 Genesis 11:8-9
“So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth." In another Creation Moment, we talked about the use of manufactured colored crayons in cave art. There is no doubt that cave art is a fascinating subject and well worth further consideration. One recent scientific article asked the question “Did humans speak through cave art?” Evolutionists are beginning to wonder if some cave art is an example of fossilized language. Unlike biblical creationists, who understand the significance of the Babel incident, evolutionists do not have a clear explanation of what they understand as the evolution of language. Therefore, the study mentioned has begun to look at whether certain examples of cave art express abstract concepts that might lead to the use of similar concepts in spoken language. The report states: The long-term timeline of cave art is also subject to re-evaluation on the basis of any future discoveries. If cave art is implicated in the development of human language, finding and properly dating the oldest known such drawings would help us place the origins of language in human history – which may have happened fairly early on in our development. The problem with evolutionists studying cave art too closely is that they are liable to see pictures that they do not like to see. There are indeed images and petroglyphs from around the world depicting animals, which evolutionists assume had become extinct before the appearance of humans. Sometimes, the language of cave art is a little more obvious than evolutionists like. The artists are saying that they have seen dinosaurs, pteradons, etc. Biblical creationists have no trouble understanding such art, but such images are inconvenient to the evolutionist. www.creationmoments.com/sermons/speaking-through-cave-art/  Tristan Harris is “an expert on how technology hijacks our psychological vulnerabilities.” He spent three years with Google before founding Time Well Spent, a non-profit initiative that, among other things, aims to catalyze a change among technology companies through “policy recommendations to protect minds from nefarious manipulation.” In “Distracted in 2016? Reboot Your Phone with Mindfulness,” Jan. 27, 2016, Harris suggested seven tips by which individuals can take control of their smartphones. These tips are meant to “minimize compulsive checking and phantom buzzes, minimize fear of missing something important, minimize unconscious use, minimize ‘leaky’ interactions (‘leaking out’ into something unintended), and minimize unnecessary psychological concerns generated by the screen.” Following is an excerpt from this article: “We live in an Attention Economy. That means every app and website is trying to get you to come back and spend more time. Companies literally have teams of people called Growth Hackers, whose job is to invent new reasons (notifications) and new persuasive tactics to bring you back. I know this because I studied with the lab at Stanford that invented many of these principles. That’s why we wake up to screens that are inundated with notifications. Gloria Mark one of the leading researchers on ‘interruption science’ at UC Irvine, has shown that unrelated external interruptions cost us 23 minutes before we resume focus. And it appears that the more interruptions we get, the more it increases our internal clock rates for self-interruption--put simply, the more we get interrupted, the more we interrupt ourselves. The only answer is to have our devices interrupt us less by turning off notifications” (“Distracted in 2016? Reboot Your Phone with Mindfulness,” Jan. 27, 2016, tristanharris.com).
