The Deer Ked

The outdoorsmen among our readers have just come through one of the most important times of the year, the buck firearms season. Hopefully everyone was safe and successful at filling their freezer with venison. While we could talk about the incredible senses that God created in the whitetail deer, as each hunter knows, instead I would like to talk about a mostly unseen parasite found on the deer population – the neotropical deer ked. Let’s look at what God created in this amazing member of the fly family. The deer ked is described as an ectoparasite (a fancy word for living on the outside of the host) of the white-tailed deer in the southeastern United States. It is an introduced species of biting fly originally found in Europe, Siberia and China. It is found as a parasite on whitetail deer, elk, horses, cattle and humans. On humans, the deer ked will engorge on blood in 15 to 25 minutes. The bite is barely noticeable and leaves very little trace at first. Within three days, the site develops into a hard, reddened welt at the site where the bite occurred. The accompanying itch is intense and may last 14 to 20 days. Currently, deer keds are not known to carry any diseases to humans, although some research shows that Lyme disease may be transmitted by them. Adult deer keds are about 1/8 – 3/16 inches in length. Its head, thorax and abdomen are flattened and leathery in appearance. The head and …

Scuba Equipped Flies

Occasionally, from the world of nature comes life forms so unusual that if Hollywood were to create some imaginary animal with these features, everyone would think how ridiculous that would be. Yet, in order to confound the skeptic and encourage the child of God, the Almighty Creator gave some animals unbelievable features. God created Alkali flies (Ephydra hians), the most unusual fly to live in one of the most difficult environments that one could imagine – Mono Lake in California. It is a 13-mile-wide volcanic basin into which water from streams in the surrounding mountains flow, but there are no streams out of which the water can flow. Evaporation is the only way that water leaves, and this increases the salt content of the waters just like it does in the Dead Sea, which suffers the same problem. The waters in Mono Lake are so concentrated with salt and minerals that it’s venomous water that is nearly pure lye. It is twice as salty as sea water in which no fish, frogs, snakes or other usual lake life lives, but God was able to easily make a fly that cannot only live there but thrive. Alkali flies are one of the important parts of the food chain at Mono Lake and were even food for native Americans who lived in the area long ago. Most of the birds there feed on these flies. The fly lives two of its three life stages entirely submerged. This is not that unusual as …

Dolphin Talk

Dolphins are members of a unique group of animals in whom God has instilled some utterly amazing abilities. They are in a group of animals called toothed whales or odontoceti that have the ability to communicate in ways that defy any explanation other than a Divine Creator instilling that trait in them. Let’s look at just a little of what God has created in these mammals. Dolphins use their communication abilities for sound production and reception, for navigation in dark and murky waters, and for food location. The variety of clicks, moans, trills, grunts, squeaks and whistles are made without vocal cords. The voice box or larynx of the toothed whales does lack vocal cords but does appear to be able to create some of the sounds. They also have a region called the nasal sacs. This area has special structures called sphincter muscles that help produce sounds. The sounds themselves are probably made when air is moved in the windpipe and the nasal sacs. During some vocalizations, the dolphin releases air from the blow hole, but most scientists believe this is for visual affect and not necessarily connected to making the sound. The sounds are produced in the frequency range from 0.25 to 150 hertz. It seems that this wide range of pitch is used by dolphins for various jobs. The lowest ranges seemed to be reserved for social communications and most are in the 40 hertz region. The higher frequencies in the 40 to 150 hertz clicks are …

The Leafcutter Bee

When God created the creatures of the field during the week of creation, He made a whole host of amazing creatures that included the insects. Among the multitudes of insects God created are some creatures that almost defy imagination. Among those is a member of the bee family – the leafcutter bee – that is largely unknown by most people. Let’s take a look at the some of the amazing features of this creature. As a fairly unremarkable bee, it is many times overlooked as just a fly. They are about 2/3 the size of a common honeybee and not as colorful. The leafcutter bee has an abdomen that is covered with many bristles – called scopa – which are used to carry pollen. This makes spreading pollen easier from one flower to another, which makes the leafcutter bee one of a gardener’s best pollinators. In fact, the US Agricultural Research Service says that in the alfalfa fields and in greenhouses, one leafcutter bee can do the job of at least twenty honeybees! So, it is a very important insect for farmers’ crops. The leafcutter bee is a solitary bee, unlike most bees with which we are familiar with, like the honeybee. Living a solo lifestyle causes all responsibilities that are normally shared by members of a hive to be done by the female. Even more unusual is the fact that males of the species live for just a few weeks and have only one function – reproduction. The female …

The Water Monkey

“And it shall be that every living thing that moves, wherever the rivers go, will live. There will be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters go there; for they will be healed, and everything will live wherever the river goes” (Ezekiel 47:9 NKJV). God, through the prophet Ezekiel, confirmed that in the creation of the world, He created the rivers of the earth to bring forth many different types of fish. Let’s look at one of these marvels of creation – the water monkey. The common name water monkey has been given to the silver arowana because it is a very capable jumper. It can leap out of the water in the rivers where it lives to catch insects on plants above the water and even birds that fly low over the river or are perched on low hanging limbs. Other arowana have been caught with bats, mice and snakes in their stomachs, but its normal diet is small fish, insects and other floating or swimming animals. Sometimes the arowana is called the dragon fish. As it reaches its adult size, which can be 2-3 feet, the large armor-like scales reflect red, blue and green colors from lights that shine on it. The dragon fish also has two small barbels or whiskers on its lower lip, giving them a very ancient dragon-like appearance. The barbels allow the arowana essentially to see in total darkness by feeling the water around it. In addition, God also created them with very keen …

The Electric Eel – God’s Taser

The electric eel (Electrophorus electricus) is indeed an amazing creation. God in His infinite wisdom came close with the creation of this fish to stretching the limits of man’s imagination with the abilities He designed into this animal. Let’s take a look at the new, recent discoveries about the electric eel. As a predator in the waterways of South America, it is capable of unleashing a potent electrical jolt to zap its prey helpless. However, this zap is not used merely to stun other fish as has been thought for many years. Its abilities go far beyond just a mere stunning discharge. Indeed, the Master Designer gave eels abilities far beyond something that crude. Let’s look at the electric eel and marvel at the Designer’s handiwork. For people not familiar with electric eels, they have serpentine bodies with flattened heads and can reach lengths of 6 to 8 feet. They are native to the Amazon and Orinoco river basins. They possess electric organs with specialized cells called electrocytes that serve as the biological batteries that can generate and discharge up to 600 volts to subdue prey and defend against their predators. This God-given ability is amazing, but it is nothing in light of the studies about their use and control of this electrical ability. New studies have shown that eels use electrical generating ability to exert a form of remote control over their victims, causing fish that may be hiding to twitch when a small electrical discharge is emitted. This, …

The Desert Pupfish

In the caves, streams and small rivers around the world, especially in desert regions, is a group of fish called pupfish. They belong to a group of fish called killifish, and they have some very amazing abilities that God created in them. Let’s take a quick look at why these fish have been called extremophiles by scientists and more specifically as euryhaline and eurythermal. The desert pupfish was created to tolerate an extreme range of environmental conditions. The word euryhaline refers to the ability to live in a wide range of salinities. They can survive in dissolved salts ranging from zero or freshwater to as high as 70 parts per thousand. As a reference, seawater has a salinity of 35 parts per thousand. Eurythermal is the ability to withstand a wide range of temperatures. The pupfish can withstand temperatures from 39 degrees Fahrenheit to 95 degrees Fahrenheit. Not only can these fish withstand these wide ranges, but they also tolerate very rapid changes in both salinity and temperature. This sets them apart from most every other fish in the world. Besides the ability to tolerate a rapid change of temperature and salt content, the pupfish can also withstand dissolved oxygen as low as 0.13 ppm (parts per million). The average dissolved oxygen level most fish endure is somewhere between 2.5 and 10 ppm. So, God gave these fish an incredible ability to withstand some wide extremes of conditions. Besides the tolerance for a wide range of salt and temperature swings, …

Disguised Squirrels

God designed amazing features and abilities when He created animals. Among reptiles that have the ability to shed skin as they grow are rattlesnakes. They keep the rattle, the pit organ with its infrared heat detectors and Jacobson’s organ with its advance sense of smell. The rattlesnake hunts many different small animals, but among its common food are ground and wood squirrels. These small rodents have been designed to cope well with the attacks by their mortal enemy. Let’s look at the ways God has designed the squirrels with the ability to avoid being lunch for the rattlesnake. California ground and wood squirrels have been given very sly ways to avoid being detected and eaten for lunch. These squirrels have been observed practicing unique camouflage techniques. One just recently observed in these squirrels is snakeskin eating and skin bathing. In a recent report in the journal Animal Behavior, Donald Owings and Barbara Clucas detail the practice of skin eating. It seems that in order to give the squirrels a fighting chance against the extraordinary hunting abilities of the rattlesnake, God has given the squirrels a few tricks of their own. The squirrels were observed picking up shed skins of rattlesnakes and eating them, then licking their fur, which is thought to transfer the smell of the snake to the fur of the squirrel. Snakes have really poor eyesight. This would confuse the snake’s sense of smell by “snake smell” on what must surely act and look like a squirrel. However, the …

The Miracle of Sap

As we come to late winter and early spring, a tradition begins in many Appalachian communities, that of collecting maple sap to boil down into maple syrup. As we can see from the psalmist, the Lord created the trees that are full of sap. “The trees of the Lord are full of sap; the cedars of Lebanon, which he hath planted” (Psalms 104:16). Explaining this process has not been as easy as scientists might have liked, so let’s take a look at the mystery of the rising sap of the maple tree. Plants were created with a pipe-like vascular tissue that provides them with the crucial tubes through which water and nutrients flow. The vascular system is composed of two types of specialized tissue called xylem (which transports water and dissolved minerals) and phloem (which conducts food from the leaves to all other parts of the plant). The xylem is located more closely to the center of the plant, and wood is the best known of the xylem tissues. It is mostly composed of dead cells with a tube-like structure. The phloem, however, consists mostly of living cells. Located closer to the outside of the plant and just under the bark in trees, the phloem moves organic nutrients (known as photosynthate). The dependence of the plant upon phloem is why trees can be killed simply be removing a circular layer of bark around the trunk. There are many other types of supporting cells that work together to allow these tubes to function …

