Most preachers run in herds, and they are simply not going to go against the grain. I was impressed anew with that fact after reading One in Hope and Doctrine: Origins of Baptist Fundamentalism 1870-1950 (Kevin Bauder and Robert Delnay, Regular Baptist Press, 2014). Most independent Baptists came out of denominationalism (American Baptist, Southern Baptist) and they either immediately formed another denomination or denomination-like organization to join (Baptist Bible Union, GARBC, Conservative Baptist) or they formed strong fellowships (Baptist Bible Fellowship, Southwide Baptist Fellowship) and/or they rallied around a strong leader (J. Frank Norris, John R. Rice, Lee Roberson, Jack Hyles) and/or school. For the most part, the independent Baptist movement has been based on the old fundamentalist philosophy of “in essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty.” That was the philosophy of the aforementioned leaders. There was a time when I mistakenly thought that most independent Baptist preachers, regardless of their various “issues,” were stalwart warriors for the truth, but I was ill-informed. Standing alone for the whole counsel of God has never been the heart and soul of the movement. Fundamental Baptist history isn't a history of individual preachers taking a bold and lonely stand for truth, and the past is very informative of what is happening today. What about you, dear preacher? I thank the Lord for those who serve Christ and His truth preeminently and are not afraid to stand with a small minority or even to stand alone with the faithful Lord. I count it a privilege to know many of these choice servants of Christ personally. The Psalmist describes the zeal for truth that produces such a stand. “Therefore I esteem ALL thy precepts concerning ALL things to be right; and I hate EVERY false way” (Psalm 119:128). We’re not going to be judged in herds. Each preacher will stand before Christ and give account for himself.

(Friday Church News Notes, December 26, 2014, www.wayoflife.org, [email protected], 866-295-4143)

Psalm 104:24
"O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches."

As we learn more about the genetic code, it is becoming increasingly difficult to escape the conclusion that all living things – and by implication, all things – have a very wise, personal Creator. At least one researcher in this field has admitted that it is extremely unlikely that the genetic code shared by almost all living things arose by chance.

Researchers have concluded that nearly a billion billion genetic codes are possible. That's a one, followed by 20 zeros! But not all genetic codes are created equal, so to speak. Some are better than others at preventing errors when new genetic material or the proteins made by genetic material is produced. And when genetic errors are made in the production of protein, a better genetic code will seek to minimize the error. The genetic code we have is the best at doing this. More than that, the code we have is the best at minimizing the damage caused by faulty proteins at the very genes where it is most likely to happen! After admitting this code couldn't happen by chance, one researcher then gave the credit to "natural selection."

That the genetic code is an information storage system vastly more complex than anything we have ever built should tell us that it has a wise and powerful Creator. That the genetic system we have is the best one of over one billion billion possibilities should seal the case for God as Creator.

Notes: Jonathan Knight, "Top Translator", New Scientist, 4/18/98, p. 15.
Photo: The genetic code is far more complex than the IBM Blue Gene/P supercomputer installation at the Argonne Leadership Angela Yang Computing Facility. Courtesy of Argonne National Laboratory. (CC-BY-SA 2.0)
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

“By ‘shrink-wrapped’ clothes, I’m not referring to items still in the store on the shelf and wrapped in plastic, but clothes that are worn by women, and worn so tightly you might think they have been ‘shrink-wrapped’ on them. WHY? Is it comfortable? Is it healthy? Is it necessary? Is it Scriptural? Clothes have been called ‘the second skin.’ Tight fitting clothes on females is to attract the attention of the guys--a sensual, immodest, defrauding kind of attraction. Christian men and women with morals, dislike, and are embarrassed by, this type of sexual exposure and temptation. Most of the time they are afraid to say something, because someone would say, ‘Well, why were you looking at them in the first place?’ insinuating their complicity and judging them for noticing. Christian ladies, please learn what the Bible teaches about clothing and apparel and dress yourself to honor the Lord! ‘… women adorn themselves in modest apparel’ (I Tim. 2:9). ‘Only use not your liberty for an occasion for the flesh’ (Gal. 5:13). ‘He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him’ (1 John 2:10). ‘...whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God … give none offence’ (1 Cor. 10:31-32). ‘The young women to be … chaste’ (Titus 2:4-5). Chaste is an absence of seductive influences.”