(Friday Church News Notes, October 12, 2018, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)  Ephesians 5:15-16
“See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” Growing up in England in the 1970s, I remember the BBC launching a children’s TV show during Summer vacation mornings with a very long title. It was “Why don’t you just switch off your television set and go out and do something less boring instead?” Even in those days, there was concern that too much TV was not good for children. At that time, Britain only had three TV channels, compared with the hundreds available today. Yet, there was concern among some parents and schoolteachers that a diet of too much TV could be affecting children. The purpose of “Why don’t you…” was to suggest some other activities that would get children into the fresh air. And to think that there were no home computers and video games in those days… A recent scientific study has suggested that it is not only children adversely affected by the home screen. Scientists at the University of Minnesota have suggested that watching TV is such a sedentary activity, that it can lead to pulmonary embolisms – blood clots in the lungs. It would appear that television viewers between the ages of 45 and 64 who watch a lot of TV are 1.7 times more likely to develop pulmonary embolisms than those who watch little or nothing. The Bible gives us warnings about our use of time. Our time is precious, and more of it can be used for Him. www.creationmoments.com/sermons/death-by-tv/  “Could the eye have evolved from a single light-sensitive spot, as evolutionists claim? First, even a ‘simple’ light sensitive spot that can actually discern and interpret light is incredibly complicated and could not have evolved by chance. Biologist Michael Behe observes: ‘We are invited by Dawkins and Darwin to believe that the evolution of the eye proceeded step-by-step through a series of plausible intermediates in infinitesimal increments. But are they infinitesimal? Remember that the ‘light-sensitive spot’ that Dawkins takes as his starting point requires a cascade of factors, including 11-cis-retinal and rhodopsin, to function. Dawkins doesn’t mention them. And where did the ‘little cup’ come from? A ball of cells--from which the cup must be made--will tend to be rounded unless held in the correct shape by molecular supports. In fact, there are dozens of complex proteins involved in maintaining cell shape, and dozens more that control extracellular structure; in their absence, cells take on the shape of so many soap bubbles. Do these structures represent single-step mutations? Dawkins did not tell us how the apparently simple cup shape came to be. And although he reassures us that any translucent material would be an improvement we are not told how difficult it is to produce a simple lens. In short, Dawkins’ explanation is only addressed to the level of what is called gross anatomy. Biochemistry has demonstrated that any biological apparatus involving more than one cell (such as an organ or a tissue) is necessarily an intricate web of many different, identifiable systems of horrendous complexity. Not only is the eye exceedingly complex, but the light-sensitive spot with which Dawkins begins his case is itself a multi-celled organ, each of whose cells makes the complexity of a motorcycle or television set look paltry in comparison. Richard Dawkins can simplify to his heart’s content, because he wants to convince his readers that Darwinian evolution is a breeze. In order to understand the barriers to evolution, however, we have to bite the bullet of complexity’ (Behe, Darwin’s Black Box). Second, the eye appears in the fossil record in great variety and amazing complexity (e.g., trilobite and shrimp eyes), far beyond a ‘simple light spot.’ There is zero evidence that complex eyes evolved from simple eyes. Further, not only does sight require exceedingly complicated biological machinery, but there must be the accompanying intelligence to interpret the light signals and this must be coordinated with further complex systems that enable the creature to do something with the information. Darwinists have never demonstrated how these things evolved. They only propose ‘just-so’ stories.”
Seeing the Non-existent: Evolution’s Myths and Hoaxes, David Cloud  Ecclesiastes 12:12
“And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.” People often forget that the theory of evolution is really an entire mythological system. It is important to evolutionists to be able to find explanations for everything; every single trait and behavior calls for an evolutionary explanation. Many such explanations become increasingly tortuous. The out-of-Africa evolutionary model seemed to have been devised so that evolutionists could claim that all human beings were related, just as the Bible teaches. This is because evolution, if taken to its logical conclusion, is inherently racist, supposing, as it must, that some people groups are more highly evolved than others. Recent evolutionary ideas have begun to suggest interbreeding between homo sapiens, leaving Africa, and neanderthals in the area now known as the Middle East. It has been a puzzle, however, for evolutionists to explain why modern humans completely displaced the neanderthals, who had bigger brains. Siberian studies on the domestication of foxes has suggested that the tamed animals have slightly smaller brains than their wild counterparts. One evolutionary study, therefore, suggests that modern humans must have domesticated themselves, as neanderthals died out. “It is possible that being less aggressive and more cooperative was also an advantage for early humans, giving those with these traits a better chance of surviving and reproducing”, says the study. It is notable, however, that speculative studies like this are short on suggested mechanisms. In any case, the multiplicity of words used to create new evolutionary myths do not constitute actual science, which is what is carried out in the here and now. www.creationmoments.com/sermons/domesticating-people/  “A type of preaching that is sometimes, indeed very frequently today, regarded as non-theological is evangelistic preaching. I well remember how when an evangelistic campaign was being held in London a few years ago Billy Graham Crusade, one of the liberal religious weeklies supporting the campaign said, ‘Let us have a theological truce while the campaign is on.’ It went on to say that after the campaign we must then think things out and become theological. The idea was that evangelism is non-theological, and to introduce theology at that stage is wrong. You ‘bring people to Christ,’ as they put it, and then you teach them the truth. It is only subsequently that theology comes in. That, to me, is quite wrong, and indeed monstrous. I would be prepared to argue that in many ways evangelistic preaching should be more, rather than less theological, than any other, and for this good reason. Why is it that you call people to repent? Why do you call them to believe the gospel? You cannot deal properly with repentance without dealing with the doctrine of man, the doctrine of the Fall, the doctrine of sin and the wrath of God against sin. Then when you call men to come to Christ and to give themselves to Him, how can you do so without knowing who He is, and on what grounds you invite them to come to Him and so on? In other words it is all highly theological. Evangelism which is not theological is not evangelism at all in an true sense” (page 65).
