A large percentage of Americans have been brainwashed to hate the nation’s Founding Fathers. The latest evidence is the decision by the San Francisco Board of Education to paint over a 13-panel mural of scenes from George Washington’s life at George Washington High School, because of the “violent” and “degrading” imagery (“San Francisco school board votes to paint over,” Washington Post, June 28, 2019). One panel shows frontiersmen standing by the dead body of a Native American, while another shows Washington at Mount Vernon among his slaves. The painting simply depicts the reality of America in the 18th century, which was far from perfect but also far more committed to human rights than any other nation at that time! The Leftist elites and their pop culture minions who are trashing the Founding Fathers are ignorant of history, as well as hateful of the Bible upon which America was founded, which is the fundamental issue. America’s Founding Fathers were not perfect. There was only one Perfect Man in human history. But the Founding Fathers were ground-breaking pioneers in human rights. What other nation in the 18th century did better? What other nation produced a Bill of Rights like America’s? What other nation fought a terrible Civil War to finally bring those rights to all citizens? There was widespread opposition to slavery from the time of the founding of the American colonies, and many of the Founding Fathers were opponents, but abolition became a groundswell movement during the Second Great Awakening, both in America and England. It was the Bible that taught the British and the Americans to renounce slavery. The culmination in America was the Civil War of 1860-65. The Democratic Party was the party of Southern slavery. The Republican Party was founded in 1856 as a coalition of political groups opposing slavery, and Abraham Lincoln, elected in 1860, was the first Republican Party president. Eleven Democrat-controlled states seceded from the Union following his election. It was a Republican president who issued the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, and it was a Republican-controlled Congress that passed the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolishing slavery in 1865. What great nation have the Leftist elites built? What great nation has Atheism built? What great nation has Darwinian evolution built? What great nation have pop stars, Hollywood entertainers, and professional football players built? They build nothing; they only tear down; and even little children can destroy what wise men build.

​(Friday Church News Notes, July 12, 2019, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

Genesis 11:6
“And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language, and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.”

We live in a day and age when God has allowed men and women more freedom than He has allowed previous generations. That freedom can be used for worse evil than the world has ever known, or it can be used for more good than the world has ever known. Christians will make the difference.

Several generations after the flood, the people of the earth were united into one people and one language. They had grown proud and had rejected God’s command to disperse and repopulate the earth. In Genesis 11:6, God notes that as one people with one language, they would be able to accomplish anything they wanted. The problem was that they would be led to trust in themselves instead of God!

We were reminded of this point when we read about some of the startling changes currently occurring in technology. Today we can use a computer to design an artificial hip joint, a gear or an engine exhaust assembly in three dimensions. The part can be designed in New York. Through a phone line, the computer can command a robot in California to fashion a plastic model of the image. The plastic model then becomes the basis for the mold that will form the project. In other words, we can literally fax a solid object anywhere we want. This isn’t science fiction—it’s already happening.

Despite its traditional divisions, today’s world is united into one technological people and language. Will it be for good, or for evil? Only God’s people, scripturally informed and profoundly committed to God’s will, can make the difference.

creationmoments.com/sermons/desktop-manufacturing-3

“If ever a soul rested its hopes on shifting sands, he does who puts feeling in faith’s stead. Nothing is less stable; nothing so subject to every wind that blows as a man’s emotions. Until they are steadied by faith they have no more stability than the mercury in thermometers. I want to tell you, beloved, there is something better than that for the Christian. God never meant to have His children lead a spiritual fever and ague existence, shivering one day and scorching the next. There is no soul-health in that. It is Satan’s scheme to settle you on such sand hills. God offers you the eternal Rock. God has laid for you a sure foundation in His eternal Word. Build on that, and the waves of unbelief will beat themselves into harmless foam at your feet, and you can stand in unshaken assurance, proving the ‘things not seen’”

​(William Bell Riley, commenting on Hebrews 11).

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

The Earth’s magnetic field makes compasses work so that boy scouts don’t get lost in the woods and ships arrive at the correct port. It actually moves over time. This means that navigators periodically need updated information on the position of the pole for their charts.

