Psalm 19:1
“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork."

   I will never forget the time I saw the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights. This mysterious phenomenon appears like curtains of light – usually green – swirling and turning in the atmosphere, usually in very northern latitudes. I saw the Northern Lights while I was on a speaking tour of the Shetland Isles – the northernmost part of the United Kingdom. The lights are formed by charged particles, or ions, from the Sun, being attracted by the Earth’s magnetic field, towards the magnetic north pole.
   Apparently, there are many aspects of the aurora phenomena that are still not well understood. One such effect, code-named Steve, is the occasional appearance of purple light, in atmospheric layers lower than that in which Northern Lights usually form. The word Steve stands for  Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement – although originally the name was just assigned for fun. The cause of these purple lights is similar to that of classical aurora, and appears to be because of a chemical or physical connection between the aurora layers and sub-aurora layers.
   It is interesting that the studies of this phenomenon required large numbers of lay observers. These are referred to in the report as “citizen scientists”. A great many people around the world photographed the phenomenon, and sent the results to NASA. Even somewhere as close as the upper reaches of Earth’s atmosphere can be as mysterious as the surface of Pluto, and yet ordinary people can provide help in cracking the scientific mysteries. Perhaps some of these people would remember, as they observed, that “The heavens declare the glory of God”.

www.creationmoments.com/sermons/watching-steve/

Acts 2:19-20
“And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:”

   Living and working near Mount St Helens, I am familiar with relating the 1980 eruption to the Gospel. Interestingly, some recent research has suggested that another volcano may have been used in spreading the Gospel, not just to visitors, but to an entire island nation.
   Colonization of Iceland is thought to have occurred from about 870 through 930 AD. The Viking settlers were pagan, worshiping the ancient Norse gods. Yet, the young colony almost completely converted to Christianity by the year 1000. Secular historians, not wishing to attribute anything to the power of the Holy Spirit, have wondered what influenced such a widespread change of faith.
   For our part, as Christians, we do not dispute that God can use natural occurrences, which are, after all, under His control, to bring about changes. In the case of Iceland, it appears that the volcano Eldgjá, in the south of the island, erupted in 939. Recent research suggests that this was a devastating eruption, darkening skies over much of Europe, and causing a cold summer in 940.
   At this point, we turn to historical research. The Icelandic epic poem, the Vǫluspá, or “Prophecy of the Seeress”, relates how the island’s pagan gods will end, and be replaced by a new, single god. The poem is dated to about 961. The poem also relates that the sky would turn dark and the climate would be cold, if this were not to happen. Perhaps the memory of that devastating eruption of just 22 years before was being used to encourage people to turn to the one, true God.

www.creationmoments.com/sermons/a-volcano-an-island-and-the-gospel/

Genesis 9:20
“And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard.”

   The evolutionary view of human history is that ancient man was so primitive that it took him over a million years to figure out farming. The problem with this view is that even the lowly leaf-cutting ant has figured out how to grow, fertilize and harvest its own crops. Evolutionists respond by insisting that intelligence evolved in these creatures because they are social creatures that developed intelligence to cope with social situations.
   This explanation of how some ants learn to farm, however, is challenged by the conclusions of a scientist with the London Museum of Natural History. Richard Fortey presented evidence that suggests that the lowly olenid trilobite also practiced farming but is not a social creature. The now-extinct trilobite survived by farming bacteria that were able to turn sulfur into energy for themselves. Fortey points out that the body structure of the trilobite provides plenty of space to cultivate bacteria right on its body. These supposedly primitive creatures also had a brood pouch in which they raised their young. Fortey suggests that parents may have cared for and protected their young until the next generation was able to cultivate their own bacteria gardens for food.
   It will be interesting to hear evolutionary explanations of how this trilobite learned farming. But there is no difficulty explaining the trilobite’s ability to farm from a creationist point of view. It was made by an intelligent Creator to live its unique lifestyle.

www.creationmoments.com/sermons/trilobite-farmers-3/

Ecclesiastes 4:4
“Again, I considered all travail, and every right work, that for this a man is envied of his neighbour. This is also vanity and vexation of spirit..”

   In 1637 Rene Descartes published a ground-breaking treatise on optics. His breakthrough was the discovery that an aspherical lens works better than a spherical lens. A spherical lens cannot focus the parallel rays of light into a single point. However, an aspherical lens can focus light on a single point. Unfortunately, Descartes did not have the necessary equipment to make such a lens.
   That’s why scientists were amazed when they examined some rock crystal lenses in two European museums that date to 500 years before Descartes. The first lens to be noticed was on display in a Munich museum. It had been discovered at a Viking site in Sweden. Upon analysis, the lens turned out to be aspherical. Further study showed that the nearly 1,000-year-old lens is equal in quality with modern lenses. Was this lens just an accident by an ancient craftsman? Scientists turned to a museum in Visby, Sweden, which had several similar pieces. Close study revealed that each of these lenses, too, focused light as well as modern lenses! Apparently, Descartes merely rediscovered more ancient knowledge that had been lost.
   How much of today’s new knowledge is merely a rediscovery of what the first human beings knew? After all, the Bible tells us that Adam was created as a perfect human being. It also tells us how the earliest generations of people were already working with metals and making musical instruments.

www.creationmoments.com/sermons/the-bible-offers-a-clear-focus-on-history-3/

Hebrews 10:25a
“… not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is;….”

