Target and Kmart in Australia have discontinued selling Grand Theft Auto V after more than 40,000 people signed a petition protesting the filthy, violent content (“Grand Theft Auto V Puled,” Mashable, Dec. 4, 2014). (Kmart and Target in Australia are owned by the same parent corporation and are not affiliated with the U.S. brands by the same name.) The game is exceedingly violent, allowing players to assume the role of lawless, destructive criminals who kill innocent bystanders, policemen, and military personnel, “while dealing with only temporary consequences.” It has been called a cop-killing training machine. Some of the versions require the player to torture people in brutal ways to advance to new levels. Sexual elements include hiring and killing prostitutes (by means of the player’s choice of fist, machete, bat, or gun). Real life murders have been committed by people who were obsessive players of Grand Theft Auto and have even admitted to being inspired by the game, but the courts have refused to convict the game maker because of America’s First Amendment’s free-speech clause. The game is wildly popular, having sold about 300 million copies since it appeared in its first incarnation in 1997. Grand Theft Auto V earned $1 BILLION in its first three days of sales in September 2013. The game, which at best has helped degrade society’s morals, has earned 33 awards from the filthy entertainment industry.

(Friday Church News Notes, December 12, 2014, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

Genesis 7:11
"In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened."

Miles deep within the Earth, heat and pressure force water out of certain minerals, changing or metamorphosing the rock. All the textbooks say that it takes millions of years for such metamorphic rock to form. New research shows pretty convincingly that all the textbooks are wrong.
    
Normally, earthquakes originate in the top 12 kilometers of the Earth's crust. Deeper quakes, especially where there are no known faults, have been mysteries. The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake at 18 kilometers was one such mystery. But a newer discovery by three Yale University geologists may explain these deeper quakes and support the Bible's historical chronology.

The standard model for metamorphic rock formation says that heat and pressure deep underground slowly force water from the crystals that form the rock. This process takes place so deeply in the Earth that the rock itself flows plastically. The Yale geologists who studied the process discovered that under these conditions tiny droplets of water are expelled from the crystals much more rapidly than previously thought. In fact, the water is expelled so rapidly that it builds enough pressure to actually fracture the rock.

The geologists who presented this research say that what was thought to have taken millions of years can happen in mere centuries or even decades. And this would easily allow for the origin of some of today's metamorphic rock to be traced back to the Flood of Noah on the time scale provided by the Bible.

Notes: S. Simpson, "High-pressure water triggers tremors". Science News, 11/21/98, v. 154, p. 327.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

Keith and Kristyn Getty’s “contemporary hymns” are used widely among “traditional, non-contemporary” churches, because they are considered relatively conservative and safe. At least eight of their songs are included in Majesty Music’s Rejoice Hymns. Twenty-nine of their songs are featured in Hymns Modern and Ancient, compiled by Fred Coleman, head of Bob Jones University’s Department of Church Music. Both Temple Baptist Church and Lancaster Baptist Church, two of the largest independent Baptist churches, perform Getty material. While the Getty’s worship music is fairly conservative in its rhythm, they are not opposed to rock & roll. They themselves rock pretty hard at some venues. And while they don’t write hard rock worship songs, they don’t speak against this, either. In fact, Keith Getty recently said that he is glad for edgy, rocking renditions of his music by artists such as Newsboys, Ricky Skaggs, Owl City, Alison Krauss, and Natalie Grant, because “it is an honor” for him to witness popular modern musicians record them, and “it’s also interesting to hear their interpretation of it and useful for the song because it helps the song get played more” (“The Gettys Exclusive: Famed Hymn Writers Talk Irish Christmas Tour,” Christian Post, Dec. 2, 2014). The Gettys represent the entire exceedingly dangerous world of contemporary worship music as surely as Graham Kendrick or Darlene Zschech, and any bridges that Bible-believing churches build to the Gettys are bridges built to the one-world “church” and even to secular rock. (For more documentation about the Gettys, seeThe Directory of Contemporary Worship Musicians, available as a free eBook from www.wayoflife.org.)

