Puritan Corner - Whether in Sermon or in Secret

“Christian, prize thou the word, feed on the word, whether it be

dished up in a sermon…or in a more secret duty of reading and meditation by thy solitary self.” 

by William Gurnall (1616-1679)
Mine eyes prevent the night watches, that I might meditate in Thy word. Psalm 119:48

Meditation Upon the PSALMS Series: Psalm 143

"Psalm 143:
Again David is beset by enemies, and again he knows to whom he must turn.

I. David’s Passion 

(143:1-2);
II. David’s Predicament 

(143:3-6);
III. David’s Plea 

(143:7-12).

Psalms 143:1 Hear my prayer, O LORD, give ear to my supplications: in Thy faithfulness answer me, [and] in Thy righteousness.
Psalms 143:3 For the enemy hath persecuted my soul; he hath smitten my life down to the ground; he hath made me to dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead.

Psalms 143:5 I remember the days of old; I meditate on all Thy works; I muse on the work of Thy hands.
Psalms 143:8 Cause me to hear Thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in Thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto Thee.
Psalms 143:9 Deliver me, O LORD, from mine enemies: I flee unto Thee to hide me.
Psalms 143:10 Teach me to do Thy will; for Thou [art] my God: Thy spirit [is] good; lead me into the land of uprightness.
Psalms 143:12 And of thy mercy cut off mine enemies, and destroy all them that afflict my soul: for I [am] Thy servant."
BooksOfTheBible

IN the NEWS - UFO/Alien NONSENSE grips the theaters of the world

UFO/Alien NONSENSE grips the theaters of the world.
--The world refuses to believe in God despite the evidence all around them (For ever since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through His workmanship [all His creation, the wonderful things that He has made], so that they [who fail to believe and trust in Him] are without excuse and without defense. Romans 1:20 AMP). 

Yet they will believe in crackpot notions of UFO type aliens based on growing up imbibing too much on sci-fi of those with DISEASED IMAGINATIONS (...it is by beholding that we become changed. E.G.W.).

"Roughly a third of the way into Steven Spielberg’s new blockbuster film “Disclosure Day,” which focuses on the theoretical release of evidence documenting the existence of alien life, a conversation

between the two main characters takes a sudden turn toward the spiritual.
One of the characters, who is Catholic, begins fretting over what the release of such information would mean for religious people, worrying many will “stop believing in God.” People who believe in “superior beings,” she says, will balk at news of “actual” superior beings — namely, technologically advanced aliens.
“People can’t handle both,” she concludes.

Her implicit question is left hanging, like a flying saucer hovering over the horizon, for most of the film: If intelligent life were to be discovered beyond Earth, would it shatter religious traditions?
Catholics in particular have long been interested in extraterrestrial life. The idea was already showing up in the 15th century, when a German Catholic cardinal insisted on the prospect of life on other stars. What’s more, multiple heads of the Vatican observatory have openly discussed the prospect of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, with one saying he would baptize an alien."

RNS

CLICK ON LINKS BELOW TO SEE WHY UFO/ALIENS COULDN'T CONTACT EARTH IF THEY EXISTED:

Aliens Will NEVER Arrive The Leonard Susskind Reality Check https://www.youtube.com/embed/H4W1pbJfn8g?si=eRAcnE79JlMbkv_G

ALIENS CAN'T REACH EARTH BY RICHARD FEYNMAN

https://www.youtube.com/embed/iNaIFq51Jtw?si=dZZFc57orUrRZ8ZS

Why Aliens Will Never Reach Us | Leonard Susskind Explains

https://www.youtube.com/embed/rxqAseiPRbY?si=sfVQ20v8I90yzuAi

Creation Moment 6/30/2026 - His workmanship displayed in the grandeur of a butterfly wing

And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. Genesis 1:24

"A butterfly wing may look like painted glass, but beneath its beauty is a living control system. A recent study on South American butterflies and a day-flying moth found a striking theme. Two genes, ivory and optix, help make similar colors in insects that conventional scientists place far apart on the family tree. The study presents this as evidence that evolution has repeated itself. Yet the finding points to

a stronger, creation-based thesis: these wing patterns show built-in flexibility based on stable, reusable design.

