"Bellevue College in Washington state now offers applicants seven different options for their gender: 'feminine, masculine, androgynous, transgender, gender neutral, other, and prefer not to say.' The college says the question will help it create better services and classes for gender-variant students."



("7 Gender Options," This Week, Dec. 7, 2013)

Genesis 1:28
“And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth on the earth.”

In Genesis 1:28 God tells man to subdue the Earth. That command implies that God has placed, within the creation, many tools that man can learn to use for his benefit. After sin entered the world and sickness and death became a reality, God’s remarkable foreknowledge then became evident. One of the first antibiotics ever discovered by man has been in use for thousands of years. Modern researchers are just beginning to appreciate the wonder of this natural antibiotic that kills some 650 different strains of disease organisms, and is virtually non-toxic. Best of all, disease organisms don’t become resistant to it.

What is this miracle antibiotic? The metal silver. The ancient Greeks and Romans used silver containers to keep liquids fresh. American settlers often placed a silver dollar in milk to delay souring. Most of the world’s airlines today use silver filters on board to prevent dysentery. After testing 23 different methods for purifying water, NASA selected silver water filters for use on board the Space Shuttle. Japanese researchers have found that silver is even able to detoxify some poisons.

Isn't it striking that even the inanimate world is filled with things that are so carefully designed to fit into the overall picture of reality painted by Scripture? And who says the Bible isn't a book of science?!

Photo: Courtesy of Alchemist-hp. Licensed under the Creative Commons ‘Attribution-NonCommercial-NonDerivative 3.0 (US) License.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

Healthcare deadline extended;
Pussy Riot freed;
South Sudan violence;
Corgis nearing endangered list.

Icy weather;
South Sudan fighting;
Aaron Hernandez in court;
Pancho Claus spreads holiday cheer.

"'I don't have a microchip in my head--yet,' says the man charged with transforming Google's relations with the technology giant's human users. But Scott Huffman does envisage a world in which Google microphones, embedded in the ceiling, listen to our conversations and interject verbal answers to whatever inquiry is posed. Huffman, Google's engineering director, leads a team tasked with making conversations with the search engine more reflective of the complex interactions people enjoy with each other. The future of the $300 billion business depends upon automatically predicting the search needs of users and then presenting them with the data they need. ... 'A microphone hanging from the ceiling, responding to verbal queries, would remove the need to whip out a phone to remind yourself what time tomorrow's flight leaves. ... Like a great personal assistant, it will interrupt you and say 'you've got to leave now.' Mr. Huffman said. ... 'I could ask my Google assistant where we should have lunch, that serves French food and isn't too expensive? Google will go ' Ok, we'll go to that place' and when I get in my car it should already be navigating to that restaurant. We're really excited by the idea of multiple devices being able to talk to each other.”... Google believes it can ultimately fulfil people's data needs by sending results directly to microchips implanted into its user's brains. Research has already begun with such chips to help disabled people steer their wheelchairs. ... His current priority is utilizing Google's Knowledge Graph, an expanding store of information holding 18 billion facts on 60 million subjects, to deliver a more 'human' search response. Voice-based search requests are more complex than the two-word searches typed into the search engine. 'My team is working very hard on the idea of a richer conversation with Google. We use a fairly complex linguistic structure in conversation that Google today doesn't understand. But five years from now we will be having that kind of conversation with Google and it will just seem natural. Google will answer you the same way a person would answer.'"

("Google's Future," The Independent, U.K., Dec. 17, 2013)

Proverbs 6:6
“Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise…”

Picture this: The setting was the scientist’s weekend cottage. The scientist had placed a saucer of chocolate on a wooden stool inside a bowl partially filled with water because ants hate water. And to further hinder the ants, the scientist painted the outside of the bowl with a coat of very slow drying glue. He was sure that when he returned to his cottage the next weekend, the chocolate would be untouched.

When he returned six days later, ants were swarming all over the chocolate. How did they do it? Well, the ants had crossed the glue because of the sacrifices of some of their heroes. It seems that a few ants had given their lives to form a single-file bridge of their bodies across the glue. Then they used pieces of grass and tiny pieces of wood to build a floating bridge to a leg of the stool, where it was an easy climb to the chocolate. The scientist also noticed that other daredevil ants were crossing the ceiling, stopping over the saucer of chocolate, and then dropping right into their prize!
 
Proverbs 6:6 and 30:25 mention ants as examples of wisdom, suggesting that those who are wise will learn from them. Wisdom is a gift of our Creator. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom while Jesus Christ is the depth of His wisdom!