(Friday Church News Notes, December 12, 2014, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

Exodus 40:13
"And thou shalt put upon Aaron the holy garments, and anoint him, and sanctify him; that he may minister unto me in the priest's office."

According to the biblical chronology, God ordered Aaron to be consecrated as the first priest of Israel about 3,400 years ago. From Aaron, priesthood was passed down from father to son until the official priesthood ended with the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. After that, fathers would tell their children that they were descended from the priestly class. Though only these oral histories exist today, modern Judaism still honors Aaron's descendants. Today they are called cohanim, which is the plural of cohen, meaning "priest" in Hebrew.

A modern geneticist wondered if there was any way to prove the oral history. He reasoned that if all cohanim today are descended from Aaron, and if the oral history is true, modern cohanim should share some distinctive sections of DNA on their Y chromosome. The Y-chromosome is always passed down from father to son virtually unchanged. His first study involved two genetic markers of 188 Jewish men from Israel, Canada and the United Kingdom. Of this number, 68 said they were cohanim. The results of this first study showed that the cohanim share Y chromosome material that is quite distinct from other Jews. A second study involving 12 markers on the Y chromosome of 306 Jewish men gave similar results: the cohanim did have a distinctive Y chromosome. This chromosome evidence strongly indicated that the biblical and modern oral history of the Jewish priesthood are completely trustworthy.

Notes: John Travis, "The Priests' Chromosome?" Science News, 10/3/98, v. 154, p. 218.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

The Family Guy, a television cartoon, blasphemously depicts Jesus as a sex-crazed liar in “The 2,000-year-old Virgin,” which aired this month. The creator of the program, Seth MacFarlane, has said in interviews: “I’m an atheist. I consider myself a critical thinker, and it fascinates me that in the 21st century most people still believe in, as George Carlin puts it, ‘the invisible man living in the sky.’ ... Do I have that much contempt for Christianity? I guess maybe I do. ... The Big Bang has got a lot of support, live with it” (“Family Guy,” ChristianityToday.com, Dec. 8, 2014). Actually, the Big Bang is being shot through with holes by evolutionary scientists themselves. There is zero scientific evidence that a complex universe could result from any kind of bang. As for the “invisible man living in the sky,” this is an atheist’s straw man. I don’t know anyone who believes in such a thing. The God revealed in Scripture is an Almighty, eternal God. The evidence for this God is written everywhere in the creation, from the laws of physics to the living cell. As for atheism, it is so ridiculous to disbelieve in God in the face of the overwhelming evidence for His existence that the Bible twice calls such a person a fool. “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God” (Psalm 14:1; 53:1). The Bible even explains why the fool denies God. He wants to live according to his own sinful lusts. “They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.” As for evidence of the Bible’s divine inspiration, one of these is the fact that it prophesied the coming of mockers like MacFarlane 2,000 years ago. “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation” (2 Peter 3:3-4).

(Friday Church News Notes, December 12, 2014, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

A Jewish organization in America is interpreting the Old Testament in “new ways” to support homosexuality. The organization, Nehirim, aims to provide “vibrant, pluralistic, egalitarian and accessible programming that cultivates and empowers LGBTQI [Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transexual, Queer, Intersex] Jewish souls.” (“I” for intersex has recently been added to LGBTQ. In time, “C” for child sex and “B” for bestiality will probably be added. Why not?) Rabbi Debra Kolodny, Executive Director of Nehirim, calls the new interpretations “queering the text.” It produces something they call “queer theology.” She looks for the chidush, or “the insight that’s never been imagined before because the lens we’re looking for today never existed before” (“The Queering of Leviticus: How a Rabbi Permits Gay Sex,” The Times of Israel, Dec. 4, 2014). How does she “queer the text” of Leviticus 20:13? “If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.” She says that the word “abomination” here refers only to homosexuality within the context of a pagan or idolatrous rite. She says that if someone asks if it’s ok for two men to engage in homosexual relations, she responds, “Are you engaging with pagan ritual? If not, it’s not prohibited--the Torah doesn’t speak to it.” This is the standard way that supporters of homosexuality have interpreted the Old Testament prohibitions since the birth of “queer theology” about three decades ago. The first Nehirim Jewish clergy retreat was held in San Francisco this week. We have previously reported on the large annual “gay pride” parades in Tel Aviv. Well does Bible prophecy describe end-time Jerusalem as “Sodom” (Revelation 11:8).

