Archaeologists have unearthed clear evidence of a citadel built by Antiochus IV Epiphanes to control Jerusalem in 168 BC. The evidence consists of many things, including the following: first, physical evidence of the citadel (its foundation, a massive wall, and remnants of its tower); second, ballista stones and bronze arrowheads stamped with Antiochus’s symbol, a pitchfork; third, coins dating to Antiochus’s reign. This confirms the account in I and II Maccabees and Josephus’ history of the Jewish wars. Acra Fortress, located south of the City of David, was constructed by Antiochus, king of Syria and a forerunner of the antichrist, in an attempt to quell a rebellion led by Jewish priests and centered in the Temple. The directors of the excavation have stated, “This sensational discovery allows us for the first time to reconstruct the layout of settlement and the actual look of the city on the eve of the Hasmonean revolt. The new archaeological finds testify to the establishment of a properly fortified stronghold constructed on the high bedrock cliff overlooking the steep slopes of the City of David hill. This stronghold controlled all means of approach to the Temple, and cut the Temple off from the southern parts of the city” (“2,000-year-old fortress unearthed in Jerusalem after century-long search,” Times of Israel, Nov. 3, 2015).

​(Friday Church News Notes, November 13, 2015, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

​Genesis 11:7

We have mentioned a number of New World sites at which ancient Old World writing has been found. These examples, of which there are many, serve to show that before the Dark Ages, knowledge of the New World was fairly common and that man has always been curious and resourceful.

One of the most unusual examples of ancient Old World inscriptions in the New World is found in northwestern Oklahoma. The inscriptions are located on the walls of Anubis cave. If you think that name is Egyptian, you are correct. Inside the cave are a number of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. These include a human figure standing on a three-dimensional cube. Rays extend from the figure's head. Anubis, the Egyptian god that was said to conduct the souls of the dead to judgment, also appears. The oddest element among the figures, however, is the presence of Celtic ogam inscriptions. These inscriptions indicate that the cave was used for Celtic ceremonies. Were the Celts familiar with Egyptian hieroglyphs? Or was this North American cave visited in ancient times by both Egyptians and Celts?
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It was not until God confused man's language at the Tower of Babel that man took seriously God's command to spread out and fill the Earth. With their new languages, people were more motivated to use their abilities to explore the entire world. Ancient Old World inscriptions in the New World illustrate that these God given abilities have always been considerable.

Notes: Science Frontiers, p. 33, "Did the Ancient Egyptians Explore Oklahoma?" Photo: Courtesy of Peter Faris.
​Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

“A gross overstating is the worst that can be said about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s blaming the first ‘Palestinian’ leader Haj Amin Al-Husseini for persuading Hitler to implement the ‘Final Solution to the Jewish Problem.’ ... Though criticism of this statement isn’t out of place, too many of the responses from left-wing politicians and journalists are nothing more than attempts to derail what should be a proper discussion and turn it into a cheap political cat-fight. ... Such false innuendos, however, couldn’t stop the surge of responses that used Netanyahu’s inaccuracy to remind everybody of Haj Amin Al-Husseini’s very real involvement in murderous attacks against Jews, and about his enthusiastic collaboration with Nazi Germany. Among the many historians commenting on Netanyahu's statement was Wolfgang Schwanitz, who with Barry Rubin authored Nazis, Islamists and the Making of the Modern Middle East. Quoting from his book, Schwanitz reminded everyone that ‘at their meeting on November 28, 1941, Hitler and al-Husseini] concluded the pact of Jewish genocide in Europe and the Middle East, and immediately afterward, Hitler gave the order to prepare for the Holocaust. The next day invitations went out to thirteen Nazis for the Wannsee Conference to begin organizing the logistics of this mass murder. ... al-Husseini made it clear that if Hitler wanted Muslims and Arabs as allies he must close Europe’s exits to Jews. At the same time, al-Husseini and Arab rulers also told Britain that if it wanted to keep Arabs and Muslims from being enemies, it must close entrance to Palestine to all Jews. By succeeding on both fronts, al-Husseini contributed to the Holocaust doubly, directly, and from the start.’ ... The full story of al-Husseini's direct involvement in the Holocaust is found in Serbian scholar Jennie Lebl's book Haj Amin and Berlin.”

