Liberty in Christ

"Christ came into the world to set men free, and to plant in their souls the genuine principle of liberty: 

• liberty actuated by love, 

• liberty too honorable to allow itself to be used as an occasion to the flesh or for a cloak of maliciousness, 

• liberty led by a conscience enlightened by the Spirit of God, 

• liberty in which man may be free from all men, yet made so gentle by love that he would willingly become the servant of all, in order to bring them to the enjoyment of this same liberty. 

This is freedom indeed. 

This is the freedom which Christ gave to man; for: 

John 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. In giving to men this freedom, such an infinite gift could have no other result than that which Christ intended; namely, to bind them." 

A.T. Jones

Creation Moment 10/16/2024 - Your Thinking in Multiple Dimensions

I will praise Thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: Psalm 139:14

"The traditional view of the brain's visual system suggested that when you see an object, your brain breaks it down into basic features—such as color, shape, and texture—and then reassembles these features to help you recognize and categorize it.

According to this view, the ultimate aim is to assign an object to a

specific category, like recognizing that a dog is an animal. However, Martin Hebart, a group leader at the Max Planck Institute states, "Our results have shown that recognition and categorization are important goals of our vision, but by no means the only ones." Hebart adds that behaviorally relevant signals are found at all stages of visual processing, and these signals extend beyond mere recognition.

They identified 66 different dimensions based on behavioral data gathered from more than 12,000 participants.

These dimensions do more than just help categorize an object as, for

example, a dog or an animal. They also explain various attributes like color, shape, and the typicality of an object—such as how typical a dog is as a representative of the animal category.

This broader set of dimensions allows a deeper understanding of how the brain perceives and makes sense of the environment....... the brain does not only recognize and categorize objects; instead, it processes a wide array of characteristics, engaging all perceptual processing stages." 

BrightsideofNews

La Brea Tar Pits

For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: 2 Peter 3:5

"The La Brea Tar Pits have fascinated visitors ever since Spanish explorer Gaspar de Portolá chronicled the site in 1769.

The oil for the tar comes from the Salt Lake oil field, about 1,000 feet below the park. Since oil is more buoyant than groundwater, it rises to the surface along fractures and faults near the crest of the oil field and then degrades over time. Bacterial action and surface evaporation remove the lightest components to leave a thick, sticky tar behind.

Tar-covered animal bones found in the nearly 100 pits include those from mammoths, mastodons, saber-toothed cats, dire wolves, sloths, camels, horses, smaller animals, insects, and even birds. Remains of plants and pollen have also been found. Overall, the bones come

from 600 species. About 3.5 million specimens have been extracted from the pits over the last 100-plus years. The pits preserve a time capsule of animal and plant life that existed most likely near the end of the Ice Age.

The conventional story is that near the end of the last Ice Age, many animals got stuck in the tar over thousands of years. Their struggles attracted predators, and they, too, were trapped in the tar. Over time, they sank and became fossils. Animals today avoid such pits, casting doubt on that story. But observations at La Brea cause even more doubt.

Four odd observations call for the popular story to be revised. 

First, very few articulated or complete specimens have been found.1 Instead, the bones are separated. Most are mixed with many other species and are jumbled in tight masses in the pits.
Individual specimens on display in Hancock Park are composed of bones from many different individuals, making “composite skeletons.” Some conventional scientists have suggested that bubbles of methane moving through the tar stirred up the bones. But how such gentle bubbles could so thoroughly dismember and mix these animals is a mystery to them.

Second, many of the bones show “pits and grooves” from bone rubbing against bone. This has been labeled “pit wear.” Exactly how the bones could rub against each other once embedded in sticky tar is also poorly explained.

A third observation is the overwhelming number of carnivore

remains found in the pits compared to herbivores. About 4,000 dire wolves and 2,200 saber-toothed cats were excavated. Contrast that with 36 mammoths, 60 sloths, 220 horses, 300 bison, and 36 camels. Most of the bones were from predators, not prey! Conventional scientists claim this may be due to the biases of the early excavators who concentrated on the biggest bones. However, that claim is not a sufficient explanation because both the predators and prey have sizable bones.