The wing colors in these insects, although very pretty, are not random decoration: they are warning signs. Many of the species use bright bands and patches as warning signals that help mark them as poor food choices for predators. That function requires not only pigment, but also wing scales, color paths, body plans, timing, and controls that put the right color in the right place.

Again and again, the PLOS Biology study found that similar color patterns are tied to the same control regions near the ivory and optix genes. Earlier butterfly research also showed that wing pattern changes can involve moved or reshuffled control parts that affect where a trait appears. This means that butterflies’ genes don’t start from scratch when formulating the color design on their wings. Instead, they tune their existing system in the control regions to adjust where the colors go.

These regions act like dimmer switches. While they can’t explain the machine they control, dimmer switches can adjust a light. But they did not invent the power, wires, glass, or bulb. In the same way, control DNA can change color placement on a wing, but it does not explain the origin of the wing, the pigment system, or the genetic logic behind it.

The authors also state that repeated use of the same genes points to strong limits and expected outcomes. That observation fits well with the creation model’s assertion that living things show flexibility, just as butterflies and moths vary in color pattern. But that modification works inside limits, so the core system remains intact.

The logic is straightforward. When a system gives controlled, repeatable results, its built-in parts should be central to explaining those outcomes. Organisms use internal systems to adjust to changing conditions rather than inventing themselves through unguided processes, like the butterflies in the study demonstrate.4

The butterfly wing gives a small but powerful lesson in design. 

Its colors can change, but only through systems already in place—illustrating the difference between flexibility and invention. The

study shows real variation within clear limits in a living system, not the origin of the machinery behind it. Such apparent design is not surprising in a world made by the Creator. His workmanship is displayed in both the grandeur of life and the fine details of a butterfly wing." 

ICR

Meditation Upon the PSALMS Series: Psalm 142

"Psalm 142:
As the superscription indicates, David’s distress this time is the dogged pursuit by his enemies.

I. Cry of David 

(142:1-2);
II. Circumstances of David 

(142:3-4);
III. Confidence of David 

(142:5-7).

Psalm 142:1 I cried unto the LORD with my voice; with my voice unto the LORD did I make my supplication.
Psalm 142:2 I poured out my complaint before Him; I showed before Him my trouble.

Psalm 142:5 I cried unto Thee, O LORD: I said, Thou [art] my refuge [and] my portion in the land of the living.
Psalm 142:7 Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise Thy name: the righteous shall compass me about; for Thou shalt deal bountifully with me."
BooksOfTheBible

Creation Moment 6/29/2026 - Io and Ganymede's challenge

Hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds; Hebrews 1:2

"Two of Jupiter’s four Galilean moons, Io and Ganymede, were recently featured in science news stories—stories that remind us that these moons are problematic for those who believe the solar system is billions of years old.

The four largest of Jupiter’s more than 100 moons are called the Galilean moons, in honor of their discovery by Galileo Galilei. In order of increasing distance from Jupiter, they are: Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. Io and Ganymede both challenge the solar system’s presumed age of 4.6 billion years because they seem warmer than they should be after such a long time.

Small planets and moons quickly radiate heat to space, cooling off rapidly in the process. If these celestial bodies really are billions of years old, whatever primordial warmth they originally had should have been lost to space eons ago. Uniformitarian scientists are aware of this, and they argue that radioactive decay and tidal flexing can keep these small bodies warm over long ages. Heat is produced when radioactive elements decay. Likewise, tidal flexing, the stretching and compressing of a planet or moon’s interior due to gravitational tugs from nearby bodies, also produces heat.

However, in many cases, neither tidal flexing nor radioactive decay are plausible heat sources. Heat from radioactive decay can account for only a tiny fraction of Io’s heat output.

Tidal flexing is a possible explanation for Io’s heat, but it is problematic also. Volcanism on Io is so intense that at the current measured rate, Io’s volcanism should have completely turned its interior inside out more than 100 times over the supposed age of the solar system! Additionally, a process called magmatic differentiation should have depleted Io’s crust of magnesium if the volcanic activity had been occurring for as long as conventional scientists claim. But this is not what’s observed. Moreover, Io is losing three tons of material to space every second through volcanism. It is very difficult to see how such volcanic activity could have persisted for billions of years.

