Friday, March 27, 2015

CREATION MOMENTS: 3.27.15

IPCC CLIMATE CHANGE REPORT REFUTED

Matthew 24:4

"And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you."

On a previous broadcast, we told you about the IPCC report designed to frighten people with dire warnings about the destruction of our planet if the world's governments don't take serious measures now to combat man-made global warming.

On the same day that the IPCC released its report, another report was released that you probably haven't heard about. The 1,068-page report was produced by the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change, a group founded in 2003 by distinguished atmospheric physicist S. Fred Singer. The report looks at each claim made in the IPCC report and refutes it thoroughly, using real climate data that was either ignored or misrepresented by the IPCC.

Joseph L. Bast, publisher of the Climate Change Reconsidered series, wrote: "We know the authors of the IPCC's reports have financial conflicts of interest, since the government bureaucracies that select them and the UN that oversees and edits the final reports stand to profit from public alarm over the possibility that global warming will be harmful."

Creation Moments sees many parallels between climate change and evolution. Both are fueled by financial gain and faulty worldviews. Both attempt to silence the opposition by claiming they are dealing with "settled science." Both ridicule those who disagree with them. Both ignore data that doesn't support their claims. When you remove all the smoke, mirrors and shoddy science, both are intended to deceive. Thankfully, God has given His people eyes that can detect lies. Use them!

Lord Jesus, I know that there are many deceivers in the world, driven by personal gain and the lust for power. I pray that You will help me see things through Your eyes so I can distinguish truth from error. In Your Name. Amen.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2014/03/31/the-ipccs-latest-report-deliberately-excludes-and-misrepresents-important-climate-science/. "The IPCC's Latest Report Deliberately Excludes And Misrepresents Important Climate Science," Forbes, 3/31/14. Photo: Courtesy of the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change. Their report is available for free at http://climatechangereconsidered.org/.
 
CLIMATE CHANGE REPORT RELEASED ONE DAY TOO EARLY

Genesis 8:22

"While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."
On the last day of March, 2014, the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued a report warning that the effects of climate change are already occurring on all continents. They went on to predict that mankind would face catastrophic consequences if we don't take drastic measures right now. But as you'll see in a moment, the report was released one day too early.

Why do we say that? Because April 1st would have been a far more suitable date for a foolish announcement with no substance to back it up. The announcement was a brash attempt to "sell" climate change by stressing the sheer number of "experts" who prepared the report.

Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the IPCC, stressed that "none of this [the report] would be possible without the dedication of the Co-Chairs of Working Group II and the hundreds of scientists and experts who volunteered their time to produce this report, as well as the more than 1,700 expert reviewers worldwide who contributed their invaluable oversight."

After the IPCC was caught cooking the books in November of 2009, in 2011 and on other occasions, Creation Moments can't help but be skeptical of any report that tries to convince us it is true by citing the number of scientists who participated in its preparation. The truth is, there are thousands of scientists who are skeptical of man-made climate change. But like creationists, they are ignored and ridiculed.

Heavenly Father, I know that so-called climate change is not something to be feared. I also know I can trust You to preserve our planet until the day that Your Son returns. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140331100633.htm. Photo: Smog in New York City as viewed from the World Trade Center in 1988.
 
EARTHWORM OR DRAINING BATHTUB?

Psalm 22:6

"But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people."

What creature lives deep underground, has a dark purple head and a blue-grey body, can grow up to nine feet in length and sounds like a bathtub draining of water? It's the Giant Gippsland earthworm of Australia, of course!

As these incredible creatures make their way through the soil, they shorten in length and then stretch their body to as long as fourteen feet. Despite their size, it is very difficult to study these giant earthworms because they never come to the surface unless flushed out by heavy rains. They prefer to spend their lives deep underground where they won't be cut to pieces by farmers tilling the ground.

"Burrows that are occupied by giant Gippsland earthworms have very wet walls," said Beverley D. Van Praagh, a biologist who has studied the creatures for over 20 years. "When the earthworms move quickly within their burrows, it makes a gurgling sound that is quite loud and can be heard above ground. The sound is a bit like water draining out of a bath and has been known to terrify the uninitiated."