​“Positive Spin on Netanyahu’s Blunder,”Israel Today, Oct. 26, 2015

​Ephesians 4:29

Several recent Creation Moments programs have featured the sounds some ants make, called stridulation. Not only do some caterpillars also make such sounds, but also they appear to communicate with some types of ants.
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Many species of caterpillars of two butterfly groups secrete a sweet liquid that ants like. In return, the ants protect the caterpillar from its enemies while they collect their sweet treat. These caterpillars actually call the ants when the liquid is ready, using a variety of sounds. These calls range from a simple "bub…bub" to more complex sounds, such as, "beep ah ah ah beep."

Another type of caterpillar calls ants when it needs help. This species does a remarkable job of mimicking the ants' sounds. Very young members of this caterpillar species frequently fall off the leaves on which they are grazing. When they do, they make ant noises until found by foraging ants. The caterpillar's "ant talk" apparently convinces the ants it is one of them. So they return it to their nest and place it in their nursery. There the caterpillar eats some of the young ants. Two ant species eventually figure out their mistake and kill the caterpillar, while a third species never seems to realize its mistake.

Communication is a gift that God has given to many of His creatures. However, as beings made to have a relationship with God, our communication should be like His – never deceitful and always building others up.

Notes: Science News, 2/5/00, pp. 92-94, "Ants Squeak."
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

World Vegan Day was November 1. Founded in 1994 by Louise Wallis, head of The Vegan Society, it is devoted to the promotion of vegetarianism and “animal rights.” Biblically speaking, there is nothing especially healthy or spiritual about vegetarianism. God allowed eating meat before (Gen. 9:3-4) and during the law of Moses (Lev. 11:3), and He has renewed this liberty in the church age. In fact, forbidding meat is identified as a doctrine of devils (1 Tim. 4:1-5). There is a restriction against eating blood, though, both in the Old and New Testament dispensations (Gen. 9:4; Acts 15:29).





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(Friday Church News Notes, November 6, 2015, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

​I Corinthians 2:13

The males of a fish called the three-spined stickleback turn blue-green on the tops of their bodies and red on their bellies when breeding. That is, unless they are male three-spined sticklebacks in the Chehalis river of Washington. These fish turn black when breeding. Evolutionists have long tied this behavior to the fact that the mudminnows in the Chehalis turn black as a threat display. Evolutionary textbooks have long used this difference from other sticklebacks as an example of the evolutionary principle that when two species share a home, they will either become more or less like each other. Now the textbooks will have to be rewritten.

Researchers placed large cages around populations of sticklebacks and mudminnows in the Chehalis river. As they studied the populations, they learned that while sticklebacks will fight with one another, they hardly ever fight with mudminnows. Then, scientists added red and blue-green sticklebacks. Though they showed no black, they had as much success staking out territory as the black sticklebacks. Researchers also found that the black sticklebacks don't turn black until after they stake out their territory. Researchers have had to admit that the differences between the two types of sticklebacks illustrates nothing about how they evolve among different populations.
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Unlike Scripture, man's knowledge is always subject to correction. That's why it cannot be used to discredit the Bible, which is knowledge from God.

Notes: Science News, 4/1/00, p. 219, "Fading to black doesn't empower fish." Photo: Courtesy of Visviva. (CC BY-SA 3.0). Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

China has officially replaced its “one-child” policy with a two-child one. The draconian one-child policy was introduced in 1979 to slow population growth. The result has been the murder of an estimated 336 million babies, mostly females. That is a third of a BILLION children that have been killed in the womb, and this figure doesn’t include the infanticides that have been committed outside of the womb. As a result, there is a shortage of wives for Chinese men who want to marry. There are 20 million more men than women in China (“The ‘marriage squeeze,’”Business Insider, Apr. 23, 2015). In 2014, Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou was fined 7.48 million yuan ($1.2 million) for breaching the nation’s one-child policy (“Filmmaker fined,” CNN, Jan, 20, 2014). Zhang directed the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The new policy is only a matter of tweaking existing policy. The Communist government still claims for itself the power of life and death over its slave population. China has made great strides in many areas, but it is not a great nation.

(Friday Church News Notes, November 6, 2015, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

​II Corinthians 11:3

We have all heard evolutionists claim certain rocks and fossils to be millions of years old. They claim to arrive at these long ages using index fossils. Index fossils are creatures that supposedly lived during specific ages. We are told that these ages are independently verified using radiometric dating methods. But is all of this as neat and certain as evolutionists say it is?