Finally, the geology and paleontology of the site reflect massive flooding events. Excavators readily admit that some of the fossils were transported by moving water via stream channels and were deposited in the asphalt pits. A nearly complete adult Columbian mammoth named “Zed” was washed into the pits by stream flow where it became entombed in tar.

There are also reports of four to eight feet of clay in some of the pits, with gravel and sand beds mixed in. These were most likely from river flow, consistent with regional flooding. Furthermore, test cores revealed four distinct layers of floodplain (river) deposits surrounding the pits. The cores showed weathered and rounded gravels plus the sand and clay that typify today’s river deposits. Even water-saturated plants have been excavated, including part of a cypress tree from Pit 3. These, too, indicate a waterborne origin at La Brea. 

Q: How else could water later enter the oily tar pits and saturate the wood?

The conventional story of animals becoming trapped and slowly sinking in tar was initially questioned when the size of the pits and the size of the animals became known. The entrapment theory only survives as myth, perpetuated by those not familiar with the geological evidence." 

ICR

Creation Moment 10/15/2024 - Who Made the Rules?

I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: Psalm 139:14

"In a study published in the journal Nature, researchers from the Center for Genomic Regulation (CRG) and the Wellcome Sanger Institute have discovered that mutations affect protein stability following remarkably simple rules.

Proteins are chains made up of twenty different types of smaller units

called amino acids. 

*A single mutation swaps one amino acid for another, changing the protein's shape. 

*This can mark the difference between health and disease. 

Many diseases, including cancer and neurodegenerative disorders, are caused by more than one mutation in a protein.

"Our discovery turns an old understanding on its head, showing that the endless possibilities of protein mutations boil down to straightforward rules. We don't need supercomputers to predict a protein's behavior—just good measurements and simple math will do," says Dr. Lehner." 

Phys.org

Why frogs?

And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. Revelation 16:13

"Why frogs, of all things?

The background of Revelation 16 is thoroughly grounded in the plagues against ancient Egypt just before the Exodus. One of those plagues consisted of an overabundance of frogs. But of all the plagues that fell on Egypt, why would frogs be mentioned at this point?

When Moses first came in to Pharaoh, his God-given authority was demonstrated when his brother, Aaron, threw down his walking stick and it became a snake (Ex. 7:8-10). But Pharaoh's magicians weren't worried. They threw down their walking sticks, and they became snakes also (verses 11, 12).

Then Moses and Aaron went out and turned the waters of the Nile into blood (verses 14-21). Again Pharaoh's magicians were able to counterfeit that miracle (verses 22, 23).

Next Moses and Aaron struck Egypt with a plague of frogs (Ex. 8:1-6). And again Pharaoh's magicians were able to duplicate the feat (Ex. 8:7).

But as it turned out, the plague of frogs was the last that Pharaoh's magicians were able to duplicate (Ex. 7:18, 19). 

The frogs, therefore, constituted the last deception of the Exodus.

---That is why there are frogs in Revelation 16:13. 

---They signal that the message of Revelation 16 has to do with the last deception of earth's history.

Revelation 16:14 says that these frogs are "spirits of demons." They are the demonic counterparts of the three good angels of Revelation 14:6-12. Both groups of angels have a mission to the whole world (Rev. 14:6; 16:14),one trio calling the world to worship God, and the other gathering the people of the world into the service of the unholy trinity. "They are the spirits of demons performing miraculous signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty" (Rev. 16:14)."
J.P./AI

Creation Moment 10/14/2024 - Memory Glue that makes you Human

I will praise Thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: Psalm 139:14

"1970s, scientists discovered long-term potentiation (LTP), which detailed how strengthening and weakening synapses helped form memory, but that’s only part of the story.

In order to pull off this wondrous feat, synapses rely on a variety of

molecules to form certain types of memories. One of these is PKMzeta (protein kinase Mzeta), which, when inhibited in the brains of rats during a 2006 experiment, caused disruption in spatial memory in the hippocampus. So there you go. Problem solved, right? Well, as you might imagine, when it comes to understanding the inner workings of the human brain, things are bit more complicated.

One of the big drawbacks of relying on PKMzeta to be the molecule responsible for memory formation is that it simply doesn’t last in the brain very long, sticking around for only a couple hours or days. 