(Friday Church News Notes, December 12, 2014, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

In a major documentation of the formation of a one-world “church” in our time, Christianity Today’s cover story this month is “Pop Francis: Why Everyone Loves the Pope.” It is a hugely positive report about Rome’s Pope Francis, calling him the “pop” or daddy of Christianity. The subtitle says, “From secular journalists to charismatic Christians, millions are taken with the Jesuit from Argentina.” This report demonstrates the complete spiritual blindness of Christianity Today, which was founded in 1956 by Billy Graham. The author of the report on the pope admits to being “bewitched by Francis of Assisi” and “swooning” at Pope Francis. The CT report says evangelical Protestants “need a healthy Catholic church as an ally.” It labels the Roman Catholic Church “the church.” It calls Pope Francis “the vicar of simple gospel truths.” It says the Second Vatican Council moved the Catholic Church in a more biblical direction. It ways that Pope Francis’ statement, “Who am I to judge,” when asked about homosexuality, is “entirely in keeping with Matthew 7:1.” It treats “Saint Francis of Assisi” as a Christ-centered, evangelical, ignoring the fact that he was committed to a false sacramental gospel that is under the curse of Galatians 1. Christianity Today wrongly and hypocritically says that “poverty is the surest path to God,” though most of its writers and editors don’t practice poverty.

(Friday Church News Notes, December 12, 2014, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

Ecclesiastes 11:3
"If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth: and if the tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be."

Axel Heiberg Island in Northern Canada is the closest point of land to the North Pole. The landscape is completely barren today, but long ago a dense forest of large meta-sequoia trees grew there. At that time, the climate must have been like Florida today. The stumps of these "fossil trees" have not mineralized and are still wood – that is, cellulose. They are claimed to be 45 million years old.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University studied the hydrogen and oxygen isotopes of the cellulose. These lightweight isotopes are normally quickly lost by evaporation from dead wood, but to their surprise, the researchers discovered an unusually high content. This means that their rate of evaporation was extremely low. In other words, not only did the trees grow in a humid climate, but this climate continued a long time after the trees were destroyed. Further, cellulose is quickly broken down by bacterial action if exposed to air so that the trees were buried rapidly, deeply and a lot more recently than 45 million years ago.

Creation Moments happened to be present when a sample of this wood was used to calibrate the equipment at a well-known Carbon 14 dating laboratory. Believing the wood to be 45 million years old, it should contain no Carbon 14 but, in fact, it did and dated at only 41 thousand years!

Notes: New Scientist, May 24, 2003, p. 24.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

In July, doctors performed the first fetal surgery in France for spina bifida, and the baby girl was born on November 9. Doctors at Armand Trousseau Hospital in Paris operated on the baby in its mother’s womb when it was 20 weeks old. “Ten days later, the brain anomalies that were caused by the disorder had disappeared.” Dr. Jean-Marie Jouannic said, “It’s incredible to be able to protect this little girl’s brain to enable future learning” (“France’s First Fetal Surgery Results in a Healthy Baby Girl,” The Daily Signal, Nov. 24, 2014). The congenital disorder occurs when the spinal column does not close all of the way. Of the 1,500 and 2,000 babies which are diagnosed with spina bifida annually in the U.S., many are aborted, while others undergo fetal surgery. The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia is the world leader in this field. Last year, a couple in New Zealand won a lawsuit seeking monetary settlement because their doctor failed to diagnose spina bifida in their unborn daughter so they could have aborted her (“Couple Wins Suit, Doc Didn't Suggest Aborting Baby with Spina Bifida,” LifeNews.com, Dec. 3, 2013).

(Friday Church News Notes, December 5, 2014, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

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 upon the earth."

In the Spring of 1997, a lamb named Dolly was born to become famous as the world's first genetically identical copy of an adult female sheep. In other words, she was a clone. Eventually, Dolly developed lung cancer and was put to death in February 2003.