Photo: Courtesy of Geoff Gallice. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

UN evacuations in South Sudan;
Warnings on health insurance sticker-shock;
Implosion in Michigan;
Female couple at Israeli zoo.

Pope Francis is Time magazine's Person of the Year for 2013, becoming the third pope to receive the designation. John XXIII was selected as Person of the Year in 1962, as was John Paul II in 1994. All three popes share a commitment to ecumenism and globalism, which are major prophetic signs of the times. John XXIII was the convener of the Second Vatican Council which opened the door for ecumenical relations between the Catholic Church and Orthodox, Protestant, and Baptist groups. Of John XXIII, Time said that "his warmth, simplicity and charm won the hearts of Catholics, Protestants, and non-Christians alike." As for John Paul II, few men have done more to create a one-world "church" than this ecumenical jet-setting pope who was often praised by Billy Graham. And ecumenism and globalism have been two of Francis' major agendas since his inauguration. In a special edition earlier this year, Time called Francis "Pope for a New World." That about sums up his New Age agenda which extends even to atheists! This summer Francis said, "The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. ... Even the atheists! Everyone! And this Blood makes us children of God of the first class! ... And we all have a duty to do good. And this commandment for everyone to do good, I think, is a beautiful path towards peace" ("Pope at Mass," Vatican Radio, May 22, 2013). Evangelicals love Pope Francis. At his installation, Ben Stiller of the World Evangelical Alliance said that "not in 500 years have the two sides [evangelicals and Catholics] been closer" ("A Pope for All Christians," Christian Today, Mar. 13, 2013). We would also note that all three of the Time-honored popes are major venerators of Mary.

(Friday Church News Notes, December 20, 2013, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

Hazardous weather predicted from Texas to New England;
Pan Am 103 victims remembered on 25th anniversary;
Arrests in deadly N.J. carjacking;
Spacewalking astronauts make repairs at ISS.

Citing legal reasoning allowing "same-sex marriage," a federal judge has overturned Utah's law against polygamy. This was predictable. If marriage is about personal pleasure only and if a man can legally marry a man or a woman can marry a woman just because they are "in love" and want to do so, there is no consistently reasonable way to rule against any sort of "marriage" in which two or more parties are in agreement. In striking down Utah's 1896 law against polygamy, U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups cited "the much developed constitutional jurisprudence that now protects individuals from the criminal consequences intended by legislatures to apply to certain PERSONAL CHOICES." Thus marriage is now merely about personal choices and the U.S. Constitution supposedly protects the right to such choices, which is utter nonsense. Marriage is a sacred institution established by God, and these judges will answer to God for their decisions. As for the U.S. Constitution, it is being overthrown by activist judges. By granting liberty to homosexuals, the judges are taking away the Christian's First Amendment right to freedom of speech and religion. In April this year, a judge in Hawaii's first circuit ruled that the owners of Aloha Bed & Breakfast violated state law when they refused to give a room to a lesbian couple because of their religious convictions. Earlier this month a judge in Colorado ruled that the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakewood is guilty of unlawful discrimination for refusing to serve a homosexual couple because of his religious convictions. The concept of homosexual "marriage" destroys every facet of biblical morality. If homosexuality is not immoral, nothing is immoral. The basis of true morality is not man's thoughts and feelings. The basis is God and His Word, and when that is rejected there are no absolute morals and moral chaos is the result, which is what happened before the Flood.

(Friday Church News Notes, December 20, 2013, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

Obama discusses economy and health care rollout;
Pardoned Russian dissident travels to Germany;
Palestinian filmmakers spoof popular Volvo ad.

"Thanks to the ever-diligent men and women of the United States Transportation Security Administration, we can all rest a little bit easier tonight. Yesterday at approximately 17:00 hours, a one Mr. Rooster Monkburn was successfully disarmed when a TSA agent confiscated the monkey sock puppet's two-inch, vaguely gun-shaped piece of plastic--and then threatened to call the police. It all started when Phyllis May of Redmond, Washington, attempted to smuggle the stuffed, armed primate through security on her way from St. Louis to Seattle. Immediately identifying the threat, the agents on duty stepped into action and pulled Mr. Monkburn's carrying case from the conveyor. ... May said the TSA agent went through the bag, through the sewing supplies and found the two-inch long pistol. 'She said this is a gun,' said May. 'I said no, it's not a gun it's a prop for my monkey.' She said, 'If I held it up to your neck, you wouldn't know if it was real or not,' and I said 'really?' said May. The TSA agent told May she would have to confiscate the tiny gun and was supposed to call the police. ... 'She took my monkey's gun.' And with that, we celebrate one more victory for freedom."