The Incredible Arctic Ground Squirrel

Well, the deep freeze of winter is upon us and I found out again how uncomfortable clearing sidewalks is at -12 degrees, but that is what we expect in West Virginia winters. Winter is also hard on the creatures that God created, and He has designed them with some amazing methods of surviving the cold winter season. Let’s look at one such design in the arctic ground squirrel. The arctic ground squirrel is one of many animals that God designed to survive in the extreme cold region we call the arctic, where temperatures regularly fall to -40° F to -50° F in winter. Yet, we find many animals God created with the ability to survive these temperatures. Some have especially designed hair to insulate the body, while others find a shelter and winter over in that special state we call hibernation. The arctic ground squirrel was designed with extreme physical features. The arctic ground squirrel in the late summer and fall of the year begins to build body fat by foraging on tundra plants, seeds and fruits. By the end of the summer, the males will begin to store food in their burrows so that in spring they will have a reserve of edible food until new growth begins in late spring. During the hibernation of the arctic ground squirrel, it can drop its brain to just above freezing and the rest of the body temperature to subzero. Its heart rate drops as low as one beat per minute. The …

The Butterfly Fish

Nothing is more beautiful during the late spring and summer than the appearance of butterflies that float so gracefully around the flowers in our gardens and yards. Indeed, some of them have such amazing lives, but I would like to turn our attention to the butterfly fish! Butterfly fish live in freshwater streams in the rainforest of Congo, Africa. The fish is relatively small, being no more than five to six inches long. Butterfly fish normally are very slow moving and prefer to spend their time lying around near the surface in floating plants. They are like many slow-moving, surface-dwelling fish in that they are able to use their swim bladder to breathe air by gulping air at the surface. When seen from above, the widespread pectoral fins of the butterfly fish look just like the decorative wings of its namesake insect, the butterfly. The fins are a silvery brownish green and patterned with dark markings. Yet, these fins have other uses than just being decorative and given to this fish by the Creator. When it is attacked, it jumps up and seemly flies out of the water as a predator attempts to eat it. The large pectoral fins (the fins located on the sides of a fish) flap and glide up out of the water and away from danger. You can relate this to the jumps out of the water of the flying fish in the oceans. People who have witnessed these jumps say that the nearest thing to …

The Pink Fairy Armadillo

On day six of creation, God created the beasts of the earth (Genesis 1:25). Among beasts that God created is one on the extreme end of its family tree, the pink fairy armadillo, also called a “sand-swimmer” because it is said to move through soil as fast as a fish swims in water. It is an animal that deserves a better understanding of its physical features and lifestyle. Let’s look into the life and features of this “beast of the field.” The pink fairy armadillo is the smallest member of armadillo family, only being 3.5 to 4.5 inches long and weighing about 4.2 ounces. Its life is spent in the deserts of central Argentina and can be found inhabiting sandy plains, dunes and scrubby grassland habitats. It gets its name from the pink color of the shell, which comes from underlying blood vessels that show up through the shell, giving it a pale rose or pink color. The pink fairy armadillos have small eyes, silky yellowish white fur and a flexible dorsal shell that is solely attached to its body by a thin dorsal membrane.  This animal is nocturnal and lives largely alone. It has a diet of mainly insects, worms, snails and various plant parts that it finds chiefly by the sense of smell and hearing. It’s burrowing ability comes from its two front claws, which are very strong and very tough. Heavy storms and rainfall will force the pink fairy armadillos to come out of their burrows where …

The Elephant-Nose Fish

In the creation of the fish, God showed a great deal of innovation in giving them amazing abilities. The fish that we will look at in this article is the elephant-nose fish, which has a unique ability to detect electrical fields that are very faint and even use those fields for talking. Let’s look at this amazing fish. The elephant-nose fish (or more properly the freshwater elephant-nose fish), are freshwater fish native to Africa. It is a large family with around 200 members in the species. These fish are also known for having a large brain size and unusually high intelligence that seems to give it special talents. The elephant-nose fish is a diverse family, with a wide range of different sizes and shapes. The smallest adults of this group are just 2 inches in length while the largest reach up to almost 5 feet long. All of them do, however, have a number of unique features in common. First, the cerebellum is greatly enlarged, giving them a brain to body size ratio similar to that of people. This is likely to be related to the interpretation of bio-electrical signals that living things give off. Some of the species possess modifications of the mouthparts to facilitate feeding upon small invertebrates buried in muddy bottoms of streams. The shape and structure of these mouthparts are part of what leads to the popular name of elephant-nose fish. The extensions to the mouthparts usually consist of a fleshy elongation attached to the lower …

The Ancient Beetles

No, we are not talking about the “Lads from Liverpool” in later life, but the hard-shelled, creepy crawly and, for some gross, “bugs.” Beetles, the Order Coleoptera, comprise the largest order of any of all of the animals in God’s creation. There are 300,000 currently known beetles with some estimates of as many as 4-5 million unnamed species still to be discovered around the world. Some zoologists feel that beetles may make up over half of all animals on earth; so, they are very important in the natural world. Scientists are making news with some interpretations about the beetles that they had not predicted from their view of a gradual evolution of life. Of course, as creationists, we acknowledge that the creation of all living things occurred during the week-long creation event with all of the other life forms that have been discovered to date. Let’s take a general look at the beetles to see where the atheistic scientists of the world have erred in their interpretations. The Order Coleoptera was named by Aristotle and means “sheath-winged,” which refers to part of the hard covering over the wings—part of the exoskeleton insects have. Beetles are insects as they have the characteristic six jointed legs of all animals in this group. As with many insects, beetles have complete metamorphoses, going through the egg, larva (several immature phases called instars), pupa and finally the adult stage. Research into the beetles using fossils and DNA evidence of living beetles has led the atheistic …

God Created One Honey of a Bird

Among the amazing animals God created is one that has an understanding about how to use humans and other animals to get to its favorite meal. The animal we are going to talk about is a bird, the honeyguide of Africa. These birds have the amazing ability to get food by leading humans and other animals to bee hives. Then, when the hive is opened, the bird has supper. Let’s look at some of the amazing details of the honeyguide. The honeyguide belongs to the family of birds called the indicatoridae, which was named for the bird’s ability to indicate where a bee hive can be found. Native tribesman know that if they listen to and follow these birds for miles into the bush, they will find a supply of rich honey. The honeyguide can memorize where each beehive can be found over a huge area of the bush. When these birds need food, they will find a human to lead to the food. By giving loud, attention-demanding chattering and flitting nervously around people, the bird will signal the need for the human to follow. The bird will then fly a little ahead and call loudly; when the human catches up, the bird flies on. This process will continue maybe for many miles until the bird reaches where the hive is. Then, the bird will change its call and sit in one place near the hive. Once the tribesman has opened the hive and gotten his honey, the bird will …

Biblical Morality Proves the Existence of God

Today, we wish to look at proof for the existence of Yahweh as God of our universe, which also proves the divine origin of that book we call the Bible. That evidence is the standard of morality found within the holy Word of God. Nowhere else in the entire world does one find the high standard of morality that is set forth in the Bible. No other so-called Scripture demands of man the high standard of intellectual, emotional and physical morality that the Bible does. Man, on his own, could not have written a book with such a standard of morality, because it is far above what most men are able to attain, or even desire to attain. Man, on his own, would not have written a book with such high standards of morality because he does not like that which makes him feel guilty and demands that he repent and change his lifestyle for that of a higher and purer way of living. This within itself proves that the Bible is no mere human product and that it came from a much higher Source than the mind and mores of man. Let us look at an example or two that will illustrate that of which we speak. Let us look at the matter of murder. While the Bible plainly admits there are different kinds of murder depending on the intent of the person who takes the life of another, nowhere does it ever justify such activity. In the Old Testament, even in the case of …

Proof That God Exists!

The Psalmist stated that only a fool would conclude the God does not exist (Psalm 14:1). The apostle Paul wrote that the created universe provides sufficient testimony to the existence of God (Romans 1:19-20). Of course, with the acknowledgement of God comes also divine revelation with its instructions for which mankind is accountable to God. It is no wonder, then, that mankind is anxious to conclude that there is no God. However, the evidence in the physical world, properly and honestly handled, testifies of the existence of God. We briefly consider herein these evidences that God exists: the existence of the universe, the existence of morals and the existence of design in the universe. The existence of the universe proves that God exists. Reasoning that God exists from consideration of the existence of the universe is called the Cosmological Argument. One dictionary definition of “cosmology” is “a theory or doctrine describing the natural order of the universe” (Merriam). Another definition of “cosmology” “is the study of the Universe in its totality, and by extension, humanity’s place in it” (“Cosmology”). Respecting the existence of the universe, “there are only three options [as to its origin]: (1) it is eternal; (2) it created itself from nothing; or (3) it was created” (Harrub 15). The universe is expanding similar to the ripples in water moving away from the entry point of a pebble tossed into a puddle. This indicates that the universe had a beginning. Therefore, the universe is not eternal! Evolutionary scientists also readily …

The Coolest Form of Life!