Bible Baptist Church Newsletter, Euclid, Ohio

Psalm 98:4
"Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise."

Scientists have long known that honeybees communicate the location of nectar sources to their nest mates. The language that many species use has even been deciphered. At the same time, it was long accepted that bumblebees did not communicate the location of food resources to their nest mates. After all, it is astonishing enough that a supposedly simple creature like the honeybee had mastered the advanced skill of communication, but can even simpler bees communicate?

Research reveals that there are at least several species of bumblebees and other stingless bees that communicate among themselves. As might be expected, the languages differ from species to species. One species of bumblebee reports her find to her nest mates by running zigzag over the combs and bumping into her nest mates. This leads them to check out the quality of the nectar she just returned. If she has brought several good loads in, they join her in bringing in more. Other species lay scent trails to the food source. When a member of another species finds a good source, she communicates to her nest mates through a series of pulsing buzzes. As she communicates the height of the source by the speed of the pulses, she performs a circular dance that communicates the rest of the instructions.

The Bible is accurate when it says that the entire creation can offer God praise. The languages may differ; the form of communication may not even look like communication to us. But now we know that since communication is a gift from God, even so called simple creatures can be given the gift by their Creator.

Notes: Susan Milus, "Look Who's Dancing", Science News, 4/3/99, v. 155, p. 216.
Photo: Courtesy of Alvesgaspar. (CC-BY-SA 3.0)
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

According to a Twitter poll conducted by Thom Rainer, CEO of Lifeway Christian Resources, visitors don’t like the stand and greet time that many churches have on Sunday mornings. He asked what factors made first-time visitors decide not to return to a church, and the top one was dislike of the greeting time. Seven reasons were given for this, including some guests are introverts, some perceive that the members aren't sincere during the greeting time, the members only greet other members, and both members and guests at some churches perceive that the entire exercise is awkward (“Should Your Church Stop Having a Stand and Greet Time?” The Christian Post, Nov. 12, 2014). My wife and I have traveled a lot, and we have often discussed how that it seems that most church members ignore the visitors, and if they do greet them, the greeting typically seems robotic and insincere. I have found this to be true even when I am the guest preacher! In a large number of churches I have preached in, the guest preacher is ignored during the greeting time. Far more important than a greeting ritual is to educate and exhort church members to be thoughtful of and genuinely friendly to visitors. Visitors should be befriended and helped, and the church should figure out a way to do this so that no visitor “falls through the cracks.” It would seem wise for visitors to be greeted and befriended from the time they enter the church premises to the time they leave, and that they be followed up on unless they decline follow up.

(Friday Church News Notes, December 26, 2014, www.wayoflife.org, [email protected], 866-295-4143)

Matthew 6:25
"Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?"

If stress is an everyday part of your life, or if some past trauma has continued to haunt your thoughts every day, you may be losing part of your brain. Several studies have linked such constant or obsessive stress with a shrinking of the part of your brain called the hippocampus. Studies show that under such conditions this part of the brain can become 25 percent smaller than normal. These findings should get our attention since we use the hippocampus for long term memory and conscious memory. This is the same part of the brain attacked by Alzheimer's disease.

The good news is that once we remove the stress, or deal constructively with past trauma, the hippocampus returns, with time, to normal size. Several theories have been offered by researchers to explain why the hippocampus shrinks under stress; however, other researchers are not convinced that stress causes the shrinkage.

Is it possible for a Christian to avoid the damage that stress produces? Look at all that Paul endured for the sake of the Gospel, and yet all of his writings show no evidence of unusual memory loss, which is common when one is under constant stress. One way to avoid stress damage is to remove the cause of the stress. If that's not possible, another strategy is to learn how to deal with past traumatic events. And what better way to do this than to remind ourselves of the Lord's past faithfulness to us, and, in prayer, commend all our fears and stress into His hands. Science is learning that life is indeed more than food and clothing.