Recently, a rock formation in England yielded more than just rocks. This rock layer is said to be 189 million years old, based on its index fossils. The index fossils, ammonites and belemnites, were bottom living deep sea creatures. Along with these deep sea creatures, however, partially petrified wood was also found. One piece was found immediately adjacent to a deep sea fossil. Scientists who believe in young Earth creationism sent samples of the wood to three different radiocarbon dating laboratories. If the index fossil was really as old as evolutionists say, it is almost 4,000 times too old to give a radiocarbon date. Yet all the samples dated at the three laboratories showed consistent young dates. Adjusted by biblical considerations, they date to the time of Noah's Flood.
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We would expect to find land-based life mixed in with deep sea creatures in any rocks that are a result of the violence of the Flood. This find illustrates and supports the biblical account of a worldwide Flood.

Notes: Creation, 3-5/00, pp. 44-47, "Geological Conflict." Photo: Courtesy of Maksim. (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

Theodore (“Teddy”) Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States (1901-1909), is one of the many great (though imperfect) leaders that America has produced in a bygone era. Though there is no clear evidence that he was born again, he did profess faith in Christ, attended Episcopalian and Dutch Reformed Churches regularly, and was a student of Scripture, the Bible being one of the books that he carried on safaris in his “pigskin library.” Roosevelt’s militarily philosophy was to “speak softly and carry a big stick.” The hero of Rough Rider fame had often demonstrated the will and courage to fight when necessary, and he sent his “Great White Fleet” of 16 battleships on a world tour to remind the nations of his “big stick.” Roosevelt wrote the introduction to a pocket New Testament & Psalms distributed to World War I soldiers by the New York Bible Society. In Roosevelt’s day, the United States was still “the land of the free and home of the brave” for the very reason that the Bible was respected. In that day, it was legal, right, and proper to distribute Bibles anywhere and everywhere in American society. Roosevelt’s instruction to U.S. soldiers were diametrically opposed to the way that most armies have acted historically (and the way that the German and Turkish armies, in particular, acted). Following is what he wrote: “The teachings of the New Testament are foreshadowed in Micah’s verse (Micah vi. 8): ‘What more does the Lord require of thee than to do justice, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?’ DO JUSTICE; and therefore fight valiantly against the armies of Germany and Turkey, for these nations in this crisis stand for the reign of Moloch and Beelzebub on this earth. LOVE MERCY; treat prisoners well, succor the wounded, treat every woman as if she was your sister, care for the little children, and be tender to the old and helpless. WALK HUMBLY; you will do so if you study the life and teachings of the Saviour. May the God of justice and mercy have you in His keeping” (emphasis in the original).

(Friday Church News Notes, November 6, 2015, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

​Psalm 104:24

Those who believe that the universe, the Earth and everything on it are the result of mindless evolution are hard-pressed to explain the origin of intelligence. Some even try to argue that there is no such thing as intelligence, saying that we only think that certain things reflect intelligence. As we learn more about the world, it takes an ever greater faith to believe in evolution.

The incredible structure of DNA and how it works is one example. Scientists have now demonstrated, though they did not intend to do so, that DNA is itself infused with intelligence. In 1994 it was discovered that DNA could be used as a computer. Since then, much has been learned about the computing power of DNA. How can DNA be used to solve the problem of, for example, finding a flight path between seven cities so that each city is visited only once? To solve the problem, researchers assign a numerical value to individual strands of DNA. Through a series of steps, they allow the strands of DNA to interact with each other, saving the results after each step. An electronic computer can solve a math problem with 30 clauses and 50 variables in 1.6 million steps. A DNA computer can solve the same problem in only 91 steps!

DNA computers would not be possible unless intelligence was built into the very fabric of the creation. Only our all-wise Creator could have been responsible for this.

Notes: Nature, 1/13/00, pp. 143-144, 175-179, "DNA computing on surfaces." Photo: Courtesy of Magnus Manske. (CC BY-SA 2.0). Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