("TSA Seizes Tiny Toy Gun," Gizmodo.com, Dec. 9, 2013)

London theater collapse;
Cancelled health insurance policies;
California bus wreck;
Rodman in North Korea.

The following statement by M.R. DeHaan, M.D., was written in 1955 at the dawn of the corruption of "evangelicalism" by the neo-ites and pragmatists. What would he say today? The corruption of evangelical and fundamentalist Christianity in America has produced the whirlwind of moral degradation and judgment of God we are witnessing today. The reason America doesn't fear God is because the vast majority of churches do not preach the fear of God. Now to the statement by the late M.R. DeHaan, a statement that reproves the very organization that he founded--the Radio Bible Class. "No man can understand the atonement nor become the recipient of its salvation until he knows something of the awful holiness of God, and His terrible hatred for sin. God is first of all infinitely righteous, just and holy, so holy, in fact, that even though He is also infinite compassion, love, mercy and grace, He cannot and will not allow a single sin to go unpunished. This is basic in the plan of salvation. God is so holy, He hates sin with such a perfect hatred, that He will never permit or allow a single being in His presence without an atonement being made for all of his sin. It is a sad fact, indeed, that we hear so little in these days about the HOLINESS of God. We hear a great deal of his love and compassion, and his mercy, but very, very little of his holiness and justice and righteousness. As a result of this silence concerning God's holiness, we have formed a mean, a low, and a cheap conception of God, and fail to respect His holiness ... How regrettable that in this age there is so much of this frothy, light and irreverent handling of the holy things of God, making our services a carnival and an entertainment, rather than a place of deep reverential worship of God and the study of His Word. Even in our Christian music today we have sunk too often to the level of jungle jazz ... We have lost, I say, much of the reverence for holy things, because of the introduction of much of this shallow entertainment" (DeHaan, The Tabernacle, 1955).

(Friday Church News Notes, December 13, 2013, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

Exodus 17:14a
“And the Lord said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua…”

Evolutionary scientists have been amazed by the discovery that the very oldest artifacts left by man indicate the presence of written language and mathematical ability. Creationists, on the other hand, are not surprised and predicted that evidence would be found to show that mankind has always had a language.

Evolutionists now admit that man’s written language goes back at least 30,000 years and, while we do not accept the inflated evolutionary years, we do welcome the discovery of facts supportive of the biblical view of history. When archaeologist Alexander Marshack determined that one ancient carving was a calendar, scientists sat up and took notice.

This discovery not only meant that ancient man had a sense of time, but that he also had a written language and ability to do mathematics. Other evidences of written language have since been studied and, to some extent, deciphered. But what they show is that no matter how far back one is able to find evidence of man’s work, language was already established.
 
Man is man and has always been man, but we are far from perfect because of sin. But there is rescue from sin and its effects in Jesus Christ. If you don’t know Him, or if your life is spoiled by sin, take a look at the Bible and see the better life He has offered you.

Photo: Babylonian legal tablet from Alalakh in its clay envelope.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

Senate expected to pass defense funding bill;
Fire burning at Tenn. superfund site;
Dennis Rodman in North Korea;
Aluminum Christmas trees back in style.

Surveillance recommendations;
Deadly crash;
Wildfire progress;
Credit data theft.

"The incidence of narcissistic personality disorder is nearly three times as high for people in their 20s as for the generation that's now 65 or older, according to the National Institutes of Health; 57% more college students scored higher on a narcissism scale in 2009 than in 1982. Millennials got so many participation trophies growing up that a recent study showed that 40% believe they should be promoted every two years, regardless of performance. ... Millennials consist, depending on whom you ask, of people born from 1980 to 2000. ... because of globalization, social media, the exporting of Western culture and the speed of change, millennials worldwide are more similar to one another than to older generations within their nations. ... In the U.S., millennials are the children of baby boomers, who are also known as the Me Generation, who then produced the Me Me Me Generation, whose selfishness technology has only exacerbated. ... Millennials have come of age in the era of the quantified self, recording their daily steps on FitBit, their whereabouts every hour of every day on PlaceMe and their genetic data on 23 and Me. ... They got this way partly because, in the 1970s, people wanted to improve kids' chances of success by instilling self-esteem. ... All that self-esteem leads them to be disappointed when the world refuses to affirm how great they know they are. ... What millennials are most famous for besides narcissism is its effect: entitlement."

("Millennials: The Me Me Me Generation," Time magazine, May 20, 2013)

Romans 1:20
“For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead so that they are without excuse.”