Though most of us look at such creatures with disgust, nothing that God has made is without purpose. Earthworms perform a very valuable service in making the soil fertile. Life on earth would not exist without the lowly earthworm! Eternal life, too, wouldn't exist were it not for Jesus, who is called a worm and was despised by the people He came to save.

Heavenly Father, I thank You for Jesus, the lowly "worm" rejected by men but who is now exalted at Your right side in heaven. Amen.

http://www.wired.com/2014/03/absurd-creature-week-earthworm-backup/. Wired online, 3/28/14. Photo: Courtesy of Beverley D. Van Praagh.
 
EVOLUTIONISTS DESPISE THIS WOLF

1 Thessalonians 5:21

"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good."
Meet Wolf-Ekkehard Lönnig, a brilliant scientist who worked at the Max-Planck Institute until his retirement. Though he has written four books on the subject of evolution, he has infuriated evolutionists everywhere by daring to challenge Neo-Darwinism on scientific grounds.

He told the Diplomacy Post in March 2014: "A scientific hypothesis should be potentially falsifiable.... However," he added, "the idea of slow evolution by 'infinitesimally small inherited variations' etc. has been falsified by the findings of palaeontology... as well [as] genetics. Yet its adherents principally reject any scientific proof against Neo-Darwinism," he said, "so that, in fact, their theory has become a non-falsifiable worldview, to which people stick in spite of all contrary evidence."

Scientists continue to support evolution despite the evidence that actually falsified evolution because "without Darwinism, philosophic materialism has lost its battle against an intelligent origin of the world."

But Wolf had more to say. "According to Neo-Darwinism, all important problems of the origin of species are, at least in principle, solved. Further questions on the validity of evolutionary theory are thus basically superfluous. However, such a dogmatic attitude stops further investigations and hinders fruitful research in science."

Though Wolf-Ekkehard Lönnig has stopped short of giving recognition to God as the Intelligent Designer, we applaud his work for showing that evolution doesn't even deserve to be called scientific.

Father, I pray for Intelligent Design proponents. Though they understand that the creation requires an intelligent designer, many of them still don't realize that the Intelligent Designer is You! In Jesus' Name. Amen.

http://dippost.com/2014/03/22/wolf-ekkehard-lonnig-complex-systems-in-biology-overwhelmingly-point-to-an-intelligent-origin-of-living-beings/. "Lönnig: Complex systems in nature point to an intelligent origin for life", Diplomacy Post, 3/22/14. Photo: From Diplomacy Post. online used for educational purposes under U.S. fair use doctrine.
 
CREATION IS A SCIENTIFIC FACT
Genesis 1:3

"And God said, Let there be light: and there was light."
In March of 2014 a team of scientists headed by astronomer John M. Kovac of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics announced that they had finally found the evidence they were seeking to support the theory that the universe had a beginning.

This news about the Big Bang caused physics professor Nathan Aviezer of Bar Ilan University to say: "One thing the announcement does do is make it clear that the universe had a definite starting point - a creation - as described in the book of Genesis."

He went on to say, "The Torah quotes God as saying 'let there be light,' and science tells us that this light came into existence, exploding to create the universe as we know it. . At this point I think we can say that creation is a scientific fact. Without addressing who or what caused it, the mechanics of the creation process in the Big Bang match the Genesis story perfectly," he said. "If I had to make up a theory to match the first passages in Genesis, the Big Bang theory would be it."

Let us not forget, however, that the Big Bang theory is still just that - a theory - and there are many scientists who reject it. In fact, we will talk more about Big-Bang-denying scientists in a future broadcast. But for now we'll simply say that Big Bang or not, we rejoice that some scientists are coming to realize that the concept of a Creator is not anti-science.

Father, I pray that more unbelieving scientists would believe in You as a result of believing the Big Bang theory. I also pray they would come to You for salvation as a result of believing what Your Word so clearly reveals. Amen.

http://www.wnd.com/2014/03/physicist-big-bang-breakthrough-confirms-creation/#QbfYzKEROZZwR94k.99. Graphic: This detailed, all-sky picture of the infant universe was created from nine years of WMAP (Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe) data. It was published in 2012. Courtesy of NASA.
BE SURE TO CHECK OUT MY ALL NEW PROPHECY AND CREATION DESIGN WEBSITES. THERE IS A LOT TO SEE AND DO..........
 

