One of the strongholds of the ancient Bible-believing Waldenses was the northern Italian Alps. The term "Waldenses" refers to "people of the valleys," and there are four major valleys in the Cottian Alps that formed the historic home of these Waldensians: Val Germanasca, Val Chisone, Val Angrogna, and Val Pellice. To the north is Switzerland and to the west, France. In 2003, we drove part way up two of these valleys. Even today there are not many roads. In particular, we visited the following towns and villages: Torre Pellice, Villar Pellice, Luserna, Gianavella, Bobbio Pellice, Rora, Lorenzo, Chanforan, and Serra. All of these valleys were scenes of terrible Roman Catholic persecutions during the 15th to 17th centuries. The papal cruelties perpetuated against the Bible-believing Christians were vicious. The following brief account of a just few of these fearful acts is given by a Waldensian pastor: "There is no town in Piedmont under a Vaudois pastor, where some of our brethren have not been put to death ... Hugo Chiamps of Finestrelle had his entrails torn from his living body, at Turin. Peter Geymarali of Bobbio, in like manner, had his entrails taken out at Lucerna, and a fierce cat thrust in their place to torture him further; Maria Romano was buried alive at Rocco-patia; Magdalen Foulano underwent the same fate at San Giovanni; Susan Michelini was bound hand and foot, and left to perish of cold and hunger at Saracena. Bartholomew Fache, gashed with sabres, had the wounds filled up with quicklime, and perished thus in agony at Fenile; Daniel Michelini had his tongue torn out at Bobbio for having praised God. James Baridari perished covered with sulphurous matches, which had been forced into his flesh under the nails, between the fingers, in the nostrils, in the lips, and over all his body, and then lighted. Daniel Revelli had his mouth filled with gunpowder, which, being lighted, blew his head to pieces. Maria Monnen, taken at Liousa, had the flesh cut from her cheek and chin bone, so that her jaw was left bare, and she was thus left to perish. Paul Garnier was slowly sliced to pieces at Rora. Thomas Margueti was mutilated in an indescribable manner at Miraboco, and Susan Jaquin cut in bits at La Torre. Sara Rostagnol was slit open from the legs to the bosom, and so left to perish on the road between Eyral and Lucerna. Anne Charbonnier was impaled and carried thus on a pike, as a standard, from San Giovanni to La Torre. Daniel Rambaud, at Paesano, had his nails torn off, then his fingers chopped off, then his feet and his hands, then his arms and his legs, with each successive refusal on his part to abjure the Gospel" (Alexis Muston, The Israel of the Alps: A History of the Waldenses).

(Friday Church News Notes, September 12, 2014, www.wayoflife.org,fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

Pope Francis sent a message of fraternal greeting to the Methodist and Waldensian churches on the occasion of their annual synod, August 24-29, Torre Pellice, Italy. The message said the "Holy Father prays that the Lord, through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, grant to all Christians progress on the path towards full communion, to witness to the Lord Jesus Christ and to offer the light and strength of His Gospel to the men and women of our time" ("Pope Francis Sends Message," Zenit, Aug. 25, 2014). For the Waldenses to accept such a heretical message from the "holy father," offered through the blasphemous doctrine of the intercession of Mary, is clear evidence of their spiritual downfall. The Union of Methodist and Waldensian Churches was formed in 1975 by the merger of the Waldensian Evangelical Church and the Italian Methodist Church. Prior to their modern apostasy, the Waldensian churches stood for the New Testament faith and against Rome and her heresies, suffering great persecution at her hands. For example, the Confession of Faith of the Waldenses (AD 1120 and AD 1150), held that salvation is by the grace of Jesus Christ alone and that the Bible alone is the Word of God and the sole standard for judgment, rejected Rome's Mary, papal primacy, vows of celibacy, purgatory, masses for the dead, and veneration of saints, and held to the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper alone. In those ancient Waldensian confessions, the Roman Catholic Church was called "the whole of Babylon." We have given many quotations from these and other ancient documents as well as recounted many of the Waldensian persecutions in A History of the Churches from a Baptist Perspective, one of the Advanced Bible Studies Series courses, and in Rome and the Bible: Tracing the History of the Roman Catholic and Its Persecutions of the Bible and of Bible Believers.

(Friday Church News Notes, September 12, 2014, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) 

Genesis 1:24
"And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so."