Cloning is not a human invention. The Creator Himself included this way of reproduction among many plants and insects. Man has been making use of this process for hundreds of years to propagate, say, the most disease-resistant wheat or the best-tasting apples. In other words, each generation of wheat or apples are an identical copy of the good one before it. However, cloned plants are one thing, but Dolly was the first mammal to be artificially cloned, and this has caused concern, not only among Christians but also among many scientists and politicians.

The doctrine of evolution teaches that mankind evolved from the animal kingdom. With the success of Dolly, the concern is that mankind is next in line for cloning experiments. Every set of identical human twins are actually clones, so there is no need to artificially clone for psychological studies; these have already been done. There were actually 276 living but defective embryos produced before the success of Dolly. The ultimate concern is how many living but defective human embryos will have to be destroyed before the experiments are successful?

Photo: Courtesy of Toni Barros. (CC-SA-2.0)
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

Muslims who worshiped in the National Cathedral in Washington D.C. on November 14 chanted, “There is only one God, he begets not, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His only servant and apostle. ... God has no son and Jesus Christ cannot be his son” (“Muslims Chant to Remove Jesus at Washington’s National Cathedral,” Israel Today, Nov. 20, 2014). Those who say that Muslims worship the same God as Bible-believing Christians are the blind leading the blind. The National Cathedral, which is part of the Episcopal Church in America, said that allowing the Muslims to worship in its sanctuary was an act of interfaith tolerance and dialogue, but Muslims nowhere allow Christians to worship in Islamic mosques. When we have visited the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, we have been instructed by our guides that the Muslims who control the Mount do not allow any Christian or Jewish prayers. Christians and Jews are not even allowed to bow their heads. The liberal Episcopalians who own the National Cathedral go to great lengths not to offend the sensitivities of Allah-worshiped Muslims, but they care nothing about the sensitivities of Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God.

(Friday Church News Notes, December 5, 2014, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

Psalm 90:4
"For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night."

The calendar year has not always started on January 1. There was a time in Christian history when the calendar began on March 25. Nevertheless, when we come to the end of one year and begin the next, most people have a time of celebration and reflection.

At a personal level, some will decide that the year just ending was better than most; for others, it was a year they would rather forget. Then at a global level, when we see and hear of unending wars and famines and new diseases spreading worldwide, some will ask, "If there is a God, where is He?" Others will turn the situation around and ask, "What kind of God permits all this to happen?"

The real problem here is that the God of this kind of thinking is far too small. This is the little man-made God who set the universe going millions of years ago and then retired to let it all evolve. No, according to Scripture, the real God is the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe and everything on this Earth. He is totally in charge of every detail of history. No war or pestilence happens without His permission. But He is also the God Who loves every one of us, and these are often the methods He uses to urge His people to draw closer to Him.


Photo: A calendar from the Petaluma and Santa Rosa Railroad, California. Courtesy of Visitor7. (CC-SA-3.0)
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

“Christian School Downgraded,” The Telegraph, London, Nov. 21, 2014: “A successful Christian school has been warned it is to be downgraded by inspectors and could even face closure after failing to invite a leader from another religion, such as an imam, to lead assemblies, it is claimed. The small independent school in the Home Counties was told it is in breach of new rules intended to promote ‘British values’ such as individual liberty and tolerance in the wake of the Trojan Horse scandal, involving infiltration by hard-line Muslim groups in Birmingham. Details of the case are disclosed in a letter to the Education Secretary, Nicky Morgan, from the Christian Institute, which is providing legal support to the school. The group warned that the new rules intended to combat extremism are already having ‘disturbing consequences’ for religious schools and forcing Ofsted inspectors to act in a way which undermines their ethos. It follows complaints from orthodox Jewish schools about recent inspections in which girls from strict traditional backgrounds were allegedly asked whether they were being taught enough about lesbianism, whether they had boyfriends and if they knew where babies came from. In the latest case inspectors are understood to have warned the head that the school, which was previously rated as ‘good’ that it would be downgraded to ‘adequate’ for failing to meet standards requiring it to ‘actively promote’ harmony between different faiths because it had failed to bring in representatives from other religions. They warned that unless the school could demonstrate how it was going to meet the new requirements there would be a further full inspection which could ultimately lead to it being closed.”