D. Martyn-Lloyd Jones, Preaching and Preachers, 1971  Psalm 19:1
“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.” There has been a considerable amount of interest over exoplanets recently. This is due, in large part, to information gleaned from the Kepler spacecraft, which was launched in 2009. Data started being made available from the spacecraft in 2014. There is too much data to be studied quickly by NASA or anyone else, so the data has been made freely available, and anyone with the expertise to analyze the data can do so. This has led to the discovery of a lot of new exoplanets. My friend and fellow creation speaker, Dr. Jason Lisle, discovered a planet using this data and made that discovery known in May 2017. What is an exoplanet? An exoplanet is a planet orbiting a star other than our own sun. You might suppose that they were discovered by peering through a telescope in the same way that planets like Uranus and Neptune and the dwarf planet Pluto were discovered. However, this is not the case. The data released by Kepler, orbiting beyond the haze of the atmosphere, comprises of readings of brightness from many stars. If a planet orbits across the surface of that star, then the brightness of the star will be imperceptibly, but measurably, diminished. If observed dips in the stellar brightness are observed regularly, then it can be assumed that this regularity is due to the regularity of an orbiting planet. In considering these discoveries, one is impressed by the beauty and majesty of God’s creation. One is also impressed by the talents that He has given to those who analyze such data for these discoveries. www.creationmoments.com/sermons/excitement-about-exoplanets/  “‘Insiders told us that social media companies track vast amounts of data, every swipe and click, and analyze it in real time. Artificial intelligence then uses that to adapt what we see on our screens to keep us coming back.’ Asa Raskin, who designed the endless scroll and other popular app features, says, ‘We’re in the largest behavioral experiment the world has ever seen. You’re being tested on all the time. Things like changing the color of your like button. This shade of blue, should it be a little bit more red? And they will keep trying until they find the perfect shape and the perfect color that most maximizes your continued scrolling. Behind every screen on your phone there are literally a thousand engineers to try to make it maximally addicting. It’s as if they’re taking behavioral cocaine and just sprinkling it all over your interface.’ Asa says, ‘I don’t want my mind to be hijacked.’ So he does things like having very few apps and keeping his phone in black and white instead of color. Endless scrolling is based on a soup experiment which showed that if a bowl of soup is endlessly refilled without the knowledge of the eater, he will eat a lot more, because there is no cue that the meal is finished. Without endless scrolling, you scroll to the end of a page and have to click to go to a new page. ‘We found that if you don’t give people stopping cues, they just keep scrolling. We found that our design techniques became so powerful that it just addicts people.’ Sean Parker, co-founder of Napster and Facebook’s founding president, describes the company’s original purpose as follows: ‘How can we consume as much of your time and conscious attention as possible? And that means that we need to sort of give you a little dopamine hit every once in a while, because someone liked or commented on a photo or a post or whatever.’ The whole gambling industry is built on the unpredictability of rewards. Could our smartphones be like a slot machine or worse? The gambling industry calls all of the razzmatazz in casinos--the noise and lights and action and music--‘the juice.’ Our smartphones have juice, too. Professor Catherine Winstanley, who has done leading research on the way dopamine fuels addictions, says, “Unexpected rewards activate the dopamine experience. I think there are elements of design of apps on smartphones that seem similar to the electronic gaming. So if your smartphone is recruiting and activating your dopamine system in the same way that we think happens when people are gambling it would imply that those two behaviors could be addicting in the same way as addictive drugs.” (See also “Dopamine, Smartphones & You” by Trevor Haynes, sitn.hms.harvard.edu.)
