FLAGELLUM FASCINATION
Luke 8:8
“And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.”
The electron microscope was developed over 80 years ago and enables us to probe the secrets of God’s creation. One of the most surprising discoveries shows an incredible similarity between those little whips called flagellum – which some microbes use for swimming – and the inside of your ear!
The electron microscope has shown that there is but one master pattern for all flagella. These tiny threads are always made up of a pair of fibers surrounded by nine protein fibers running inside a tube. It is thought that the contraction of these protein fibers causes the flagellum to move. But though these tiny structures are identical, different creatures use them in different ways.
Inside your ear and the ears of all vertebrates are tiny, hair-like structures that come together in a point, something like an Indian tepee. Each of these structures has on it one projection exactly the same as the microbes’ flagellum. But in this case, its purpose is not to move, but to be moved by sound waves. These structures are hooked up to nerves, and their purpose is to detect sound waves. They are so sensitive, they can provide your brain with many different kinds of information, all of which you finally hear as sound!
Have you used this generous gift of hearing to hear the Word of God today?
Dear Lord Jesus Christ, I give thanks to You for all my senses and abilities and ask that You would, through the teaching of Your Word, help me to make use of them in ways which glorify You. Amen.
Margaret Helder, Ph.D., “Marvellous Evidence of Design,” Creation Ex Nihilo, Vol. 9, No. 4, pp. 14-17. Photo: Physical model of a bacterial flagellum. Courtesy of Alan Wolf. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
Luke 8:8
“And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.”
The electron microscope was developed over 80 years ago and enables us to probe the secrets of God’s creation. One of the most surprising discoveries shows an incredible similarity between those little whips called flagellum – which some microbes use for swimming – and the inside of your ear!
The electron microscope has shown that there is but one master pattern for all flagella. These tiny threads are always made up of a pair of fibers surrounded by nine protein fibers running inside a tube. It is thought that the contraction of these protein fibers causes the flagellum to move. But though these tiny structures are identical, different creatures use them in different ways.
Inside your ear and the ears of all vertebrates are tiny, hair-like structures that come together in a point, something like an Indian tepee. Each of these structures has on it one projection exactly the same as the microbes’ flagellum. But in this case, its purpose is not to move, but to be moved by sound waves. These structures are hooked up to nerves, and their purpose is to detect sound waves. They are so sensitive, they can provide your brain with many different kinds of information, all of which you finally hear as sound!
Have you used this generous gift of hearing to hear the Word of God today?
Dear Lord Jesus Christ, I give thanks to You for all my senses and abilities and ask that You would, through the teaching of Your Word, help me to make use of them in ways which glorify You. Amen.
Margaret Helder, Ph.D., “Marvellous Evidence of Design,” Creation Ex Nihilo, Vol. 9, No. 4, pp. 14-17. Photo: Physical model of a bacterial flagellum. Courtesy of Alan Wolf. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
WERE YOU A FISH?
Romans 1:25
“Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.”
In 1866, Professor Ernst Haeckel, a German zoologist and strong supporter of Darwin, published his theory that every developing embryo recapitulates all the previous evolutionary stages of its species. So the human embryo began as a fish with gills, then became frog-like, and so on until at the ninth month it was fully human. The real embryologists of his day investigated Haeckel’s claims and discovered that he had faked some of his drawings to fit his theory! That should have been the end of Haeckel’s theory then and there.
Unfortunately, the theory became more important than the facts in the minds of Darwin’s followers, and it has been paraded as prima facie evidence for evolution in every school biology textbook since 1866! The facts are that this theory was discredited and rejected decades ago by the scientific community while even the Encyclopedia Britannica wrote the theory off as being of “little significance.”
Only recently, after exposure of this anti-scientific idea by creationists, have some textbooks now stopped using embryology as evidence for evolution. Nevertheless, it continues to be used as “scientific” justification for abortion, and this, too, needs to be exposed to the light of God’s truth.
Father in heaven, it is especially easy even for Your people to fall into inadvertent worship of the creation in place of the Creator in our materialistic age. Help me to root this sin out of my life. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Photo: Haeckel’s discredited embryo illustrations are still in some school textbooks.
Romans 1:25
“Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.”
In 1866, Professor Ernst Haeckel, a German zoologist and strong supporter of Darwin, published his theory that every developing embryo recapitulates all the previous evolutionary stages of its species. So the human embryo began as a fish with gills, then became frog-like, and so on until at the ninth month it was fully human. The real embryologists of his day investigated Haeckel’s claims and discovered that he had faked some of his drawings to fit his theory! That should have been the end of Haeckel’s theory then and there.
Unfortunately, the theory became more important than the facts in the minds of Darwin’s followers, and it has been paraded as prima facie evidence for evolution in every school biology textbook since 1866! The facts are that this theory was discredited and rejected decades ago by the scientific community while even the Encyclopedia Britannica wrote the theory off as being of “little significance.”
Only recently, after exposure of this anti-scientific idea by creationists, have some textbooks now stopped using embryology as evidence for evolution. Nevertheless, it continues to be used as “scientific” justification for abortion, and this, too, needs to be exposed to the light of God’s truth.
Father in heaven, it is especially easy even for Your people to fall into inadvertent worship of the creation in place of the Creator in our materialistic age. Help me to root this sin out of my life. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Photo: Haeckel’s discredited embryo illustrations are still in some school textbooks.
HUMAN FEET OF CLAY
Matthew 5:37
“But let your communication be, Yea, Yea; Nay, Nay: For whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.”