A common saying today by young and old alike is “Chill Out.” Of course, it is meant like counting to 10 to taking five deep breaths, which gives us a chance to calm down and reflect on our actions. Indeed the inspired Scriptures admonish us to “Be slow to speak,” which reflects this same idea. But for one life form that God created, the phrase “Chill Out” is its way of living. Let’s examine the coolest organism alive on earth today. From the McMurdo Dry Valley of Antarctica 800 miles from the South Pole comes one of the most unusual life forms known to man. In what appears to be one of the most inhospitable climates on the planet we find living things. The temperature never climbs above 4 degrees above freezing. Yet, even in the ice, there have been found living things. God has designed even in this frigid environment a form of bacteria that can thrive under these conditions. While studying many of the frozen lakes found on Antarctica, the teams of scientists drilling down into the ice found colonies of bacteria. Down more than 20 feet in the ice, whole colonies of different types of bacteria were found. These included cyanobacteria (blue-green algae), some nitrogen-fixing species, and other undescribed varieties. It appears that this colony, made up of different species of bacteria, is necessary for the survival of each one of the species. Each of the variety of bacteria has a different metabolic mechanism that allows it …

Physical Evidence for the Flood

The worldwide flood of Noah’s time changed the appearance of the world forever! Second Peter 3:5 says that “…the world that then was PERISHED…” (EMP. mine). The world that Noah and his family stepped off on after their time on the ark looked nothing like the one they lived on prior to the deluge. What physical evidence can we look at today to see that the world was covered by water? Let’s look at some of the evidence that would appear to have been left by the flood, but since no one alive today saw the pre-flood world, it is all speculation. First, ninety percent of the earth’s surface is covered by sedimentary rock. This is the type of rock that is formed by water. Sandstone, limestone, conglomerates, etc. are all present in very large quantities on the surface. When we build a new road through the mountains, cut clefts, and expose rock layers, most often they are sedimentary. This type of rock is so common that it is very likely that most people have never seen any other type of rock. Now the skeptics say that some of these rocks could not be formed in a flood, but they still say that water was necessary, and during the flood, we had plenty of water! Second, the abundance of fossils is another strong evidence for a worldwide flood. This has been one of my favorite hobbies over the past 15 years, and my basement shows it. I have lugged rocks …

God Created the Endocrine System

“My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them” (Psalm 139:15-16). David praises God for the marvelous creation of parts of his body that he knew nothing about. Indeed, today we know much more about the parts of the body; and, yet, many praise God less now than then for his wonderful gift of our bodies. One system that David could know nothing about is the endocrine system. Indeed many people today know very little about this odd assortment of very powerful organs. They are collectively as important as the nervous system in controlling the body. Let’s look at how these organs work in the body. The organs of the endocrine system are all glands; that is, they are able to secrete chemicals that go into the bloodstream and work elsewhere in the body. The chemicals, called hormones, regulate many systems of the body. In one of those “secret places” David spoke about is the pituitary gland. It is located at the base of the brain attached to the one part of it. This connection between the nervous and endocrine systems allows our brain to control this system. The pituitary is called the “master gland” because it makes chemicals that affect other glands in the body. These chemicals affect everything from how tall …

Plants

After assembling the dry land and the water together, God now begins to fill this land. He does this first with plants. There are three types or categories of plants that God creates: grass, herbs and fruit bearing trees. With the spoken Word of God, we find coming into existence one of the truly marvelous creations that are necessary for the survival of our planet. Let’s look at some of the truly unique features of plants and be awed by the power and the wisdom of God. The first and most obvious thing that we notice about plants is their greenness. This is a characteristic that all plants have in common. It is caused by the pigment chlorophyll. This molecule in itself is truly unique, for it is one of a small number of chemicals that can trap the energy from light and make it available to the plant. There are five types of chlorophyll, named chlorophyll a, b, c, d & e. Each one of them has a slightly different absorption spectrum. The unique arrangement of the molecule allows it to be excited and capture an electron of energy that will be stored for other uses. There are now known to be two different energy-capturing systems in plants. They are called Photosystem 1 and Photosystem 2. Each are slightly different built to work together to accomplish what God gave it to do, which is to get radiant energy and hold it so it can be available for making chemical …

God Created A Young Earth

The Bible, through its genealogies, indicates that the earth is very young. The inspired Scriptures say that creation happened in six literal days. What scientific evidence do we find that this is so? Let’s examine in brief detail some of the many evidences. The Moon Dust Argument: If the earth and the moon were created at the same time, the amount of dust drifting from space to the moon’s surface would have built up very little. No erosion occurs on the moon, and we saw from the Apollo lunar missions that only about a half inch of dust is present. The moon was created not long ago. The Moon’s Existence Argument: If the earth and the moon were not created recently, then the gravitational pull of the earth on the moon would have done one of two things. One, it would have gotten so weak the moon would have escaped, or two, it would have been pulled so close to the earth that it would have torn apart. Oil and Gas Presence: The rock that holds oil and gas in the ground cannot keep it there forever. Small amounts of these substances are seeping to the surface all the time. How could millions of years pass without all of the oil and gas leaving? The answer is it couldn’t. Suns Shrinkage: The sun, like a huge lump of coal, is getting smaller as long as it burns (not really about the process). This decrease in size, if remaining uniform, would cause the earth and …

God Created Ants: The Oldest Farmers in the World

“Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: Which having no guide, overseer or ruler, Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest” (Proverbs 6:6-8). With these words, God’s inspired writer pointed out thousands of years ago a truth that is being marveled at today. In the technologically advanced and busy world we live in and hustle around, from time to time we scientists “discover” truths that reconfirm what God so plainly said. And the ant has proven time and time again this fact. We have known for years of the marvelous complexity of the ant colonies, how with unfailing energy, the colony goes about its way of life, communicating without words what needs to be done. Each ant seemingly knows what it is to do and then does it. Whether scouting food sources, gathering the food, construction of new living areas, guarding the nest, tending the queen’s every need or laying the eggs to sustain the colony, each ant works to accomplish its “assigned” task. And so, when the inspired writer wrote that we should be workers, busy about our business, he could not have picked a better example than the ant. But, in recent years it has come to light that God really knew something else about some of the ant species that we are just learning. “Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest” was thought to include only ants’ collection of food …

God Created Physical Evidence for the Flood

The worldwide flood of Noah’s time changed the appearance of the world forever! Second Peter 3:6 says that “…the world that then was PERISHED…” (EMP, mine). The world that Noah and his family stepped off on after their time on the ark looked nothing like the one they had lived on prior to the deluge. What physical evidence can we look at today to see that the world was covered by water? Let’s look at some of the evidence that would appear to have been left by the flood, but since no one alive today saw the pre-flood world, it is all speculation. First, ninety percent of the earth’s surface is covered by sedimentary rock. This is the type of rock that is formed by water. Sandstone, limestone, conglomerates, etc. are all present in very large quantities on the surface. When we build a new road through the mountains and cut clefts and expose rock layers, most often they are sedimentary. This type of rock is so common, it is very likely that most people have never seen any other type of rock. Now the skeptics say that some of these rocks could not be formed in a flood, but they still say that water was necessary, and during the floodwater, we had plenty! Second, the abundance of fossils is another strong evidence for a worldwide flood. This has been one of my favorite hobbies over the past 15 years, and my basement shows it. I have huge rocks containing evidence of …

God Created the Ark

God instructed Noah to build an ark in which his family and all the animals in whose nostrils was the breath of life would be saved. This was God’s plan to protect the future of the world, and so long as Noah did EXACTLY as commanded, it would work. The ark has been the subject of much attention. Was it big enough to hold all the animals? Where did it come to rest? What did it look like? Has it been found? Let’s look at some of the things that we can know for sure about the ark. It was big enough to hold all of the animals that God wanted on it! The size of this barge-like vessel was huge. Go to Genesis 6 and read the dimensions and imagine just how large it was. Remember also that not all animals needed to be on the ark, only those in whose nostrils was the breathe of life. This leaves out a huge number of animals, if we are thinking that “all” animals on earth needed to be on the ark. Also remember that three fourths of all animals alive on earth today would fit in a fair sized house with room to spare; THEY ARE THE INSECTS! One male and one female ant do not take up much space! Also, remember that not every breed of “dog” needed to be present on the ark, just the genotype from which the “dogs” could develop. What about the food supply for so many animals? …

God Created Herbs for Food

As we read the account of creation in Genesis chapter 1, there is one unusual command that God gives to Adam and Eve that is hard for us to understand. Let’s read what the inspired writer says. “And God said, Behold I have given you every herb bearing seed; which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so” (Genesis 1:29-30). God here appears to limit the first people to a vegetarian diet. He also limits all beasts, fowls and creeping things to eating nothing but plants. The Scripture here is very clear as to exactly what was being commanded. Man and animals are to eat as food nothing but plants. The word “meat” in the original Greek is ‘oklah,’ it is used 18 times and is defined as ‘food, eating, devour and consume’! It would appear that God wants only fruits and green herbs eaten as the source of nutrition. The very next time that this word is used is also very important to this original command. Let’s read that use also. “And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth. And …

The Leaves of the Tree

“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” (Genesis1:11). With these words, God brought into existence the plants upon the earth. These organisms are critical for the existence of life on this planet. They capture sunlight in a process called photosynthesis and convert it to sugar for animals’ use. They also, as a byproduct of this marvelous process, make oxygen, also necessary for our existence. These processes occur on trees in structures called leaves. Besides these, plants do so much for us, providing shade that we can rest under, cleaning our air and absorbing sounds in our busy cities. But upon closer examination of these marvelous designs of creation that we call leaves, we can see so much more of the wisdom of God than is noticed at first glance. With the spring and summer come storms that blow and tear homes and vegetation alike. How do trees covered with leaves withstand these storms that would seek to tear and uproot? Scientists have discovered that in the very aerodynamics of leaves the evidence of the Creator, who knew exactly what would be necessary to protect the trees during a storm. The trees must have a good covering of leaves in order to take best advantage of the sunlight hitting them, but this works against the tree in a storm providing resistance that could break the tree. Of course, …

God Created the Genesis Flood

“And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them”( Genesis 6:5-7). God’s perfect creation was ruined when sin entered the world. After Adam and Eve’s expulsion from the garden, and Cain’s killing his brother, it appears that man very quickly gave himself over to every type of sin possible, so much so that “every imagination of the thoughts of his heart were evil continually.” It is hard to comprehend how this could happen, with Adam alive to talk to, and with God speaking to the fathers, it does not seem possible. But it happened, and now God repents he ever made man and vows to destroy man, beasts and fowls. He says. “And Behold, I even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die” (Genesis 6:17). “A flood of waters upon the earth” was decreed by God, which would destroy all life that breathes air that was outside the ark, …