BBC documentary Mind Control: The Dark Side of Your Phone  1 Peter 3:15
“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:” The use of logic is sometimes claimed by the apologists of evolution. Yet, the logic often used by evolutionists is unsound. A sound logical argument is one that “follows”. For example, take these two premises and conclusion (known as a syllogism):
Now, evolutionists argue like this:
Using the fossil record and anatomical and/or molecular (DNA) similarities as evidence, formulate a logical argument for biological evolution as an explanation for the development of a representative species (e.g., birds, horses, elephants, whales). Yet, the use of any of these to “prove” evolution is unsound. It makes more sense to understand that God made these animal similarities, as they face similar conditions. The Bible provides the worldview with which better to interpret the evidence that we observe. www.creationmoments.com/sermons/evolution-and-logic/  Job 38:4,6
“Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;” It is popularly supposed, without foundation, that fossils are the definitive proof of the theory of evolution. This is the impression that has been given in high schools, and the like, the world over. For example, the Washington Science Standards says this: Earth History has been uncovered by observing processes that take place today, and projecting those processes back in time. These remnants, especially fossils, provide essential clues to understanding the evolution of our planet. Other states and countries have similar things to say. The BBC’s website contains some pages to help high school students in England and Wales. On one of these pages, we find this: Most of the evidence for evolution comes from the fossil record. Fossils show how much, or how little, organisms have changed over time. If most of the evidence for evolution comes from fossils, how much evidence really is that? The BBC’s website continues. One of the problems with the fossil record is that it contains gaps. What sort of an admission is this? The evidence for evolution is in the fossil record, yet this record contains gaps. How do they know the record contains gaps? Because important stages in the evolution of certain species are missing? But how do they know they are missing if the actual evidence for evolution is in the fossils? Could it be that the statement is disingenuous and the fossils do not, after all, provide evidence for evolution? In fact, the fossil record provides no such evidence. Instead, there is evidence for stasis – that many organisms have remained the same – and for extinction. www.creationmoments.com/sermons/evidence-of-fossils/  Modern Chinese house church “The Rev. Bob Fu, a former Chinese house church leader who immigrated to the United States in 1997 and founded the persecution watchdog organization China Aid, provided great detail during a United States House of Representatives hearing Thursday about a plan enacted by leading state-sanctioned denominations in China to ‘Sinicize’ Christianity. As China’s crackdown on religion has seen many house churches demolished and thousands of crosses removed from churches nationwide, Fu warned that ‘Religious freedom in China has really reached to the worst level that has not been seen since the beginning of the Cultural Revolution by Chairman Mao Zedong in the 1960s.’ At the center of this new level of persecution is China's new regulation on religious affairs that was released last year but enacted on Feb. 1. According to Fu, the revision of the religious regulations are to actively guide religion to ‘adapt to socialist society.’ In a written testimony, Fu said that under the new regulations, religious activity sites will ‘accept the guidance, supervision, and inspection of relevant departments of the local people’s government regarding the management of personnel, finances, assets, accounting, security, fire protection, protection of relics, health and disease prevent and so forth.’ One way in which they plan to Sinicize Christianity, Fu said, is by ‘retranslating’ the Old Testament and providing new commentary to the New Testament to make socialist ideals and Chinese culture seem more divine. According to its latest outline, Fu said, a retranslation would be a summary of the Old Testament with some Buddhist scripture and Confucian teachings and new commentary for the New Testament. Fu added that the five-year plan advocates for ‘incorporating the Chinese elements into church worship services, hymns and songs, clergy attire, and the architectural style of church buildings. This includes editing and publishing worship songs with Chinese characteristics and promoting the Sinicization of worship music, using uniquely Chinese art forms. In the beginning of every church worship service, the choir of the church has to sing a few communist revolutionary songs praising the communist party before they can sing the worship songs,’ Fu detailed. Hundreds of Christian leaders in China signed onto a statement this month condemning the new regulations, the increased persecution and control the party is taking over the churches. ‘We believe and are obligated to teach all believers that all true churches in China that belong to Christ must hold to the principle of the separation of church and state and must proclaim Christ as the sole head of the church. For the sake of the Gospel, we are prepared to bear all losses—even the loss of our freedom and our lives.’ the statement reads. At its Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom in July, the U.S. State Department released a formal statement condemning China for its religious freedom violations. However, the statement was only signed by three other nations.”  Bob Fu, founder of China Aid, speaks at a House Foreign Affairs' subcommittee hearing on the increasing persecution in China in Washington, D.C. in September. “China Trying to Rewrite,” Christian Post, Sep. 28 2018
 “The Christian sees in the glories of nature not merely the effect of God’s hand, but its presence; not only God’s work, but God working. He not only created that landscape of field, wood, and orchard which I see from my window, but he upholds it, he gives it its existence, he causes every change, at every moment--at every moment there is a coming forth of his attributes into action. And these innumerable acts are each of them a display of some perfection; each is divine. I behold God in his works, I do not merely see a mark that the Creator has been there, but a token that he is there. Just as when I hear the footstep of my dearest friend in his chamber, I know that he is there present” (J.W. Alexander, Thoughts on Preaching, 1864, p. 43).
(Friday Church News Notes, September 28, 2018, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)  Derby Museum Viking Display Job 38:36
“Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts? or who hath given understanding to the heart?” It has become axiomatic among many less scientific creationists to state that carbon dating is inaccurate. I have tried to explain that this is incorrect. In fact, none of the radiometric measurements are inaccurate insofar as they correctly, and accurately, measure the relative quantities of radioactive materials, and the stable daughter material into which they decay. Where the techniques go wrong is in making wrong assumptions by which to calculate the ages. An additional problem, however, is that many people mistake radio-carbon dating for other radiometric dating methods and do not realize that radio-carbon dating does not date anything older than about 100,000 years. This mistake over the identity of radio-carbon dating is made by both lay evolutionists and lay creationists alike. The oldest radio-carbon dates, of between 50,000 and 100,000 years, are notoriously problematic, even by evolutionary standards. But this disguises the fact that much younger radio-carbon dates are actually quite accurate and are well within biblical timescales. One such dating recently made concerns the Viking Great Army which defeated the King of Mercia in the midlands of modern England in 873 AD. In the 1980s, a mass grave of 300 was found in Repton, Derbyshire. Many showed signs of violent injury but gave every appearance of having been buried at different times. More recently, radio-carbon dating has shown that all the bodies were killed at a single event in 873, so it is likely to be the grave of dead Viking soldiers from their invasion of Mercia. I like this use of carbon dating because it shows that, correctly used, technology is of great benefit to our understanding. www.creationmoments.com/sermons/radio-carbon-and-vikings/  The following is the testimony of B.H. Carroll who turned from the Christian faith of his youth to infidelity and found therein nothing but emptiness: “In the hour of my darkness I turned unreservedly to infidelity. This time I brought it a broken heart and a disappointed life, asking for light and peace and rest. It was now no curious speculation; no tentative intellectual examination. It was a stricken soul, tenderly and anxiously and earnestly seeking light. ... I brought a broken and bleeding, but honest heart to every reputed oracle of infidelity. I did not ask life or fame or pleasure. I merely asked light to shine on the path of right. Once more I viewed the