Many people have the idea that  Earth’s magnetic field moves very slowly. However, the Earth’s magnetic field offers some of the clearest evidences that the Earth is young. Geophysicists recently reported that the north magnetic pole has moved 800 kilometers northwest of where it was in 1904. That’s a much faster rate of movement than many people imagined. However, its speed and direction of movement are about what was expected by geophysicists. They also report that the magnetic pole has moved as much as 80 kilometers in one day.

Measurements taken over the last 150 years show that the Earth’s magnetic field is decaying. When Christ walked the hills of Palestine, the magnetic field was twice as powerful as it is today.

The Earth is much more dynamic and changeable than most people, including most scientists, think. These rapid changes in the position of the magnetic pole and the rapid decay of the magnetic field offer evidence that the Earth is much younger than many people think. One of the world’s best known experts has shown that the decaying magnetic field means that the Earth could not be much older than the Bible’s genealogies indicate.

creationmoments.com/sermons/the-wandering-compass-3

“Every time you go into a home, every time you talk to a man on the street car, or in the shops, or factories, you have the absolute assurance that there is another One also witnessing. And that is God Himself in the Person of the Holy Spirit! Everywhere Barnabas and Saul went the Holy Spirit was there waiting for them. The same Divine Spirit that called and separated Barnabas and Saul was by the river and opened the heart of Lydia while Paul witnessed to her--‘whose heart the Lord opened that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul’ (Acts 16:14). There you have the whole thing in a nutshell. God’s side of the witnessing and man’s side. Therefore, every time you go forth on your personal visitation for Jesus Christ, to tell of His salvation, you have the absolute assurance that the Holy Spirit precedes you, goes with you, talks with you, walks with you, and opens the hearts of all you talk to. This was the greatest truth that ever came into my life next to my salvation. Do you want a holy boldness in your testimony? then go forth and testify of Christ. Suppose you don’t feel like it. Go anyway. The Word does not say that God gives the Holy Spirit to them that feel like it. But He gives the Holy Spirit to them that ‘obey Him’ (Acts 5:32)”

​(J. Frank Norris, The Inside Story of First Baptist Church).

Ephesians 6:4
“And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”

Traditional approaches to early childhood development have relied heavily on the claims of those who don’t believe in the Creator. As a result, these approaches see human beings as simply another animal. Along with this, they usually think that humans are born into the world as a blank slate with no knowledge. As a result, the traditional view has assumed that everything an infant does is based on instinct.

Few have ever tested these beliefs scientifically. Since the viewpoint agrees with evolution, theorists figured they must be correct. At the same time, many Christians simply accepted the claims because they thought they had been tested and proved scientifically.

Evolutionary thinking led Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget to say that infants are not able to imitate facial gestures until they are about a year old. He further said that infants are not able to imitate actions they have seen before until they are 18 months to two years old. It wasn’t until the last few years that these claims were tested. Researchers found that infants were much smarter than they ever imagined. Infants only 72 hours old—in one case—only 42 minutes old—will imitate someone sticking out his or her tongue. Infants as young as 14 months will imitate actions they saw the day before.

Researchers concluded that infants are born with eagerness and ability to begin to learn from adults. This simple truth makes our example as Christians important to even the youngest child.

creationmoments.com/sermons/smarter-than-they-thought-3

“A Cuban Evangelical pastor sentenced to two years in prison for homeschooling his children says his family has endured ‘psychological pressure and a war on behalf of authorities’ for refusing to allow the Castro regime to indoctrinate his children into communist ideology. His remarks form part of a petition to the Organization of American States (OAS) for a precautionary measure protecting Rigal and his wife, Ayda Expósito--who was sentenced to 1.5 years in prison for the same crime of ‘acts contrary to the normal development of a minor.’ Homeschooling is illegal in Cuba and legal schools are of notoriously low quality, prioritizing the development of submissive citizens over life and professional skills. The Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), a nonprofit advocacy group defending the right to home school, and the Global Liberty Alliance, a legal defense fund dedicated to defending the defenders and advancing justice in places such as Communist Cuba, filed the petition for a precautionary measure on behalf of the Rigal family. ‘There are no guarantees of due process or a state of rights in Cuba and, therefore, there are no legal or other avenues that allow for denouncing [crimes] because the courts, as well as the police and all other authorities are under the control of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC),’ the application reads. The couple’s two children, Ruth and Joel, have been forced to matriculate at their local government school in Guantánamo. Cuba, a nominally Marxist atheist state, has consistently moved to repress the religious rights of its citizens. According to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), which publishes an annual global report on religious persecution, Cubans regularly face ‘harassment campaigns targeting religious leaders and activists who advocated for stronger religious freedom protections. While it is difficult to track these cases, one organization reported that 194 individuals were imprisoned or detained because of their religious beliefs and activities between July 2017 and April 2018,’ its annual report for 2019 read.”

