Oklahoma residents come home to pick up the pieces;
Arias talks to media as jurors begin deliberating her fate;
Anthony Weiner launches bid for NYC mayor;
New York Rangers on brink of elimination.

About 2,500 years ago, during the Persian Empire, an angel told the prophet Daniel, “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased” (Daniel 12:4). We are seeing a dramatic fulfillment of this in our day. Recent inventions include the following:

(1) Research into graphene is increasing dramatically with large potential for commercial applications. Though the material was only identified in 2004, more than 7,000 patents have been filed. Graphene, a single layer of carbon atoms, is the thinnest material ever made by man. Said to be stronger than diamond, more conductive than copper, and as flexible as rubber, graphene holds huge promise for a host of applications from IT to energy to medicine (“Graphene,” BBC News, Jan. 15, 2013).

(2) A replacement living ear is about three years away from reality. The bio-engineered ear is made by printing a 3D mold of an ear and then filling it with living cow ear cells and collagen (“3D-printed Ear Created in Lab,” Fox News, Feb. 21, 2003). Jason Spector, with Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City, says the process takes less than two days and it could be possible to implant one in a human in as few as three years.

(3) Nano body parts can be reproduced the same way using a newly announced microscopic 3D printer. Produced by the German company Nanoscribe GmbH, the printer can make three-dimensional objects smaller than the width of a human hair quickly with maximum resolution (“The world’s fastest microscopic 3D printer,” Fox News, Feb. 20, 2013). “Printing three-dimensional objects in such incredibly fine detail, opens up many areas in which it could be useful, ranging from defense to medicine. For biomedical technology or nanotechnology, the 3D printer could be used to create tailor-made construction parts.”

(4) Brain scans can tell what a person is thinking. Brain imagining technology (functional magnetic resonance imaging) is making great strides and can now identify what number people have just seen, what memory they are recalling, and can even reconstruct videos of what a person has watched (“Your Brain Scans,” Business Insider, March 13, 2013).

(Friday Church News Notes, May 17, 2013, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

Genesis 1:27
"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them."

What was man like as originally created – before sin started taking its toll on his mind, body and the world in which he lives?

Are there hints around us of the original capabilities of the human brain? Keep in mind that each of us has different strengths and weaknesses. The so-called savant has a low IQ, yet is capable of incredible mental feats.

"K," at the age of 28, has a mental age of 11 and a vocabulary of only 58 words. But he could remember the population of every U.S. city of more than 5,000 people, every county seat in the nation, and the names, locations and number of rooms in over 2,000 hotels.

Leslie Lemke is a musical genius. He can play any music after hearing it only once. He once played every note of a 45-minute piece perfectly after hearing it for the first time! We might be reminded that at 14 the young Mozart was taken by his father to hear the famous Miserere. He memorized it note for note, wrote it down and a few days later played it at a concert, causing a sensation. But Mozart was no savant.

God created man in His own image and, whether genius or savant, these are living evidence of man's continuing regression from a once-noble origin.     

Photo: Thomas "Blind Tom" Wiggins (1849 – 1908) was an African American autistic savant and musical prodigy on the piano. He had numerous original compositions published and had a lengthy and largely successful performing career throughout the United States. During the 19th century, he was one of the most well-known American performing pianists.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

Oklahoma's governor pledges rebuilding after tornado;
Apple CEO takes on tax critics;
Arizona woman seeks to avoid death penalty;
Is the pope an exorcist?

Dozens dead in Oklahoma tornado;
Utah "missing mom" investigation closed;
British auction of Ghandi's belongings triggers controversy;
Red Wings top Black Hawks in NHL playoffs.