Last month, Chick-fil-A sponsored a film festival that promotes open-mindedness toward the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) movement. The film festival, Level Ground, was founded by two Fuller Theological Seminary students to create “safe space for dialogue about faith, gender and sexuality through the arts.” Participating in the October 15 festival were Jennifer Knapp, a Contemporary Christian Music artist who “came out” as a lesbian in 2005, and Karen Swallow Prior, an English professor at Liberty University and a research fellow for the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention (“Chick-fil-A challenged,”Baptist News, Oct. 29, 2015). This summer, Chick-fil-A donated food to a gay pride parade in Iowa (“Why is pro-marriage Chick-fil-A sponsoring an LGBT film festival?”Charisma News, Oct. 28, 2015). In 2012, there was a huge outpouring of support for Chick-fil-A after its president, Southern Baptist Dan Cathy, voiced support for traditional marriage and was attacked by homosexual rights activists. Less than two years later Cathy backtracked on that, telling the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that it had been a “mistake” to “support political or social agendas.” He said that he had been working with LGBT activist Shane Windmeyer and that Chick-fil-A had “dramatically” cut donations to groups considered to be “anti-gay” by homosexual activists.

(Friday Church News Notes, November 6, 2015, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

Richard Dawkins, author of The Blind Watchmaker, famed as a patron of scientific truth, is actually a patron of mythology. His fables include these: the elaborate, interlocking universe arose from a “big bang”; life sprang from non-life; and mindbogglingly complex life forms arose through blind forces. His mythical gospel is that man came from nothing, has no ultimate purpose, is accountable to no one, and is going nowhere. The latest Dawkins’ myth is that America’s love for “religion” is hindering her scientific advancement, and he proposes even more humanistic education as the solution. He says, “Beyond any doubt America is the world’s leading scientific power. Throughout history there has never been anything like modern America as a leader of science ... What’s remarkable is that America is the leading scientific nation despite being held back by this incubus, this burden of ignorance and superstition [the belief in God and divine creation]” (“Religion is holding America back,” Business Insider, Oct. 30, 2015). The truth of Dawkins’ proposition that belief in God, particularly the God of the Bible, hinders scientific advancement is easily tested by the laboratory of history. First, if such belief hinders science and if atheism advances it, modern science would have sprung from something other than a Christian civilization, but that didn’t happen. Most of the fathers of modern science held a biblical worldview. (See the free eBook Scientists Who Believe the Bible, available from www.wayoflife.org.) And if belief in the Bible as God’s Word hinders science and if atheism advances it, America would be light years behind Communist Russia and China in scientific advancement. This, of course, is not true. The “godless Communists” have had to steal America’s technology just to stay in the game. In fact, there is a direct correlation between America’s technological greatness and her respect for the Bible. From her inception, America was a nation powerfully influenced by Christianity, and the Bible was her most esteemed Book, exalted in her churches, quoted by her presidents and judges, kept in her homes, and taught in her schools. As America has lost a reverence for Scripture and as atheism has spread, she has actually lost her technological edge as well as a great deal of her power, respect, and wealth. Richard Dawkins has gained fame and fortune by marketing his hatred of Jehovah God in an age of blasphemy and the worship of Self. His book The God Delusion has sold more than three million copies, but Jesus Christ asked, “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). According to Jesus, man has a soul; it can be lost; and the saving of it is worth more than the whole world. I, for one, will stake my life and eternal destiny on the words of Jesus.

​(Friday Church News Notes, November 6, 2015, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

​Job 8:13-14

For over a century, scientists have wondered about the embellishments that at least 78 species of spiders weave into their webs. The extra bars and Xs seem to have no obvious purpose. Some have suggested that they might be hiding spots, sun shields, bird warnings or insect lures. Now a researcher at the University of Kyoto may have discovered the purpose of these designs. If he is right, evolutionary theory may be the victim of these spiders' webs.

The Asian spider the researcher studied builds two different types of webs. When it is well fed, this spider adds silk bands along the web spokes. However, when this spider is hungry, it arranges these bands so that they spiral toward the center of the web. After testing the tension in both web types, he discovered that the webs with the spiral bands are much more sensitive to even the smallest insect than the banded webs.
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In other words, the hungry spider is looking for any insect it might eat. Spiders that are not hungry are interested only in larger insects. The question is: How could mindless evolution give these spiders the knowledge of structural engineering needed to create these designs? In addition, according to the evolutionary tree for spiders, this knowledge would have to have evolved at least nine times! A much more logical and straightforward explanation is that the Creator gave spiders this knowledge when He made them.