----Humans likely wouldn’t have invented agriculture let alone launch rockets into space with such subpar recall. 

Also, with 10,000 synapses to every one neuron, scientists didn’t know exactly how PKMzeta strengthened some synapses and not others.

Now, a new study from scientists at the State University of New York (SUNY) Downstate Health Sciences University has an answer......During memory formation the synapses involved in the formation are activated. PKMzeta then attaches to the KIBRA-synaptic-tag and keeps those synapses strong. This allows the synapses to stick to newly made KIBRA, attracting more newly made PKMzeta. The researchers call this KIBRA the “missing link” molecule that 

acts as a glue 

that allows memories to persist for years or even decades." 

Popular Mechanics

It isn’t fair

"We want it to all be “fair” but it isn’t fair. 

Christianity is not about “fairness” or “justice.” 

Just the opposite. 

It isn’t fair that Adam’s sin pitched us into a sinful reality. 

It isn’t fair that because of his sin, his remote descendants, born thousands of years later, are liable to disease, suffering, and death. 

It isn’t fair that Adam’s sin is transmitted to his descendants in the form of a fallen nature that has an inborn desire to sin, a bent to sinning. It is not fair but it is a fact.

Q: You know what else is not “fair”? 

A: How we are saved. 

None of us is saved through his own merit. We can never earn it or deserve it. But Christ suffered and died for our sins so that we can be saved, through His merit alone, and none of our own:

But He was pierced for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on Him,
and by His wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray,
we have turned everyone to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on Him
the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:4-6." 

David Read

Human Appetite & God’s first prohibitory declaration

"THE history of the human appetite is indeed a sad one. 

*The Creator designed that the appetite should be man’s servant, not his master. 

*It was to be subordinate to the moral and intellectual faculties. 

This truth is seen in God’s first prohibitory declaration to man:  Genesis 2:16 Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat: 

17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it; for in the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die.

God made man upright, and endowed him with powers of mind far above those of any other creature living upon the earth.

He placed him upon probation, that he might form a character for the glory of the Creator, and for his own happiness. 

The first great moral lesson which the innocent pair of Eden were to learn, was self-control. 

God appeals to man’s nobler powers. He graciously gives him all he needs for the delights of taste, and for the support of life. 

And it was for man’s moral good, to say the least, that his eating from the tree of knowledge was prohibited. 

Of all the trees of the garden he might freely eat, save one. 

In this prohibition, the Creator places the appetite under the watchcare and guardianship of the moral and intellectual powers.

Man alone is responsible for the moral and physical wretchedness under which the race suffers. There was no necessity for Eve to yield to the tempter; and Adam is quite as inexcusable." 

James White

ARCHAEOLOGY: What DA's tell us......

"The period of the Ice Age, called the Pleistocene, presents many

puzzles for secular scientists. Plants and animals from widely different climates or environments are found together in Ice Age deposits. These are called ‘disharmonious associations’ (DAs).

Probably the most striking example of a DA during the Ice Age is the association of hippopotamus fossils with reindeer, musk oxen, and woolly mammoths in England, France, and Germany. So far about 100 of these associations have been discovered in England and Wales. Hippos are intolerant of the cold. Sutcliffe states:

"Finding conditions so favorable, the hippopotamus (today an inhabitant of the equatorial regions) had been able to spread northwards throughout most of England and Wales, up to an altitude of 400 meters on the now bleak Yorkshire [northern England] moors."

---The wide variety of Ice Age animals found in England indicates that early in the Ice Age, there must have been an easy passage between what is now France and England. 

---This was likely a land bridge in the location of the Dover Strait.

Secular scientists attempt to dodge the implications of DAs. Since they believe in multiple ice ages, one strategy is placing the hippos and other warmth-adapted creatures into the ‘interglacial’ phases and the cold-tolerant animals into the ‘glacial’ phases. (We supposedly live in an interglacial called the Holocene.)

Much to secularists’ consternation, warm- and cold-loving animal types are often found together in Ice Age sediments, making it difficult to separate them into glacial and interglacial inhabitants.