Photo: Alamy
“Christian School Downgraded,” The Telegraph, London, Nov. 21, 2014

Romans 8:20-21
"For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God."

Dinosaurs are one of the most popular subjects among grade schoolers these days. These fascinating and awe-inspiring creatures seem distant and unreal to our modern world. Because of this, dinosaurs are often seen as proof of the idea that we live in an evolutionary world.

But are dinosaurs really extinct? Many species of dinosaurs have been discovered and classified over the years. Most of the reptiles we think of as "dinosaurs" belonged to the Archosauria or "ruling reptile" subclass. However, at least 21 species and seven subspecies of Archosauria continue to live to this day, though some of them are endangered species. The largest living group of Archosauria is the crocodiles. Most crocodiles grow to be larger than the average extinct dinosaur, which averaged about the size of a horse. Marine crocodiles found off the northern coast of Australia grow to over thirty feet in length – an accomplishment unmatched by most dinosaurs. Crocodiles help us to learn to see the extinct dinosaurs as part of God's incredible creativity rather than as symbols of an ever-changing, ever-evolving world.

But this doesn't mean that change, especially improvement, is a myth. Our Creator wants far more for us than we can achieve for ourselves. That is why He has given us His Word of salvation in Jesus Christ! In Christ is found true and worthy improvement.

Photo: Courtesy of Leigh Bedford. The God of History
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

“As an American Anglophile who lived in London in 1995 and in Edinburgh ten years later, I was greatly dismayed to witness how much the U.K. has changed for the worse during my recent trip to London shortly after Remembrance Day. ... With Peaky Blinders’ season two finale still fresh on my mind, I couldn't help but recognize the striking differences and similarities between 1914 and 2014 Britain. Peaky Blinders, set in circa 1920 Birmingham, portrays a primarily white Protestant and Catholic community hit hard by the Great War. 2014 Birmingham bears no resemblance as Muslim children outnumber Christian children by double. The same is true for other cities throughout the UK: Bradford, Leicester, Luton in Bedfordshire, Slough in Berkshire, and the London boroughs of Newham, Redbridge and Tower Hamlets, where nearly two-thirds of children are Islamic. Additionally, over the last decade Muslim immigrants and converts have more than doubled in the UK. According to a recent Faith Matters think tank report, more than 5,000 Brits convert to Islam each year in the UK. Muslim births outnumber non-Muslim births in some areas by 8:1, keeping in line with the Hadith, ‘Marry, for I will outnumber peoples by you.’ By 2050 (some argue within ten years), the UK will be a majority Muslim nation.”

(“Britain Hasn't Been Invaded Since 1066, until Now,” Bethany Blankley, TownHall.com, Nov, 25, 2014)

Genesis 1:11
"And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so."

Plants need oxygen, and those that live on the land breathe through their leaves. Other plants are designed to live and breathe under water. However, when a land plant is submerged in water, it can drown, just like one of us.

Rice is actually a land plant that draws its oxygen from the air; yet, most of the plant must be submerged in water for it to survive. It can grow this way in water as deep as fifteen feet. In flood-prone areas, rice has been known to grow as much as a foot per day in order to keep its topmost leaves out of the water. The reason that rice plants don't drown brings us to another of the Creator's clever designs.

The rice plant draws air in through its leaves, as well as through a sheath of air that surrounds its submerged stalk. Rice gives off one carbon dioxide molecule for every oxygen molecule it consumes. But because carbon dioxide dissolves more quickly in water than does oxygen, a vacuum is created within the plant, pulling in still more air.

It appears that God has created so many different forms of life that there are almost no conditions on Earth where something couldn't live. That itself is a witness that He, and not the forces of evolution, is responsible for creating all living things.

Photo: Courtesy of Jeevan Jose. (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

Ephesians 2:10
"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."

Imagine lying around not just for days on end, but for months! And while lounging the months away, you get leaner and more muscular. The bear's lifestyle sounds like a couch potato's dream.