anti-Christian philosophies, no longer to admire them in what they destroyed, but to inquire what they built up, what they offered to a hungry heart and a blasted life. There now came to me a revelation as awful as when Mokanna, in Moore’s ‘Lalla Rookh,’ lifted his veil for Zelica. Why had I never seen it before? How could I have been blind to it? These philosophies, one and all, were mere negations. They were destructive, but not constructive. They overturned and overturned and overturned; but, as my soul liveth, they built up nothing under the whole heaven in the place of what they destroyed. I say nothing; I mean nothing. To the unstricken, curious soul, they are as beautiful as the aurora borealis, shining on arctic icebergs. But to me they warmed nothing and melted nothing. No flowers bloomed and no fruit ripened under their cheerless beams. They looked down on my bleeding heart as the cold, distant, pitiless stars have ever looked down on all human suffering. Whoever, in his hour of real need, makes abstract philosophy his pillow, makes cold, hard granite his pillow. Whoever looks trustingly into any of its false faces, looks into the face of a Medusa, and is turned to stone. They are all wells without water, and clouds without rain. ... a cloud without rain is any form of infidelity to the soul in its hour of need. Who then can conjure by the name of Voltaire? Of what avail in that hour is Epicurus or Zeno, Huxley or Darwin?” (excerpted from B.H. Carroll, “My Infidelity and What Became of It,” Sermons and Life Sketch, 1893).
(Friday Church News Notes, September 28, 2018, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)  Genesis 11:8
“So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.” Around the world are many examples of fossilized or semi-fossilized human remains. These are often referred to as “prehistoric”, but this is a word that should give pause for thought for any Bible-minded Christian. The word “history” refers to a timeline of humanity, but since this began with Adam, there can have been no prehistoric humans. One such ancient human from my home country (England) is Cheddar Man. Contrary to what you might expect, he did not, as far as we know, eat a lot of cheese. His remains were found in a cave in Cheddar Gorge, in Somerset, England. He was originally discovered in 1903, and is dated, by evolutionary means, to about 10,000 years. This date does not, of course, fit with the biblical timescale that we use as our absolute standard. The reason for recent interest in Cheddar Man is that some DNA was extracted from one of his teeth, and the resulting genome determination told us that this first-ever Briton had blue eyes, dark curly hair, and dark skin. Although we ascribe most fossils to the sedimentation caused by the Flood, most of the human fossils found, we would suggest, were formed after the Flood. In fact, such semi-preserved remains as Cheddar Man probably came from migrating refugees from the Tower of Babel incident, reported in Genesis 11. It would not be a surprise to us, therefore, that this man had dark skin, as selection for lighter skin colors would only occur in later generations. Once again, therefore, the Bible has a better explanation than secular science. www.creationmoments.com/sermons/cheddar-man/  The following is excerpted from “Horses Remember,” New Scientist, Apr. 30, 2018: “Horses can remember the facial expressions they see on human faces and respond differently if you smiled or frowned when they last saw you. Leanne Proops, now at the University of Portsmouth, UK, and her colleagues at the University of Sussex showed in 2016 that horses respond differently to photographs of happy or angry human faces. Now they have studied whether horses can form lasting memories of people that depend on their facial expressions. First, they showed horses a photo of one of two human models, displaying either a happy or angry face. Several hours later, the model visited the horse in person, this time with a neutral expression. As a control, some horses saw a different model in the second part to the one they saw in the photograph. Crucially, the models didn’t know which photo the horse had seen earlier. … The team found that the horses remembered the models’ previous facial expressions. … Many other animals have shown an ability to remember human faces, including sheep and fish. Wild crows will hold a grudge for years against people who have treated them badly, and even teach other crows to mob their enemies. However, the horses seem to form an opinion about people based only on their expression in a photograph. ‘That’s something we haven’t really seen in animals before,’ says Proops.”