“Christian Father,” Breitbart, May 20, 2019

Genesis 1:21
“And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.”

After more than a century of digging earth’s  hills, valleys and plains, paleontologists have uncovered and catalogued more than a billion fossils. Evidence has been found of many plants and animals that are extinct today. However, no evidence has ever been found showing new plants or animals developing.

The new creatures discovered for the first time in the fossil record usually fit into a known phylum. Recently, however, paleontologists working in northern Greenland announced their discovery of a strange, extinct creature. The five-and-a-half-inch-long creature was so strange that it does not seem to fit into any known phylum. Paleontologists have given the fellow the name “Grasper” because it has a pair of appendages sticking out the front that may have been used to grasp things. The body has been described as being shaped something like a spiny postage stamp. It had gill-like flaps along each side and bumps along the back. Grasper also had a set of spines sticking out from its back. Only one complete skeleton of the creature has been discovered, but scientists have about 50 partial skeletons.

Paleontologists also report a number of other strange animals at the site that do not fit into any phylum. One looks like a swimming vacuum cleaner.

The fossil record offers us some surprising examples of God’s creativity. The fossil record doesn’t offer any evidence that the creatures alive today developed from other creatures.

creationmoments.com/sermons/the-spiny-postage-stamp-3

“Project Veritas has received and published documents from an insider at Pinterest. The documents, which include product code, Slack messages, and internal policies, reveal terms and websites that Pinterest apparently censors. In an interview, the Pinterest insider who leaked the documents explains how the company censors pro-life and Christian content on the website. Said Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe: ‘The documents we obtained raise questions about whether or not these tech companies really operate like neutral platforms, as opposed to publishers with editorial agendas.’ Pinterest is a publicly-traded social media company headquartered in San Francisco that has nearly 300 million active monthly users. In the past, Project Veritas released undercover footage of Twitter employees discussing ‘shadow-banning,’ and also published leaked documents from Facebook which revealed plans to target and demote conservative commentary. ‘I was pretty surprised,’ said the Pinterest insider in an interview, when s/he discovered that pro-life group LiveAction.org was added to a ‘porn domain block list.’ The insider explained that the ‘block list’ was intended to be a collection of pornographic websites that Pinterest uses in order to ensure that pornography cannot be posted. LiveAction.org is not a pornographic website; it is the web domain of a prominent pro-life advocacy group. The insider explained that websites on a ‘domain block list’ cannot be linked in posts made by users. While investigating, Project Veritas tried to post the LiveAction.org link on Pinterest and failed to do so, receiving an error message that read, ‘Sorry! Your request could not be completed.’ Lila Rose, the founder and president of LiveAction claims that her organization has been censored in the past, and believes that pro-life organizations are unfairly targeted by social media companies: ‘Pinterest says that their mission is to “help empower people to discover things that they love,” but despite the fact that millions of people love babies and the pro-life cause, they are secretly censoring our life-affirming messages. Pinterest users deserve to know the truth and our messages deserve to be treated fairly.’ Project Veritas reviewed the ‘Sensitive Terms List’ and discovered that Christianity-related terms like ‘christian easter’ and ‘bible verses’ were marked as ‘brand unsafe.’ The insider explained to Project Veritas that in addition to removing content it wants to censor, Pinterest also ‘hides’ materials from users on their home screens and search results. The insider added that there is also ‘silent removing,’ which means the content is removed but there is no notice to the account who posted the material that it was removed.”