   On past Creation Moments programs we have reported on individual studies that link good health to religious commitment. It’s always easy to find individual studies to prove almost any point. So researchers did a statistical analysis of 42 different studies made since 1977.
   The 42 studies that were examined involved over 125,000 people, mostly Christian and Jewish. The analysis, conducted by the National Institute for Healthcare Research, distinguished between public and private religious activity. Public religious activity included attending worship services and volunteering time for church activities. Private religious activity included praying alone and “internal spiritual feelings.” While there are some who question these studies, they have consistently shown that religiously involved people live longer, healthier lives. However, the researchers who analyzed these studies arrived at a new conclusion as they analyzed the differences between public and private religious activity. They concluded that public religious involvement, as opposed to private or no involvement, showed a statistically important relationship to higher health and survival rates.
   Two thousand years ago, the writer of the book of Hebrews encouraged believers not to neglect assembling themselves together for worship on a regular basis. Like burning embers removed from the fire, when believers fail to be a regular part of their faith community, believers’ faith, too, cools to the temperature around it.

www.creationmoments.com/sermons/away-from-the-fire-an-ember-goes-out-3/

Ephesians 6:11
“Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil..”

   The shell of the giant pink queen conch is made of such remarkable material that scientists speak of its design, even while they say that it is a product of evolutionary chance. The beautiful shell is made of a form of calcium carbonate called aragonite. Yet, it is structured in such a way that it resists fractures 100 to 1,000 times better than aragonite ordinarily would.
   The conch’s secret is that it combines the aragonite with protein. Further, its shell is made up of three layers of aragonite. The middle layer is structured around a rectangular beam of aragonite sheathed in protein. This duplex rod is then bundled with others into a larger beam. The larger beam is, in turn, bundled with others to produce a larger beam. This complex arrangement gives the shell its extraordinary strength. Pressure that ordinarily causes a catastrophic crack in the aragonite merely scatters the pressure into thousands of tiny cracks.
   Materials scientists studying the conch shell refer to this as a high-performance composite structure. They hope to apply the principles learned from the conch shell to make stronger building materials, bridges and even space vehicles.
   If such sophisticated design could arise without a Designer, modern companies would surely be wasting their time hiring highly trained designers to improve their products.

www.creationmoments.com/sermons/conchs-in-space-3/

Revelation 12:9a
“And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world:.”

   Virtually every culture in the world has stories and legends about dragons. Amazingly, these serpents resemble each other from culture to culture. They also resemble what we call dinosaurs. The universality and uniformity of these stories strongly suggests that dinosaurs could not have died out 65 million years ago as evolutionists claim.
   There are several credible accounts of dragons that resemble dinosaurs in ancient writings. In each case, these records describe, in as much detail as possible, observations of the natural world. Dio the Roman wrote an account of the Roman Consul Regulus’ war against Carthage in the third century B.C. According to Dio, a dragon settled behind the Roman army. Regulus ordered it killed and skinned and the hide sent to the Roman Senate. In the senate, the hide was measured to be 120 feet long. Writing as late as the 8th century, John of Damascus took dragons to be real, living creatures, while using the Bible to debunk myths that had grown up around them. One of these myths was that dragons could assume human form. John rejected this on the basis of creation, noting that only humans were made in the image of God and, thus, animals cannot be changed into this same image.
   These accounts read like serious history being written about a time in which dragons were assumed to exist-much more recently than 65 million years ago!
   Call Creation Moments and ask for the FREE tract titled: Are Dinosaurs in the Bible?

www.creationmoments.com/sermons/the-dinosaurs-of-written-history-3/

Hebrews 1:2
   “Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;….”
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   By the time she had returned from her adventures in Oz, Dorothy had learned that “There’s no place like home.” As we discover more planets outside the solar system, we are learning that there’s no place like Earth or even the solar system. While we usually think of planets orbiting a star, astronomers are now finding planets that simply float through space without a home star.
   Of the 15 known homeless planets, 13 of them were recently found in the Orion Nebula. These most recent discoveries were made using a specialized camera that examines the heavens for infrared and near infrared light. Scientists speculate that the planets might have escaped from orbit around some star. Others speculate that the planets are failed brown dwarf stars. To become a brown dwarf, a body has to be at least as big as 13 Jupiters. The smallest of these planets is as big as 8 Jupiters, making its gravity far too strong for any life as we know it. To make matters worse, temperatures on these planets would not support life, either. Analysis of the light coming from these planets reveals that their surface temperatures are nearly 5000° F.
   These homeless planets are part of God’s illustration to us of how He specially designed our solar system and Earth just for us. The Bible tells us that the Word made flesh, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Who gave His life for us, was also the Instrument God used to create the entire universe.

www.creationmoments.com/sermons/homeless-planets-3/