Scientists who believe in creation often point out that when we finally learn the genetics of a creature, that information doesn't match its supposed evolutionary history. There are many examples of this, and a new example was reported in the scientific literature at the end of 1998.

Evolutionary scientists had theorized that turtles were the last survivors of a very early group of creatures that later evolved into reptiles, birds and mammals. Their reasoning for this lies in the type of skull turtles have. Most reptiles and birds have two holes on each side of their skulls, behind their eyes. But turtles stand alone in having none of these holes. So they were classified as a separate evolutionary branch. But a comparison of the genetics of the turtle and other reptiles now places turtles among reptiles. They are not related to any supposed ancestor of reptiles, but rather are closest to alligators and birds. While some evolutionists are critical of this study, the study itself is the second that places turtles among the modern reptile family.

As more genetic information has become known in recent years, the relationships revealed have not generally been what evolutionists expected. And this is exactly what those who believe in the Creator would expect. So next time someone tries to tell you that belief in the Creator is ignorant and unscientific, just remember the turtle!

Notes: R. Monastersky, "Turtle genes upset reptilian family tree," Science News, December 5, 1998, v. 154, p. 358.
Photo: Skeleton of a snapping turtle in Museum of Science, Boston, Massachusetts.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

Genesis 1:11
"And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so."

What's left to be discovered? Many people have the idea that scientists have discovered just about everything when it comes to everyday subjects. Sure, scientists are searching for cures for many diseases and making discoveries of new atomic particles. But when it comes to common things, say botany, even many scientists think everything has been discovered.

But a few botanists realize that even when it comes to wild plants in North America, a surprising percentage of these plants still have not yet been discovered, named or described scientifically. One modern botanist who holds this belief has named 118 new plants, discovered 61 distinctive varieties and 57 recorded plants that have been named as new species. While some of the newly discovered plants that have been found relatively recently are in remote locations, many are seen by people every day. A member of the lily family that was first described in 1972 grew only 10 miles from downtown San Francisco. What is now known as Morefield's leather flower was discovered in 1982 on a vacant lot in suburban Huntsville, Alabama. Botanists working in this field estimate that 5 percent of North American plants still remain either undescribed or undiscovered.

God created such a variety of plants that modern science still has not even discovered all the living plants around us. This truth should tell us that modern science cannot tell us that God did not create this wonderful variety and beauty.

Notes: Susan Milius, "Unknown Plants Under Our Noses," Science News, January 2, 1999, v. 155, p. 8.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

Fox News was one of the major sponsors of the annual meeting of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalist Association. Though promoting itself as a "fair and balanced" news forum, it is obvious that the fairness and balance breaks down when it comes to the "gay" agenda. Fox contributed $10,000 to the conference. Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth, who attended part of the meeting, said that there was no balance of perspective. Even in the panel on religion, no traditionalist view was invited. The speakers for that forum were two homosexuals, former Episcopal Church bishop Vicky Gene Robinson, who broke his marriage vows when he left his wife to marry a man, and ECLA bishop Guy Erwin. Throughout the conference, supporters of traditional biblical morality and marriage were portrayed as hateful people, the new racists. Though the conference mouthed the words "diversity" and "inclusion," the hypocrisy is glaring, since they want to quiet every diverse opinion and run roughshod over every opponent. Robinson and Erwin said that when Christian businessmen refuse to participate in gay weddings, it is "racist bigotry." LaBarbera said, "The prevailing viewpoint at the conference--surely shared by most secular media professionals these days--is that 'gay, lesbian and transgender' journalists are a legitimate sexual (or gender) 'minority,' not unlike racial and ethnic minorities, deserving solicitous attention in newsrooms" ("Journalists Strategize to Report on Being 'Gay,'" WorldNetDaily, Aug. 30, 2014). Other corporate sponsors included Coca-Cola, JetBlue, Nissan, ESPN, Prudential, Toyota, CNN, CBS, Chevrolet, Comcast, Gannett, Cox Media Group, and McClatchy,

(Friday Church News Notes, September 5, 2014, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

Ephesians 4:31
"Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice."

For years those filled with anger were advised to vent their anger. Supposedly, venting one's anger – hitting a pillow, breaking things, yelling – would get rid of the anger. To many people, such advice seemed contrary to the spirit of Scripture. And a few more conservative voices in the counseling community maintained that far from dealing constructively with anger, venting actually increases it.