Man Is the Image of God

“And God said, Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness; So God created man in his image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Genesis 1:26-27). Hominid (man-like creature) evolution has produced three principal levels of morphological organization linked by intermediate stages. There are the australopithecines (literally “southern-apes,” in fact “ape men”) and pithecanthropines (literally “ape-men,” in fact “true-men”), and the sapients (literally “wise-men,” in fact “modern men”). The intermediate stages between these major groups and the relationship that exist between them are all the subject of much research at the present time. (Michael Day, The Fossil History of Man) “We’re all just lucky to be here!” Steven J. Gould As you can see when we start to talk about where humans came from, there is a wide range of ideas. The atheist evolutionist says that man is just a product of “lucky” accidents that have occurred on the way to us becoming, for now, the most intelligent form of life on the earth. The creationist says that we are the crowning event in the creation of the world, made in the likeness of God. These two viewpoints are worlds apart and each one when believed causes us to think and act in a particular manner. Let’s examine the end results of each of these viewpoints. The evolutionist lists in the arrival of man at where we are now primitive primate, Proconsul, Ramapithecus, Australopithecus afarensis, Homo habilis, Homo erectus and Homo sapien as our …

God Created the Skeletal System

“…dividing asunder of soul and spiritand of the joints and marrow…” (Hebrews 4:12) When the writer of the book of Hebrews penned these words under divine inspiration, he pointed out the very basic nature of the skeletal system that forms the foundation for our bodies. It was clear that it would take something very powerful to separate the soul from the spirit and the joints of the skeletal system from the marrow that is contained within the bones. We know that as these verses say, God’s Word is just such a powerful tool. Let’s spend just a few minutes looking at the marvelous creation that contains the joints and marrow, our skeletal system. The structural framework that supports our bodies is the skeletal system. It is composed of many different parts, but the main component is the bones. There are 206 bones, more or less, in the adult human body. In the newborn baby, they will have not yet grown together on to each other. This can be seen in what is called the “soft spot” or fontanels of the baby’s head. Each one of us might have extra bones or be missing a few, and there are people with more ribs than others, but males contrasted with females. We can have 12 or 13 pairs of ribs, but the only man to have one less rib was Adam because God removed it during surgery. So, today, men do not have one less rib than women. The bones are amazing …

God Created Cells That Make Waves

“Don’t make waves,” is a common saying to have someone not disturb the status quo of a particular situation. In the human body, there are places where you want waves to be made. Let’s look at waves with are necessary for life. The human body contains many amazingly different types of cells that carry on many unique functions. These cells are being studied to reveal the roles that they have in the body. Among some of the most interesting of these cells are those that control the rhythm of the movements needed within the body. The best examples of this are the heart cells and the cells of the digestive system. Let’s take a quick look at the rhythm makers of our bodies. In order for the heart to work efficiently, the muscle cells must operate in a coordinated fashion from the top to the bottom. To make this happen, the heart contains special cells that serve as the pacemaker for the rest of the muscles. These specialized rhythm keepers are located in the right atrium and are called the Sinoatrial Node or S-A Node. These cells initiate an electrical impulse that causes a contraction of the muscle cells surrounding them. This triggers an impulse that travels down other conductive cells into an area between the chambers of the heart called the Artir-Ventricular Node or A-V Node. The muscle contraction then occurs in a very fluid manner in the heart, allowing the heart to push the blood through it into …

God Created the Digestive System

The digestive system of our bodies is a very central part of our daily lives. We give it much attention, especially as mealtime rolls around. Hunger is indeed one of the most powerful human needs. People who hunger and thirst will indeed make every effort possible to fill those needs, including some very extreme measures, even resorting to murder. When Esau was hungry, he was willing to sell his birthright for a bowl of porridge. That may be why Jesus used this very symbolism to teach how we should desire his Word, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled” (Matthew 5:6). While we might know that we need to eat regularly and enjoy doing so, we generally know very little about this amazing creation in our bodies. Let’s examine some of the basics of how the organs of this system, which are more than thirty feet in length, function to supply the cells of the body wit the materials necessary to keep them alive. This involves some very intricate activities. We are very familiar with the function of the tongue and taste buds, as they make eating the enjoyable activity it is. Once our food has been chewed and tasted, it is swallowed as a “bolus” or ball of food. The esophagus is a muscular organ that pushes our food to the stomach. If we were standing on our heads or even in zero gravity like space, we could still swallow. Once into …

God Created the Muscle System

Within the body of man and most animals, God has created a group of organs that causes a uniquely animal characteristic, that of movement. The more than 600 muscles in our body allow, among other things, graceful movements, movement of food and even cause our passage into this physical world at birth. Let’s examine how movement is made possible by the muscles of our bodies. There are three distinct types of muscles: the skeletal muscles, the cardiac muscle and smooth muscles. Each of these has been designed with a very specific type of makeup that allows them to function in very different ways. The overall functions of the muscle system include movement, heat production, stabilization of body position and protection. The skeletal muscles are also called voluntary or striated muscle. This refers to how they are controlled and how they look under microscopic examination. Basically, they attach to bones and cause the skeletal system to move. They are controlled by direct signals of the brain when we want to move in a certain way. They contain two very distinct types of proteins — one thick and one thin. This arrangement causes a striped appearance, giving it the name striated muscle. These muscles can produce some tremendous forces, as in the case of “hysterical strength” where humans have done superhuman feats. This is probably possible because the muscle filaments all function at the same time, instead of alternating on and off. The smooth muscles are also called involuntary or visceral muscles. …

God Created the Spider’s Silk

The old saying, “Oh what a tangled web we weave,” refers to the mess into which we can get ourselves when we do not follow God’s pattern for truthfulness. But, it also refers to one of the truly unique creations that man so far can only look at in amazement, the spider’s silk used to make the spider’s web. Man has for many years taken notice of this substance that the spider makes. It is one of the most displeasing experiences to be walking in the woods or in an unused corner of the basement and run into a web with one’s face. We have all “been there and done that,” and most of us do not look forward to our next experience. However, in the spider’s silk, scientists have uncovered one of the most amazing substances in the world and one that they would love to be able to copy. Silk is found in many different animals in the world, but that found in the Arachnids or spiders is unique. Man has found ways to collect silk made by the larvae of the silk moth and to put it to good use for products used by man. If it could be collected, the spider’s silk would be some of the most valuable material ever used by man. It is stronger than material man has devised. It is stronger than steel, Kevlar and any other natural product. As of yet, the collection of spider silk for use by man has …

God Created the Waterproof Beetle

In God’s creation of the world, he created many unique and interesting animals. Each one of the creations is a testimony to his handiwork. The “submarine beetle” is a good example. The salt-marsh beetle as it is more commonly known, is among a very small number of this earth’s creatures that can inhabit the intertidal zone. The area of the ocean’s coastline is alternately flooded with salt water and then exposed to air. This makes living in the habitat a very difficult problem. It is neither land nor sea but a mixture of both. And here the salt-marsh beetle was created to find its niche or way of living. The salt-marsh beetle has no special features, like some living in the zone, that allow it to live in the intertidal zone. What it does have is a good building ability. It lives burrowed down in the sand in waterproof tubes. These tubes are designed to provide the ultimate in underwater living accommodations. About 2 and 1/2 inches deep, each contains a living chamber, a water disposal area and an egg chamber in the females burrow. The chamber must be dug into a very special type of mud called blue mud, which will hold its shape when sculpted into various shapes. The burrow entrance is dug at an angle which offsets the entrance from the burrow below. This is part of the answer for how the salt-marsh beetle keeps water out of the burrow when the tide comes in. But not …

The Bombardier Beetle

When Christians look at the world around them, we see many marvelous works of God. Each one of these is evidence of the great designer. But there are some that go well beyond just the usual design evidence to the degree that explaining these organisms in any other way is impossible. Let’s look at one of those examples, the bombardier beetle. The Bombardier Beetle belongs to the genus Brachinus. They are small beetles about one half inch long. They live in most temperate climates, but are found mainly in Europe. Their most unique feature comes from the mechanism that God has provided them with for defense. They are able to defend themselves against animals many times their own size, including man. They do this by shooting at the attacker up to 15 to 20 times every few minutes, and the story of this “beetle bomb” is nothing short of amazing. The bombardier beetle has two glands in the abdomen that it uses to make and store two chemicals, hydroquinone and hydrogen peroxide. These chemicals when mixed together normally would produce an oxidation reaction that changes the nature of the chemicals. But these beetles also have an inhibitor, that has not been identified, that somehow prevents this. When the beetle is about to be attacked by a frog, mouse or other insect, he quickly squirts some of the mixture into twin combustion tubes, which can be aimed in a 360-degree radius. These tubes secrete two special chemicals called enzymes that cause …

Scientific Truths in His Word

There is indeed no one among us today who would say that God’s inspired Word, the Bible, was given to us as a textbook on scientific principles. It is a record of God’s dealings with man and our guidebook to eternal life. But, we should also not discount that as the Creator of the universe, when God comments about the physical world that, indeed, what he has said would be proven true by scientific standards. Many of these truths went against the popular “scientific facts” (opinions) of the time and were not proven to be true by fallible man for centuries after God first had them written. In this article, I would like to point out just a few of these truths that are revealed in God’s Word. These truths should help reinforce our faith and help us to convince others that, indeed, there is a God! We begin in the Book of Genesis, Chapter One, where God commands that all living things should, “Bring forth…after his kind.” This marvelous pearl of wisdom and scientific truth was not realized by modern man until the 1850’s when the great geneticist Gregor Mendel studies the reproduction in garden peas. Even when this work was done and it was proved that all things can only reproduce living things like themselves, the popular scientists of his day rejected the significance of this great truth. Gregor Mendel died not knowing he would be called the “Father of Modern Genetics.” Gregor Mendel may have described the mechanism, but God …