Notes: Science News, 3/25/00, p. 198, "Hungry spiders tune up web jiggliness." Photo: Courtesy of Spazoto. (CC BY-SA 3.0). Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

The Church of England is on a death spiral, with only 17% of British identifying as Anglican (down from 40% in 1983), while 49% identify as “no religious faith.” The number of regular attendees at Anglican churches is extremely small. One in four Anglican parishes have fewer than 10 regular worshipers. The Church of England was never established on a Biblical foundation, and in the last half century it has killed itself with unbelief and liberalism. In 1953, Archbishop of Canterbury William Temple said in Nature and God that “there is no such thing as revealed truth.” In 1961, Archbishop of Canterbury Michael Ramsey said, “... heaven is not a place for Christians only. ... I expect to see many present day atheists there” (London Daily Mail, Oct. 2, 1961). In 1982, Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie said he was an agnostic as to why Jesus suffered on the cross (Sunday Times Weekly Review, London, April 11, 1982). In 1984, David Jenkins, Bishop of Durham, described Christ’s resurrection as “a conjuring trick with bones” (AP, St. Louis Post Dispatch, Oct. 28, 1984), and two years later, Jenkins called the God of the Bible “a cultic idol” (Ecumenical Press Service, July 16-21, 1986). In 1984, the Associated Press reported that only 20 of 31 Church of England bishops polled insisted that Christians must accept Jesus as both God and man. In 1994, it was reported by the Sunday Times (July 31) that at least 100 Anglican priests were atheists who did not believe in “an external, supernatural God.” In 1996, Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey lashed out at “fundamentalists” who place the Bible “above and beyond human inquiry” (Christian News, Dec. 9, 1996). In 1997, a survey found that 31% of Anglican vicars in England do not believe in the virgin birth (Alliance Life, March 12, 1997). In 2002, Richard Harries, Bishop of Oxford, said Christians should pray to “God the Mother” (The Times, Nov. 3, 2002). On September 14, 2008, the Church of England officially apologized for rejecting Darwin’s theory of evolution (“Church Makes ‘Ludicrous’ Apology,” The Daily Mail, Sept. 13, 2008). On May 16, 2009, the bells of the Anglican Cathedral of Liverpool pealed out John Lennon’s atheistic song “Imagine.”

(Friday Church News Notes, October 30, 2015, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

​Proverbs 12:20

A few years ago, a news release revealed the result of a poll on what Americans prefer to have taught in public schools about origins. The poll was done for an organization that favors a dogmatic teaching of evolution. The news release stated only that a huge majority of Americans, 83 percent, favor the teaching of evolution in the public schools. We at Creation Moments were led to investigate this poll more closely since this poll result runs contrary to other recent polls.
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The professional polling organization polled 1,500 people about whether creation or evolution should be taught in the public schools. Indeed, 83 percent said they believe that the theory of evolution should be taught in the public schools. However, what was not included in the popular reporting of the poll was that 79 percent of those polled said that creation should also be taught in the schools. Only 20 percent of those polled felt that evolution only should be taught. Clearly, Americans prefer both creation and evolution presented to the students so that they can make up their own minds. Equally notable is that almost half of those polled agreed with the statement that evolution is "far from being proven to be scientific."

While the statement that 83 percent of those polled favor evolution being taught is true, it leaves out the most important part of the poll's findings. Clearly, ordinary people want to hear about God's creation.

Notes: Christian News, 4/3/00, p. 2. Photo: Courtesy of © Malate269.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

​Genesis 3:19

When God finished the creation on the sixth day, He declared all that He made to be "very good." There was no death, no decay, no pain and no sickness. When Adam and Eve committed the first sin, their actions resulted in sickness, decay and death. How could a finished, perfect creation have the ability to become this way?

New research on a strategy to eliminate tooth decay may illustrate an answer to this question. The bacteria most responsible for tooth decay produce lactic acid. Lactic acid eats away at tooth enamel, resulting in tooth decay. Scientists genetically engineered a natural form of this bacterium that produces a chemical that kills the form of the bacterium in our mouths. They then disabled the ability of this bacterium to produce lactic acid. They also had to double another gene to replace the function originally carried out by the lactic acid. This gene produces nothing harmful. Scientists believe they have developed a harmless bacteria that will remove and replace the harmful bacteria that cause tooth decay. This research raises an interesting question: Is it possible that in the beginning the bacteria in our mouth was harmless, but after Adam's fall only a minor modification made it harmful?
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However, genetic engineering, indeed all of modern science, cannot reverse the ultimate consequences of sin. Only God's Son, Jesus Christ, can take away the guilt of our sin and give us eternal life.