Friday, March 20, 2015

CREATION DESIGN: 3.20.15

FASCINATIN & RHYTHM

Deuteronomy 6:5

"And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might."

The heart is an amazingly complex organ consisting of muscle tissue. And what do muscles do? They contract when stimulated by electric pulses. Though the human heart will beat 2-3 billion times in a person's lifetime, heart disease is one of the most common causes of death. That's why researchers have been looking for a way to produce artificial heart tissue. Have they finally succeeded?

Lei Yang and his team of researchers at the University of Pittsburgh reported that they were able to transform human skin into lab-grown "heart muscle cells" that contracted spontaneously in a dish.

To accomplish this extraordinary feat, the researchers first changed skin cells into stem cells and then treated them with growth factors. Then they added the cells to the structural shell of a mouse heart that had been stripped of its own cells. The human cells transformed the shell into tissue that pulsed at 40 to 50 beats per minute.

Evolutionists, no doubt, will look at this achievement as making headway in man's quest to create artificial life. But let us remind them that the cells were produced using already-existing skin cells and growth factors. Besides, the "heart cells" were not a product of purposeless chance or mutations but the result of considerable effort by an intelligent team of scientists ... a reminder that life itself is the work of an intelligent, purposeful and all-wise Creator.

Father, I thank you for my heart that sustains my life by beating regularly for so many years. I praise You most of all for turning my heart of stone into a heart that loves You, both now and long after my physical heart has stopped beating. In Jesus' Name. Amen.


Science News, Web Edition 8/15/13. J. Shugart, "Lab-grown heart has rhythm." Nature Communications 4, Article #2307. "Repopulation of decellularized mouse heart with human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiovascular progenitor cells." 8/13/13. Photo: The University of Pittsburgh is also where Jonas Salk developed the first polio vaccine.
 
DARWIN'S DILEMMA SOLVED?

Genesis 2:1

"Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them."
Has Darwin's dilemma finally been solved? Darwin's dilemma has been vexing evolutionists for more than 150 years. Charles Darwin, you see, was unable to explain the sudden arrival in Cambrian rock of most of the phyla we have today when no fossil evidence of their ancestors can be found in pre-Cambrian rock.

Not surprisingly, creationists frequently mention Darwin's dilemma - another name for what is called the "Cambrian explosion" - when challenging the Darwinian view of the gradual origin of species. So evolutionists have been struggling to find a plausible answer.

Such an answer was recently proposed by researchers at South Australia's University of Adelaide. They try to get around the dilemma by estimating that the rate of evolution during the "Cambrian explosion" was five times faster than it is today.

The evolutionary website ScienceDaily states with great confidence, "The findings ... resolve 'Darwin's dilemma': the sudden appearance of a plethora of modern animal groups in the fossil record during the early Cambrian period."

Is the assertion that evolution happened five times faster than today really reasonable? No, it isn't. In fact, it only creates another dilemma for evolutionists who have always insisted on uniformitarianism - that the rates of natural processes do not change over time. Darwin's dilemma remains unsolved for evolutionists. But there is no dilemma at all for creationists who know that God created all living creatures on days five and six of Creation Week.

Lord Jesus, I ask you to open the eyes of evolutionary scientists who reject what the Bible so clearly teaches. At one time, I, too, was blind to the truth. Thank you for opening my own eyes. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

Michael S.Y. Lee, Julien Soubrier, Gregory D. Edgecombe. "Rates of Phenotypic and Genomic Evolution during the Cambrian Explosion", Current Biology, 2013 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2013.07.055. "Darwin's dilemma resolved: Evolution's 'big bang' explained by five times faster rates of evolution", ScienceDaily, 9/12/13. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/09/130912131753.htm. Photo: Marrella, the most abundant organism from the Burgess Shale Cambrian rock. Courtesy of Verisimilus. Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2.
 
DID COMETS HELP CREATE LIFE?

Psalm 147:16-17

"He giveth snow like wool: he scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes. He casteth forth his ice like morsels: who can stand before his cold?"