Disharmonious associations were the ‘rule’ and not the exception during the Ice Age, and included a wide variety of flora and fauna:

"Late Pleistocene [Ice Age] communities were characterized by the coexistence of species that today are allopatric [live in different regions not climatically associated] and presumably ecologically incompatible. … Disharmonious associations have been documented for late Pleistocene floras … terrestrial invertebrates … lower vertebrates, birds, and mammals."

DAs can only occur in an equable climate, one with little seasonal contrast between winters and summers.

One reason DAs remain a mystery for uniformitarian scientists is that in their models, the ice ages would have been very cold. Many climate simulations have been run. They all give temperatures much colder than today, generally by 10°C (18°F) or more, and greater dryness south of the Northern Hemisphere ice sheets.

"One of the longest-running philosophical debates in paleoecological interpretations concerns the importance of mixed, or disharmonious, assemblages which represent past communities with no modern analog. These mixed assemblages challenge our world views. … Mixed assemblages are usually explained by invoking past climates more “equable” than that of today."

The Ice Age caused by the Genesis Flood explains the most striking DA—hippopotamuses associated with cold-tolerant animals in northwest Europe. Early in the Ice Age a warm, moist onshore air flow pushed by predominantly westerly winds off a warm North Atlantic Ocean would result in a warm, wet climate over northwest Europe. England may have averaged 25°C (77°F) in winter and summer. This mild climate would be congenial for hippos spreading from the “mountains of Ararat” (Genesis 8:4) in the Middle East.

But the post-Flood Ice Age climate was dynamic and ever-changing.

As the ocean cooled and volcanism decreased, the land temperatures cooled. In Northwest Europe late in the Ice Age, the cooler and drier climate attracted cold-tolerant animals. Hippos likely could not migrate south, because the land bridge between England and France at the Dover Strait was destroyed by a catastrophic local flood.

he strange mix of plants and animals that lived together during the Ice Age is another of the many puzzles that have persisted for 150 years for scientists who ignore the Biblical Flood. But, once again, realistic analysis using a Genesis-based model of Earth history gives simple, solid answers to those puzzles." 

CMI

Creation Moment 10/13/2024 - DESIGNED SWEET SPOT that keeps you alive

I will praise Thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: Psalm 139:14

"Our cells harness energy for essential functions such as division, wound healing, and our immune response to diseases including cancer. But until now, the mechanics of how that energy affects cell behavior—and how this relates to health outcomes—have remained elusive.

Scientists at the Yale Systems Biology Institute have discovered the thermodynamic principles underpinning energy use in our cells.
For the first time, the scholars measured how energy is arranged into different wave patterns formed in the cell's external membrane and its internal structure, or "cytoskeleton"—both components of the cell "cortex."

Before our cells divide, they generate protein "wave patterns" in two distinctive forms—one pulsing like a heartbeat and the other displaying seemingly jumbled spiral patterns.

Far from being jumbled, the scholars were surprised to reveal an organized energy system dependent on distance from thermodynamic equilibrium. They found that cells displayed an optimal advantageous state—a sweet spot between the two wave types yielding maximum energy to drive cell functionality." 

Phys.org

IN the NEWS - Helene & Milton

"News reports are filled with grief and horror at what Hurricane Helene did as it traveled north into Georgia, eastern Tennessee and North Carolina. Residents of North Carolina were especially hard hit,

with entire towns flooded and destroyed, all the debris carried off by rivers. Helene ranks with the worst hurricanes ever in terms of damage. Even today the death toll is not known but currently stands at 235. As they run out of body bags, rescue crews are desperately trying to find and help victims who have gotten little aid from the federal government. Hurricane Milton is a record-setting storm aimed right at Tampa Bay, Florida, and will almost certainly cause catastrophic damage to much of the state.

Theologians wrestle with questions about whether, and how, directly God intervenes with nature. 

---Bible-believing theologians do not deny God can intervene, but debate whether He does intervene, and if so, how often and for what purposes. 

They call direct intervention primary causation, and call nature left to run on divinely ordained natural laws secondary causation. Given that the world has fallen into sin and is under a curse, we know not to expect a Garden of Eden any more in this age.