A Duke University study has documented that venting not only increases anger, but is actually bad for one's health. In one study, researchers randomly assigned reading to 600 college students. Some students read pro venting articles, others read anti venting articles, while others read articles on unrelated subjects. Students were asked to write an essay on the article they read. Then, each was given negative comments about their essay – comments designed to make them angry –followed by the opportunity to hit a punching bag. Finally, each student was paired with an opponent in a competition that offered an opportunity for aggression.

Researchers found that students who read a pro venting article were twice as aggressive as the others. Aggression levels were also linked to how much the students liked hitting the punching bag. Other studies have shown that anger doubles or triples one's chance of having a heart attack, and long term anger is linked to other health problems as well.

Science has again "learned" what the Bible has always taught: anger is not good for you or anyone else.

Notes: Judy Forman, "New Advice for Hotheads: Cool It," Star Tribune, Sunday May 9, 1999, PE3.
Photo: Courtesy of David Shankbone. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

John 11:11-12
"These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well."

Physicians have been mystified by and are in the process of studying GOD. But in this case, the acronym "GOD" stands for "generation of diversity." The diversity that amazes them is the diversity found in our immune system. While we have fewer than 100,000 genes, our immune system is able to generate tens of millions of distinct antibodies to defend and protect itself from disease. How can only 100,000 genes produce thousands of times that many antibodies?

Actually, we have two immune systems. The first is called the innate system. This rapid response system relies on common characteristics found in most microbes to bind and conquer them. The second immune system is called the combinatorial immune system. It is this second immune system that generates tens of millions of different and very specific antibodies. Its response is slower than the innate system because it responds to an infection by making and sending a variety of antibodies at invaders. Depending on which antibodies recognize the invader, the combinatorial system then begins to manufacture more specific antibodies until the invader is conquered.

Researchers studying the details of the immune system are astonished at how evolution could design such a complex, ingenious and precise system. Even from a scientific standpoint, the simpler explanation is that our immune system, like everything else, was created by an all wise, all-powerful Creator!

Notes: John Travis, "The Accidental Immune System," Science News, November 7, 1998, v. 154, p. 302.
Photo: A single white blood cell (yellow) engulfing anthrax bacteria. Courtesy of Volker Brinkmann. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic license.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

On August 31, 2014, Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis spoke at the LifeLight Festival in South Dakota. Instead of being in a sound church that Sunday morning and encouraging others to be in church, Ken was at a rock concert. LifeLight is an ecumenical ministry that focuses on Christian rock and social work. LifeLight's web site has no statement of faith, and the founders testify that they were converted through Christian rock music. Sponsors of the August 2014 LifeLight conference included Reformed, Southern Baptist, Assemblies of God, Evangelical Free, Charismatic, Pentecostal, Lutheran, and Cowboy churches. Contemporary Christian musicians who performed included such radical ecumenists as Michael W. Smith, Skillit, and Sanctus Real. In 1993, Smith, probably the most influential CCM artist alive, performed for the Roman Catholic World Youth Day in Denver, attended by Pope John Paul II. In 1997, Smith joined the Roman Catholic Kathy Troccoli and 40 other CCM artists to record Love One Another, an ecumenical song that talks about tearing down the walls of denominational division. In 2009, Smith joined Roman Catholic Matt Maher on the New Hallelujah Tour. Ken Ham's presence in this worldly mixed multitude is irrefutable evidence of Answers in Genesis' deep compromise in regard to doctrinal purity and its rejection of biblical separatism. What a terrible example he is giving to young people. Answers in Genesis does a great job of defending the literal Genesis account of creation against Darwinian evolution. The Creation Museum is a masterpiece of biblical apologetics, but this is not the be-all and end-all of the New Testament faith and of Christ's Great Commission. To reject the necessity of standing for doctrinal purity (Jude 3) and practicing biblical separatism (Romans 16:17) is no light matter. Harold Ockenga, one of the fathers of the New Evangelical movement, said, "We repudiate separatism." But it is impossible to repudiate "separatism" without repudiating New Testament Christianity. Particularly in the midst of end-time apostasy, biblical separation is a necessary protection from error. See the free eBook New Evangelicalism: Its History, Characteristics, and Fruit, available at www.wayoflife.org. See also Bible Separation: Its Doctrine and Practice, available in print editions from Way of Life.