“Tech Insider Blows Whistle,” ProjectVeritas.com, June 11, 2019

Philippians 1:22-24

“But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor: yet what I shall choose I wot not. For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better: Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.”

When it was introduced, some people thought that it was against God’s will. After all, since the human body was made in God’s image, it is wrong to put something into the human body that was made from a cow. An artist of the day even drew a cartoon showing people receiving the vaccine that was made from a cow. It showed cows emerging from the leg of someone who had been vaccinated. The vaccine was smallpox vaccine, and the year was 1796.

The first smallpox vaccine worked, and still works, very nicely. It has eradicated smallpox. The weakened virus used in the vaccine is called vaccina, and it is still hard at work today.

Viruses do their damage by fooling the cell into letting it latch on. It then takes over, using its genetic information and the cell’s machinery to turn out its own proteins to make more viruses. The effect on us is the disease characteristics of the infecting virus. However, vaccina is weakened so the body’s immune system can kill it without allowing the disease to develop. The body remembers that immune response and fights the disease more successfully the next time it shows up. Modern genetic engineers are adding the disease-causing genes of many viruses to the vaccina virus. In animal tests, the new vaccina virus has prevented malaria, hepatitis B. herpes simplex, rabies, and other diseases.

Vaccines have been a great blessing, saving the lives of many so that they, too, might serve God.

creationmoments.com/sermons/hard-working-virus-3

A few years ago a preacher friend mentioned that he had been listening to some conservative evangelicals, including Anne Graham Lotz (not something I would advise), and he observed, “This Anne lady should have been a man. She makes some very good points, better than her dad Billy and her brother Franklin. She even talks about sin, repentance, hell, demons, earnest prayer, revival, about Israel in a favourable light, etc. There are a very small group of evangelicals that seem good on a few things.” I replied that for years I have noticed that Franklin Graham and Anne can talk a good talk, sounding stronger than their dad, but they walk in the same terribly disobedient footsteps. I have seen this same thing on the part of evangelicals that I have heard at various conferences and on visits to their churches. You sometimes find yourself thinking that you are listening to a true Biblicist who has a zeal for the truth, but then you realize that what they say and what they do are in great contradiction. Anne indicated to Kyra Phillips of CNN on April 8, 2005, that Pope John Paul II might be in heaven. She applauded the Pope’s efforts “to bridge the gaps between Protestants and Catholics and Jews and Catholics” (CNN.com, transcripts). She said, “The wonderful thing, in Rome I’ve heard people say the Holy Father is in heaven and everybody is so confident that the Pope is in heaven. And I think it’s because he was such a good man.” This is in spite of the fact that the spiritually-blind pope held to a false gospel of salvation through Rome’s sacraments, beginning with baptismal regeneration, and devoted himself 100% to Mary. Anne represented her father at that Pope’s funeral. How could a true Bible believer praise the Pope? It is great confusion. It has been said of Billy Graham that he is “Mr. Facing Both Ways,” and the same can be said of the entire Graham family, yea, pretty much the entire world of “evangelicalism.” This is because they have renounced “separatism” and they believe in a “big tent” of fellowship and ministry which requires a tremendous amount of compromise. In 2005, Anne preached at a conference in Russia sponsored by the extremely modernistic Baptist World Alliance (BWA) (“Baptists Unveil New Strategy for Evangelism,” Assist News Service, Aug. 3, 2005). Denton Lotz, General Secretary of the BWA, is Anne’s brother-in-law. In 2007, she joined with Samuel Kobia, president of the wretchedly apostate World Council of Churches, in a conference in India. Kobia doesn’t preach the redemption of the soul through the blood of Christ; he preaches the false gospel of redemption of society through socio-political work (“WCC Head Calls for Change in Famed Ecumenical Motto,” Christian Post, April 28, 2007). Like other conservative evangelicals, Anne Graham Lotz is acceptable to many Bible believers, even while subtly drawing them into fellowship with the one-world church. In truth, these are very dangerous people. Anyone who genuinely loves the truth will demonstrate the Psalmist’s hatred of error, but we don’t see this even in the most conservative of evangelicals. “Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way” (Psalm 119:128). (For more documentation on these subjects see the report “Liberal Baptist Denominations” and the free eBooks Billy Graham and Rome, Billy Graham’s Sad Disobedience, and The World Council of Churches, at www.wayoflife.org.)