Genesis 8:22 (“While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease”) and Matthew 5:45 (“For He makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust”). Indeed, it would be hard to conceive of a world without regularity. That’s what gives us science, and allows us to have some measure of confidence about what to expect in our daily lives.

Regularity offers a measure of fairness to people. 

If the trees crowded around a man to give him shade, as C.S. Lewis quipped, his neighbor would be left under the beating sun. Regularity is what makes miracles surprising.

The opposite view of determinism is more pernicious. 

Materialists and evolutionists have no other choices but (1) chance or (2) the determinism of natural law and genetics. Every event, some think, was determined at the big bang. This would include the track of Hurricane Milton.

Some theological views, particularly those of certain hyper-

calvinists, fall into this trap as well, asserting that every event, including every location of every raindrop that falls, was decreed by God at the foundation of the world. The well-meaning attempt to exalt God’s sovereignty, however, makes God the author of evil, which is clearly denied by Scriptures such as Jeremiah 7:31. Sovereignty can refer to kingly authority instead of meticulous micromanagement of every event.

In the present age, it is appointed unto man once to die, and after that the judgment. Given that fact, we don’t know when or how we will meet our end: of so-called “natural causes” or at the hands of evildoers. 

The certainty of death keeps us alert to danger and should put the fear of God into everyone who ponders their own mortality. 

Natural disasters have been with us since Genesis 3."
David Coppedge/CEH

Papal Notes - Helene, Milton & Francis

"It is heartbreaking to see the devastation left behind by hurricanes Helene and Milton. Catholics are using these tragic events to promote Pope Francis’ climate encyclical, Laudato Si’. Rome cannot let a good crisis go to waste.

Catholic-run Religious Formation Conference published a warning

called “Catastrophic Storms Mean Climate Action More Important than Ever,” connecting Laudato Si’ to the recent hurricanes and the complete devastation they have caused to our nation. They are also using this tragedy to renew their calls to petition policymakers to pass legislation to protect our environment.
The Religious Formation Conference expressed the following:
• “The world has witnessed the devastating effects of natural disasters on communities near and far. Most recently, Hurricane Helene and a tornado outbreak spawned by Hurricane Milton tore through coastal regions, leaving absolute destruction in their wake. Severe floods, landslides, and other climate-related events have ravaged countries around the globe, claiming lives, displacing families, and destroying homes.”
• “Pope Francis’ Laudato Si’ reminds us that the Earth is our common home, entrusted to us by God. The damage caused by these storms reminds us of our responsibility to protect the planet and live in harmony with nature. Human activities such as pollution, deforestation, and the burning of fossil fuels are key contributors to climate change that are feeding these catastrophic events.”
• “What You Can Do to Protect the Planet and Fight Climate Change: Advocate for Change – Support legislation and policies that promote environmental protection and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Engage with local leaders and policymakers.”

Q: What is Rome’s answer to the climate crisis? 

A: They want to bring the laws of the world into line with Catholic doctrines, traditions, and values. 

Catholic climate change activists were so eager and couldn’t wait to link these recent natural disasters to Laudato Si’. The widespread

desolations, the upheaval, and the unrest we are witnessing today—marked by increasing division, moral decay, and the breakdown of societal norms—can be seen as part of a larger, darker pattern preparing the way for the rise of the Antichrist—the Papal power. According to Revelations 13, 17, and 18, the final universal world order will be characterized by chaos, confusion, lawlessness, and a global longing for peace and stability, making it the perfect environment for the man of sin to seize power with the help of the United States.

Be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.’ Matthew 24:44." 

AdventMessenger

SDA Issues - Loma Linda turns back on God

"The Laramie Project is a play written by Moisés Kaufman, a homosexual theater director and playwright. The live show was presented on the Loma Linda University campus last Sabbath and Sunday, and will also be presented next weekend." Fulcrum7

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. 

1 Corinthians 6:9-11

ARCHAEOLOGY: Roaming Pre-Flood Brazil

And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights. Genesis 7:12

"A new genus and species of silesaurid being named Gondwanax

paraisensis has been identified from the fossilized remains discovered in Southern Brazil. Most authors agree that silesaurids are the sister-group to Dinosauria, forming the clade Silesauridae. 