Venus Fly Trap

In the plant kingdom, there is a special group of plants that has sparked the imagination of many a science fiction writer. These plants, indeed, cause all of us to stop and look at them with a renewed sense of wonder at the great things the Lord has done. These plants are meat eaters — carnivorous plants. This is a characteristic that God gave these plants to help them obtain vital minerals in swampy soil low in nutrients. They include, among others, the Pitcher plant, the Sundew (which lives in West Virginia) and the most famous, the Venus Fly Trap. Let’s look at how this plant is able to detect and then catch something as elusive as a fly. The Venus Fly Trap is a rather small plant, generally only growing four or five inches tall. It does carry on photosynthesis and so is a true plant, but the soil in which it is designed to grow is very low in necessary minerals, so the plant just catches them. The structure that it uses is a modified leaf. It is hinged at the middle to form a trap. The outside of the trap is lined with long pike-like extensions that form a nice barred cage long before the trap has completely closed. The inside of the trap is lined with very important trigger hairs. These hairs are the “eyes” of the trap. The cells lining the leaf have special digestive enzymes that can be secreted when a victim is caught. …

The Truth of a Typical Evolutionary Story

“The Tallest Tale Is the textbook version of giraffe evolution — a bit of a stretch. By Stephen Jay Gould.” So began an article in the May 1996, issue of Natural History magazine that caught my eye. As I continued to read, it became clear that this popular evolutionary writer, in a long flowery essay, was trying to make one point clear. That how the giraffe, with its long neck and legs, came about by evolutionary processes is unexplainable, and that the version found in so many textbooks in schools, IS FALSE. Let’s listen to his words: I raise this theme because I recently realized that the primary “old standard,” the classic textbook illustration of our preferences for Darwinian evolution, arose in the same manner as an entrenched and ubiquitous example based on an assumed weight of historical tradition that simply does not exist…I made a survey of all major high-school textbooks in biology. Every single one — no exceptions — began its chapter on evolution by first discussing Lamarck’s theory of the inheritance of acquired characteristics, and then presenting Darwin’s theory of natural selection as a preferable alternative. All texts then use the same example to illustrate Darwinian superiority — the giraffe’s neck. (pp. 18-19) On the scientific accuracy of this theory: Giraffes, we are told, got long necks in order to browse the leaves at the tops of acacia trees, thereby winning access to a steady source of food available to no other mammal. Larmarck, the texts continue, explained the …

Instant Fish

Just add water to dirt and voila, Instant Fish in as little as 10 minutes! Sound like a commercial for some kind of new freeze-dried food product? Well, it’s not! It is one of the most unusual creatures that God has created. Let’s learn a little about this most unusual fish. The fish is called the Salamanderfish and lives in Australia. It is about 2 inches long and lives in small ponds and shallow lakes. It appears to be just a normal fish on first inspection but its most unusual feature does not become obvious until the long, dry, hot Australian summer. For as the water in its pond begins to dry up, this fish disappears. It will remain ‘gone’ until the rains return and then in a matter of a few minutes it appears. This fish could have been out of the water for several months until wet weather occurs again. How can a fish live out of water for months at a time? It appears that this marvelous creation of God has been given the ability to breathe through its skin. While under normal circumstances it breathes like all fish with its gills, during these long periods of drought the fish takes in oxygen directly through the skin. As the pond begins to dry up, the fish burrows down into the mud. Going deep enough that it never completely dries up, the fish can survive as long as its skin can stay damp. The fish probably goes into …

And God Created the World, How Long Ago?

There has been a great deal of focus in the popular press about the discoveries of the Hubble telescope. These discoveries are being interpreted in light of old age for the universe bias. Remember, most scientists today believe that life evolved from inanimate matter and this process would take vast eons of time. So, each new discovery is interpreted in a way to support a long period of time. This does not rule out other possibilities as being the right answer; it simply gives one explanation. Well, this question of how old the earth is, is an important one, for if it is not billions of years old, then evolution could not have had time to occur. Let’s look at what we can know about how old the earth is. First, the Bible does not tell when the earth was created! But when the Bible gives information that relates to the passing of time, IT IS NOT WRONG! It does this in the genealogies given in Genesis 5:1-2, Chronicles and the New Testament. By taking the ages given here, it is possible to get a time frame on how long ago the creation was. This number comes out in the 6,000 to 10,000 year range. This is a far cry from the 4.5 billion estimated by evolutionists. Is each of the genealogies exact in the names and dates given, no, but the problems that we know about are because of other lists that point them out. There may be some …

And God Created A Day

“And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.” Genesis 1:5 God in the Genesis one record tells of the events of the creation of the world. He also tells us how long he took to accomplish it. All of the events of the creation of the world were accomplished in six (6) days. Then on the seventh day God rested. There have been many in the world and now many in the church who question, if not outright deny that this could be true. Let me say at the outset of this article that I am of the belief that if God had chosen to use one one millionth of a second to create the universe he could have done it. For God is ALL POWERFUL! But if he in is his wisdom choose six 24-hour days then that is fine with me. Let’s look at the need for some to believe something other than what God has said, and briefly look at some of the evidence that we can know what God says is true. Why do we not believe that creation could be six days? Well, to put it very bluntly, the most popular and influential scientists believe that the earth shows evidence of billions of years, and so that is how old it must be. There are many who will believe the frail wisdom of man over the infallible knowledge of God, and …

And God Created the Atmosphere

“And God said, let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so” (Genesis 1:6-7). As God prepared the world for the presence of man, we see the creation of one of the fundamental components for his existence, the firmament. This part of the earth is defined by Strong’s Greek and Hebrew Dictionary as “the visible arch of the sky.” Today we would call this the atmosphere. What makes up the atmosphere and how important is it? Let’s look at a few of the things that we do know about it. The atmosphere is defined as the gaseous envelope surrounding a celestial body and has several functions. It protects everything underneath it from the ultraviolet radiation of the sun. It also holds the respiratory gases necessary for the life process of plants and animals. It serves as the source of water and part of the machinery that causes the water cycle. It functions to hold heat close to the earth, both as an insulator against too much heat and as an insulator to keep us warm. It also is the source of the mechanism that produces wind. So, it has some very important functions that we cannot do without. It is made up of mostly nitrogen (78%), but also contains oxygen (21%) and many …

And God Created . . . Light

“And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night” (Genesis 1:3-4). The world that God was creating for man, his special creature, needed to have some very unique features. We see described in this passage one of the most important and yet one of the most unusual parts of the creation. That being the creation of light. When we start to think about light, we have to first ask what it is? If you go to the dictionary, it will be defined something like this, “natural agent by which things are visible,” or “the electromagnetic wavelengths capable of producing the sensation of vision.” So what this says is that it is what we use to see with. But what does that tell us? That leaves many questions unanswered, such as “Where does light come from? What is light? What is the origin of light?” Have you ever thought about light? Scientists have spent much time trying to figure what it is and how it works, and they still are working only with theories. Well let’s take a look at a little of what we do know about light. Light is part of a larger group of wavelengths of energy called the “electromagnetic spectrum.” It is the part that we call the “visible spectrum.” The other parts of the electromagnetic spectrum include …

And God Created After His Kind

In verse 11 of the first chapter of Genesis, God after separating the dry land from the water, now set about to create the first living thing. The plants — herbs, trees and grass are created by God. With the plants God creates the first of his many successful living things, and in each case they are given a command that they have obeyed to this day. That command was for the “earth to bring forth abundantly . . . after his kind.” The truthfulness of this command in the world today is absolutely absolute. Every living thing obeys it; let’s look at the science behind God’s design. When God designed all things they were given a blueprint which carries the instructions for their makeup, from the structure of a single cell, to the tissues, organs and organ systems that make up the organism. This blueprint we now know is carried in a very unique and powerful chemical called DNA, deoxyribonucleic acid. All living things have the same chemical structure to their DNA, they simply have a different arrangement of the parts that make it up. This powerful chemical gives the instructions for the plants, from the mightiest oak tree to the smallest algae, and the instructions for the majestic whales down to the smallest worm and also for man. In order to give a concept for how powerful this chemical is, think about this. If all the instructions carried in a single human DNA cell were encoded and typed into …

And God Created The Earth Without Form And Void

“And the earth was without form, and void: and darkness moved upon the face of the deep” (Genesis 1:2). In verse two of the Book of Genesis, we are given by God details about the early moments of creation. The earth that had been created is now described. God says that it was without form, and void. The Hebrew words here are “tohuw” and “bohuwand” and Strong’s Greek and Hebrew Dictionary gives several concepts for the definition. It denotes the idea of a worthless thing, an empty place, confusion, a desolation, to lie waste, and an indistinguishable ruin. The King James translation of something without form and empty is a good and accurate rendering of the original words from everything I can read. The reason that this is such an important point is the fact that this is a verse where some in the world and even in the church turn to support their ideas. They go here to provide time for events that the scientific community says had to happen for the earth to form. When one looks at the earth, it appears to be old. It is said coal takes millions of years to form; the fossils of fish, plants, dinosaurs and other life forms make it look like the earth is of vast age. These facts and others are interpretated as being proof of a vast age for the earth. There are some who want to believe that the Bible account is true and that God did create the world, but they also do not want …

Our Immune System

For many of us, thought of the flu season that has just passed is not one that leaves fond memories. The fever, body aches, and general malaise of the common influenza that made it round to about 1 in 10 of us was nothing to remember with pleasure. For probably each one of us, there were days this past winter when we were fevered, had a cough, a runny nose and a sore throat as we suffered through a cold. And if we escaped basically untouched by the “bugs” that made their rounds through the population, we should count ourselves lucky because most did not. And yet, in the very process of catching and recovering from a cold or the flu, we can see the marvelousness of the body that God has created us with. Indeed the flu or that cold could have easily killed each one of us were it not for the defense system God put into place. Let’s take a look at how we “fight off” the pathogens (the bugs that make us sick) that are waiting all around us for a weakness in our defenses so they can invade our bodies. Our immune system is very complex and the volumes that would be necessary to explain just what we know about it now would be vast. We are protected from the very day of our birth against many different organisms that can get into the body and do harm. This protection comes from a combination of …