(Friday Church News Notes, July 5, 2019, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

I Samuel 2:3
“Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.”

Several years ago Koko the gorilla amazed scientists and the public by apparently learning enough of the rudiments of English to communicate simple thoughts. Now studies on wild vervet monkeys suggest that Koko’s achievement might be nothing more than a normal, God-given ability.

Anthropologists from UCLA report that wild vervet monkey communication shows much more language development than scientists ever expected. It took years of study in the wild before anthropologists began to hear subtle differences in the grunts and screeches offered by the monkeys. They confirmed these differences by recording the different sounds and the actions that went with the sounds. Then they analyzed the sounds electronically and found that there was indeed a pattern of differences in the sounds that corresponds to specific actions.

Anthropologists then set up their sound equipment in the monkey’s home territory to test their interpretation of the sounds. When the grunt researchers thought meant “open plain” was played, monkey listeners looked out toward the open plain. Likewise, when the “other group” grunt was played, the monkeys searched the open plain even more carefully. The scientists had discovered that they had successfully understood two other monkey phrases as well.

These vervet monkeys teach us that language is not the evolutionary development of early humans, but a gift from God, the Author of language.

creationmoments.com/sermons/monkey-talk-3

Numbers 22:30
“And the ass said unto Balaam, Am not I thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this day? was I ever wont to do so unto thee? And he said, Nay.”

Have you ever noticed that we can usually sense whether an animal is hostile or friendly, simply by its sound? Did you ever wonder about the universal features that allow for important basic information to be shared between animals and humans?

None of us ever had to be taught that a dog, growling deeply and showing its teeth, was trying to threaten us. We’re all familiar with the high-pitched yips that same dog makes to welcome its owner home. Research shows that the motivations expressed by high-pitched and low-pitched sounds are universal among most creatures.

Researchers say that almost all animals bark (the high-pitched sounds) or growl (the low-pitched sounds). They were surprised to learn that animals don’t simply make arbitrary noises. Sound has meaning. Even the higher-pitched voice of birds has a barking mode that can be seen on a graph and heard when a slowed-down recording is played. Animals make lower, harsher sounds when they’re being aggressive. This is the growl. When friendly, an animal makes higher-pitched sounds. The bark seems to mean that an animal is neither hostile nor friendly, simply curious. Human speech follows the same general pattern.

These universal features of communication reflect the work of our Creator who intended for many different kinds of creatures to coexist. He gave us all a universal method for understanding important basic messages like fear, aggression and joy.

creationmoments.com/sermons/bird-barks-and-lizard-growls-3

“From the introduction of the smallpox vaccine in the 19th century to the mass availability of flu shots today, vaccines have helped millions of people develop immunity to some of the world’s deadliest illnesses. Thanks to vaccines, many infectious diseases--like smallpox and polio--no longer exist outside of laboratories in the US. Their lasting elimination has spurred researchers to work to develop new types of immunizations that could help people avoid other life-altering diseases. Here are six once-common diseases that you no longer have to worry about thanks to vaccines. SMALLPOX used to wipe out populations by the thousands. The virus attacks the immune system, causing rapid death. When European colonizers brought smallpox to the Americas in the 17th century, it became an epidemic, killing three out of every 10 people who got it. In 1796, physician Edward Jenner discovered that people could become immune to smallpox if they received an injection of a similar, less invasive strain of the virus. Jenner’s experiments led to the development of the the world's first vaccine. Over the next century, vaccinations became a routine practice in developed countries. In 1972, the US declared smallpox eradicated. POLIO is a viral infection that lives inside a person’s throat and intestines. One in four people who catch the disease develop flu-like symptoms that go away, but a smaller percentage suffer severe effects, including paralysis and respiratory failure. Some infected children would spend weeks inside giant machines called iron lungs, since polio made them unable to breathe on their own. According to NPR, 3,000 US children died from polio in the year 1952 alone. Polio deaths were so common, in fact, that companies sold polio insurance to the parents of newborns. But once a vaccine was introduced in 1955, polio rates declined rapidly. In 1979, the disease was considered eliminated from the US. DIPHTHERIA infections affected more than 200,000 people in 1921 and caused approximately 15,520 deaths that year, according to the CDC. The diphtheria vaccine was introduced in the 1920s, so natural outbreaks haven’t been an issue for nearly a century in the US. MUMPS is a respiratory disease caused by the paramyxovirus. Prior to the advent of the mumps vaccine, roughly 186,000 people in the US contracted the virus every year. Mumps cases in the US declined by 99 percent after the introduction of the vaccine in 1967, and there are now only a few hundred cases per year. MEASLES (also known as rubeola) attacks the respiratory system and other organs. If the infection is severe, it can cause serious complications like blindness, brain damage, and even death. An estimated 3 million people contracted the disease every year in the late 1950s, before the vaccine was available. The CDC announced measles was eliminated from the US in the year 2000. RUBELLA leads to brain damage and birth defects in infants. Vaccinations for rubella became available in the late 1960s. The New York Times reported in 2015 that rubella had been eliminated from the Western hemisphere.”