To make matters worse, the recent news article on Io suggests that scientists may have “massively underestimated Io’s [heat] output,” exacerbating the problem even further. For these reasons, most uniformitarians would likely argue that Io’s intense volcanism started relatively recently, although some are still trying to claim that Io’s volcanism has persisted for billions of years. 

*But a recent start to Io’s prodigious volcanism is troubling to uniformitarian scientists because such volcanism should only last a short time compared to the age of the solar system. Thus, it seems an odd coincidence that we were lucky enough to develop the technology to observe this volcanism just as it is occurring.

Ganymede, the other Jupiter moon in which we’re interested, has a magnetic field. This surprised conventional scientists because their uniformitarian dynamo theory, which they need to explain how a planet or moon can maintain a magnetic field over deep time, requires the moon or planet to have a liquid core. 

*Yet Ganymede’s liquid core should have frozen or solidified eons ago.

Scientists have given up on tidal flexing as an explanation for Ganymede’s presumed warmth and have started invoking more exotic scenarios, such as iron “snow” or the formation of iron-sulfide crystals in Ganymede’s core. But even these strange theories have problems. Now scientists are claiming that perhaps Ganymede’s core never fully formed and that heat from this ongoing formation process may sustain a liquid dynamo. The fact that uniformitarian scientists are inventing yet another mechanism to try to explain Ganymede’s magnetic field is an indication that the other explanations didn’t work very well.

Both Io and Ganymede silently testify that they were created about 6,000 years ago by the Lord Jesus Christ, just as Scripture declares." ICR

Meditation Upon the PSALMS Series: Psalm 141

"Psalm 141:
The occasion of this psalm may be stated generally as one of sore temptation, both internal (verses 3-4), and external (verses 9-10).

This psalm is comprised of 4 prayers that have been combined into one.
I. Prayer for God’s Haste 

(141:1-2);
II. Prayer for Personal Righteousness 

(141:3-5);
III. Prayer for Justice 

(141:6-7);
IV. Prayer for Deliverance 

(141:8-10).

Psalm 141:1 LORD, I cry unto Thee: make haste unto me; give ear unto my voice, when I cry unto Thee.

Psalm 141:3 Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.
Psalm 141:9 Keep me from the snares [which] they have laid for me, and the gins of the workers of iniquity.
Psalm 141:10 Let the wicked fall into their own nets, whilst that I withal escape." 

BooksOfTheBible

Creation Moment 6/28/2026 - Manipulating HAQERs & ES-PGS

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

"Ancient DNA shared with Neanderthals may explain human language (ScienceDaily, 12 June 2026). Researchers from University of Iowa Health Care examined a class of non-coding DNA elements called Human Accelerated Quantitative Enhancer Regions (HAQERs), regulatory sequences that influence gene expression in the brain.
By correlating variation in these enhancers with differences in present-day language ability, the team argues that some of the genetic architecture underlying language predates the divergence of modern humans and Neanderthals.
“What we’re seeing is how a very small part of the genome can have an outsized influence, not just on who we were as a species, but on who we are as individuals,” Michaelson [one of the authors of the journal article] says, noting that HAQERs represent less than a tenth of a percent of the genome but drive roughly 200 times more impact on language ability than any other genomic region.

The study does not identify a “gene for language,” nor does it uncover a new biological mechanism.
*HAQERs are a subclass of already known regulatory DNA,

enhancers that help control when and where genes are expressed. 

*These DNA elements do not code for proteins; they function by modulating the activity of other genes, often at a distance. Over the past two decades, such regions have moved from the margins of genomics to the center, as the old notion of “junk DNA” has given way to the far more intricate picture of genome-wide regulation.

That picture has only grown more complex and integrated with the rise of the “4D genome.” DNA is not a linear string but a folded, dynamic structure. Enhancers like HAQERs exert their effects through spatial proximity, looping across the genome to contact target genes, and their activity depends on timing, cell type, and developmental context. In such a system, causation is distributed and non-local.

From 4D Reality to 1D Statistics
What is new in this study is not the existence of these elements, but the statistical association drawn between their variation and language performance in living populations. From this, the authors infer deep evolutionary continuity, projecting present-day correlations back into an ancestral narrative spanning millions of years.