The Human Body: An Introduction

“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7). With these words and actions of God, we see the origin of man. As I look from time to time in these articles at the marvelous things that we see in the world around us that God has created, we many times over look ourselves. Thousands of years ago before all of the recent medical discoveries, the psalmist penned these words. “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth” (Psalms 139:14-15). What words would David have used if he was able to know what we know now? Well, I’m not sure that any other words could adequately describe the awe and reverence that we should show for God because of his creating us than “I will praise thee.” For indeed as we look at the human body in minute details possible today, we can see that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made.” The body does some truly amazing things just consider: In an average day your body will exercise 7,000,000 brain cells beat your heart 103,689 times pump blood 68,000,000 miles speak 48,000 words using 72 different muscles for each word inhale 438 cubic …

Microevolution and Macroevolution

When we as Christians hear the term evolution, I hope there is real understanding about what the Bible and science teach to be true. There is usually a great deal of misunderstanding about what, if anything, a believer in the biblical account of the creation of the world can believe and support. I hope I can shed some light upon this subject. Evolution itself means to unfold or to change. There is nothing in the word that is biblical or against the principles of God. There are many ways that things can evolve; relationships change, situations unfold and the changes a butterfly goes through from a caterpillar to an adult are all evolution. So, the idea of evolution is one that we do not have to oppose when used in these ways. But, the word evolution is also used to refer to the General Theory of Organic Evolution. This is the imagined changes that have occurred from a single celled organism, to plants, to animals and all the way to man. These changes are thought to have occurred over millions and millions of years in the earth’s past. This idea tries to explain the world and all life forms without the need for God. This idea is unscriptural, unscientific and unprovable. As Christians, we cannot support the use of the word in this way! If we are to be more precise in what we talk about and believe, we must learn to use two other words, microevolution and macroevolution. Let’s look at …

The Waters for the Flood

“And the waters prevailed upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered” (Genesis 6:19-20). Many skeptics and some Christians alike have questioned where all of the water came from when God flooded the earth. I suppose that this is a question that is probably reasonable for anyone to ask, because that is a lot of water. It is exceedingly hard to imagine how every inch of the earth could be covered to a height of 15 cubits. Let’s look at what God says caused the flood upon the earth. “And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth . . .” (Genesis 6:17). Just this one statement would be enough of an explanation if it were all we had, because the Almighty can do anything he wants to do. But, the Lord has given further information about where the water came from. “. . . the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened” (Genesis 7:11). This description of two great bodies of water, one in “the great deep” and the other in the “windows of heaven” tells where all of the water came from. It has also led to the theorizing about an earlier description of the earth in Genesis 1. “And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament …

Great Dragons: The Dinosaurs

“And God created great ‘dragons,’ and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:21). One of the most fascinating of God’s creations was the dinosaur. Which of us has not marveled at the immense size and fierce construction of these mammoths and wondered what it would have been like to live when they did? Their fossils are spread all the way around the globe and the fascination with them continues. But for the creationist, there would seem to be some problems. Did they really exist? Where is the mention of their creation? How could they have lived when man did? Were dinosaurs on the ark? Why have they become extinct? Let’s look at a little of what we do know about the dinosaurs. First, they are the creation of God; they did exist in living form and not just as created fossils as some would have us believe. Revelation 4:11 says, “Thou art worthy, O Lord to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” So, they are the creation of God. In the Book of Genesis, we can see the record of their creation. In verse 21, God creates “tannin”; this word was incorrectly translated “whale” by the King James translators. They could not translate it correctly because they did not know what a …

And God Created . . .The Incredible Walking Stick

“Oh those West Virginia Hills how majestic and how grand . . .” As the song indicates in the hills and valleys around us in North Central West Virginia, we can see the glory and majesty of God. But if while we are on a walk in those beautiful hills we stop and look carefully at the things around us, we will see more of the majesty of God. On one summer evening during West Virginia Christian Youth Camp, I had just such an opportunity. I took time to hike to the “rocks” at the top of the hill behind the camp site, and as the staff knows, this location provides a beautiful view of the valleys surrounding our location. Upon reaching the top and finding a nice rock upon which to sit and enjoy the peace and solitude, I relaxed to soak in the handiwork of God’s creation and catch my breath from the climb up the hill. While sitting quietly I noticed a small piece of green plant moving on my left. Of course, I was not so tired that this passed my attention. Watching closer, this half inch long bright green object continued to move upward on my pants leg. By this time I was sure that this was no plant as it moved steadily upwards. Further examination showed this creature to be a baby walking stick. The walking stick is one of the truly amazing examples of God’s design for camouflage to hide an animal from …

And God Created . . .The Marvelous Mudskipper

The mudskipper is a one inch long fish that lives on the mudflats along the estuaries and rivers of Africa, Asia and Australia. The abilities that God has designed into the mudskipper are among some of the most unusual of all the unusual fishes that were created to swim in the oceans. Mudskippers spend their time during high tide tucked into burrows that they dig in the muddy bottoms of these estuaries. Then at low tide they leave the burrows and “walk” on their pectoral fins as they swing their heads back and forth in search of shrimp and other small edible objects. They can stay out of the water for several hours until the tide returns. They are able to hold water in their gill covers, and also absorb oxygen through their skin. It has also now been learned that they can also hold air in their mouths with which they can survive. Biologists have known that mudflat burrows are very poor homes because of the lack of oxygen as bacteria decay leaves and other organic matter and use up the oxygen. The scientists did not know how the mudskipper was able to survive in these airless holes. It has now come to light because of the careful observations of biologists that God’s plan for the mudskipper is one of amazing forethought. It seems that the mudskipper is not only busy during the times of low tide feeds, but they are also very busy collecting air and storing it …

The Tongue Of The Chameleon

In the design of the tongue, feeding structure, and feeding behavior of the lowly chameleon, we see evidence that natural selection was not the source for these abilities. There had to be a Creator who knew how this animal would live, and provided the structures needed for its survival. Let’s look at the details of these structures and marvel at their complexity and the greatness of their Creator. There are two mechanisms operated by the powerful muscles that throw the tongue forward. At the back of the chameleon’s jaw lies a V-shaped bone with the point of the “V” facing backward. Attached to this bone, by a flexible joint, is the tongue bone over which the tongue fits like a glove on a finger. When the chameleon is about to shoot out its tongue, the V-bone is moved forward slightly to push the tip of the tongue out of the mouth. The circular muscles in the thick tip of the tongue then contract violently so that the tongue is forced out of the mouth. This violent, simultaneous, contraction of the circular muscle and relaxation of the longitudinal muscle allows the tongue to reach a length equal to the body length of the chameleon. In addition, the V-shaped bone is thrust farther out for added impetus to the tongue’s throw. The time required for this to occur is 1/16 of a second to extend the tongue, and 1/4 of a second to retract it. While sticky saliva on the end of …

The Chameleon’s Kaleidoscope

In the tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world live some of the most unusual and wondrous creatures ever made by the Great Designer. The plants of these lush and humid climes are also full of surprises and strange features. Let’s look at one of these unusual life forms, the chameleon. The chameleon is one of the world’s truly unique creatures. It has jointed grasping feet, a prehensile tail, a tongue that can be catapulted out to a length as long as its own body, and eyes set in turrets operating independently of each other. It also has the ability to change colors to match its background. The chameleon’s ability to match the plants around it is made possible by four layers of skin each containing a different light reflecting substance. The lower layer where the melanophores are located is the most complex. Melanophores are cells that contain the pigment “melanin” and have long tentacle like extensions that move up through the upper light reflecting layers. To change the color of the skin, the color cells alter in size, and by variation of the amounts of yellow, red, and dark brown, different colors are produced by a mixing effect. The light reflecting layers also help alter and vary the hue and tint. How the chameleon is able to know that he has matched perfectly the color and pattern of its environment without a mirror to check out his arrangement of pigments is remarkable. The length of this article does not …

“. . . the simplest explanation we have.”

The year 1992 was a very important one for astronomers who support the “Big Bang” theory as the explanation for how everything came to be in the universe. Recently a local newspaper ran an article from the Associate Press in Phoenix, Arizona that I’m sure was carried by thousands of other newspapers around the country. The title of that article was “New Information Found Supporting the Big Bang.” In the article John C. Mather, a NASA astronomer interpreting data collected from an instrument on the COBE satellite called the Far Infrared Absolute Spectrophotomer, said, “The Big Bang is still a winner.” The atheistic Big Bang theory was first put forth in 1929 by astronomer Edwin Hubble after he observed that all galaxies were moving away from each other at a constant rate, as if an explosion had occurred. One of many problems that remain in this theory is where the material came from that supposedly exploded. Mr. Mather is quoted later in the article as saying, “The Big Bang is still the simplest explanation we have.” It may be the most accepted explanation we have, if we assume that we have to be able to explain everything in terms of human wisdom, but is it the simplest? Does this data have any other interpretations? Yes, it does! Does it prove there is no God who created in the beginning? Certainly it does not!! The Big Bang is not the simplest explanation we have– “In the beginning God created . . .” is!

Up From Down?

How does a plant tell up from down? Since it must send its roots down and its shoots up in order to get the essential materials needed for survival, a plant must know how to do it right the first time. There is no second chance. God’s plan for plants is unique. The normally accepted theory holds that starch grains formed in plant cells to store energy, tell up from down by falling to the bottom of the cell. This does not answer the question because some plants do not have starch grains! So how do these plants tell the difference? New research has shown that there may be another explanation for the mechanism God has given plants. It appears that the cell contents (cytoplasm) as it weighs down on protein tethers attached to the cell wall may play a part. These tethers are responsible for opening and closing channels that allow calcium ions to enter and leave. The calcium in turn affects how the plant cells grow. But here the idea breaks down, there are still many unanswered questions about how this complex relationship affects the individual root and stem cells. The smallest details about God’s creation marvel and fascinate students of science. Explaining how these mechanisms came into being without an intelligence is impossible. Indeed the “firmament showeth his handiwork.”