(Friday Church News Notes, September 5, 2014, www.wayoflife.org,fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

Matthew 5:16
"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

Some time ago here on Creation Moments we did a program about Asian fireflies that flash in unison. The unspoken question was, "Aren't there some American species that flash in unison?" Someone in Tennessee who saw the same reports on which our program was based had the answer to that question. She contacted a researcher at Georgia Southern University to report an American species that clearly flashes in unison. At first, researchers had a difficult time believing that there were other firefly species that could accomplish this difficult task. But now several American species that flash in unison have been identified.
    
The newly identified species is found in the eastern United States, as far north as Pennsylvania and all the way down to Georgia. Another species has been found in Texas. Yet another species is found in the Gulf states. In each case, the males synchronize their flashes, creating a dramatic light show. Some species flash in unison for hundreds of flashes, producing shows that last up to three or four minutes.
    
Researchers have tried to explain this complex behavior in what is supposed to be a simple species. What troubles them is that every explanation they come up with credits the firefly with having some sort of pacemaker in its tiny brain. To those with an evolutionary view, this is unacceptably complex. But for those of us who know we have an all wise Creator, the synchronized flashing of fireflies is but another sign of the excellence of His work.

Notes: Susan Milius, "U.S. Fireflies Flashing in Unison," Science News, March 13, 1999, v. 155, p. 168.
Photo: Courtesy of Bruce Marlin. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

A federal judge struck down as unconstitutional Utah's law against polygamy. U.S. District Court Judge Clark Waddoups ruled against the law's clause that made it illegal for an individual to cohabit with someone to whom he or she is not legally married. Waddoups ruled that the law against cohabitation violates the First Amendment and "interfered with the right to privacy," a concept made up of whole cloth by judicial fiat and not protected in the U.S. Constitution. The judge upheld the part of Utah's law criminalizing bigamy (entering into multiple marriages). The case began when a polygamist family sued the state of Utah in 2011 after a county prosecutor threatened to prosecute them. Kody Brown is legally married to one woman but also lives with three others in "spiritual union." He has 17 children with the four women. The judge ordered the county to pay the Brown's legal fees. Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes has indicated that he will probably appeal the ruling, but we have little hope that high U.S. courts today will rule for constitutional principles and certainly not for biblical morality. Fundamentalist Mormons,  such as the Apostolic United Brethren Church of which the Browns are members, are a breakaway from the mainline Mormon Church and believe that polygamist marriages bring exaltation in heaven. Matt Barber, an attorney and columnist, observes, "Make no mistake, unless this euphemistic 'marriage equality' bomb is ultimately defused, the cornerstone institutions of natural marriage and the natural family will someday be unrecognizable. A society that rejects the sanctity of marriage and family is a society not long for the world" ("Judge Issues Final Order," Christian News Network, Aug. 29, 2014). God's will from the beginning was for marriage to consist of a holy, lifelong covenant between one man and one woman (Gen. 2:20-25). Ever since the Fall, man has wanted to defile God's plan of marriage. Lamech, a son of Adam's firstborn son Cain, was the first polygamist (Gen. 4:16-19). Some of the Old Testament saints were polygamists, but it was not God's will, and it brought much trouble. The Son of God confirmed that God's will for marriage is one man and one woman (Mat. 19:3-9).

(Friday Church News Notes, September 5, 2014,www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

A seasoned reporter and editor with four years experience with the Associated Press's Jerusalem bureau, who self-describes as a "liberal," has had the courage to tell the truth about "mainstream" coverage of the Palestinian-Israel conflict. Matti Friedman's "Insiders Guide to the Most Important Story on Earth," published by The Tablet on August 26, is a fascinating glimpse, from a secular viewpoint, into current events prophesied in Scripture and explained only by Scripture. Friedman's report documents the widespread pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel sentiment among reporters. He describes it as "a hostile obsession with Jews ... among those who populate the news industry." The Bible describes it like this: "And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the LORD shall lead thee" (Deut. 28:37). God warned Israel that if she rejected His law, He would reject her and evict her from the land and send her into the nations where she would experience bitter persecution. This was prophesied by Moses in Deuteronomy 28 in about 1450 BC before Israel had even entered the land under the leadership of Joshua.

Friedman's report documents the fact that the "Israel story" takes up vastly more reporting resources than any other world story. Friedman says the news agencies "believe Israel to be the most important story on earth, or very close." The Bible describes it like this: "Thus saith the Lord GOD; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her" (Ezek. 5:5). God chose Israel as the instrument of His self-revelation to mankind, and Israel will continued to be "the most important story on earth" for a very long time! 