Notes: Robert Sapolasky, "Stress and your shrinking Brain", Discover, 3/99.
Photo: Auguste Deter. Alois Alzheimer's patient in November 1901, first described patient with Alzheimer's Disease.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is calling for the annihilation of Israel. On November 8, he Twittered, “This barbaric, wolflike & infanticidal regime of Israel which spares no crime has no cure but to be annihilated.” Last year Khamenei called Israel the “sinister, unclean rabid dog of the region.” This is the same Khamenei to whom President Barak Obama wrote a secret letter in October seeking to work together in combating the Islamic State and pursuing a deal in regard to Iran’s nuclear program (“Obama Wrote Secret Letter,”The Wall Street Journal, Nov. 6, 2014). The letter was kept secret from America’s Middle East allies, including Israel.

(Friday Church News Notes, December 26, 2014, www.wayoflife.org, [email protected], 866-295-4143)

“Men who use pornography are less likely to get married, according to a study published last month that shows the easy accessibility of porn on the Internet has become a substitute for seeking a marriage partner among men ages 18 to 35. Authored by Michael Malcolm of the University of West Chester, Pennsylvania, and George Naufal of Timberlake Consultants, the paper, which was published by The Institute for the Study of Labor in Bonn, found that ‘Substitutes for marital sexual gratification may impact the decision to marry. We investigate the effect of Internet usage, and of pornography consumption specifically, on the marital status of young men,’ reads the abstract. ‘We show that increased Internet usage is negatively associated with marriage formation. Pornography consumption specifically has an even stronger effect. Instrumental variables and a number of robustness checks suggest that the effect is causal.’ ... Patrick A. Trueman, president of the anti-pornography group Morality in Media, said in a statement that the IZA paper showed how porn can harm society. ‘Pornography is a marriage killer and thus it has monumental negative ramifications for society's future,’ said Trueman. ‘Research has shown for some time that porn use in marriage destroys the marital bond, but now we can see that porn use destroys even the desire to get married.’”

“Study: Men Who Use Porn,” The Christian Post, Dec. 18, 2014

A new study by Barna shows that a large number of young people in America have a very negative view of the Bible. According to the study “Millennials and the Bible,” 27% percent of “Millennials” (ages 18-29) agreed with the statement that the Bible “is a dangerous book of religious dogma used for centuries to oppress people,” and 38% label the Bible “mythology.” Yet 62% of Millennials admit that they never read the Bible, meaning they have no personal knowledge of it, but are merely spouting opinions they have been taught. Only nine percent said they are curious about what’s in the Bible when they see someone reading it.

(Friday Church News Notes, December 26, 2014, www.wayoflife.org, [email protected], 866-295-4143)

Job 41:1, 30
"Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down? Sharp stones are under him: he spreadeth sharp pointed things upon the mire."

Before the Great Flood of Noah, what did our forefathers see when confronted with a dinosaur? What did dinosaur skin look like? What were their babies like? Biblical history places the creation of the great land living dinosaurs on the same day as man was created. That means that there is little doubt that at least some of the people we read about in the Bible saw dinosaurs. Many modern creationists think that Job's description of leviathan actually describes some sort of dinosaur.

For generations, what we knew, or thought we knew, about dinosaurs was a result of studying their bones. But now, discoveries are offering some surprises about what dinosaurs actually looked like. One discovery is the first ever fossilized impression of the skin of a duckbilled dinosaur known as a hadrosaur. This interesting fossil, found in southwest New Mexico, shows that the hadrosaur had bumps on its skin that averaged a little over half an inch in diameter. Each rose next to each other like little mountains. This means, as one scientist put it, that if you were to pet a hadrosaur, it would feel like running your hand over a mountain bike tire.

In Patagonia, scientists have discovered the first known embryos, complete with skin impressions, of a sauropod, which was a large, four footed dinosaur. These discoveries are giving us a more accurate picture of what these living monuments to God's power and creativity looked like. And one day we can ask Job exactly what leviathan was.

Notes: R. Monastersky, "Getting under a dinosaur's skin", Science News, 1/16/99, v. 155, p. 38.
Photo: Courtesy of Lisa Andres. (CC-BY-SA 2.0 GENERIC)
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

Genesis 4:21
"And his brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ."