Such a lifestyle would cause our bones to become weak and smaller, and make the calcium level of our blood high enough to kill us. Apart from losing bone, we would also lose muscle and gain fat, lying around all day. We all know what happens to couch potatoes. But bears, they are different, and scientists have been puzzled to learn that bears don't suffer bone loss and don't lose muscle during their winter rests. They don't really sleep all winter, but they do rest a lot. Moreover, they don't eat, drink, or use the bathroom all winter – a routine that would kill most creatures in less than a week.

Researchers believe that they have found the chemical in a bear's blood that prevents bone loss during long inactivity. The chemical is under study for possible use in treating human osteoporosis. Bears avoid bathroom visits by chemically changing their own waste back into proteins. The fact that scientists study how things in the creation work to improve how we do things is a tribute to the workmanship of the Creator, even if scientists refuse to admit His existence and activity.

Photo: Brown bear in Norway. Courtesy of Taral Jansen. (CC-BY-SA 3.0)
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

John 1:14
"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth."

For several years now, Creation Moments has brought to listeners each day evidences for design in nature. That design is often wonderful, usually ingenious and certainly places in question any possibility of it all having come about by chance.

We have pointed out that where there is design there must have been a Designer and Creator. Those who believe that the Bible is the Creator's plan will also know that God, our Creator, loves His creation, from the stars to the smallest insect. But He has a special love for us who, we are told, were made in His image.

As wonderful as the Creation is, it is quite staggering to realize that He Who created the billions of stars and energized them, chose to come down and be part of the human race. He experienced every part of human life from birth as a helpless babe to death on a cross in the prime of life. His name while on Earth was Jesus, and He who knew all things came to show us the way and offer eternal life to those who would accept it.

And why? Very simply – He was the Instrument Who made us, and we are eternally lost without His help. Who better, then, to rescue us from our evil nature? We can only stand in deep reverence at such love.

Photo: Ian Taylor, host of the Creation Moments radio program.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

Brian McLaren did not invent emerging heresy. It is in the very air we breathe today. He is a product of it, and he in turn has become a purveyor. He grew up with the priceless heritage of being the son and grandson of Bible-believing Christians, but at some point he was converted to modern unbelief. His book A New Kind of Christian is doubtless biographical to some degree. An evangelical pastor is converted by a likable man named “Neo,” who befriends him in a crisis of faith. At the beginning of the conversations, the pastor is afraid that Neo’s ideas are corrupting him (p. 26), but he quenches the fear, continues to listen to the voice of the serpent, and becomes a convert to heresy. McLaren, the author of the book, considers this transformation a good thing, of course. This reminds me of the 1956 movie The Invasion of the Body Snatchers, in which the earth is invaded by aliens in the form of seed pods. Each pod is capable of transforming a human being into an alien by capturing his soul if the individual is sleeping nearby. The invasion is quiet and insidious. One by one, unsuspecting human beings are transformed into aliens with alien thinking and objectives who seek to transform everyone else. A doctor discovers what is happening and tries to warn people, even standing on a highway screaming to the motorists, “They’re here already! You’re next!” but he is ignored. Like The Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the emerging church is an alien Christianity. It spreads quietly and subtly, from individual to individual. It puts people at ease by downplaying its radicalness and by using the comfortable old biblical and theological terms, yet with new definitions. McLaren and his friends would tell you that they believe in Biblical inspiration, salvation, atonement, judgment, and the kingdom of God, but they re-define these terms in modernistic ways. They are “sincere and caring.” They profess to love Jesus and the truth. The emerging heresy takes over the hearts and minds of those who are sleeping and are not alert to the danger, who have been lulled to sleep by the popular thinking that judging is carnal and “critics” are mean-spirited troublemakers and that preaching and teaching should be kept on a “positive note” and “not deal with personalities.” It is especially effective in converting second generation Christians who often lack the spiritual dynamism and vigilance of the first generation. It spreads through the “seed pods” of literature, Internet blogs, MP3 sermons, Bible College classrooms, and friendships. It captures the hearts of pastors’ sons, who then insidiously convert unsuspecting congregations. I remember being frightened by The Invasion of the Body Snatchers when I was a kid. After watching it, I awoke one night and saw a watermelon beside the refrigerator outside my bedroom door; fearing that it was a seed pod, I cried out to mom to come save me! The Invasion of the Body Snatchers was fiction, but the invasion of the emerging church is very real, and I am doing everything I can to warn and protect as many people as I can. This is a major motivation for the production of such things as the Way of Life Encyclopedia of the Bible and the One Year Discipleship Course and An Unshakeable Faith and the Advanced Bible Studies Series. We need parents and pastors and teachers and missionaries who will provide serious discipleship to the next generation to protect them from the invasion of apostasy.