Many plants, including the elm or linden trees, grow their leaves, twigs and branches placed exactly half way around the stem from each other.

Next in the series are plants, like the beech tree, with leaves placed one-third of a way around the stem from the previous leaves. Third in the series are plants like the oak with leaves placed at two fifths of a turn. Plants like the holly are next at three-eighths, while larches are next at five-thirteenths – and the sequence goes on. Notice the number sequence of these fractions: 1,1,2,3,5,8,13, and so on. Each number is the sum of the two numbers that come just before it in the sequence. This particular mathematical pattern is called the Fibonacci series. Such mathematical precision is not arrived at by accident.

We marvel at how God has stitched the patterns of the material world onto a mathematical fabric that cannot be missed by those who study it. Such mathematical precision can only be the product of power and intelligence, even as Paul says in Romans One, “What may be known about God is manifest…His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made.” And while they are not yet flocking to the Bible, this is why many scientists are beginning to have doubts about the theory of evolution!


Photo: Courtesy of Nick Shaforostoff. 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

Mega Millions winner from Georgia identified;
Harvard bomb hoax suspect in court;
Diplomat's arrest sparks outrage in India;
Festive penguins parade in South Korea.

"The attack on an Anglican church in Pakistan on September 22 caused Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby to speak out on attacks on Christians in the Muslim world. He said Christians are being martyred for their faith in many Muslim countries and this past weekend's violence is only the tip of the iceberg. According to the International Society for Human Rights in Frankfurt, Germany, 80 percent of all acts of religious discrimination in the world today are directed against Christians. The Center for the Study of Global Christianity in the United States estimates that in the last decade, an average of 100,000 Christians have died each year in what the center calls a 'situation of witness,' meaning for motives related to their faith. Although some experts regard that estimate as inflated, it works out to an average of 11 Christians killed each hour throughout the past decade. On September 21, the al-Shabaab Muslim terrorist group attacked the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya and announced they only wanted to kill non-Muslims. Witnesses said the gunmen lined up men, women, and children and quizzed them on Islam, murdering those who could not answer correctly on the spot. Over 60 people were killed. On September 22, two suicide bombers attacked the All Saints Anglican church in Peshawar, Pakistan; 85 worshipers were killed and 200 injured in that attack. In March, Muslims torched dozens of Christian homes in Pakistan. In January, tens of thousands of Coptic Christians left Egypt when Islamist President Mohammed Morsi rose to power. When he was overthrown in July, things did not get better for the ones who stayed. Muslim Brotherhood supporters set fire [to churches and murdered many priests and laymen]."

("Christian Persecution Rampant in Muslim Countries," Breitbart.com, Sept. 26, 2013)

Genesis 1:28
“And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it…”

How long have people been living on the Earth? The evolutionist says two million years. The Bible-believing Christian says about six thousand. Who is right?

Statistically, a couple must have 2.1 children to keep a population at the same level. In practice, this means a minimum of three children per family. Let us suppose for a moment that the biblical account of the Genesis Flood in which just eight people survived is true. Let us further suppose that each family from this point in history had 2.4 children on average. This very modest number will take into account all the deaths through infant mortality, plagues and war. How long would it take to reach today’s world population? Surprisingly, the answer is just less than five thousand years. This figure fits nicely into known historical records.

Now suppose we take the evolutionary view that mankind has been on this planet for two million years and we begin with two people – or eight, it will make little difference – and they also had the statistical 2.4 children per family. We will finish up with a number so impossibly large that the universe itself would not hold them! Aware of this problem, the textbooks explain it away by speaking of “population stability throughout this time.” This is nothing short of an appeal to a miracle! Frankly, the biblical account is far more believable.

Notes: Cleone H. Weigand. “Morality Remains the Best Way to Stem Population Growth.” Milwaukee Journal, April 14, 1985.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

Lining up for a chance at a mega-jackpot;
Obama huddles with tech CEOs;
Pope Francis turns 77;
Mexico City shows off huge ice rink.

Fire in Big Sur;
Snowden's offer to Brazil;
US offers to boost Philippines security;
Holiday traffic.

"Not all scientists agree that global warming is man-made. Nearly half of meteorologists and atmospheric science experts don't believe that human activities are the driving force behind global warming, according to a survey by the American Meteorological Society. The survey of AMS members found that while 52 percent of American Meteorological Society members believe climate change is occurring and mostly human-induced, 48 percent of members do not believe in man-made global warming. Furthermore, the survey found that scientists who professed 'liberal political views' were much more likely to believe in the theory of man-made global warming than those who without liberal views."



(The Daily Caller, Nov. 26, 2013)