelings. One rock song writer well described it as being “hooked on a feeling.” A Bible-believing church that is playing with contemporary Christian music is playing with fire. It is building bridges to the one-world “church” and to the world itself, bridges that will eventually destroy whatever biblicist, pilgrim character the church currently possesses. (Friday Church News Notes, May 10, 2019, www.wayoflife.org, [email protected], 866-295-4143) ![]() Isaiah 45:18 “For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.” When I was growing up in the 1970s, an account of something that had happened over 40 years previously was like ancient history, as far removed from my experience as the Vikings. Yet, a news item popped up on my browser, reminding me that the first photographs of the surface of Mars were taken over 40 years ago by the NASA spacecraft known as Viking 1. The purpose of the two Viking spacecraft was to look for signs of life on the Red Planet. The unmanned spacecraft was equipped with automatic scoops to sample portions of the Martian surface. These samples were then heated and analyzed, using a gas chromatograph mass spectrometer. The GCMS machine was specifically looking for organic molecules, which might have had an organic source. In the 1970s, NASA scientists had already convinced themselves that there must be simple life forms such as bacteria on the planet. But Viking found no such signs of life. To say that NASA operatives were disappointed would be an understatement. Now, NASA scientists have revisited the Viking results, and some have concluded that the organic material must have been there, but that the heat of the GCMS actually destroyed the molecules. The Martian soil samples contained some perchlorate salts, which we know are explosive. Perhaps these were detonated by the GCMS, completely sterilizing everything else! More than 40 years on, it is so hard for some to accept that God is the author of life. creationmoments.com/sermons/did-nasa-burn-signs-of-life-on-mars |
Archives
February 2020
|