Friedman's report documents the extreme, unconscionable bias of not reporting on the corruption and inbred hatred of the "Palestinians." He says, "If you follow mainstream coverage, you will find nearly no real analysis of Palestinian society or ideologies, profiles of armed Palestinian groups, or investigation of Palestinian government. ... The Hamas charter, for example, calls not just for Israel's destruction but for the murder of Jews and blames Jews for engineering the French and Russian revolutions and both world wars; the charter was never mentioned in print when I was at the AP, though Hamas won a Palestinian national election and had become one of the region's most important players" ("Insiders Guide to the Most Important Story on Earth"). The Bible describes the reason for this amazing duplicity in mainstream news reporting as follows: "Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience" (Eph. 2:2). The devil is in control of this present world. He hates Israel, and unbelievers are his instruments. He "worketh in them."

Friedman's report documents the fact that Israel is a fragile island in a vast ocean of hatred. He describes it as follows: "A knowledgeable observer of the Middle East cannot avoid the impression that the region is a volcano and that the lava is radical Islam, an ideology whose various incarnations are now shaping this part of the world. ISRAEL IS A TINY VILLAGE ON THE SLOPES OF THE VOLCANO" ("Insiders Guide to the Most Important Story on Earth"). The reason why Israel has not been destroyed after 2,000 years of wandering and the reason why the modern state of Israel has not been destroyed though outrageously outnumbered and outgunned is described by the Bible as follows: "And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee, And shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul; That then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee" (Deut. 30:1-3). God promised to keep Israel in her 2,000-year-old dispersion and to bring her back to her land. This is beginning to be fulfilled, and though Israel must still go through a lot of trouble because of her unbelief, nothing can destroy her.

Friedman concludes his analysis of mainstream news coverage of Israel as follows: "Many of the people deciding what you will read and see from here view their role not as explanatory but as political.Coverage is a weapon to be placed at the disposal of the side they like."

(Friday Church News Notes, September 5, 2014, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

1 Chronicles 13:8
"And David and all Israel played before God with all their might, and with singing, and with harps, and with psalteries, and with timbrels, and with cymbals, and with trumpets."

Perhaps you remember the line from the film Amadeus in which someone observes of Mozart's music, "Too many notes." That statement reflects some people's opinion of Mozart's highly complex music. But researchers are finding that this mathematical complexity may be the reason for what some call "the Mozart effect."
    
Researchers at several universities around the United States have confirmed that Mozart's complex music has positive effects for both adults and children. In one study, rats were subjected to Mozart for 12 hours a day, beginning four weeks before birth. A second group heard only silence, a third heard only a constant hissing sound, while a fourth group heard only minimalist composer Philip Glass. When the rats were old enough to run a maze, they were tested. The Mozart rats not only ran the maze considerably faster than any of the others, but they made fewer mistakes. Other research has shown that adults do better on intelligence tests after hearing Mozart. While this effect is temporary in adults, children exposed to Mozart show a permanent improvement.
    
It is thought that the complex nature of Mozart's music encourages the brain to make more connections within itself. The more connections you have, the smarter you are. Surely music is a gift of God that benefits us and could never exist in a universe created by the forces of chance.

Notes: John Fauber, "Mozart is music to the brain's ears," The Christian News, January 18, 1999, p. 9.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

John 8:12
"Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."


The deep, dark depths of the ocean are filled with many varieties of luminescent creatures. But among the octopus there are only two or three species in which the females develop luminescent rings around their mouths. But that has all changed with a remarkable series of discoveries about an already-known species of octopus.
    
The red octopus, Stauroteuthis syrtensis, lives in the deep waters off the east coast of the United States. In 1997 a foot long specimen was being studied. When the scientists turned off the lights in the lab, they were amazed to see the octopus's suckers glowing. The blue green glow, they discovered, glows brightest at 470 nanometers, a frequency that travels well under water. Scientists say that this glow might explain how the octopus makes its living. It doesn't eat what most octopods eat. Rather, it eats tiny crustaceans whose shallow-water cousins are drawn to light. If the deep-water versions are drawn to light, all this clever little octopus needs to do to eat is turn on the porch light. The frequency of the light and the unusual diet of this octopus all provide evidence of God's all wise design. If these special features had depended on chance to develop, this octopus would have never come about.
    