More soft tissue has been discovered among creatures that are supposedly millions of years old. This time it is an ancient camel that was found in Canada’s high Arctic. The Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa claims that it is 3.5 million years old, but the remains are mummified, not fossilized, and fragments of collagen are preserved (“Ancient Arctic camel a curious conundrum,” Fox News, March 5, 2013). In 2008, a “2-million-year-old” fossil ape was discovered in Malapa, South Africa, with skin attached. That same year BBC News reported on fossil feathers that have retained their biological pigment colors. In 2009, researchers reconstituted dried ink from a “150 million-year-old” fossil squid’s ink sac. That was also the year of the discovery of Darwinius masillae, an alleged 47-million-year-old missing link with preserved soft tissue. A mosasaur fossil (a 40-foot-long marine reptile) at the Dinosaur Institute of the National History Museum of Los Angeles County, supposedly millions of years old, has retina pigment, dried blood residue, and “preservation of skin structures from all parts of the body.” In 2011 PLoS ONE reported a “34-million-year” old cuttlefish fossil with organic chitin remaining in the cuttlebone. Other researchers found chitin in a scorpion that is supposedly hundreds of millions of years old. Scientists studying these discoveries admit they don’t know how it is possible for biomaterial to last millions of years. Professor Mike Benton of the University of Bristol asks, “How do you square that with the well-known FACT that the majority of organic molecules decay in thousands of years?” (“Fossil Feathers Reveal Their Hues,” BBC News, July 8, 2008). The only answer they have is that since they KNOW that the fossils are millions of years old, it must therefore be possible for bio-material to last millions of years, even though this goes against known FACTS! This isn't science; it’s circular reasoning; it’s myth making. In fact, the soft tissue is evidence against the evolutionary dating scheme and supports a young earth position, because laboratory studies have consistently shown that even well-preserved collagen should turn to dust in 30,000 years.

(Friday Church News Notes, May 17, 2013, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

Psalm 1:1-3
"Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper."

In many ways, a plant is like a machine that changes the energy of sunlight into food energy that is needed by the rest of the living world. The energy which runs the plant is light.

Now, if you were going to design a better, more efficient plant, how might you do it? Obviously, one way to improve a plant would be to create one that can do its job with less light. But remember, the plant cannot store more energy than it receives. And if the plant was too sensitive to light, a strong dose of sunlight could kill it. The obvious solution is to outfit the plant with tiny lenses which focus even dim light into the chemical centers where photosynthesis takes place.

Due to man's ignorance, modern science has often regarded plants as if they were simple, unsophisticated forms of life. Now scientists have discovered that many plants do indeed have special cells which focus and concentrate the available light into the very centers where it is needed. One plant's shaded leaves were found to intensify available light by 26 times. And if the light gets so strong that it could damage the leaves, the light is focused onto cells which can absorb the extra light.

Plants are much more complex, higher-performance living things than we ever suspected. Plants incorporate designs based on a highly sophisticated knowledge of both chemistry and physics. What a wonderful witness they are to our Creator!

Photo: Courtesy of Mnolf. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

Another tornado in Oklahoma;
Carney: Senior White House staff knew of IRS probe;
Attacks kill more than 90 in Iraq;
Big Yahoo buy.

Tornadoes slam midwest;
Military treating veterans for sexual abuse;
Accused spy reportedly leaves Russia;
Commute disrupted by Connecticut train accident.

“The Pentagon has released a statement confirming that soldiers could be prosecuted for promoting their faith: ‘Religious proselytization is not permitted within the Department of Defense ... Court martial and non-judicial punishments are decided on a case-by-case basis...’ The statement, released to Fox News, follows a Breitbart News report on Obama administration Pentagon appointees meeting with anti-Christian extremist Mikey Weinstein to develop court-martial procedures to punish Christians in the military who express or share their faith. (From our earlier report: Weinstein is the head of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, and says Christians--including chaplains--sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ in the military are guilty of ‘treason,’ and of committing an act of ‘spiritual rape’ as serious a crime as ‘sexual assault.’ He also asserted that Christians sharing their faith in the military are ‘enemies of the Constitution.’) Being convicted in a court martial means a soldier has committed a crime under federal military law. Punishment for a court martial can include imprisonment and being dishonorably discharged from the military. So President Barack Obama’s civilian appointees who lead the Pentagon are confirming that the military will make it a crime--possibly resulting in imprisonment--for those in uniform to share their faith. This would include chaplains—military officers who are ordained clergymen of their faith (mostly Christian pastors or priests, or Jewish rabbis)--whose duty since the founding of the U.S. military under George Washington is to teach their faith and minister to the spiritual needs of troops who come to them for counsel, instruction, or comfort.”

(“Pentagon Confirms May Court Martial,” Breitbart, May 1, 2013)