“Six Infectious Diseases,” Business Insider, June 14, 2019

Psalm 27:10
“When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up.”

What’s green, has three eyes and is one of the rarest animals on earth?

The answer: the tuatara. This reptile is found today only on a few small islands off New Zealand. Its home on the islands in the Bay of Plenty and Cook Strait has no mammals at all. The tuatara was once also found on New Zealand. However, when settlers introduced mammals, the tuatara became extinct, probably because it could not compete with the mammals.

The tuatara is a reptile that is the only surviving species in its order. That means it’s so different from other creatures that science knows of no similar creatures living today. It grows to a length of about two feet. The chunky reptile has a dark olive green body with light-colored spots. Its eyes are like those of the cat, except for one thing—it has three of them. Besides the eyes you would expect on each side of its head, it has a third eye on top of its head. Scientists don’t believe that this third eye actually works. That’s because its structure does not seem to be that of a complete, working eye. However, this third eye does have a retina and other eye structures. A nocturnal animal, the tuatara eats insects, worms and small animals. It buries its 12 to 14 eggs in a shallow hole in the ground where they take up to a year to hatch.

The tuatara is a special example of God’s creativity and His care for His creatures. It certainly isn’t the fittest creature, yet God seems to have taken special care to preserve this unique animal.

creationmoments.com/sermons/the-tuatara-3

The Gettys are probably the most influential contemporary worship musicians among fundamentalist and Independent Baptist churches. The Gettys are promoted by Bob Jones University, Majesty Music, Crown College of Powell, Tennessee, and West Coast Baptist College, among a great many others. At least 8 Getty songs are in the latest Majesty Music hymnal Rejoice Hymns, and 29 are in Hymns Modern and Ancient, compiled by Fred Coleman, head of BJU’s music department. But the Gettys are “conservative” only by the corrupted standard of this hour. They are clearly and irrefutably a bridge to the one-world “church” with its endless variety of heresies. This is because of their syncretistic music, their big-tent philosophy, and their ecumenical associations. The Gettys “fuse the music of their Irish heritage with the sounds of Nashville, their newly adopted home.” They list the Beatles as a major musical influence. Consider the Getty’s Sing 2019 conference in Nashville. The video advertisement features out-and-out rock and roll, women worship leaders, female musicians dancing in incredibly tight and immodest clothing, and heresy-laden speakers. What is “conservative” about this? Sing 2019 conference speakers include John Piper (inventor of the heresy of Christian Hedonism, disciple of the heretic C.S. Lewis, and promoter of “Christian” hip hop), D.A. Carson (who supports inclusive language Bible translation and holds the heresy of redaction criticism of the Gospels, claiming that we have only the ipissima vox Jesu, the authentic VOICE of Jesus, rather than imissima verba Jesus, the authentic WORDS of Jesus, An Introduction to the New Testament, 1992, p. 44), John MacArthur (who teaches that a sinner must be born again before he can believe and who promotes “Christian” hip hop and Christian rock music at his youth conferences), Anne Graham Lotz (Billy Graham’s female preacher daughter who attended the enthronement of Pope Benedict VI, said she thinks Pope John Paul II is in heaven, and applauded that pope’s efforts “to bridge the gaps between Protestants and Catholics and Jews and Catholics,” CNN, Apr. 8, 2005), Stuart Townend (charismatic in theology and practice, supporting such heresies as spirit slaying, holy laughter, and gibberish “tongues,” and participating in the radically ecumenical Alpha program with strong ties to Catholicism), and John Lennox (theistic evolutionist). Missing from the lineup are the Getty’s Roman Catholic friends Matt Maher and Máire, but though Roman Catholics aren’t scheduled to participate at Sing 2019, they are most definitely part of the Getty’s big tent. Instead of promoting the Gettys and pretending that they are “conservative,” Bible-believing Christian leaders should be exposing them and educating their people of the great dangers inherent in the entire realm of contemporary worship. Instead of building bridges to this world, they should be clearly and determinedly separating. “Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners” (1 Corinthians 15:33).