This brings us to the journal paper itself:
Ancient regulatory evolution shapes individual language abilities in present-day humans, (Science Advances, Lucas G. Casten, et al., 22 April 2026).
The authors draw this deep time inference with a brand new statistical method, pioneered specifically by these scientists for this paper. It is called an Evolutionary Stratified Polygenic Score (ES-PGS):

"To investigate the genetic origins of language ability, we developed an ES-PGS approach that systematically examines how genetic variants from different evolutionary periods contribute to traits."

In essence, ES-PGS is a statistical tool that aggregates many small genetic correlations with a trait, in this case, language-related performance, and then groups those correlations according to when the underlying DNA variants are thought to have arisen/emerged in evolutionary history. By comparing genomes across species and fitting them to a phylogenetic model, the method assigns variants to different “time layers,” some stretching back tens of millions of years.
This procedure does not directly observe evolutionary events.
It begins with present-day genetic variation and, using a model of evolutionary relationships and assumed timelines, it infers when particular variants likely emerged.

In essence, we are presented again with the ever-present circularity and self-reinforcement of evolutionary reasoning. ES-PGS partitions present-day genetic correlations according to an assumed evolutionary timeline, and then reports the results as evidence of that timeline." 

CEH

Meditation Upon the PSALMS Series: Psalm 140

"Psalm 140:

I. Concerning David 

(140:1-5).
A. “Deliver Me” 

(140:1-3);
B. “Protect Me” 

(140:4-5).
II. Concerning David’s Enemies 

(140:6-11).
A. “Thwart Them” 

(140:6-8);
B. “Punish Them” 

(140-9-11).
III. Concerning the LORD 

(140:12-13).

Psalm 140:1 Deliver me, O LORD, from the evil man: preserve me from the violent man;
Psalm 140:4 Keep me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked; preserve me from the violent man; who have purposed to overthrow my goings.

Psalm 140:8 Grant not, O LORD, the desires of the wicked: further not his wicked device; [lest] they exalt themselves.
Psalm 140:10 Let burning coals fall upon them: let them be cast into the fire; into deep pits, that they rise not up again.
Psalm 140:13 Surely the righteous shall give thanks unto Thy name: the upright shall dwell in Thy presence."
BooksOfTheBible

Creation Moment 6/27/2026 - The “primordial material”

"More than 260 meteorites have been identified as coming from Mars, all igneous rocks classified into shergottites, nakhlites, chassignites, orthopyroxenite and polymict regolith breccias. 

More than 60 have been radioisotope dated using the K-Ar, Ar-Ar, Rb-Sr, Sm-Nd, U-Th-Pb, Lu-Hf and Re-Os methods. Some 3.0–4.57 Ga radioisotope “ages” coincide with the postulated formation of
Mars and the subsequent giant impact cratering, massive volcanism and water outflows that deposited sedimentary layers and carved canyons during the Martian Noachian and Hesperian eras. 

Other younger <3.0 Ga Amazonian era radioisotope “ages” are sporadically distributed, coinciding with minor, scattered, lingering igneous activity. 

The radioisotope “ages” are generally concordant, so they provide no definitive evidence of accelerated radioisotope decay having occurred during and since the formation of these Martian igneous rocks. Contrary to the naturalistic paradigm.

God specifically tells us that He created the earth on Day One of the Creation Week, and Mars, the other planets, and earth’s Moon were created on Day Four from the same “primordial material” He had created on Day One. 

Today’s measured radioisotope compositions of these Martian meteorites may thus partially reflect the isotopic signature of that created “primordial material” consisting of atoms of all elemental isotopes including isotopes and their now daughter isotopes that were not derived by radioactive decay. 

--However, it is assumed that radioisotope decay with its emitted damaging radiation did not occur during the Creation Week because God declared at the end of Day Six that everything He had made as “very good” (Genesis 1:31). 

--Thus it is assumed that radioisotope decay only commenced when God cursed the ground. 

--Similarly, the impact cratering of earth, its Moon, Mars and the other planets would likewise not have occurred during the Creation Week to damage God’s “very good” creation. 

Instead, the giant impact cratering, massive volcanism and water outflows that deposited sedimentary layers and carved canyons during the Martian Noachian and Hesperian eras (3.0–4.1 Ga) might correlate with the global Flood cataclysm on the earth. 