CONCLUDING NOTE: The crow sounds like a lot of church members I have known! According to the Bible, God made the animals for man, who alone among earth’s creatures is made in God’s image (Genesis 1-2), so it is no surprise that they can relate to man. Adam, the first man, named the animals. The fall of man is the cause of the “wildness” and “red in tooth and claw” in the animal kingdom. This will be healed in Christ’s kingdom. “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:6-9). (Friday Church News Notes, September 28, 2018, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)  Leviticus 11:20-21
“All fowls that creep, going upon all four, shall be an abomination unto you. Yet these may ye eat of every flying creeping thing that goeth upon all four, which have legs above their feet, to leap withal upon the earth;” There are some who have suggested that Leviticus 11:20 contains an error. In that verse, the Israelites are forbidden to eat insects that “go on all fours”, except those which have jointed legs and which hop on the ground. Well, we know that insects have six legs, so does the Bible contain an error? No, it does not. The Bible does not specifically refer to insects, but it does talk about creeping things. These are small animals which creep, so they can include a lot of different types of animals. The animals referred to as “winged insects that go on all fours” might not be referring to insects at all. It could be referring to bats, for example. The hopping winged insects are easier to explain. These would appear to be locusts, so God is permitting the Israelites to eat locusts. Today, we know that locusts make very good eating. As insects, they also have six legs, but they have four front legs, and a pair of hopping back legs. So the Bible’s description of them being on all fours is accurate. It can also be pointed out that the phrase “all fours” can often be a euphemism. For example, the English word dozen means twelve, but if we refer to “dozens” this can be an inexact amount. In the same way, “all fours” does not have to mean exactly four. www.creationmoments.com/sermons/insects-on-all-fours/  Online multiplayer video games have a great potential for addiction. It has been estimated that about 10% of gamers worldwide are addicts. At least 10 gamers have died of cardiopulmonary-related symptoms at Internet cafes after marathon sessions. One poisoned his parents for placing a curfew on his gaming (“Gaming Addiction a Serious Problem in Asia,” Mar. 7, 2014, www.thecabinchiangmai.com). A married couple left their three-month-old daughter to die while they played online games. Gamers have committed violent acts, even murder, as revenge for “the murder of a player’s online identity.” In some Asian countries, gaming addiction is considered a major public health problem. In South Korea, the average child between the ages of 10-18 spends more than 20 hours a week playing video games online. The government has implemented a curfew at cyber cafes for those under 18 and set up treatment programs. The China internet giant Tencent set daily limits on the time that users can play the game King of Glory. Some of the most addictive games in 2015 were Madden, Dota 2, Grand Theft Auto, Tetris, Candy Crush Saga (the company is valued at $7.5 billion), Minecraft, EverQuest (called “never rest” and “ever crack” because of its addictive power), The Sims (player has omnipotent control over people), World of Warcraft (called World of War Crack), Call of Duty (the last two are played by more than 100 million players), Halo 3 (called Halodiction), Total War, Pong, Civilization, Diablo 3, Super Meat Boy, Team Fortress 2, Dark Souls 2, Counter Strike, Starcraft 2, Persona 4 Golden, Monster Hunter 3, Elder Scrolls, Angry Birds, Faster Than Light, Peggle, League of Legends (LOL), Civilization V, and Pokemon. Beware, particularly, of massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG or MMO for short). The Internet is filled with the sad and frightful testimonies of people who have ruined their lives with online role-playing games. Consider one example: “Well long story now ending shortly is I became lvl 50 pretty fast on the server. In fact I was the 5th over all and the first half elf. I was awesome. I had the sword that sparkled and all my cool gear. … I would roll up into town and newbs everywhere would just be in awe. I ruled the world, or this virtual one anyway. Meanwhile my real life had fallen apart. I had lost my job and was in debt with creditors calling ringing my phone off the wall not even to mention I was fat as could be weighing over 400lbs. I could not deal with my real life. I hated any time that took away from my Everquest time. I was ruler in that world. Then one day my power was shut off. … I was so depressed. Not only was my online world now shutoff but now I had to confront my life that I had neglected for the last 2 years. It looked pretty hopeless so I decided to move out of my apartment that was driving me more into debt and possibly go live with my parents” (shoemoney.com/2008). “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life” (Proverbs 4:23).