The newly-discovered silesaurid species lived in what is now Brazil. The animal’s skeletal remains were recovered from the Santa Maria Formation in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil." 

SciNews

Creation Moment 10/12/2024 - DNA Clock Is Broken

Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools....

Romans 1:22

Genomics Joins Geology in Search for Evolutionary Ancestors 10/05/2001
The Astrobiology Institute posted a popular-level article about how molecular biologists are piecing together evolutionary family trees by studying proteins, and how they expect to correlate their data with those of geologists and paleontologists who piece together evolutionary relationships with bones and rocks. Stephen Benner and colleagues are using a new search engine and database of proteins called DARWIN (Data Analysis and Retrieval With Indexed Nucleic-acid-peptide sequences) to compare proteins from distant organisms and find evidence of ancestry.

The article is mostly bluff, with a lot of positive-sounding claims about evolution being evident in the genes and proteins, when in fact we have been reporting frequently that it is not, and that the molecular evidence does not match the paleontological evidence. On October 1 [see below] for instance, we relayed a story about how 

-----the DNA clock method for dating evolutionary changes was

found unreliable. 

-----The same applies to any alleged protein clock, since proteins are encoded by genes. 

-----One cannot draw relationships between diverse animals without first believing evolution to be true, so it becomes a case of question-begging to get the data to fit preconceived notions. If you read this article with that in mind, you can find circular reasoning, extrapolation, and faith in evolution all built up on very little actual evidence. 

DNA Clock Is Broken 10/01/2001
–or rather, never worked to begin with. 

Molecular biologists are unhappy to hear that a dating technique they have relied on for decades is unreliable. 

---Based on a claim in 1965, they have built their evolutionary trees on the assumption that mutations accumulate at a constant rate. 

---Now, according to a report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences summarized in a news report in Science, researchers at the University of California in Irvine have found “vastly different mutation rates, even for closely related species . . . Molecular clocks in general are much more ‘erratic’ than previously thought, and practically useless to keep accurate evolutionary time, the researchers conclude.”

---Molecular dating is flawed, and now evolutionists must cast away another worthless clock. Creationists believed all along that the DNA clock was built on circular reasoning and therefore unreliable. 

 This 1998 article shows that doubts about molecular clocks have been around for some time, but no matter what the fossils or the molecules show, the story will be adjusted to fit Darwinism:

"Is it then justified to test the accuracy of the fossil record using the molecular clock hypothesis, when this requires extrapolation between groups with scarce fossil data? Can we even use the rates calculated within a group of organisms to infer the origin of this group? Can we exclude the possibility that rates of evolution change over time? Specifically, what if the emergence of a group of organisms coincides with an initial acceleration of substitution rates followed by a slowdown or period of molecular stasis? . . . . Perhaps we should consider the possibility that there have been significant changes in the rates of nucleotide substitution in taxa with remote origins before sending palaeontologists out to fill perceived gaps in the fossil record."

Evolutionists will argue about which evidence supports Darwinism better, but Darwinism itself, like American foreign policy with the Taliban, is not open to negotiation or discussion." 

CEH

Creation Moment 10/11/2024 - PBS Memo

Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,... 

Romans 1:22

"By now, the 7th and last episode of PBS’s week-long blitz on evolution has aired across the country. Rarely have I seen a more

slick example of selective reporting designed to push a particular point of view. Having a viewpoint is fine, and making your case is good, but PBS, partially funded by tax dollars, presented this series as “science journalism” and said it wanted to clarify what evolution is and how it works, and to dispel misunderstandings about evolution, while staying away from the religious realm.

It failed miserably. 

This was a propaganda campaign, with the ultimate aim of keeping any criticism of Darwinism out as revealed in their own memo (see next headline). 

Q: Will it be the last hurrah of a crumbling theory, destined for the unmarked grave of forgotten lies, or is it a charge leading to more Darwinist control over what is considered legitimate knowledge in our society? 

Now that the PBS series passes into the obligate re-runs, and the slick materials and website find their way into classrooms across America, you need to be knowledgeable about both sides, but you won’t find impartiality on Evolution.