(Friday Church News Notes, June 28, 2019, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

Psalm 71:6
“By thee have I been holden up from the womb: thou art he that took me out of my mother’s bowels: my praise shall be continually of thee.”

More than 75% of all women in their first trimester of pregnancy suffer some form of morning sickness. More than half become physically sick. While it may not help a woman with morning sickness feel better, it might help to know that morning sickness may serve a good purpose.

A University of California biologist has concluded that morning sickness may actually be the body’s way of protecting the developing child. Margie Profet spent six years studying diets, birth defects, and the level of natural toxins in our food. Most food has a natural, low concentration of poisons. For example, plants make poisons to protect their leaves from marauding insects. Normally these poisons are so weak that they are completely harmless to us. However, the newly developing infant is extremely susceptible to these low levels of toxins until about the eighth week of development. Naturally occurring chemicals in our environment can cause birth defects and even death to the vulnerable infant. When the body detects a level of toxins dangerous to the developing child, it may use morning sickness to rid the body of them.

Profet mentions other studies that showed that women who get nauseous and vomit during early pregnancy have lower rates of miscarriage than women who don’t get sick.

The final scientific opinion isn’t in yet. However morning sickness may indeed by God’s safety valve to protect the sensitive, developing child from harm.

creationmoments.com/sermons/gods-safety-valve-3

“A new Project Veritas video that includes testimony from a whistleblower, leaked internal documents, and undercover footage of a Google employee discussing how the company is working to prevent ‘the next Trump situation’ has been pulled by YouTube, a platform owned by Google, ‘due to a privacy claim by a third party.’ This is the second Project Veritas Big Tech exposé video taken down by the platform in two weeks. The video features clips of Project Veritas undercover reporters’ secretly recorded discussion with Jen Gennai--head of Google’s ‘Responsible Innovation’ team, which monitors the responsible implementation of A.I. technologies — in a restaurant in San Francisco. Another clip shows her discussing Google’s attempt to ‘prevent’ another 2016. ‘Elizabeth Warren is saying we should break up Google,’ she says. ‘And like, I love her but she’s very misguided, like that will not make it better it will make it worse, because all these smaller companies who don’t have the same resources that we do will be charged with preventing the next Trump situation, it’s like a small company cannot do that. We all got screwed over in 2016, again it wasn’t just us, it was--the people got screwed over, the news media got screwed over, like, everybody got screwed over--so we’re rapidly been like, what happened there and how do we prevent it from happening again,’ she says in another clip. ‘We’re also training our algorithms, like, if 2016 happened again, would we have, would the outcome be different?’ Two weeks ago, YouTube pulled another Big Tech exposé video published by Project Veritas, likewise citing a privacy complaint. That video focused on alleged anti-conservative bias within Pinterest. ‘The established media and technology are so afraid of investigative journalism they need to censor it,’ O’Keefe tweeted in response.”

​“YouTube Pulls Project Veritas Video on Google Bias,” DailyWire.com, June 25, 2019

Isaiah 53:5
“But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”

Imagine being in a party that’s all packed into one room and everyone is talking. Under these conditions it’s often difficult to hear, or at least, understand what others around you are saying. Now imagine that all of these people look nearly identical. None has any noticeable distinguishing features that make him different from anyone else in the room. Now, to make matters worse, you have been informed that you are to find the person in the room who was not invited to the party.