(Friday Church News Notes, September 28, 2018, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)  Roach in amber Deuteronomy 14:19
“And every creeping thing that flieth is unclean unto you: they shall not be eaten.” I have met a few people who love cockroaches – but not many. Most of us hate them. We are repulsed by the sheer alienness (is that a word?) of their appearance. These large insects are famously difficult to kill. There are many who testify – possibly apocryphally – to having trodden on one of these beasties, and yet it still managed to scuttle away after the encounter. Worse still is the fact that many of them can fly. Was it just my imagination that supposed them to be flying straight for my face? Evolutionary researchers have suggested that their longevity dates back over 200 million years, to a time when all continents were joined in a super-continent called Pangaea. Although creationists would dispute the millions of years, we would not necessarily differ with the rest of the analysis. For one thing, there very likely was a Pangaea before the Flood. Our supposition is that the volcanic and seismic activities, known in Genesis 7 as the “fountains of the great deep”, probably began the rapid process of breaking apart this pre-Flood continent. Second, invertebrates like cockroaches were not placed on the Ark. The Ark contained only land animals and flying creatures with lungs. So, insects – which have a different breathing mechanism – were not included. There were no cockroaches in the Ark! It is likely that roaches survived on vegetation rafts, as there would have been a lot of such debris floating on the surface of the floodwaters. www.creationmoments.com/sermons/survival-of-the-cockroach/  Following is a Christian woman’s experience in an independent Baptist Church in regard to essential oils. Please note that there is a use of oils that is legitimate and has nothing to do with the occult, but the New Age is an ever-present danger today. “This church introduced some things that I had never heard of before: Detox foot baths, iridology and natural paths. And essential oils. ‘What is ailing you? I have an oil for that!’ was always the response. And that was okay with me. I had never heard of them! And there are oils in the Bible! Sign me up... again, I’m natural! I bought two oils and used them a couple times. I’m sensitive to smells, so I’m not fond of smelling them often. I noticed on the emails I would get for oils that a lot of the sales pitches were for ‘spiritual’ cures. Happiness, love, hope, depression, charisma, etc. I was concerned. And then I went to church one day and our deacon’s wife, was telling me about her natural doctor’s appointment. As serious as can be, she explains to me how her naturopath practitioner told her she could tell ‘she had deep hurts in her life’ and if she rubbed a combination of oils over her heart everyday it would heal it. A deacon’s wife in a independent, fundamental, baptist church! I stood there shocked and at this point had to question what exactly the beliefs behind essential oils were. I started researching and was shocked at all I found. And when I research, I don’t look up ‘essential oils new age.’ I just google ‘essential oil uses,’ because I want to see what people selling and using them say about them. The claims, the way they work, the beliefs in the power of them is ALL new age. There is zero science behind any of it. It roots its belief in new age/meridians/qi/chi/Chinese medicine, and Christians are refusing to even look it up and search it out. Shortly after this I had a Christian friend from an independent, fundamental, Baptist church come to my home for a party, and chit chat led to learning that she loves essential oils. She swore that wearing one of the oils brought her more tips as a waitress. THIS is witchcraft!” (For more about this see The Bible, Diet, and Alternative Health Care , which is available in print and as a free eBook from www.wayoflife.org .)
(Friday Church News Notes, September 28, 2018, www.wayoflife.org , fbns@wayoflife.org , 866-295-4143) |
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