If you've ever seen any photographs of Mayan pyramids, you will probably remember that they typically have a large set of stairs going to the top. Now an acoustics expert offers some interesting evidence that these steps may in fact be the world's oldest recording.

If you stand before the stairway of the Pyramid of Kukulkan at Chichen Itza, Mexico, and clap your hands, you will hear a curious, descending echo. If you are familiar with the quetzal, whose feathers the ancient Mayans treasured, the echo will remind you of the call of this bird. The bright green and red quetzal has long tail feathers that can be over two feet long. When sonograms of its call were compared to sonograms of the echo returning off the steps of this pyramid, they were surprisingly close. Both begin at a frequency of about 1,500 hertz and fall at the same rate to less than 1,000 hertz!

Making this even more interesting is the fact that the pyramid itself has a picture of Quetzalcoatl wearing a coat of quetzal feathers. According to legend, Quetzalcoatl was half quetzal. Traditional Mayan scholars don't doubt that the Mayans were clever enough to have purposely built the pyramid to provide this echo, and acoustics experts have found a similar echo at a temple in Uxmal, Mexico.

The Bible tells us that by the eighth generation of human beings musical instruments were in use. This pyramid may be evidence that we were created with the aptitude to understand and use sound, just as the Bible depicts in its opening chapters.

Notes: Peter Weiss, "Singing Stairs", Science News, 1/16/99, v. 155, p. 44.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

Leighton Ford, Billy Graham’s brother-in-law, is one of the many evangelicals who are promoting contemplative prayer. Consider his 2008 book The Attentive Life. He recommends mindless centering prayer whereby the practitioner repeats a sacred word or mantra and lets go of his thoughts. He recommends the writings and practices of Roman Catholics, including Ignatius Loyola, co-founder of the Jesuits, G.K. Chesterton, Julian of Norwich, Henri Nouwen, “Saint” Benedict, Mother Teresa, Gerald Hopkins, John Cassian, Thomas Aquinas, Thomas Keating, Thomas Merton (who was a Buddhist and a Catholic monk), Hilary of Tours, and Catherine of Siena. Leighton Ford wrote the forward to Ruth Barton’s 2008 contemplative book Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership. He recommends The Music of Silence by David Steindl-Rast and Sharon Lebell. Steindl-Rast is not only a Catholic monk, laden down with Catholic heresies, he is a religious syncretist. Steindl-Rast says, “Envision the great religious traditions arranged on the circumference of a circle. At their mystical core they all say the same thing, but with different emphasis” (“Heroic Virtue,” Gnosis, Summer 1992). Beginning in 1967, following the Second Vatican Council, Steindl-Rast became heavily involved with Catholic-Buddhist interfaith dialogue and studied under four Zen Buddhist masters. He came to believe that Catholics and Buddhists are communing with the same God and wrote The Ground We Share: Buddhist and Christian Practice. This was co-authored by Zen Buddhist Robert Aitken Roshi. Steindl-Rast is involved with the Network for Grateful Living, which is New Age organization dedicated to the goal of creating a new world through such things as contemplative mysticism, visualization, interfaith dialogue, environmentalism, developing an awareness of angels, and the Buddhist concept of flowing gratefully with the moment and being one with the “ground of Being.” Leighton Ford and countless others who are playing around with contemplative prayer are swimming in the most dangerous spiritual waters imaginable.

(Friday Church News Notes, December 19, 2014, www.wayoflife.org, [email protected], 866-295-4143)

Psalm 148:10, 13
"Beasts, and all cattle; creeping things, and flying fowl… let them praise the name of the LORD: for his name alone is excellent; his glory is above the earth and heaven."

Conifers aren't bothered by too many insect pests. That's because the oils that give them that nice pine scent are poisonous. They would be poisonous to the conifer sawfly larva if it digested them, too. But while it munches the pine needles, its body is busy storing the poisonous oils for future defense. The fact that the sawfly not only eats pine needles, but also uses the poisonous oils for defense, poses a difficult problem for evolution which appears to have no solution.