Would you believe that life on planet Earth was the result of icy comets striking the Earth's surface long, long ago? We didn't think so. But a team of researchers from three distinguished institutions would disagree with you.

To understand the effect of a comet hitting a planet, the researchers fired ice projectiles through a high-speed gun at targets that were icy mixtures that they said had compounds similar to those found on comets. When the ice chips stopped flying, they discovered that the impacts had created some amino acids.

One researcher wrote that "this process demonstrates a very simple mechanism whereby we can go from a mix of simple molecules, such as water and carbon-dioxide ice, to a more complicated molecule, such as an amino acid. This," he wrote, "is the first step towards life. The next step is to work out how to go from an amino acid to even more complex molecules such as proteins."

Good luck with that! Scientists have been attempting to do that since 1953, when Stanley Miller and Harold Urey at the University of Chicago produced amino acids by shooting bolts of simulated lightning into a concoction of chemicals. Proteins - the real building blocks of life - are light-years away from amino acids.

How sad that scientists are wasting so much time looking for answers to how life began. If only they believed the Bible's account of origins, they could dedicate their skills to pursuing real scientific achievements that benefit mankind.

Heavenly Father, I ask You to lead more Christians into the sciences so that they can do research that honors You. In Jesus' Name. Amen.


http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/3989/20130916/comets-hitting-planets-help-build-life-study-finds.htm. "Comets Hitting Planets May Help Build Life, Study Finds", Nature World News, 9/16/13. Illustration: Artist's conception of a storm of comets around a star near our own. Courtesy of NASA.
 
NEW TYPE OF EYE DISCOVERED!

Psalm 119:18

"Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law."
The University of Tübingen's Institute of Anatomy recently discovered a fish with what they called "a previously unknown type of eye." The glasshead barreleye has a cylindrical eye pointing upwards to see prey, predators and potential mates. But the eye also has a mirror-like second retina which is able to detect bioluminescent flashes created by deep-sea denizens to the sides and below, reports Professor Hans-Joachim Wagner.

Actually, it's not really a previously unknown type of eye. Reflector eyes are usually only found in invertebrates, such as mollusks and crustaceans, but there is one other vertebrate that also uses a combination of reflective and refractive lenses in its eyes - the deep-sea brownsnout spookfish.

Now this is where it really gets interesting. According to the report, both the glasshead barreleye and the brownsnout spookfish developed this amazingly complex eye from different kinds of tissue. So if you're going to believe in evolution, you'll have to deal with the fact that this unusual type of eye had to evolve twice, independently of one another, using two different solutions to the same problem.

Those of us who accept biblical creation as true often wonder at the blindness of evolutionary scientists. How can they continue to cling to mindless mutations and natural selection when only a supremely intelligent Creator could account for the incredibly complex eye of the glasshead barreleye?

Father, I thank You that You have given me eyes to see! Not only am I able to see the world around me more clearly, I am able to see - through the eyes of faith - the work that Your Son has done for me to secure eternal life.

http://phys.org/news/2014-03-fish-previously-unknown-eye.html. "Researchers discover fish with a previously unknown type of eye", Phys.Org 3/20/14. Photo: Glasshead barreleye close-up. Photographer unknown.
 
THE STRONGEST MATERIAL IN THE WORLD

Job 40:18

"His bones are as strong pieces of brass; his bones are like bars of iron."

Graphene may be the most unusual material that will ever be discovered. It has already revolutionized the world of physics and won the 2010 Nobel Prize in physics for physicist Andre Geim and his colleague, Kostya Novoselow.

What's so unusual about graphene? Geim told CNN Tech, "It's the thinnest material you can get - it's only one atom thick. It's the strongest material we are aware of because you can't slice it any further. You can't get any material that is thinner than one atom, or it wouldn't count as a material anymore."

Geim went on to say, "Graphene is stronger than diamond; it shows extraordinary heat conductance; it conducts electricity a thousand times better than copper - the list goes on. Another surprise is that you can just about see it with the naked eye, even though it's only one atom thick!"

Geim added, "We live in a 3-dimensional world. My physics intuition, developed over the last thirty years, told me that this material shouldn't exist. And if you had asked 99.9% of scientists around the world, they would have said the idea of a 2D material was rubbish and that graphene shouldn't exist."