God is the Creator and Source of all light. The perfect light of His truth in the Gospel shines at just the "right frequency" to draw us to the forgiveness of sins and salvation found only in Jesus Christ.



Notes: S. Milius, "Octopus suckers glow in the deep, dark sea," Science News, March 13, 1999, v. 155, p. 167.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

The Bible says, "God is love," and His love is seen in the blessing He bestowed on man in the beginning. God made man in His own image, fashioned for him an amazing body, gave him great intelligence, placed him in a beautiful garden, gave him a perfectly suitable life-mate, made him the lord of the earth, and provided him with everything he needed for sustenance and pleasure. God filled the world with fresh air to breath, pure water to drink, delightful things to eat, lovely sights and beautiful sounds and wonderful smells. He made the rich soil and a bewildering variety of vegetation to grow in it. He provided insects to pollinate man's crops and worms and bacteria to aerate the soil. God made a multitude of types of lovely trees for shade, food, and ten thousand other uses. He filled the earth beneath with minerals and ores. God gave man a tongue and a mind and a voice by which to communicate his thoughts and an expressive face by which to communicate his feelings. God gave man a brain that is the wonder of the created world. God gave man eyes, with two million working parts, that can distinguish 10 million different colors and can see the light of a single candle at a distance of a mile. God gave man a nose that can smell more than one trillion different odors and can remember 50,000 different ones. God gave man ears that can hear the faintest whisper to the loudest thunder and can distinguish between hundreds of thousands of different sounds. When responding to very weak sounds, the ear drum vibrates less than the diameter of a single molecule. God gave man hands that that can play the 88 keys of a piano, lift a tiny, fragile bird egg or a 100-pound stone, turn the pages of a book, or build a house. God gave man a sense of touch via his amazing skin, four square inches of which contains 9,000 nerve endings, 36 heat sensors, and 75 pressure sensors. God gave man a heart that beats 100,000 times per day and circulates six quarts (5.6 liters) of blood throughout the body three times every minute. God gave man 60,000 miles of arteries, veins, and capillaries to carry the blood to every part of his amazing body. This is more than twice the distance around the earth. God gave man kidneys that filter 50 gallons of blood each day through 140 miles of tubes and millions of filters. God created friendship and laughter and marriage and children. He put the giggle in the child, the song in the songbird, the antics in the monkey, the beauty in the butterfly, and the glory in the sunset. All of this is evidence of God's great love. Let the world deny, reject, and even mock God if it will. I praise Him in Jesus Christ!

(Friday Church News Notes, August 29, 2014, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

Ephesians 6:1
"Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right."

Do good parents undo their best efforts when they place a child in day care? Who has more influence on a child's development when that child must be placed in day care? Recently we have heard about many studies, some of which arrived at conflicting conclusions. Some said that parents have little or no effect on their children's development. Others concluded that day care doesn't influence a child's development at all. Now unique new research seeks to clear this up.
    
This two pronged research effort is unique because it relied on direct observation of children and caregivers. The first prong of the study, funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, observed 1-3 year olds in over 1,300 families. These families ranged from stay-at-home moms to those who used day care. Home backgrounds were studied, mothers were videotaped, and children were tested for language development and similar skills. This part of the study concluded that mothers who are warmly involved with their children had the greater influence on their child's development. They also concluded that average children who go to day care and have an involved, caring mother will be stunted by poor day care, but modestly helped by good day care.
    
The second prong of the study rated day care in nine states, and then extended its results to the entire country. They rated 61 percent of day care programs as "fair" or "poor, " with 39 percent rated as "good" or "excellent." What's clear from these results is that in God's order of things, nothing can replace good parenting!

Notes: S.M. "Good parents still make the difference," Science News, February 6, 1999, v. 155, p. 91.
Photo: Courtesy of Marty from Manitou Springs. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

A new facial recognition app will allow Google Glass users to ID total strangers and pull up information on them, including criminal records. The app, called NameTag, is tied to a database containing millions of records. NameTag's web site says, "Utilizing some of the most accurate facial recognition software in the world, NameTag can spot a face using Google Glass' camera, send it wirelessly to a server, compare it to millions of records and in seconds return a match complete with a name, additional photos and social media profiles. ... a user can simply glance at someone nearby and instantly see that person's name, occupation and even visit their Facebook, Instagram or Twitter profiles in real-time." Google says its Glass product will not support facial recognition apps, but this policy could change overnight, and regardless, a way will doubtless be found around the restriction. It is easy to see how the device will be paired with facial recognition software and massive government databases for use by law enforcement and government officials. In fact, the New York City Police Department is beta-testing Google Glass ("New York Police," VentureBeat, Feb. 5, 2014). NameTag plans to create smartphone editions of its app.