The sawfly larva's unique ability makes it a serious conifer pest both in North America and Europe. Part of the larva's secret is its digestive system. It separates the poisonous oils in the pine needles from the nutritious pulp. Then it regurgitates the poisonous oils and stores them in two special sacs in its mouth. These sacs are lined with a chitinous material that protects the rest of the mouth from the acidic, poisonous oils. When threatened by a spider or even a bird, the sawfly releases some of this bad-smelling oil in the direction of the threat. This strategy effectively convinces most aggressors to seek a meal somewhere else.

The problem for evolution is that these complicated structures and special abilities could not have developed in a gradual, step by step fashion as evolution demands. If the sawfly once did not originally eat pine needles, then how did it acquire the special ability to eat them and develop this special defense system? So, even this humble fly bears witness to its Creator.

Notes: Creation Research Society, May/June 1999, Neodiprion (Sawfly) Mark Stewart.
Photo: Used with permission of Entomart.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

“A deadly epidemic that could have global implications is quietly sweeping India, and among its many victims are tens of thousands of newborns dying because once-miraculous cures no longer work. These infants are born with bacterial infections that are resistant to most known antibiotics, and more than 58,000 died last year as a result, a recent study found. While that is still a fraction of the nearly 800,000 newborns who die annually in India, Indian pediatricians say that the rising toll of resistant infections could soon swamp efforts to improve India’s abysmal infant death rate. Nearly a third of the world’s newborn deaths occur in India. ... ‘Five years ago, we almost never saw these kinds of infections,’ said Dr. Neelam Kler, chairwoman of the department of neonatology at New Delhi’s Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, one of India’s most prestigious private hospitals. ‘Now, close to 100 percent of the babies referred to us have multidrug resistant infections. It’s scary.’ These babies are part of a disquieting outbreak. A growing chorus of researchers say the evidence is now overwhelming that a significant share of the bacteria present in India--in its water, sewage, animals, soil and even its mothers--are immune to nearly all antibiotics. ... ‘India’s dreadful sanitation, uncontrolled use of antibiotics and overcrowding coupled with a complete lack of monitoring the problem has created a tsunami of antibiotic resistance that is reaching just about every country in the world,’ said Dr. Timothy R. Walsh, a professor of microbiology at Cardiff University. Indeed, researchers have already found ‘superbugs’ carrying a genetic code first identified in India--NDM1 (or New Delhi metallo-beta lactamase 1)--around the world, including in France, Japan, Oman and the United States.”

“Superbugs Kill India’s Babies,” New York Times, Dec. 3, 2014

Acts 2:6
"Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language."

New research suggests that you might want to be careful about what you say around babies. As every parent knows, young children are sponges that easily absorb knowledge from their surroundings. Now there is research that indicates that by seven months of age, infants have already absorbed the basic rules of language.

In this study, seven month old infants listened to a sequence of syllables in which the third syllable was the same as the first. One that was used was "ga to ga." After listening to different versions of the same pattern, the infants were given a new sequence in which the last two syllables were the same, such as "wo fe fe." Researchers found that babies looked in the direction producing new sequences much longer, showing curiosity and surprise at them. Further study of the infants' responses showed that they were responding to new sounds and not just changes in the pattern of syllables. This study supports the idea that we are born with brain circuits that are, so to speak, prewired to learn and use grammar, say researchers.

The question for those who believe that we are the product of chance evolution is: How did we get prewired for learning and using grammar if we are the result of chance forces? The answer is, of course, that when God created us, He not only gave us the gift of language, but He gave us brains that are eager to learn language from infancy. Then He gave us His Word of salvation in Jesus Christ, so that He would not lose us.