How true that is! Scientists have been mistaken about a number of things, even when 99.9% of them were in agreement. Vestigial organs in humans, for example. Cosmic ether, for another. Then there's the fire-like element called phlogiston and the mistaken notion of epicycles. But the biggest mistake that scientists continue to make is evolution.

Heavenly Father, let me never compromise with the world when I'm told that Your Word is untrue. If I am to be ridiculed or persecuted for following You, let me be willing to be thought a fool for Christ's sake. Amen.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/02/tech/innovation/graphene-quest-for-first-ever-2d-material/. Photo: Graphene is an atom-thick lattice of carbon atoms. Courtesy of AlexanderAlUS. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
 
 
BE SURE TO CHECK OUT MY ALL NEW PROPHECY AND CREATION DESIGN WEBSITES. THERE IS A LOT TO SEE AND DO..........
 

Friday, March 13, 2015

CREATION MOMENTS: 3.13.15

PLANTS REALLY DO TALK TO EACH OTHER

Judges 9:10

"And the trees said to the fig tree, Come thou, and reign over us."

For many years, Creation Moments has been sharing information about the ways that plants and trees talk to one another to protect each other from invaders. Many scientists have ridiculed us for making such outrageous claims. But they're not laughing any longer.

As Wired online recently commented, "The evidence for plant communication is only a few decades old. The first few 'talking tree' papers quickly were shot down as statistically flawed or too artificial and research ground to a halt. But the science of plant communication is now staging a comeback."

Though plant communication is still a tiny field, the scientists who study it are no longer seen as a lunatic fringe. Richard Karban, an ecologist at the University of California in Davis, said: "It used to be that people wouldn't even talk to you: 'Why are you wasting my time with something we've already debunked?'" they said.

But scientists are now saying that plants not only communicate with other plants, they communicate with insects as well, sending airborne messages that act as distress signals to predatory insects so that they will come and kill the plant-eating bugs.

Though scientists are now learning more about how plants communicate, they appear to have little interest in learning about how God communicates with man. But scientists who are Christians know the blessing of communicating with God through prayer and the reading of His inspired Word.

Father, I am so grateful that You care about us and that you communicate with us through the Bible. Make my prayer time and the study of Your Word a top priority in my life. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/12/secret-language-of-plants/. "How Plants Secretly Talk to Each Other." Wired online, 12/20/13. Photo: Richard Karban studies how sagebrush communicate. Photo from Wired online used for educational purposes under U.S. fair use doctrine.
 
WHEN BEING WRONG IS RIGHT

Proverbs 1:7

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction."

How smart are Americans when it comes to science? That's what the National Science Foundation attempts to find out every two years. The results of their 2014 survey - which included more than 2,200 adults - gave Americans a rather poor grade. But are Americans really less knowledgeable about science or is the NSF's survey biased against the many Bible-believing Christians in America? Let's take a look.

While the survey included such questions as "Does the Earth go around the Sun or does the Sun go around the Earth?", the survey also included questions like: "True or false: the universe began with a huge explosion." And true or false: "Human beings, as we know them today, developed from earlier species of animals." For people who believe what the Bible has to say, their answers were scored as "wrong" by the NSF survey.

Interestingly, more than 60 percent of Americans gave the so-called "wrong" answers to these questions. They simply do not accept the Big Bang theory despite what they were taught in school. And more than 50 percent of Americans disagreed with the NSF when it comes to evolution. According to the Atlantic Online, "This seems to indicate that many Americans are familiar with the theories of evolution and the Big Bang; they simply don't believe they're true."

What the unbelieving world views as right is often wrong in light of what God tells us in the Bible. For Christians, the Bible is the ultimate authority - not what we're told by Bible-denying evolutionists.

Heavenly Father, I pray that You will strengthen me whenever I am pressured by the world to choose wrong over right. Make me be willing to be thought a fool in the world's eyes. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/02/what-americans-dont-know-about-science/283864/. "What Americans Don't Know About Science". Atlantic online. 2/15/14  Photo: National Science Foundation building in Arlington, VA.
 
LIVING GEARS!

Psalm 5:8

"Lead me, O LORD, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make thy way straight before my face."