In the subsequent Martian Amazonian era (<3.0 Ga) geologic activity was minor, localized, and sporadic, as recorded in many of the Martian meteorites. There is thus a major “disconnect” between the radioisotope “ages” for these Martian 3.0–4.1 Ga major geologic events and rocks, and the radioisotope “ages” of < 600 Ma for rocks formed during the earth’s global Flood cataclysm. 

This “disconnect” may be due to the earth having suffered from the Day Three Great Upheaval in which the primordial isotopic endowment was mixed and redistributed producing younger radioisotope “ages” in the resultant rocks, whereas Mars being subsequently created on Day Four was not so affected and thus maintained its primordial mantle isotopic endowment. 

Then when earth’s global Flood cataclysm occurred with its accompanying accelerated radioisotope decay and stirring of mantle reservoirs due to plate subduction and mantle plumes during catastrophic plate tectonics, Mars was also affected with giant impact cratering and massive volcanism, in which its mantle reservoirs were stirred and their isotopic endowment mixed. 

However, whereas the radioisotope “clocks” in the earth’s rocks were accelerated from their pre-Flood settings through some 600 million years, the Martian rocks’ radioisotope “clocks” may have been mixed, reset and accelerated through some 4 billion years from their pre-Flood settings. 

This has implications for earth’s Moon, since it also did not suffer from the Day Three Great Upheaval and early in it supposed geologic history it also suffered from giant impact cratering and massive volcanism, which thus could also correlate with the earth’s global Flood cataclysm. In any case, even though these Martian meteorites yield consistent radioisotope “ages”, these cannot be their true real-time ages, which according to the Biblical paradigm are only about 6,000 and less real-time years." 

AIG

Meditation Upon the PSALMS Series: Psalm 139

"Psalm 139:
Certainly one of the grandest psalms in all of the Psalter, it is also one of the richest theologically.

I. The omniscience of God is seen 

(1-6).
II. The omnipresence of God is seen 

(7-11).
III. The omnipotence of God is seen 

(12-16).
IV. David’s Obeisance 

(19-24).

Psalm 139:1 O LORD, Thou hast searched me, and known [me].
Psalm 139:6 [Such] knowledge [is] too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot [attain] unto it.
Psalm 139:7 Whither shall I go from Thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from Thy presence?

Psalm 139:8 If I ascend up into heaven, Thou [art] there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, Thou [art there].
Psalm 139:14 I will praise Thee; for I am fearfully [and] wonderfully made: marvelous [are] Thy works; and [that] my soul knoweth right well.
Psalm 139:17 How precious also are Thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!
Psalm 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts." 

BooksOfTheBible

Creation Moment 6/26/2026 - It was a “very good” Creation

"The authors of the Bible are in consistent agreement that the creation week was a literal week and that God created all life on this planet in such a way that death did not originally exist for sentient creatures. 

 

The Bible paints God as suffering and experiencing real pain

whenever He sees even a little sparrow fall wounded to the ground (Matthew 10:29) or when He sees animals in general suffer and die (Jonah 4:11, Proverbs 12:10). 

It also paints God as wishing to create a place where sentient animals do not harm or eat each other – where lions, leopards, wolves, calves, lambs and little children, current natural enemies, co-exist happily and peacefully together in the world made new as it was originally intended to be (Isaiah 11:6). 

It is hard to imagine then that such a God would deliberately create using a painful and evil mechanism of the “survival of the fittest”, where carnivorous animals are “red in tooth and claw” in a place with untold amounts of suffering, pain, and death for billions upon billions of sentient creatures over vast eons of time, and then call it “very good” (Genesis 1:31)." 

Sean Pitman

Meditation Upon the PSALMS Series: Psalm 138

"Psalm 138:
The occasion is unknown.

I. Individual Praise 

(138:1-3);
II. International Praise 

(138:4-5);
III. Invincible Praise 

(138:6-8).

Psalm 138:1 I will praise Thee with my whole heart: before the gods will I sing praise unto Thee.
Psalm 138:2 I will worship toward Thy holy temple, and praise

Thy name for Thy loving- kindness and for Thy truth: for Thou hast magnified Thy word above all Thy name.
Psalm 138:4 All the kings of the earth shall praise Thee, O LORD, when they hear the words of Thy mouth.
Psalm 138:6 Though the LORD [be] high, yet hath He respect unto the lowly: but the proud He knoweth afar off." 