(Friday Church News Notes, November 28, 2014, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

Romans 1:18-19
"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them."

Evolutionists sometimes challenge those of us who believe in creation with the words, "Just name one scientist who doesn't accept evolution!" Since many Christians are not familiar with the names of notable scientists, the evolutionist then says, "See! You can't name any because there aren't any!"

At one time, most scientists were committed to the understanding that there is a Creator. Then, for a long time, it really did look as though practically all scientists had accepted evolution. However, that trend seems to be reversing. A poll published a number of years ago in the professional magazine, Industrial Chemist, tells us what scientists really believe.

According to this poll of professional scientists, one-fifth, or 20 per cent, completely reject evolution. Half the scientists believe that it would have been impossible for man to have evolved from lower forms without some sort of supernatural intervention. And do scientists think that creation science is hurting science education? According to this poll, 40 per cent said "No."

So evolutionism is not an unchallenged "fact" of science. It seems that scientists are divided over evolution – meaning that evolution has not made its case – even to the professionals! That should help a lot of Christians understand that science does not demand their acceptance of evolution. Christians should also see that the Bible offers an intelligent alternative to evolution.

Image: Studio portrait of Louis Pasteur, just one of many illustrious scientists who didn't accept evolution. (PD)
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

Acts 13:6-7
"And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Barjesus: which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man; who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God."

A few decades ago, when computers first began to become available to the general public, some writers, particularly for popular science magazines predicted that computers would soon have an intelligence similar to human beings. Do you ever wonder what happened to such optimistic expectations? 
    
What happened was that scientists began to work on the problem of creating artificial intelligence. At a very early stage, they learned that intelligence is not as simple as they thought it was. It's true that computers can read and speak, but they cannot understand what they are reading or speaking. Computers can direct machines to build cars, and they can build cars, but they cannot decide to drive to the library and increase their learning.

At the current level of development, researchers can build a computer that will play a good game of chess and even beat an expert. Or a computer that will guide a missile fired from a submarine or drone with pinpoint accuracy. But all this depends upon feedback devices obeying rules pre-programmed into the device by human intelligence. No computer yet is capable of original thought.

When and if scientists ever create a computer that actually has intelligence, they will only confirm what the Bible says about the creation. And that is that intelligence can only be the result of carefully planned and designed effort by another intelligence.

Photo: Courtesy of Polimerek. (CC-BY-SA 3.0)
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

In his blog this month, Brian McLaren says that the emerging church is growing in influence, "not by creating a new slice of the pie, but by seasoning nearly all sectors of the pie" ("More on the emergent conversation," BrianMclaren.net, Nov. 17, 2014). He is exactly right, and the "seasoning" extends even to many "fundamentalist" churches. What McLaren calls "seasoning," the Bible calls "leaven," and it twice warns that "a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump" (1 Cor. 5:6; Gal. 5:9). The church at Corinth and the churches in Galatia were being careless about error. They were entertaining it, countenancing it. They were "bearing with it" (2 Cor. 11:4). But if a small amount of error is countenanced, it will eventually leaven everything. This is why we have warned that most independent Baptist churches will be emerging within 20 years. Large numbers of them are entertaining error. They haven't capitulated, but they are playing with it. They are arguing, "But this is just a small thing; let's 'major on the majors.'" They are playing with contemporary worship music, which even in its most "conservative" form is a definite bridge to the one-world church of the Getty's and Townend's and Redman's and Kendrick's and Zschech's. Some are even playing with contemplative prayer, as we document this month in the report "Pensacola's A Beka Promoting Catholic Contemplative Mystics."

(Friday Church News Notes, November 28, 2014, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)