Notes: B.B. "Follow the rules, baby", Science News, 1/16/99, v. 155, p. 42.
Diagram: Courtesy of James.mcd.nz. (CC-BY-SA 4.0)
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

“In 2007, the New York Times stated that scientific evidence ‘strongly shows that abortion does not increase the risk of depression, drug abuse or any other psychological problem.’ This confident assertion--already dubious when it was made--is being overwhelmed by reams of evidence suggesting the contrary: that abortion leaves a discernible wake of sorrow, suffering, and devastation. Along with the disturbing statistics, however, is the compelling testimony of real women who have aborted their children and of what happened to their lives as a result. Though abortion does often provide a short-term solution to real problems pregnant women face, thus granting some immediate relief, the myth that women come out of abortion psychologically unscathed now seems unsustainable. ... Lori Nerad ... former national president of Women Exploited by Abortion ... says she still wakes up in the middle of the night, thinking she hears a baby crying. ‘And I still have nightmares in which I am forced to watch my baby being ripped apart in front of me. I simply miss my baby. I constantly wake up wanting to nurse my child, wanting to hold my child. And that’s something the doctor never told me I would experience,’ she said. Katrina Fernandez makes no bones about the reality of what she did. ‘I killed two of my children,’ she said, ‘robbed my parents of grand-children, and murdered my son’s siblings.’ She says that she would have given anything for someone to simply tell her: ‘You don’t have to do this.’ The abortions also took a toll on Fernandez’s life and mental health, a factor often overlooked in debate regarding abortion. ... ‘The suffering I've endured and caused others is immeasurable and the guilt almost drove me suicidal. I am a coward in every way,’ she said. And yet now, convinced that silence fails women who need encouragement to carry their babies to term, Fernandez declares: ‘I refuse to be a coward anymore.’”

“The Ugly Truth of Post-Abortion Syndrome: Testimony from Real Women Who Aborted Their Babies,” Breitbart.com, Dec. 3, 2014

Genesis 1:20
"And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven."

Aluminum, the most abundant metal in the Earth's crust, is usually thought to be poisonous to life. When aluminum becomes too concentrated in soil, it will greatly reduce crop yield. No known living creature uses aluminum in its metabolism. That's why many scientists are skeptical of claims by a researcher from the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute in Baltimore that she has discovered a microbe that not only tolerates aluminum, but also needs it to live.

The scientist had been hiking near hot springs in Yellowstone National Park when she noticed what looked like aluminum silicate, and later proved to be just that. It was being carried by the water over a dark green microbial mat on the rocks. She collected a sample of the mat, and she and her fellow scientists later found a microbe whose growth seems to require aluminum. It grows best in water that's about 160 degrees Fahrenheit. While researchers don't know what the microbes use the aluminum for, they have found that the higher the temperature of the water, the more aluminum it seems to need, up to a limit. They think that the aluminum may be used as the organism's source of energy.

If this organism proves to use aluminum, it would be an example of God's creativity. With His unlimited creativity all around us, one doesn't need to go to science fiction to find creatures that work in seemingly impossible ways and ways that could never have come about by chance evolution.

Notes: J. Travis, "Novel bacteria have a taste for aluminum", Science News, 5/30/98, v. 153, p. 341.
Photo: Courtesy of Scott Catron. (CC-BY SA 3.0)
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

Rob Bell, emerging church superstar, appears to move farther from the truth with each passing year. Perhaps it is the fruit of his contemplative prayer practices whereby he is in touch with demons masquerading as angels of light. I first learned of Bell in about 2007 while doing research into the emerging church and read his book Velvet Elvis. In 2009, I heard him speak at the National Pastor’s Conference in San Diego, where he joined hands with fellow speaker Paul Young, author of The Shack. In 2011, Bell published Love Wins, in which he said that hell is in this life and most men will eventually be saved. Bell called the doctrine of eternal hell “misguided and toxic,” a “cheap view of God,” and “lethal.” He says that a God that would send sinners to eternal hell is “terrifying and traumatizing and unbearable” (Love Wins, Kindle location 1273-1287, 2098-2113). Bell founded the hipster Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, but these days he doesn't attend church. He would rather surf the waves near his home in California (“Whatever Happened to Rob Bell,” Charisma News, Dec. 3, 2014). He has teamed up with New Ager Oprah Winfrey, touring the country with her Life You Want Weekend. The Rob Bell Show premieres December 21 on Oprah’s network. In his new book, The Zimzum of Love: A New Way of Understanding Marriage, Bell says he would conduct a same-sex wedding ceremony, arguing, “This is a justice issue. We believe people should not be denied the right to have someone to journey with.” One review of The Zimzum of Love says, “If Christianity were outlawed and a mob amassed to burn Christian books, The Zimzum of Love would not be at risk.”