BooksOfTheBible

Creation Moment 6/25/2026 - Assumptions about the first week

But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies.... 2 Peter 2:1

“But the assumption that the events of the first week required thousands upon thousands of years, strikes directly at the foundation of the fourth commandment. 

--It represents the Creator as commanding men to observe the week

of literal days in commemoration of vast, indefinite periods. 

--This is unlike His method of dealing with His creatures. 

--It makes indefinite and obscure that which He has made very plain. 

--It is infidelity in its most insidious and hence most dangerous form; its real character is so disguised that it is held and taught by many who profess to believe the Bible.” 

E.G.W.

Meditation Upon the PSALMS Series: Psalm 137

"Psalm 137:

Continuing one of the more graphic imprecatory prayers, this psalm was written during the Babylonian captivity, or perhaps shortly afterward.
It contains a cry in captivity (verses 1-4), a vow of remembrance (verses 5-6), and a prayer for judgment (verses 7-9).

Psalm 137:1 By the rivers of Babylon, 

there we sat down, yea, 

we wept, when we remembered Zion.

Psalm 137:2 

We hanged our harps upon the willows

 in the midst thereof.

Psalm 137:3 For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us [required of us] mirth, [saying], Sing us [one] of the songs of Zion.
Psalm 137:6 If I do not remember Thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.

Psalm 137:7 Remember, O LORD, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase [it], rase [it, even] to the foundation thereof.
Psalm 137:8 O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy [shall he be], that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us."
BooksOfTheBible

Creation Moment 6/24/2026 -6 day Creation preserved in the week

For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. Exodus 20:11

“Like the Sabbath, the

week originated at creation, and it has been preserved and brought down to us through Bible history. 

God Himself measured off the first week as a sample for successive weeks to the close of time. 

Like every other week, it consisted of seven literal days. 

Six days were employed in the work of creation; upon the seventh, God rested, and He then blessed this day, and set it apart as a day of rest for man.” E.G.W.

Meditation Upon the PSALMS Series: Psalm 136

"Psalm 136:

This psalm is a hymn of praise like the preceding: a call to praise (verses 1-3), a cause for praise (verses 4-25), and a conclusion (verse 26).

Psalm 136:1 O give thanks unto the LORD; for [He is] good: for His mercy [endureth] for ever.
Psalm 136:7 To Him that made great lights: for His mercy [endureth] for ever:
Psalm 136:8 The sun to rule by day: for His mercy [endureth] for ever:
Psalm 136:9 The moon and stars to rule by night: for His mercy [endureth] for ever.

Psalm 136:10 To Him that smote Egypt in their firstborn: for His mercy [endureth] for ever:
Psalm 136:11 And brought out Israel from among them: for His mercy [endureth] for ever:
Psalm 136:12 With a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm: for His mercy [endureth] for ever.
Psalm 136:23 Who remembered us in our low estate: for His mercy [endureth] for ever:
Psalm 136:26 O give thanks unto the God of heaven: for His mercy [endureth] for ever." 

BooksOfTheBible

Creation Moment 6/23/2026 - Another Evolutionary Theory?

There is Darwinism, Neo-Darwinism (Dawkins), Punctuated Equilibrium Evolution (Gould), Panspermia (Sagan), A 3rd Way (Wagner), Evo Devo (DeBeers), sort of a back-to-the-drawing board (Mazur) and now Assembly Theory (Cronin).

"Assembly Theory:
Q: So, what is Assembly Theory? 

A: Evidently, it can be confusing to understand since Tour himself initially had a hard time understanding it, as did a number of other scientists. 

Computer scientist and logic expert, Hector Zenil, for example, argues strongly that Leroy Cronin’s Assembly Theory is nothing more than a “dictionary-based compression algorithm” that is commonly used

by computer algorithms to compress files – specifically the LZ77 compression algorithm. 

For example, say that there’s a string of AAAAA… measuring 1,000 characters in length. A compression algorithm could simply code for this with a much shorter sequence by saying “Print A 1000 times”. Such a high level of compressibility for this strong of As means that it has low “complexity”.

Basically, Assembly Theory is simply determining the “complexity” of a system in very much the same way as has historically already been done in computer science – by “Combining the power of Shannon Information/Entropy and Kolmogorov-Chaitin complexity by way of Solomonoff-Levin Probability” . The problem is that none of these measures of “complexity” is a measure of meaningful or functional complexity.