That’s the impossible situation that honeybees constantly face. However, the noisy room I have just described is noisy in two ways. Bees not only communicate through sound. They also use scents to communicate. And the hive is full of scents. Yet honeybees are constantly alert to bees who are not members of the hive. Invaders are killed. How can bees so successfully protect the hive?

Entomologists have discovered that members of a hive all carry the same chemical password. The scent must be very distinctive because the hive is filled with smells. It also seems that all honeybees may use a specific combination and subtle variations of only two chemicals. Yet each hive can instantly tell whether another bee carries the specific chemical password.

The complexity of this avenue of beehive defense shows not only a wise and powerful Creator. It also shows us that He cares for what He has created. He cares for You, too. Learn more about the specific details of His love for You in the Bible.

creationmoments.com/sermons/bee-cologne-3

Four members of the original 1970s Rolling Stones rock band are still rocking well into their 70s (Ronnie Wood is 72, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards are 75, and Charlie Watts is 78), and they think that this is because “somebody up there likes us.” That is what Wood told the press recently, after lead singer Mick Jagger “bounced back” from a noninvasive heart valve replacement (“Rolling Stones’ Ronnie Wood reflects on sobriety, Mick Jagger’s ‘superhuman’ recovery,” The Sun, June 24, 2019). The band is continuing its “No Filter” U.S. tour. Their longevity and worldly success has deceived them into thinking that all is well, but the accounting with the holy Creator is at hand. “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). “For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:14). The vast influence of the Rolling Stones has been extremely unholy. They helped set the theme for the licentious modern pop culture with their 1965 song, “I’m Free.” Thumbing their noses at God, they sang, “I’m free to do what I want any old time ... I’m free to choose what I please any old time.” They have mocked holy matrimony. Jagger has had eight children by five women. The Stones have exalted Lucifer in albums such as Their Satanic Majesty’s Request and Beggars Banquet and the song “Sympathy for the Devil.” Jagger dressed up as the devil for their 1969 tour, including for the concert at Altamont Speedway in which at least four died and hundreds were injured. The Hells Angels murdered a young black man named Meredith Hunter right in front of the stage as Jagger was prancing around in his Satan routine. In Hellhounds on the Trail, Gary Patterson gives many other details of the Rolling Stones’ occultic involvement. Many of their songs and stage antics are so filthy that neither the titles, the lyrics, nor the descriptions can be printed. Yet Wood says, “Somebody up there likes us.” He is right, but not in the way that he thinks. God loves the members of the Rolling Stones and would save them from their sin through the redemption that Christ purchased at Calvary (John 3:16), but there is no salvation without true repentance and faith. Jesus said, “I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3). And perish doesn’t mean cease to exist.

​(Friday Church News Notes, June 28, 2019, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

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

Coryanthes macrantha, commonly known as the bucket orchid, grows in Mexico and Central and South America. The pretty, but unassuming, flowers form a little receptacle or bucket, into which the flower drips a strongly scented fluid. This scent attracts the flower’s only pollinator – the beautiful, green, male orchid bee.

On entering the flower, the bee falls into the bucket trap. But it is not the orchid’s purpose to kill the bee. The bee soon finds a little step, and an escape hatch. However, the flower grips the bee and glues two pollen sacks to its back. When the glue is dry, the flower releases the unharmed bee, which makes its escape.

The pollen sacks and the scent are essential to the bee’s own courtship ritual with female bees. It is the orchid’s scent which is attractive to the female.

If a male bee which already has pollen sacks on its back enters the bucket orchid, then the flower simply snatches the sacks off the back of the bee and releases it immediately, thus completing the flower’s rather complicated pollination process.

Most articles about the orchid and the bee refer to their co-evolution, which has left them totally dependent on each other. Yet, no partially evolved orchid could survive.

An orchid whose escape hatch was too big would release the bee without the pollen, while too small a hatch would trap the bee until it died. Either way, a partially evolved orchid could not pollinate. So-called co-evolution is clearly impossible.

creationmoments.com/sermons/of-orchids-and-bees