Intelligent Oak Trees?

For a biologist to call a tree “intelligent” would, for many non-scientists, be a call for raised eyebrows. However, it now appears that God may have indeed instilled into the mighty oak a type of intelligence. It seems that oak trees can synchronize their erratic production of acorns in a way that they can stay one step ahead of the local mouse population. The white-footed mouse depends primarily on the acorns as its main food source. The mice will eat large quantities of the nut which decreases the oak’s ability to reproduce its species. The rate of mouse reproduction increases or decreases in response to, in part, the availability of food supplies. When acorns are abundant, the next year will be a big one for mouse population. When acorns are scarce, then the mice will have a very low birthrate and a high deathrate. The mouse population cycles from low to high depending upon acorn production. It appears that oak trees in one area will produce huge numbers of acorns one year and then as the mouse population increases will decrease the numbers. Each year there are areas where large numbers of acorns will be produced, but this large production will move from area to area. How do the trees know when the mouse population is up? Do the trees communicate with one another by some type of chemical signal so as to coordinate acorn population? Can the tree detect the mouse presence? These questions are yet to be answered. …

The Camel’s Hump

The Camel’s Hump The camel is a very ancient and well known animal, and highly regarded because of its natural abilities. These abilities are so unique that they are often misunderstood and have been exaggerated for thousands of years. Let’s take a quick look at this “ship of the desert” and see how God designed it for its desert existence. Do camels store water? In a word, No! A popular myth that a thirsty traveler could kill a camel and in part of its stomach find water that could be drunk to survive, is not true. The camel does have a very complex digestive system, and its stomach does have pockets in it. But these pockets are filled with liquefied masticated food waiting to be absorbed. A truly desperate person might be able to consume this vile mess and live longer, but not otherwise. The camel can drink and store as much as 27 gallons of water in ten minutes. The water, however, is not stored in the hump! The camel’s hump is composed of fat that serves as an energy reserve and not a water reserve. The camel can lose a huge quantity of water without dying. It may lose 25% of its body weight and show no signs of distress. A man losing 12% of his body water is in very serious trouble as the blood becomes thicker and the heart has to work harder to move the blood. The camel has been created with a method of taking water out of …

The Lizard Who Walks On Glass

If you live in a warm climate you may have the experience of seeing a lizard walking up your glass door or window. This amazing reptile is the “gecko.” It appears that he has the ability to hold onto virtually any surface no matter how smooth. The questions that has plagued scientists for years is how? Until recently, this ability was thought to revolve around the thousands of fibers, arranged like the tufts of bristles on a toothbrush, on the gecko’s feet. While these fibers are unique, they simply do not explain the ability to walk on glass!! Recently, using a powerful scanning electron microscope at magnifications up to 35,000 diameters, a series of remarkable photographs was produced which revealed millions of fine fibers tipped with suction cups on the gecko’s feet. It is estimated that there are at least 500 million suction cups on his toes, each about an 8 millionth of an inch in diameter. In addition, the gecko’s feet are designed in such a manner allowing the tips of the toes to bend or curl upward enabling him to peel off the suction cups gradually, preventing him from becoming too firmly attached to the surface. The extraordinary microscopic structure on the gecko’s toes clearly shows intelligent, purposeful design. No schemes that might be made up to explain the suction cups by random mutations or natural selection could explain it completely, for there is no evidence in the fossil records of any structure leading up to such an ability.

The Fly That Tastes With Its Feet

In the animal kingdom there are many marvelous and wondrous examples of design that staggers the imagination with their uniqueness. God has created all animals with the organs and structures necessary for their existence. Each of these creations show that it is not possible for these structures to have come about by random accident, and there is no evidence of them in the fossil records. One unique organ found on a fly enables it to taste with its feet. The common fruit fly, Drosophila Melanogaster, has on its feet chemorecptors that allow the fly to taste food just by stepping on it. These tiny sensory hairs can distinguish between sugars, amino acids, salts and other substances. When the fly steps in or on an acceptable food source, it extends its proboscis to begin feeding. The advantage to this is that the fly does not have to waste time or energy checking whether the food is good. It also helps keep him alive longer by not having to linger at the food source. This ability to taste food with its feet is, for us, unique. But for the Creator who knew how the lowly fly would operate, it is very normal. It appears that the fly may not be alone in this uniqueness. Some other very unrelated animals can also taste with their feet.

The World That Then Was

In the Book of Genesis we are told of the creation of man, the sinful path that man followed and the destruction of man and the world by flood. This inspired biblical account of the destruction of all but eight souls is mocked and laughed at by so many in the world today. They want to know how we can believe something that has so little scientific evidence. Well, as science continues to search out the earth’s mysterious past, we find time and time again evidence that can be interpreted to give proof of a world-wide flood. This is again true of the discovery of a fossil forest of warm climate trees 500 miles north of the South Pole in which “the trees were buried by a flood or a mudflow” as reported in Discover, February 1993. This forest lived in a world of uniform warmth at a place that is today totally unsuitable for plant growth. This helps to support the “Vapor Canopy Theory” indicated by the Bible and to give support to other conclusions about the pre-flood world. There are no frost rings found in these fossil trees, meaning they were very seldom exposed to temperatures below freezing. The presence of these fossilized tropical trees in Antarctica that were buried in a flood give proof to the biblical account. Indeed there is much about that world we can never know for sure, because “The world that then was . . . perished” (2 Peter 3:6). But, we do not …

The Cockroach’s Sweet Tooth

Among all the creatures that God has created, there are very few that bring about greater revulsion than the common cockroach. Yet, these creatures have been shown to have many unique features that only come about by a designer. One of these features is the ability of the roach to discriminate among its food sources. It has been discovered, much to the dismay of the homeowner whose dwelling has been infested by these disease carrying insects, that the roach can tell the difference between types of foods, specifically sugars. The roach shows definite preference for fructose over glucose. The source of food used to attract the roach to bait has normally been glucose and some of the roaches have shown no interest in falling for it! Glucose is a type of sugar produced by plants which is then converted into other sugar molecules. The sugar fructose is found in plants also, but is stored in fruits. It would appear that God has created the roach with a unique ability concerning its sense of taste – the ability to discriminate between the types of sugar. That something as lowly as the roach has such an ability is most incredible if God is left out of the explanation.

The Cosmic Connections To Lightning?

Lightning is truly one of God’s unique creations. It has for thousands of years marveled mankind with its power and showiness. The phenomenon of lightning has for years generated questions in the minds of scientists such as, “what causes it?” and “what controls it?” New ideas are now being put forth in order to explain one particular aspect in the pattern of lightning–the reason it zigs and zags. A team of Russian and American researchers now feel that cosmic rays may be involved in the zigzag pattern of lightning. Cosmic rays are high energy protons and other particles that zing to Earth from all around the galaxy. These rays influence the molecules in our atmosphere as they hit them and pass on their energy. It may just be this input of energy and where it occurs that determines the path that lightning takes as it moves from the Earth to the clouds. To further explain, lightning is not one continuous stream of electrons but many short lengths joined together. Each cosmic ray comes from a different angle and direction and so each short section of lightning travels off in another path. This results in the pattern we see as we watch the lightning strike. No matter what the source, this display in nature shows two things: (1) man’s ability to understand and explain even those events we can see is limited, and (2) along side the power that God has placed in his creation of the universe, man is very weak and …

Glogus, The Seaslug

Found within the animal kingdom are wide variations of marvelously designed animals that call into question the wisdom of conventional evolutionary logic. These organisms have characteristics that are so complex that it is impossible to explain how these characteristics came about. We have trouble even explaining how they occur. One such animal is “Glogus,” a seaslug. This member of the order of Mollusca has a very unique appetite and ability. Glogus lives within a complete community in the open ocean floating along on the seaweed Sargassum. The area of the Atlantic Ocean where this seaweed gathers is called the Sargasso Sea. Glogus is quite small, only 2 to 3 inches long. It is capable of eating a most unusual food, the tentacles of the jellyfish, Portuguese Man of War. This may not seem like a real challenge unless we understand that all jellyfish have specialized stinging cells called cnidocysts. These cell are discharged by any contact on the trigger portion of the cell. The Man of War’s stinging cells contain one of the more potent poisons in the phylum Coelenterate, powerful enough even to kill a human. But the ability of Glogus to feed upon these tentacles and stinging cells without suffering any harm does not end the story. The seaslug can bite off the stinging cells, swallow them and then move them into the extensions sticking off his body. The stinging cells are then available to discharge upon contact with any enemy of Glogus who gets too close. While …

Conceptual Information

In order for living things to operate in any organized or functional way, one very important thing must be present. The information or instructions by which it is to operate. This need can be seen in all living organisms. A butterfly and its marvelous wing structure, an apple tree with its ability to store food along with the seed, a sponge that can rearrange itself after being broken apart, or a baby as it develops and grows. This is called “conceptual information” and could pose one of the greatest questions facing scientists today as they try to explain life without a Creator. If you remove God from the origin of life then you must have knowledge or conceptual information coming about by pure accident. In an article by Dr. A.E. Wilder-Smith, one of the world’s leading creation scientists, he says, “the biblical report of the origin of life is right on the mark when it states that man, with his brain and ability to speak and to develop conceptual thought, was created in the image of God the Creator.” He also states that we are “forced to come back to basics and assume that there must have been in the beginning–at the act of creation–an organ of the kind that makes the human brain tick (but infinitely more powerful, of course) to generate the concepts of biology on a much larger scale than the human brain can ever develop,” i.e., God! As for the answer given by atheistic scientists that matter …