Q: So, is it really true that Assembly Theory is nothing more than a compression algorithm? 

A:  Well, Onsi Fakhouri, an astrophysics researcher and tech executive, has an interesting take on this. In his discussion with James Tour, he noted that while Assembly Theory is a compression algorithm, it also adds the additional element of “selection” – the need for a “selector” to explain a given system or arrangement of building blocks (be it a living thing, an arrangement of poker cards, or Lego blocks).

The basic argument is that the selection of any random thing can end up producing noticeable “complexity” above the background noise, which is true. Everyone agrees. However, the type of complexity is important here when it comes to explaining the existence of a living thing. 

--A given selector in the environment, like a specific temperature acting on a material like water, may produce something more “complex” and even “specified”, like a particular type of snowflake. The same thing is true for a selector like gravity acting on gases comprised of randomly arranged atoms and cosmic dust to produce stars, planets, solar systems, and galaxies. 

*However, that’s not the same type of complexity as a living thing or a complex machine where multiple different types of parts are needed to interact in a very specific way to produce a very specific type of function (i.e., specified functional complexity at different levels having different minimum part requirements). 

Assembly Theory doesn’t apply here since 

Assembly Theory isn’t concerned about

 the “right type” of selector that selects the “right thing.”

In short, in order to explain the origin of life, or any other complex machine requiring multiple different interacting parts working in collective harmony to produce a given function, the selector itself must be even more functionally complex than what it is producing or creating. Take a complex automobile, for example. It could be produced entirely by robots in a factory. However, the robots themselves have to have access to be even more functionally complex than the automobiles that they are assembling, to including having access to all of the structurally complex information necessary to correctly assemble the automobiles so that they will actually function, in addition to their own structure and functional complexity.

The argument that life exists, therefore life evolved by random chance, is a non sequitur – a very obvious circular argument. 

The best that Assembly Theory can do is detect that high-level selection has happened, but the very existence of life does not explain the mechanism of how life came to be – the actual nature of the “selector”. The bottom line is that Cronin is just assuming what he wants to prove. He hasn’t actually demonstrated anything regarding how any natural mindless mechanism could reasonably explain the origin of life.

Fakhouri asks the key question. “What is the driving force behind selection?”

“If only we knew of a mechanism, something that routinely steps through combinatorial space to assemble functional objects. You know, functional objects like talks, and papers, and equations, and ideas like Assembly Theory. You know, a mechanism like, but nah – we all know that we’re not allowed to go there.”

Of course, we are “not allowed to go there” because the only known “selector” that is actually capable of producing complex machines, to include the type of machines necessary to produce a living thing, is an intelligent creator at the level of a God or God-like intelligence." 

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 

Genesis 1:1

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Meditation Upon the PSALMS Series: Psalm 135

"Psalm 135:
The greatness of the Lord and the vanity of idols

I. Call to Praise 

(135:1-2).
II. Causes for Praise 

(135:3-18).
A. God’s Character 

(135:3);
B. God’s Choice of Jacob 

(135:4);
C. God’s Sovereignty in Creation 

(135:5-7);
D. God’s Deliverance of Israel 

(135:8-12);
E. God’s Unique Nature 

(135:13-18);
III. Concluding Praise 

(135:19-21).

Psalm 135:1 Praise ye the LORD. Praise ye the name of the LORD; praise [Him], O ye servants of the LORD.
Psalm 135:2 Ye that stand in the house of the LORD, in the courts of the house of our God,
Psalm 135:7 He causeth the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; He maketh lightnings for the rain; He bringeth the wind out of His treasuries.

Psalm 135:13 Thy name, O LORD, [endureth] for ever; [and] Thy memorial, O LORD, throughout all generations.
Psalm 135:14 For the LORD will judge His people, and He will repent Himself concerning His servants.
Psalm 135:15 The idols of the heathen [are] silver and gold, the work of men's hands.
Psalm 135:16 They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not;
Psalm 135:17 They have ears, but they hear not; neither is there [any] breath in their mouths.
Psalm 135:18 They that make them are like unto them: [so is] every one that trusteth in them.
Psalm 135:20 Bless the LORD, O house of Levi: ye that fear the LORD, bless the LORD."
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