(Friday Church News Notes, August 29, 2014, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

Job 9:25-26
"Now my days are swifter than a post: they flee away, they see no good. They are passed away as the swift ships: as the eagle that hasteth to the prey."

Not all dangerous predators can be seen. One of the most dangerous predators in a drop of pond water is Amoeba proteus. This amoeba literally terrorizes its one celled pond mates because they can smell him coming to engulf them. Among his favorite snacks are one celled creatures of the genus Euplotes. But Euplotes can defend themselves. When some members of this genus smell the amoeba coming, they dart away to safety. Others can grow pikes to defend themselves. Some can even grow hard shells to protect themselves.
    
This scenario leaves a problem for evolution. What benefit to a predator is there in warning its prey? Evolution should have selected against the amoeba's ability to produce its unique scent, called the A factor. Now a new discovery has revealed the amoeba's scent is really a clever design, pointing to a Designer. These amoebas reproduce by splitting, so they are surrounded by clones. The A factor is just strong enough to allow the proteus to identify clone mates so that they don't eat each other, but not so strong that it prevents proteus from getting enough to eat.
    
God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to save us from another unseen predator – the devil. The evil in the world is the warning scent of the devil's presence. God has placed many evidences within the creation that He is the Creator so that as our relatively few days on this earth flee by, we will be drawn to His Son. Believing in Him, we will receive forgiveness and salvation from sin, death and the devil.

Notes: S. Milius, "Amoeba betrayed by anticannibal defense," Science News, March 20, 1999, v. 155, p. 182.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

More than than one billion smartphones will be sold this year, which is a major sign of the times ("More Than One Billion Smartphones." Business Insider, Feb. 5, 2014). That is one smartphone for every seven people on earth. The smartphone is an amazing tool that can be used for the Lord's work as well as for the devil's, but the explosion of these devises witnesses to globalism, the technology explosion, the me generation, and other things that are prophetic signs of the end times. A smartphone is a mobile phone with advanced features such as a camera, media player, GPS navigation, and internet browsing. Most are powered by Apple's and Google's operating systems. The first smartphone to gain popularity was the BlackBerry in 2003 which became known as the CrackBerry due to its addictive nature. In 2007, Apple's iPhone took the smartphone to a new level of popularity. Smartphones are becoming as popular in poor countries as in rich ones, as there are smartphones for nearly every economic strata. Increasingly, people in poverty stricken regions such as South Asia and central Africa use the smartphone as a means of accessing the internet and conducting economic transactions that were heretofore limited to those with electricity and physical banking facilities. The smartphone is a major player in bringing the world together and creating a one-world economy and culture. It reminds us of the scene in Revelation 11:8-10 which describes the two prophets being killed and their bodies lying in Jerusalem and being seen by "the people and kindreds and tongues and nations."

(Friday Church News Notes, August 29, 2014, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

Luke 12:33
"Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth."

Just about every public school textbook once included the example of the peppered moth. The moth is used as a prime example of natural selection. Supposedly, as the trees in the English countryside began to be covered with coal pollution in the mid 1800s, the light colored tree trunks became darker.  The peppered moth exists in two varieties – black and white – and was said to rest on the tree trunks. As the trunks turned black, the white variety was more easily seen and picked off by the birds, leaving the black variety to multiply. Students are told this is natural selection.
    
But since the 1980s, numerous studies of moth populations and how they live have called the use of the peppered moth as an example of evolution into serious question. Several additional population studies in polluted and unpolluted forests show little correlation between whether there are lighter or darker moths. After pollution control laws went into effect in England, the population of dark moths decreased in the north but increased in the south! In addition, the nocturnal moths do not rest on the tree trunks during the day, but stay hidden under the branches higher in the tree. In the famous photograph shown in every biology textbook – of a pair of moths resting on a tree – the moths were actually glued to the tree trunks to provide the picture!
    
Let's not give away the treasures of the truth of God's inerrant Word for the false treasure of earthly theories which deny our Creator.

Notes: Jonathan Wells, Ph.D., "Second Thoughts about Peppered Moths," April 6, 1999.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com