Notes: Science News, 3/18/00, p. 190, "Wash that mouth out with bacteria!" Photo: Courtesy of LHcheM. (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

A recent New York Times article documents Norway’s fascination with ghosts. “While churches here may be largely empty and belief in God, according to opinion polls, in steady decline, belief in, or at least fascination with, ghosts and spirits is surging. Even Norway’s royal family, which is required by law to belong to the Evangelical Lutheran Church, has flirted with ghosts, with a princess coaching people on how to reach out to spirits” (“Norway Has a New Passion: Ghost Hunting,” New York Times, Oct. 24, 2015). This is merely the latest in reports that have documented Europe’s growing love of the occult. “Palmistry, the crystal ball and astrology have never been so popular” (“Europe’s Love of the Occult,” New York Times, Aug. 15, 2007). Most European countries turned from paganism to Roman Catholicism in the first millennium; many of them turned to Protestantism in the second; now they are returning to paganism. Atheistic science leaves man empty, with the deepest questions unanswered. “Science” cannot answer the fundamental questions of life, such as where did man come from, why is he so dramatically different from the animals, what is man’s purpose, how should man live, is there a God and if so what is he like, and what happens after death?

(Friday Church News Notes, October 30, 2015, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

​Isaiah 57:19

A healthy person with a minor injury heals without any thought required for the healing process. More severe injuries may require medical attention, but no amount of thought concentration on the healing process will speed healing along. This automatic healing process could not have evolved because without the power to heal in the first place, any injury to any creature would be ultimately fatal.

IBM is working on a super supercomputer that would run 500 times faster than any computer known today. It will be used to produce three-dimensional models showing how proteins fold as they do their work. It is hoped that the models will help medical researchers design more effective medicines. The computer system working on this task will have over one million processors linked to adjacent processors. The adjacent processors will monitor the main processors. If one of the main processors becomes faulty, the adjacent processor will remove it from the computing system electronically. If it works, the entire system will be known as a self-healing computer. While the computer may be able to heal itself, it will have to "think" about healing constantly. And despite its speed, its healing and computing abilities are still slower than ours.
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God has given us great powers of healing. But we can do nothing to heal ourselves spiritually. For that we must rely on Jesus Christ and the salvation He brings.

Notes: New Scientist, 12/11/99, p. 8, "IBM plans its latest smash hit." Photo: Courtesy of Odie5533. (CC BY-SA 2.0).
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

​I Corinthians 15:41

According to evolutionary naturalism, the solar system began as a disk of hot, rotating gas. The sun began to form first. At the same time, the planets began to form as they collected material out of the gaseous disk. This process generated more heat, with the largest planets collecting more of the heat than smaller planets. The amount of heat collected by the large, heavy planets like Jupiter compared with a planet like the Earth accounts for the different elemental composition of the planets.

When scientists began studying Jupiter, they expected it to have certain lighter elements in the same proportion as the sun. Large planets like Jupiter would have been too hot at formation for lighter elements to condense. However, researchers using the Galileo space probe have discovered that Jupiter has more than twice as many gases as the sun. It has nearly three times as much krypton and xenon gas as the sun. Jupiter has over three-and-a-half times as much ammonia as was expected. Scientists are trying to figure out where these gases came from. However, evolutionary scientists admit that they cannot find a satisfactory naturalistic explanation for the chemical composition of Jupiter. They have even speculated that they might find the same problems with the other outer planets.
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That the planets differ in composition is exactly as stated in the Bible "…for one star differeth from another star in glory" (I Cor. 15:41). That these differences don't fit evolutionary theory further witnesses to God's glory as Creator.

Notes: Nature, 11/18/99, pp. 269-270, "A low temperature origin for the planetessimals that formed Jupiter."
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