Mechanical gears - like those found in clocks - have been around since the Greeks are thought to have invented them around 300 B.C. But scientists have now discovered a small hopping insect equipped with a set of living gears!

University of Cambridge biologists discovered that Issus coleoptratus have an intricate gearing system that locks their back legs together. This allows both legs to spring at the exact same instant, propelling the tiny creatures straight forward. If one of the bug's legs jumped a fraction of a second earlier than the other, this would push the insect off course to the left or right.

The gears are located at the top of the insects' hind legs and include 10 to 12 tapered teeth. The teeth of the gear lock together neatly, and they even have curves at the base, a design incorporated into man-made mechanical gears to reduce wear over time.

Researcher Gregory Sutton said, "We usually think of gears as something that we see in human-designed machinery.... These gears are not designed; they are evolved - representing high speed and precision machinery evolved for synchronisation in the animal world."

What we'd like to ask him is how did this insect survive for thousands of years while it couldn't jump straight? No, there is a much simpler explanation that scientists might see if they weren't so biased against a Creator. The gears were designed by God, who gave all of His creatures - including you and me - all of the intricate parts we need!

Lord Jesus, I praise You and thank You for making it so easy to see Your handprints on the things You have made. I pray that many scientists will come to realize that there is a Designer ... and that Designer is You! Amen.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/this-insect-has-the-only-mechanical-gears-ever-found-in-nature-6480908/#geP0muUJK0qTHgxF.99. "This Insect Has The Only Mechanical Gears Ever Found in Nature." Smithsonian.com, 9/12/13. Photo: Issus coleoptratus. Courtesy of Malcom Burrows. Used for educational purposes under U.S. fair use doctrine.
 
THE CHICKEN FROM HELL

1 Corinthians 15:39

"All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds."

Evolutionists tell us a 66-million-year-old feathered dinosaur resembling a giant demonic bird was discovered in the fossil-rich Hell Creek formation of South and North Dakota. Not surprisingly, this newly discovered dinosaur species was dubbed the "chicken from hell".

It was "as close as you can get to a bird without being a bird," said vertebrate paleontologist Matt Lamanna. In addition to its long limbs, the research team found that the 11-foot-long, 500-pound dinosaur sported a stubby tail, likely framed by a fan of tail feathers."

What's this? A tail likely framed by a fan of tail feathers? Not even National Geographic could stop themselves from telling the truth when they admitted: "Though the team didn't find direct evidence of feathers, the species was so closely related to birds that it was very likely covered in feathers that looked identical to those of modern birds."

The illustration accompanying the article shows the dinosaur's forelimbs and tail covered with large feathers. Indeed, National Geographic and others have been doing this for years as they attempt to show that modern-day birds are the evolutionary descendents of dinosaurs. No real evidence required!

The Bible, on the other hand, is supported by a large amount of evidence, including archaeological discoveries, the fulfillment of Bible prophecies and much more. Christians also have the internal witness of the Holy Spirit that convinces us that God's Word is true and that His Son is the Truth who alone provides salvation from sin.

Father, I thank You that Your Word doesn't need to be supported by the imaginative speculations of fallible men. I know that the Bible is true from the first word to the last! In Jesus' Name. Amen.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/03/140319-dinosaurs-feathers-animals-science-new-species/#close-modal 3/19/14. National Geographic Daily News, 3/19/14. Illustration: Anzu wyeliei. Courtesy of Mark Klingler, Carnegie Museum of Natural History.
 
 BATS CRY: THAT'S MINE!

Ephesians 4:28

"Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth."

As you know, bats are able to find their way around and locate their prey using echolocation - high-pitched sounds that they also use to keep from flying into trees and other bats. But scientists have now learned that one particular kind of bat emits another call that warns other bats to stay away from bugs they've claimed for themselves.

A five-person research team from the University of Maryland recently discovered that male big brown bats produce a special sound called a frequency-modulated bout, or FMB, that sounds a warning to other bats. The FMB is an ultrasonic social call that uniquely identifies the bat emitting it. Its sequence of three to four sounds are longer in duration and lower in frequency than typical echolocation pulses that the bats use for navigation. After hearing the FMB, other bats moved away from both the caller and its lunch.