(Friday Church News Notes, December 19, 2014, www.wayoflife.org, [email protected], 866-295-4143)

Two scientists have successfully stored 700 terabytes of data on DNA, including a copy of a multimedia book, breaking the previous record by a thousand times. George Church and Sriram Kosuri of the Wyss Institute at the Harvard Medical School stored this massive amount of information on about one gram of DNA (“Harvard cracks DNA storage,” Extreme Tech, Aug. 17, 2012). The stored information is equivalent to 233 3TB hard drives. As a test, the scientists made 70 billion copies of the DNA containing the information. They can foresee the day when “the entirety of human knowledge--every book, uttered word, and funny cat video--can be stored in a few hundred kilos of DNA.” Now, let us address the title of this report: “Scientists Store Massive Amounts of Information on DNA through the Process of Blind Chance.” Of course, that is a joke. Church’s and Kosuri’s wonderful achievement was accomplished via an extremely complicated process through the application of intelligence, and they doubtless pride themselves in the gifting and learning that allowed them to accomplish this. We would like to ask them one question: “Could your achievement, which is far less complex than processes within the self-replicating living cell, have been accomplished by the forces of unintelligent blind chance?” We will be waiting for that answer.

(Friday Church News Notes, December 12, 2014, www.wayoflife.org, [email protected], 866-295-4143)

“Keep the heart full of a sense of the love of God in Christ. This is the greatest preservative against the power of temptation in the world. ... ‘The love of Christ constraineth us,’ saith the apostle, ‘to live to him’ (2 Corinthians 5:14); and so, consequently, to withstand temptation. A man may, nay, he ought to lay in provisions of the law also--fear of death ... [and] punishment, with the terror of the Lord in them. But these are far more easily conquered than the other; nay, they will never stand alone against a vigorous assault. They are conquered in convinced persons every day; hearts stored with them will struggle for a while, but quickly give over. But store the heart with a sense of the love of God in Christ, and his love in the shedding of it; get a relish of the privileges we have thereby,--our adoption, justification, acceptation with God; fill the heart with thoughts of the beauty of his death;--and thou wilt, in an ordinary course of walking with God, have great peace and security as to the disturbance of temptations. When men can live and plod on in their profession, and not be able to say when they had any living sense of the love of God or of the privileges which we have in the blood of Christ, I know not what they can have to keep them from falling into snares.”

(John Owen (1616-1683) from Of Temptation, chapter 7)

Proverbs 18:24
"A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother."

Have you been on the internet lately? If so, it may be costing you more than you think. That's the suggestion of a study done by researchers from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

The study involved 169 people in 73 households who did not have a connection to the internet. They completed questionnaires and were interviewed in their homes at the beginning of the two year study, during the study and at the end. They were given computers and software, e-mail accounts and access to the internet at no cost to them. In return, they allowed researchers to monitor family members' internet use.

At the end of the study, researchers found that those who used the internet and e-mail frequently showed small but important decreases in the time spent with family members. They also had a smaller circle of friends. Frequent internet and e-mail users also showed increased loneliness and signs of mild depression. The greater the computer use, the greater was the loneliness and depression. These results were not affected by race, age, sex or income. However, this effect was greatest for teens. The researchers suggested that when teens feel isolated and lonely they are more likely to escape to the internet.

Perhaps the best suggestion in light of these findings is to limit internet time, just as television time is limited for many young people. The extra time could be used as the book of Proverbs advises: "A man who has friends must himself be friendly." In other words, it is healthy to cultivate friendships.

Notes: B.B., "Social disconnections on-line", Science News, 9/12/98, v. 154, p. 168.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

A growing number of people are turning to plastic surgery and professional make-up artists to improve their selfie image. “Selfies, or self portraits, rose in popularity along with smartphones and social media sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Instagram as a mostly young adult crowd posted images of themselves. Now everyone from Hollywood stars to prime ministers takes selfies. ... Plastic surgeons in United States have seen a surge in demand for procedures ranging from eye-lid lifts to rhinoplasty, popularly known as a nose job, from patients seeking to improve their image in selfies and on social media. A poll by the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (AAFPRS) of 2,700 of its members showed that one in three had seen an increase in requests for procedures due to patients being more aware of their image in social media. ... ‘There has been a 25 percent increase over the past year and a half to two years. That is very significant,’ Dr. Sam Rizk, a plastic surgeon, said about his Manhattan practice. ‘They come in with their iPhones and show me pictures,’ Rizk, 47, added. ‘Selfies are just getting to be so crazy’” (“The Selfie Is Driving a Huge Demand for Plastic Surgery in the US,” Reuters, Nov. 30, 2014).