PBS Memo Reveals Political Agenda Behind “Evolution” Series 09/27/2001
A PBS internal memo written June 15 and posted on the Discovery Institute website shows that PBS intends to “co-opt existing local dialogue about teaching evolution in schools” and promote involvement in local school boards, newspapers and government with “guerilla/viral marketing.” 

The memo, entitled The Evolution Controversy – Use It or Lose It, Evolution Project/WGBH Boston was leaked by a source within PBS." 

CEH

Q: What does it mean to be a peculiar people?

Q: What does it mean to be a peculiar people?

"The dictionary gives us two definitions of the word peculiar when

used as an adjective. 

The first use refers to something that is strange or odd. 

But the second use refers to something particular or special. 

It is this definition that is used in the context of the Biblical description of God’s people.

“But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special [peculiar] people … .” 1 Peter 2:9." 

StepsToLife

Creation Moment 10/10/2024 - Crumbling of Darwinism

He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Psalm 2:4

"Last week.....a study published in PNAS, the journal of the National Academy of Sciences, that cast doubt on Darwinian evolution.

*After studying the genomes of a decade of generations of fast-reproducing water fleas (Daphnia pulex), geneticist Michael Lynch and colleagues could not find evidence for a pattern of change. Genetically, the model organism for studying evolution was just one flea after another…

These findings are a challenge to the schoolbook view of evolution that underlies much popular culture but the PR team does not seem to know that.

Popular Mechanics, which covers the story in a way he found puzzling:

"The study showed that the organisms experienced changing selection pressures, but that they all eventually canceled out, meaning no dominant trait took over and influenced the organism’s evolution. In other words, this shows that evolution works on a level much more subtle than what scientists previously believed.

Darren Orf, “An Incredible Organism Is Evolving at Lightning Speed—Faster Than We Ever Imagined Possible,” September 18, 2024"

Yes, that is what the researchers said. It’s a polite way of saying they didn’t find any evolution of the sort one would naturally expect. In short, if you were not already convinced, on other grounds, that Daphnia evolves, you would not deduce that from their findings.

In a variety of settings, the topic of climate change is a satisfying way to extricate oneself from an awkward subject:

"Of course, in an era of climate change, understanding these underlying evolutionary mechanisms is important. Because it’s impossible to perfectly recreate the evolutionary pressures on species in the wild, understanding the baseline functions on a species in a stable environment can help form a foundation for how other species could be well-suited for adaptation. Eventually, this could help scientists build resiliency in certain populations to protect vitally important food webs.

Orf, “Ever Imagined Possible,” September 18, 2024"

Okay, but we haven’t established that anything happened here. How scientists are supposed to use this information to figure out how to “protect vitally important food webs” is not spelled out. But perhaps readers will feel that we are on the right side of science if climate change is emphasized.

It may be that an unwillingness or inability to see this finding for what it is, as evidence against Darwinian evolution, plays a vital role in quietly enabling further research."
Denyse O'Leary

Triune Godhead of LOVE

God is love. 1 John 4:16

"The one true God exists eternally as three persons, coequal in power, glory, and majesty. 

Each person has unique roles in creation and salvation, and each person is revealed in Scripture to relate to the others in different ways.

One way the Trinity is important for understanding God is that the Trinity makes it possible for love to be an innate quality of God.

If God was only God the Father, and Jesus came later, for instance, God’s love would be dependent on the existence of creatures for Him

to love. 

But because God is a Trinity of three persons, each person loves the other two (i.e., the Father loves the Son and the Spirit, the Son loves the Father and the Spirit, and the Spirit loves the Father and the Son), and each pair jointly loves the third (i.e., the Father and the Son love the Spirit, the Father and the Spirit love the Son, and the Son and the Spirit love the Father)." 

AIG

John foresaw the perennial error

"The other three gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke—are called the synoptic gospels, because they have largely the “same view” of Jesus and record many of the same incidents.

But the Gospel According to John is very different. 

Its focus is the divinity of Christ. 

John wanted to show Jesus as divine, as THE Son of God. 

He tells us, in John 20:30-31 that Jesus did many things that he hasn’t put in his book, but the incidents he has chosen, he specifically chose so that, “you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.”

It seems that John foresaw what would become the perennial error or heresy about Jesus Christ: That He was just another man. 