It is a common perception that scientists are totally objective and impartial in their search for the truth. If a scientist says so, it must be true! Even among themselves, leaders of their field are jokingly referred to as the “high priests of science.”
But many scientists will willingly admit that they are just as fallible and just as prone to bias or even dishonesty as anyone else. The 19th century scientist – Charles Babbage (a creationist by the way) – did an analytical study of the problem of fraud in science. He found that there are three basic types. Scientists can and do record observations that never took place. A second type of fraud is to ignore those observations that don’t fit the average. A third type is called “cooking” – where only the data that fits the expectations is used and the rest discarded. Scientists today are under pressure to resort to any of these forms of fraud to continue to obtain research grants, or maintain status before their peers.
All this means that scientists are just as human and prone to the same motivations in their work as the rest of us. Not all scientists are frauds, just as not all car mechanics are dishonest. But science is not some open door to absolute truth. Nor can it judge the truth of God’s Holy Word.
Dear Father, I face many temptations to be “just a little less than honest.” I ask Your help that I may always think and deal with others honestly, recognizing that You are the only Source of all truth. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
H.R. Clauser, “Temptation and Sin in Research,” Research Management, p. 44. Portrait: Charles Babbage.
Matthew 5:37
“But let your communication be, Yea, Yea; Nay, Nay: For whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.”
It is a common perception that scientists are totally objective and impartial in their search for the truth. If a scientist says so, it must be true! Even among themselves, leaders of their field are jokingly referred to as the “high priests of science.”
But many scientists will willingly admit that they are just as fallible and just as prone to bias or even dishonesty as anyone else. The 19th century scientist – Charles Babbage (a creationist by the way) – did an analytical study of the problem of fraud in science. He found that there are three basic types. Scientists can and do record observations that never took place. A second type of fraud is to ignore those observations that don’t fit the average. A third type is called “cooking” – where only the data that fits the expectations is used and the rest discarded. Scientists today are under pressure to resort to any of these forms of fraud to continue to obtain research grants, or maintain status before their peers.
All this means that scientists are just as human and prone to the same motivations in their work as the rest of us. Not all scientists are frauds, just as not all car mechanics are dishonest. But science is not some open door to absolute truth. Nor can it judge the truth of God’s Holy Word.
Dear Father, I face many temptations to be “just a little less than honest.” I ask Your help that I may always think and deal with others honestly, recognizing that You are the only Source of all truth. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
H.R. Clauser, “Temptation and Sin in Research,” Research Management, p. 44. Portrait: Charles Babbage.
PLANT SELF DEFENSE
Amos 8:11
“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD.”
The thorny acacia tree is not the usual food of the Kudu antelope. But because of overcrowding on game farms, the antelope began eating the leaves of this tree. Eventually, the kudu starved to death, even though there were plenty of acacia leaves to eat. Scientists learned that when antelope feed on the acacia, the tree begins to produce a chemical called tannin k. The tannin combines with other chemicals to give the leaves a bad taste. But worse for the antelope, the tannin impairs their ability to digest food, and eventually they starve to death. Scientists found that while tannin is not normally found in high concentrations in acacia leaves, within 15 minutes of leaf damage, the tannin levels in the leaves nearly double. They also found that the trees warn other trees about browsing animals in the area. When a leaf is chewed, it releases a scent that causes neighboring acacia trees to begin to produce tannin!
There is a spiritual lesson in this: In those places of the world where Bibles are easily available, Bible reading is decreasing. It is primarily where Bibles are hard to get that people appreciate the power of God’s Word. God has provided us with plenty of food for our souls. Let’s not overfeed on the world’s food and starve the soul by neglecting God’s Word.
Lord, You are the Word made flesh. Please help me to remember this truth when I consider my use of Your Word, the Bible, in my life so that I may remember that it is in the Bible that You instruct me. Amen.
“Does God Exist?” Vol.12, No. 6, November-December 1985, pp. 8-9. Photo: Male Kudu antelope. Courtesy of Austin King. Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation 1.2 License.
Amos 8:11
“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD.”
The thorny acacia tree is not the usual food of the Kudu antelope. But because of overcrowding on game farms, the antelope began eating the leaves of this tree. Eventually, the kudu starved to death, even though there were plenty of acacia leaves to eat. Scientists learned that when antelope feed on the acacia, the tree begins to produce a chemical called tannin k. The tannin combines with other chemicals to give the leaves a bad taste. But worse for the antelope, the tannin impairs their ability to digest food, and eventually they starve to death. Scientists found that while tannin is not normally found in high concentrations in acacia leaves, within 15 minutes of leaf damage, the tannin levels in the leaves nearly double. They also found that the trees warn other trees about browsing animals in the area. When a leaf is chewed, it releases a scent that causes neighboring acacia trees to begin to produce tannin!
There is a spiritual lesson in this: In those places of the world where Bibles are easily available, Bible reading is decreasing. It is primarily where Bibles are hard to get that people appreciate the power of God’s Word. God has provided us with plenty of food for our souls. Let’s not overfeed on the world’s food and starve the soul by neglecting God’s Word.
Lord, You are the Word made flesh. Please help me to remember this truth when I consider my use of Your Word, the Bible, in my life so that I may remember that it is in the Bible that You instruct me. Amen.
“Does God Exist?” Vol.12, No. 6, November-December 1985, pp. 8-9. Photo: Male Kudu antelope. Courtesy of Austin King. Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation 1.2 License.
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