The Dark Side of the Cosmos

Quoting from Time magazine, January 18, 1993, “As astronomers struggle to illuminate the nature of dark matter, a new report hints that as much as 97% of the universe could be made of the mystery stuff.” And so continues man’s feeble attempt to understand the creation of the universe by the all powerful God, the Creator. When Charles Alcock peers up at the nighttime sky, he wonders not at the luminous stars but at the blackness that enfolds them. The Milky Way, Alcock knows, is like a sprinkling of bright sequins on an invisible cloak spread across the vastness of space. This cloak is woven out of mysterious stuff called dark matter because it emits no discernible light. A sort of shadow with substance, dark matter dominates the universe, accounting for more than 90% of its total mass. Yet scientists, struggling to interpret just a few sparse clues, know virtually nothing about it. The dark matter could be made up of giant planets, failed stars, black holes, clouds of unknown particles, or, even so far as the laws of physics are concerned, bowling balls. “After all this time and all this effort,” sighs Alcock, head of Astrophysics at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, “we still don’t know what most of the universe is made of.” Using impressive names like Neutrinos, WIMPS, MACHOS, Black Holes and Bowling Balls, astronomers struggle in a feeble effort to understand and explain, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). While I do not …

The Marvelous Mosquito

One of the least favorite visitors at a summer evening picnic is probably the common mosquito. The irritating buzzing sound as it passes your ear on the way to feast on the blood coursing through your neck, can set off a frenzy of swatting and spraying of bug repellent. After you have been used as supper by this lowly insect, the mildly painful and itching bite inflicted is more of a nuisance than an injury. And yet, while we may have a total disdain for this blood eating creature, the method she (in many species only the female eats blood) uses to obtain her food shows a marvelously thought out plan designed by God for her survival.The feeding apparatus in this insect is not a kind of basic tube or hypodermic needle, but an exquisitely made piece of biological machinery. It is in this structure that God shows his wisdom of design. If the female mosquito is to feed she must first overcome a formidable barrier–the skin. This multi-layered structure of dead cells stand in the way of a tasty meal. To get through the skin, the mosquito has been created with a unique proboscis. This micro find structure has two tubes, one that goes into the digestive system, and one for the salivary canal, that goes out. On the side of the proboscis are finely serrated edges for piercing the skin. This whole structure is enclosed in a protective sheath when not in use. This arrangement of seven different …

The Arrow-Poison Frog

The Arrow-poison frogs of Central and South America are very unusual creatures. Not only has God created them with the ability to produce a toxic substance from their skin, which is most amazing in itself, but has made them the most extraordinary of parents. In one species it is the mother that is the very attentive parent, and in another the father takes on the parenting duties. This article will concentrate on the mother. The female Arrow-poison frog of the South American jungle goes to great lengths to ensure the survival of her young. She lays her eggs on the undersides of leaves where they develop in the humid climate. When the egg develops into a tadpole, she returns and allows it to crawl onto her back and then sets off to find a pool of water. After selecting the rosette of leaves that traps the pool of water, she backs in and allows the tadpole to wiggle off where it will continue development. Every few days she will revisit the pool and lay a couple of unfertilized eggs which the tadpole will eat if no other food is available. Even though she may have a dozen or more, the mother will regularly visit each pool of water where she has a developing baby and carefully monitor its progress. How does the frog know how to do this? Where does she get the information? How does she find the eggs or tadpoles again after first laying them? All these mysteries …

Lightning

In all of God’s creation there is nothing more awesome than the blinding flash of light and the thunderous, deafening roar of a bolt of lightning. Through the ages man has watched this terrifying display and tried to understand its causes. The inspired Word of God, thousands of years ago, showed the connection between rain, lightning and thunder. Even today, while our theories about the physical causes give some clues to its origin and how it occurs, many questions remain unanswered. The following are a few facts we do know about this part of God’s creation. A bolt of lightning is, in actuality, a channel of pulsing electrical energy 2 inches across, ranging in length from 200 feet to as long as 20 miles. It zips through the air at 90,000 miles per second (almost half the speed of light). Due to this speed, it is impossible to see that the bolt is traveling from the ground up and not from the sky down as most people believe. The air heated by this electrical discharge may be up to 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit, five times the temperature of the sun. Most (almost three fourths) of the energy of a bolt of lightning is used while heating the air and producing the clap of thunder, but enough energy remains to deliver a full 125 million volts of electricity. With 100 lightning bolts every second (that’s 8 million per day), lightning produces more energy than all the electric generators in the United States. How do …

The Halobacteria

The halobacteria or “salt loving” bacteria are some of the most unusual life forms that have been created by God. While the evolutionists claim that they are primitive, halobacteria are anything but, and can prove that accidents do not explain their existence. These salt requiring bacteria live in some of the most unlikely environments on earth. In order to do this, they must have a tremendous ability to withstand very unusual conditions. They are found in salt mines, brines and salt lakes. In fact, the halobacteria require a minimum of a 9% salt concentration, but prefer an optimum concentration of 21 to 27% salt solution. They cannot survive in seawater as seawater is only a 3.5% salt solution. Even though evolutionists feel they are related to marine organisms, the halobacteria will rupture and die in seawater. How did this very diverse genetic ability for survival develop from random accidents working on a tiny piece of primitive genetic material? No one can prove how this happened or even if it is possible. It would make much more sense if a very large complex molecule was present in the parental heritage. This was indeed the case, and is now called Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA)–put there by the Creator. The marvelous fit of organisms to their environment is further evidence of a most marvelous Creator.

The Perfect Protozoan

In the field of Biology, evolutionary scientists are constantly looking for proofs that natural selection has shaped all living things over vast eons of time. They look to the fossil record for evidence that these changes have occurred. There is only one problem, the more they look at the fossil record the less they find supporting their model of origins. This was again shown to be true in the discovery of the best preserved examples of protozoans found in the fossil record to date. This discovery, made in Schilersee, Germany, of micro-organisms including protozoans in tree resin or amber shows that very little, if any, change has occurred to these organisms during 220 million years of evolution. Quoting from an article about this discovery appearing in Science magazine (January 8, 1993), this “. . . confirms that some of the earth’s smallest land dwellers have remained in a state of evolutionary suspended animation since the dawn of the age of the dinosaurs” (emp. mine, DE). These microscopic organisms are so much like those we see today in pond water that the term “morphological stasis” is used to describe their condition since the only change that seems to have occurred is on the “genetic level.” Also found in the amber along with the protozoa, were algae, bacterial colonies, pollen and fungal spores, all appearing like forms we know today. There is even recorded a “snapshot of protozoan behavior.” One well-preserved victim was engulfed in the middle of a meal. “A photograph of the bulbous little …

Beast To Beauty

In the animal kingdom the ability to change from an immature form to an adult is called metamorphosis. We all know of the caterpillar changing into a beautiful butterfly or a maggot becoming a common housefly, but there is one insect that indeed makes a “Dr. Jekyl, Mr. Hyde” transformation. It is the common ant-lion. It gets its name from the larva stage when it is most fierce looking and acting predator of ants and other small insects. At this state it has a short fleshy body with six legs and disproportionately large caliper-like jaws armed with strong spikes and bristles to help grasp its prey. It builds a very spectacular and complex trap in the loose soil. This “pit-trap,” constructed by an elaborate series of backward circular motions, ends up becoming cone shaped and about 1/2 inch deep. The ant-lion sits at the bottom of the pit with its jaws exposed waiting for a luckless ant or other insect to slide down the side into its waiting jaws. If an insect tries to climb out before reaching the bottom the larva flips sand and dirt up to knock the victim to the bottom. It is truly a beast when it comes to catching its prey, but that is only half of its life for yet to come is the beauty. A truly remarkable change occurs with this insect as it changes from the larva to an adult. When the larva has eaten enough food to grow sufficiently, it begins …

The Mysteries of the Orient

“A half-billion years ago the remarkably complex forms of animals we see today suddenly appeared. A new bonanza of Chinese fossils may finally tell us why.” [emp. added] “In a blink of geologic time a planet dominated by simple spongelike animals gave way to one ruled by a vast variety of sophisticated beasts whose relatives still inhabit the world today.” [emp. added] “This is Genesis material.” “When ordinarily sober-minded scientists reach the biblical reference, it’s clear that something unusual has turned up–” [emp. added] These quotes are from an article by Alan E. Cober appearing in the April 1993 Discover magazine. They are referring to the unearthing of a new fossil graveyard in southern China that shows the “explosion of life” on earth; the supposedly Cambrian explosion which marked for the first time in the fossils the appearance of representatives of every major phylum of living things “in a blink of geologic time.” As a creationist I find it amazing, as I read the reports of these discoveries, how surprised the evolutionists are. You see, these fossils do not fit their preconceived ideas about how animals came to be here. It is totally wrong! They have no answer for it, and struggle to present an educated answer. Yet, we as Christians and “sober-minded scientists” who regularly reach for biblical references” for information about life origins are not in the least shocked. This is exactly what is predicted by the Creation Model. The instant creation of living things! Praise the Lord!

The Fish That Time And Evolution Left Behind

In a videotape being shown to my biology classes the narrator referred to several groups of fishes as “antique, ancient and living fossils.” Being a student of Biological and Geological sciences, I knew what he was referring to. But, several of my students did not understand what this meant. The answer is one that everyone should know, especially those who believe that all things were created instantly by a supreme creator. It is a powerful piece of evidence that evolution did not happen. In the rocks of the earth are found the remains of organisms that lived earlier in the earth’s history–fossils. Some of the fossils are of extinct animals and plants but there are also fossils of organisms of animals living today–exact replicas! It is as if no or just a very little time has passed since they first appeared on earth. It is these fossils of living animals that are being discussed. They have been studied very carefully because this is totally unexplainable in terms of evolutionary understanding. These animals should not be here. They should have changed over time like all other organisms that evolved. The living fossils include representatives of all types of organisms, but the fish seem to have an unusually large number. The paddlefish, according to evolutionary theory, is more than 275 million years old, being found in rocks formed supposedly 50 million years before the dinosaurs evolved. The coelacanth, another ancient fish, was claimed to be a transition fossil as evidence of the evolution …