A wise man, a good man, a moral example, even a prophet (as the Muslims allow), but ultimately just another man." 

David Read

Creation Moment 10/9/2024 - Your "nuclear speckle"

For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Romans 1:20

"The nucleus of each of your cells contains all the genetic information (the genome) necessary to build every type of cell and protein in your entire body. 

Like a complex library in a tiny space 50 times smaller than the width of a human hair, genes are organized into precise regions in three dimensions.

In addition to the genome, the nucleus contains structures called

nuclear bodies that contain high concentrations of specific proteins and nucleic acids. 

The role of nuclear bodies, however, has been a mystery for nearly a century. A new study from the laboratory of Caltech's Mitch Guttman, professor of biology, shows that these nuclear bodies can act like miniature factories to enable efficient production of mRNA.

mRNA splicing is a fundamental part of the process that occurs when encoded DNA instructions are turned into a functional protein. After a gene is transcribed from DNA to RNA, extraneous sections (called introns) must be cut out, a process facilitated by splicing enzymes.

Caltech researchers examined a particular type of nuclear body, called the nuclear speckle, which contains high concentrations of splicing enzymes.
Guttman's team discovered that the genome physically shifts itself around so that highly transcribed genes are in close proximity to speckles, enabling more efficient splicing.

The paper describing the findings was published in the journal Nature on May 8. It is titled "Genome organization around nuclear speckles drives mRNA splicing efficiency."

For a decade, researchers in the Guttman laboratory have studied how the nucleus is spatially organized—the layout of the library, in other words. 

The 3D structures into which DNA is ordered make certain genes more or less accessible to the machinery that convert DNA into mRNA, and the new study shows that the physical structure of the genome links transcription with the process of splicing.

A muscle cell, for example, 

---will shift its genome around so that highly transcribed genes for muscle activity are in physical proximity to nuclear speckles, where high concentrations of splicing enzymes make RNA splicing particularly efficient. 

A neuronal cell, on the other hand, 

---will reorient its genome in space so that the genes necessary to produce cells specialized for neurological function are closer to the speckles." 

Phys.org

ARCHAEOLOGY: Dt. 4:19 & Rom. 1:23 in Egypt

And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.....and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
Deuteronomy 4:19/Romans 1:23 NIV

"An Egyptian archaeological team discovered the remains of the sixth-century-B.C. structure three years ago during excavations at an archaeological site in the ancient city of Buto, now called Tell Al-Faraeen, in Egypt's Kafr El-Sheikh governorate.

The team uncovered the ruins of an L-shaped mud-brick building spanning over 9,150 square feet. Its east-facing entrance, marked by a traditional gateway known as a pylon, leads to a spot where sunlight would have illuminated where the sky observer — known as 'smn pe' and who was usually a priest — stood to track the sun and stars, Ghonim said.

The structure still has a carving of smn pe facing the rising sun. 

This figure symbolizes the ancient Egyptians' connection to the cosmos, Ghonim said.....initially, archaeologists thought the clock was a temple gate. The team also found an ancient Egyptian timekeeping device known as a "merkhet,"....."The ancient Egyptians envisioned the Earth and sky as two mats," Ghonim said. "They mapped the sky on the 'Themet Hrt' — the sky mat — and the 'Themet Ghrt,' or Earth mat, represented their calendar, marking events like the Nile flood and harvest. This is the first inscribed stone mat of its kind ever discovered."

The excavation also uncovered a statue of the falcon-headed god Horus. The depiction of Horus, along with an eye of Horus, "embodies the systems of the universe and is linked to the sun, the moon, the god Horus, and the goddess Wadjet, the most important gods of Buto," according to the statement.

In ancient times, Buto was dedicated to the goddess Wadjet, a serpent goddess known to be protective of the king.

Inside the observatory, archaeologists found a gray, granite statue of King Psamtik I from the Saite era — the 26th dynasty — and a bronze figure of Osiris, a god associated with the underworld and resurrection, with a serpent, referring to the goddess Wadjet. 

These artifacts, along with various pottery items used in religious rituals, date the observatory to the sixth century B.C. and emphasize its dual role in scientific study and spiritual practice, Ghonim said." MS