Biology Research Associate Genevieve Spanjer Wright said: "When two males flew together in a trial, it was not uncommon for each bat to emit FMBs. We found that the bat emitting the greatest number of FMBs was more likely to capture the mealworm."

While only a few talented humans have learned to use echolocation, all of us have been blessed by our Creator with a conscience that acts like a warning signal from God. Let us be like the male big brown bat that not only heeds these warnings but also warns others to avoid things that would displease their Creator.

Heavenly Father, I pray that you will make my conscience shout at me when I am about to do anything that displeases You. In Jesus' Name. Amen.


"Foraging bats can warn each other away from their dinners." 3/27/14. ScienceDaily online. Genevieve Spanjer Wright, Chen Chiu, Wei Xian, Gerald S. Wilkinson, Cynthia F. Moss. Social Calls Predict Foraging Success in Big Brown Bats. Current Biology, 2014; DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2014.02.058. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140327123538.htm. Photo: Big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus).
BE SURE TO CHECK OUT MY ALL NEW PROPHECY AND CREATION DESIGN WEBSITES. THERE IS A LOT TO SEE AND DO..........
 

Friday, March 6, 2015

CREATION MOMENTS: 3.6.15

WHY THERE WAS NO OCTOBER 5, 1582

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."
Did you know that there was no October 5, 1582? There wasn't even an October 6 that year. Why? The story begins with the Earth's orbit. A year is exactly 365 days, 5 hours 48 minutes and 46 seconds longer. This means that every year when the day of your birth arrives, the Earth is not exactly where it was in its orbit on the day you were born. Though the eleven-minute error is small, it does add up over hundreds of years.

The Julian calendar, with its leap day every four years, helped correct this problem to some extent, but not completely. That's because the year is not quite 365 and one-quarter days long. Over the 1,600 years of its existence, the minutes and seconds not reflected in the Julian calendar added up. So in 1582, Pope Gregory XIII announced refinements to the calendar by adding leap years. Moreover, every 400 years, a year ending in "00" received a leap day. This system keeps the calendar accurate to one day every 3,300 years. The old calendar had become inaccurate by ten days over its 1,600 years of use. To correct it, Pope Gregory declared that October 4, 1582, was to be followed by October 15!

The fact that man has always been making fairly accurate calendars reflects his intelligence, given to him from the beginning by an intelligent Creator.

Father, help me use my time in your service and to Your glory. Amen.


"Fixing the Calendar," Discover, 2/00. Painting: Pope Gregory XIII. (PD)
 
IT PAYS TO HAVE A SECOND OR THIRD JOB

Genesis 1:25

"And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good."

Rove beetles are found in the rain forests of Costa Rica and have three different ways of making a living. Their largest prey are the blow flies that frequent animal dung. The beetles wait on the dung for a blowfly to land, then stalk their prey with the skill of a cat. They can even capture their prey in the air if it tries to escape. But dung doesn't last long in the rain forest, because dung beetles quickly haul it off. So, as a second career, rove beetles also frequent corpses of dead animals. These are blowfly favorites, so rove beetles can make a good living on these, too. But the rain forest has many creatures that clean up after a corpse, so they don't last long on the forest floor either. The rove beetle thus needs a third career.

That third career is carried out on leaves. Flies have little incentive to visit leaves. So the rove beetle has a special strategy to succeed in its third career. First, it positions itself on the leaf so that it looks like an innocent bird dropping. but smells like ripe and rotting fruit. This attracts fruit flies, which will approach the rove beetle unaware until it is snatched for lunch.

While the rove beetle and its way of life are not attractive to us, it is an important part of the cleanup crew in the rain forest. It, too, is part of God's design to make His complex Creation work.

Dear Father, I praise You because everything You do is good. Amen.


"Masters of Deception," Natural History, 11/94, pp.18 23. Photo: Rove beetle. Courtesy of © Entomart.
 
ARE WE AS GOOD AS IT GETS?

Proverbs 16:18

"Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall."
Are we, as human beings, as good as it gets? According to several influential evolutionary scientists, human beings are as good as it gets, and evolution has stopped for us. Some dispute this, saying that human evolution is still happening, but it's invisible. Although none of this sounds very much like science, such claims have fueled new debate among evolutionists.