Many of America’s most popular “evangelical” preachers are infatuated with Catholicism, as we have frequently documented. Consider Tim Keller, pastor of the Redeemer megachurch in New York City, head of the Redeemer City to City church planting network, and co-founder with D.A. Carson of The Gospel Coalition (council members include John Piper, Alistar Begg, Mark Dever, Moody Church pastor Erwin Lutzer, and Southern Baptists Russell Moore and Al Mohler). Keller has a huge influence by his writings via books and blogs, his books reaching the top 10 of the New York Times bestseller list even in an apostate age. His love for Catholicism is evident in his book The Reason for God (2012), in which he quotes and refers to Catholic theologians and philosophers frequently, passionately, and non-critically. He includes Roman Catholics and Greek Orthodox within his definition of true Christians. Referring to the Apostles, Nicene, Chalcedonian, and Athanasian creeds, he says, “For our purposes, I’ll define Christianity as the body of believers who assent to these great ecumenical creeds” (p. 117). In The Reason for God, Keller quotes Catholic philosopher Peter Kreeft, Catholic writer Mary Flannery O’Conner, Catholic mystic Simone Weil, Polish Catholic poet Czeslaw Milosz, and Catholic Archbishop Oscar Romero, whose doctrine Keller calls “orthodox” (p. 66). He also quotes from Malcolm Muggeridge, J.R.R. Tolkien, and G.K. Chesterton. Not one of these people hold to the one true gospel of grace alone without works. All of them trust in baptism and Rome’s sacraments for salvation. Not surprisingly, Keller promotes Catholic contemplative prayer. In 2009, his church taught “The Way of the Monk,” encouraging Catholic monastic practices such as lectio divinia, centering prayer, “silence,” the “prayer rope,” and the spiritual exercises of Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuits. In his lecture series What Is Meditation? Keller promotes the contemplative prayer techniques of four Catholic “saints”: Loyola, Francis de Sales, John of the Cross, and Teresa of Avila. He says, “The best things that have been written are by Catholics during the Counter Reformation. Great stuff!” This lecture series was promoted on The Gospel Coalition website. (For more about this see Evangelicals and Contemplative Prayer, available as a free eBook and in print from Way of Life Literature.)

(Friday Church News Notes, October 30, 2015, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

“In his book Every Good Endeavour (2012), Tim Keller, founder of The Gospel Coalition and prominent New Calvinist, expresses his disappointment that Christians are not more involved with popular culture. He writes: ‘Christians’ reaction to popular culture in the last eighty years has been some form of disengagement. ... Why this disengagement with our culture? One reason is a ‘thin’ or legalistic view of sin, where sin is seen as a series of discrete acts of noncompliance with God’s regulations. You pursue Christian growth largely by seeking environments where you are less likely to do these sinful actions. ... This view of sin comports with a lack of understanding of the thoroughness and richness of Christ’s gracious work for us. ... If we have a thin view of sin, we will feel safe if we remove from our view anything that could tempt us to commit actions of overt sexual immorality, profanity, dishonesty, or violence’ (Keller, Every Good Endeavor, pp. 192, 193). ... He says that Christians, who hold such a view of sin, are ‘legalists’ who withdraw from the popular culture of the world in order to avoid situations that could tempt them to commit ‘thin sins’, like overt acts of sexual immorality, profanity, dishonesty, or violence. ... Here we should note the biblical definition of sin. The Bible describes sin as breaking God’s law (1 John 3:4). It is also defined as rebellion against God (Deuteronomy 9:7), which separates the sinner from God (Isaiah 59.2). Sin is an offense to God’s holy character, and all sin is primarily sin against God. ... Keller’s assessment is completely wrong, for it is those who hold what he calls a ‘thin view’ of sin who have been convicted of their sin and rebellion against God’s holy law and understand that their only hope of salvation is God’s grace revealed in the Cross of Christ. Hence their prayer: ‘Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to thy Cross I cling’. Born again Christians, who have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and stand in God’s grace for their salvation, are those who delight in God’s moral law and seek to obey it with all their heart, and do all they can to comply with what Keller calls ‘God’s regulations’. [This is the true grace of God, Titus 2:11-15.] ... Keller’s ‘thick view’ of sin encourages Christians to engage with worldly culture ...  But Scripture makes no distinction between thick and thin sin. It teaches that sin comes from the lusts and desires of the human heart that is desperately wicked (James 1:14-15). Keller’s classification of sin into thin and thick is entirely without scriptural authority and purely a figment of his foolish imagination; it is profoundly heretical, for it presents a false and misleading view of sin that downplays the wickedness of disobedience to God’s moral law, suggesting that Christians should engage with the world in order to overcome what Keller calls ‘the compulsive drive of their heart to produce idols’. ... Scripture warns that friendship with the world is enmity with God (James 4:4). Christians must not conform to the pattern of the world (Romans 12:1-2; Ephesians 5:11; 1 John 2:15-17). ... God commands his people to be separate from the things of the world (2 Corinthians 6:17).”

“Redefining Sin” by E.S. Williams, www.newcalvinist.com