(Friday Church News Notes, December 12, 2014, www.wayoflife.org, [email protected], 866-295-4143)

Proverbs 6:6-8
"Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest."

There are more than 200 ant species in the Attine family of ants. All of them farm for a living. And they are as sophisticated about their farming as any modern human farmer. They are found anywhere from the tropics to New Jersey. The specialization shown by these ants makes an evolutionary explanation for them impossible.

One example is the famous leaf cutting ants found in the tropics. Leaf cutters use the leaf pieces they collect to make mulch. Once the mulch is ready, they grow a fungus in it, which they eat. That fungus grew from a bit of fungus that was stored in a special pouch in the mouth of the queen who began that colony; in turn, she brought it from the colony where she grew up. That she has this special pouch for seed material for her children is a witness to God's intelligent design. The ants' digestive system is specialized, too, so that its waste is a ready to use fertilizer for the crop.

The ants also weed their crop. Certain ants inspect the fungus ball searching for invading molds. When one is found, the ant will remove it. To make sure that she does not return any contaminating bit of the mold to her crop, the ant then cleans herself before returning to the crop. This, again, is a powerful witness to divine design. The ants also generate herbicides and antibiotics which they use as needed on the crop, another witness to design. Finally, they also prune their crop in a way that has been shown to improve its productivity. All these special design features and behaviors seem to have been put into one creature as a witness against evolution.

Notes: Susan Milius, "Old MacDonald Was an Ant", Science News, 11/21/98, v. 154, p. 334.
Photo: Courtesy of April Nobile. (CC-BY-SA 3.0)
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

According to a new report by the Centers for Disease Control, more than 200 babies were aborted for every 1,000 live births in 2011. “The CDC found that 730,322 mothers obtained an abortion. A report released by Planned Parenthood last year outlined that 333,964 of those abortions were performed by the abortion giant. The CDC found that the vast majority of women who obtained an abortion were unmarried, that is, they engaged in sexual activities outside of wedlock. ... ‘In 2011, adolescents aged … 15–19 years accounted for … 13.5% of all abortions,’ it outlined, ‘and had abortion rates of … 10.5 abortions per 1,000 adolescents aged … 15–19 years’” (“Over 200 Babies Are Aborted,” Christian News Network, Nov. 30, 2014).

(Friday Church News Notes, December 12, 2014, www.wayoflife.org, [email protected], 866-295-4143)

Genesis 1:14
"And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:"

We recently reported on this program that another set of new planets had been discovered circling another star. We pointed out that in each case, most of the planets were too large to support life. In many of the instances, the planets also had egg shaped orbits that would provide them with harsh, highly erratic climates – if they had any atmosphere at all.

In his announcement of the discovery of the 17th planet found to be orbiting another star, Geoffrey W. Marcy of San Francisco State University and the University of California, Berkeley, points out another problem with these solar systems. In pointing out the problem, he wonders if our solar system, where the planets have relatively circular orbits, is an exception to the rule. In every other planetary system so far seen, the planets either have very oval orbits or they lie closer to their star than Mercury is to our sun.

Marcy points out than an additional problem with having a planet with a highly elongated orbit in a solar system is that it would eliminate any planets with circular orbits. It would be only a matter of time before the planet with the elongated orbit would send the planet with a circular orbit into its star or out into deep space. But where Marcy is wrong is that while our solar system may be unique, it is no freak of nature. Rather, our solar system has clearly been specially designed by a loving and all-powerful God to support life.

Notes: R.C., "Solar system planets: Freaks of nature?", Science News, 1/30/99, v. 155, p. 79.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com