These debates are puzzling, considering man's supposed evolutionary history. According to evolution, modern man evolved in a blink of evolutionary history from some ape like creature. As we have pointed out many times, if evolution and its time scales were true, virtually every generation of our ancestors would have had to have evolved improvements over the last generation. Why would evolution have stopped so suddenly? Has modern medicine, which saves even the weak, stopped evolution? Mutations are also decreasing among us, they point out. In the primitive past, women had children throughout their reproductive life. Older women give birth to children with more mutations. But today, women have their children when young, then stop reproducing.

The claim that we are as good as it gets reveals the pride of earthly thinking inherent in evolution. In truth, we can only be as good as we can get through the forgiveness of sins that comes by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ.

Lord, I thank You for forgiveness, and I look forward to the perfection I shall realize in heaven. Amen.


"Are we the best our species will get?" Toronto Star, 12/26/99, p. J7. Photo: Human being at seventh week of pregnancy. (PD)
 
EVOLUTION OF BATS GETS MONKEYED UP

Psalm 33:6

"By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth."

We have noted many times the different ways in which bats defy evolutionary explanations. For their echolocation systems to evolve, bats had to develop simultaneously the ability to make high pitched sounds, hear those sounds, and figure out what they mean. How did they eat before they evolved these abilities? Then there is the problem of evolving typical mammalian forearms into bat wings without crippling the creature in the process. Even evolutionists admit that the evolution of all these features even once is highly unlikely.

Bats are divided into two sub orders. Smaller bats, like the free tail bats of Mexico, are classified in the sub order of Microchiroptera. Large bats, like the fruit bat, are classified into the sub order of Megachiroptera. The brains of the larger bats have very different visual pathways than those in smaller bats. The visual pathways of the larger bats are more like those of primates! But no evolutionist would dare suggest that they evolved from primates. The second complication is that this means that both small and large bats could not have evolved from a common ancestor. It further means that all the unlikely features of bats had to have evolved at least twice, if evolution were true.

The Bible offers a simple explanation for the design of the bat and the differences between their brains. They were made by God using whatever designs He knew would be best for that creature's way of life, without regard for later, humanly devised classification systems.

Lord, thank You for Your Word that made life and gives life now. Amen.


"Bats: Sophistication in Miniature," Creation, 12/98 2/99, pp. 28 31. Photo: Giant golden crowned fruit bat. Courtesy of LDC, Inc. Foundation. (CC-BY-SA 3.0)
 
GREEK PYRAMIDS

John 7:38

"He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water."

When one hears the term "pyramid builders," one usually thinks of the Egyptians, Incas or the Aztecs, whose famous pyramids were built for religious purposes. You may not know that the Greeks also built pyramids. But as we might expect of the Greeks, their pyramids served a practical, everyday purpose.

Thirteen Greek pyramids have been identified; all are about 2,500 years old. The forty-foot-high pyramids are located in the hills around the cities of Theodosia and the Crimea. They are constructed of loose limestone rock, through which the arid wind of the region could blow. As the cooling evening wind blew through the loose arrangement of rock, moisture in the air would condense on the rocks. The condensation would flow to the base of the pyramid where it was collected and piped to the city for use. A study of the clay pipes running from the pyramids led one archaeologist to calculate that each pyramid could produce a surprising 14,000 gallons of water per day!

These ingenious and practical pyramids reflect the truth that man has always been intelligent. Perhaps you didn't even know that water could be condensed from the atmosphere in usable amounts in this way. But the pyramids meant temporary survival in the dry climate. Permanent survival comes only from the living water that Christ gives through the forgiveness of sins. His water gives eternal life.

Lord, help me share the living water You have given me with others. Amen.


"Ancient Greek Pyramids?" Science Frontiers, William Corliss, p. 17. Photo: The best-known Greek pyramid is the Pyramid of Hellinikon. Courtesy of Schuppi. (CC-BY-SA 2.0 and GFDL)
 
 
BE SURE TO CHECK OUT MY ALL NEW PROPHECY AND CREATION DESIGN WEBSITES. THERE IS A LOT TO SEE AND DO..........