Obama discusses immigration;
New York Times claims Chinese hackers attacked their system;
Tens of thousands out of power;
Dutch student on one-man mission to Syria.

Standoff in Alabama;
Raising the debt limit;
Hagel goes before Senate committee;
Schools try dogs, recess to help stressed teens.

In the 17th to the mid 20th centuries, the American Dream was freedom of religion and speech and press, peaceable assembly, freedom from government tyranny, the freedoms that were encapsulated in the U.S. Bill of Rights in 1791, which granted the opportunity for individuals to pursue their dreams. It was encapsulated by the slogan that America was “the land of opportunity.” From mid-20th century, the American Dream was no longer merely opportunity but prosperity and pleasure itself, and particularly pleasure without moral restraint. In the 21st century, the American dream is dependence on a Nanny State, the pursuit of pop culture vanities such as having one’s YouTube video go viral and the dream of winning a state lottery.

(Friday Church News Notes, January 25, 2013, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

Genesis 3:2-3
“And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.”

According to the Bible, God created the heavens and the earth in a perfect condition – without disease or death. However, when man did his own will instead of God’s will, death became a reality, just as God had warned. On the other hand, evolution says that death has nothing to do with man’s disobedience to his Creator. Evolution also says that our genetic information has developed over the years to help us survive. Can these opposite claims be tested?

Biologists have discovered that living cells have a built-in suicide gene. The suicide gene remains dormant until it is necessary for the cell to die. For example, as a tadpole turns into a toad, its tail is no longer needed. As a result, the suicide genes in the tail cells instruct them to die.

In other words, living cells have a gene in them that prevents the death of the cell until its appointed time.

So in a sense, we can test the Bible’s and evolution’s conflicting claims about life and death. Why would evolution develop genes that order death? By definition, such a gene would not aid survival. However, God told our first parents that the day that they sinned, they would die. It was obviously the curse of sin that created the genetic instructions for cell death, on the very day that they sinned. What biologists are learning about the cell’s workings fits much better with Scripture than with evolutionary claims.

Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

Giffords appeals for gun control;
Gunman opened fire at Phoenix office building;
Brazil nightclub owner blames inspectors for fire;
Lewis says he's `agitated,' not angry about story.

NRA, gun-control supporters appear before senators;
South Korea launches rocket weeks after North Korea;
Driver fatally shot aboard Alabama school bus;
Gongs get going at top dealer.

Alexander Tsiaras (b. 1952) is the author of From Conception to Birth: A Life Unfolds and The Architecture and Design of Man and Woman: The Marvel of the Human Body. As chief of scientific visualization in the department of medicine at Yale University, he wrote many of the algorithms and code for NASA to do virtual surgery in preparation for the astronauts going into deep space. The following is excerpted from a lecture on December 10, 2010, at INK Talk (in association with TED Talk) in which Tsiaras described some of the discoveries that are being made using new kinds of scanning technologies that can track previously unforeseen details of the growth of the infant in the womb and of the human body in general.

“I remember one of the first things we were looking at was collagen. Everything in your body--hair, skin, bone, nails--is made of collagen. It’s a kind of rope-like structure that swirls and twirls, and the only place that collagen changes its structure is the cornea of your eye, and in your eye it forms a grid formation and it becomes transparent instead of opaque. The structure is so perfectly organized it is hard not to attribute divinity to it, because we kept on seeing this over and over and over again in different parts of the body. ...

Consider a trophoblast coming off the blastocyst, all of the sudden burying itself into the side of the uterus and having a conversation, saying, ‘I’m here to stay; plant me’--building this incredible trilinear fetus that becomes within 44 days something that you can recognize, and then at nine weeks it is like a little human being. ... And then there is the instruction set of every other part of the body. ... And it is not only just our own existence, but how does the woman’s body have a genetic structure that not only builds her own but then has the understanding that allows her to become a walking immunological, cardiovascular system that is a mobile system that can actually nurture this child is such a marvel that is, again, beyond our comprehension. ...

The complexity of the mathematical model and how these things are indeed done are beyond human comprehension. Even though I am a mathematician I look at this with a marvel of how these instruction sets do not make mistakes as they build what is us. It is a mystery. It is magic. It is divinity. ... By the time you are nine months old you have almost 60,000 miles of arteries, veins, and capillaries inside your body that are bringing nutrients and taking waste away. And only one mile is visible. ... This is the magic that is the existence that is us.” 


CONCLUSION: No evidence for God, you say? Not only is the evidence for God overwhelming, but so is the evidence that this God has revealed Himself to man through the Bible.

(Friday Church News Notes, January 25, 2013, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

Mark 11:24
“Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”

The tiny insect called ice plant scale has no wings. That’s why scientists were surprised to learn that the creature uses sophisticated preflight and flight strategies to move from one ice plant to the next.

Ice plant scale infects ice plants, which are plants used in landscaping. To study the insect, scientists had to observe ice plant scale hatchlings under the microscope because they are only one-fiftieth of an inch long. It was in this setting that scientists saw an unexpected insect ballet.

Sensing a wind of ten miles per hour or more, a scale would determine the wind direction with its antennae and turn its back to the breeze. It then reared back on its hind legs and extended its antennae and legs. This doubles the insect’s surface area and makes it possible for the insect to be lifted and carried by the wind. By extending its legs and antennae, the insect slows the rate of fall so that it can be carried further by the wind. Scientists noted that even insects that are one day old are knowledgeable about flight and ready to migrate.

These actions are designed to allow the wingless insect to take every advantage of the principles of flight. The only scientific conclusion that makes sense is that this knowledge was wired into the insect by its Creator, God Himself.

Notes: “Blown Away: Riders on the Wind.” Science News, Mar. 31, 1984. p. 201.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

Obama talks immigration reform;
Kerry in, LaHood out;
Death toll rises in Brazil;
Soldier discusses his double-arm transplant.

President to rally for public support of immigration reform;
9-11 Relatives See al Qaida Suspects;
Deadly nightclub fire protested in Brazil;
How to Trace a Gun.

“Legislation that comes up later this month for first vote, which is being pushed by the Kremlin and the Russian Orthodox Church, would make it illegal nationwide to provide minors with information that is defined as ‘propaganda of sodomy, lesbianism, bisexuality and transgenderism.’ It includes a ban on holding public events that promote gay rights. St. Petersburg and a number of other Russian cities already have similar laws on their books.

The bill is part of an effort to promote traditional Russian values as opposed to Western liberalism, which the Kremlin and church see as corrupting Russian youth and by extension contributing to a wave of protest against President Vladimir Putin's rule. ... Denis Volkov, a sociologist with the Levada Center, an independent pollster, says the anti-gay bill fits the ‘general logic’ of a government intent on limiting various rights. But in this case, the move has been met mostly with either indifference or open enthusiasm by average Russians. Levada polls conducted last year show that almost two thirds of Russians find homosexuality ‘morally unacceptable and worth condemning.’ About half are against gay rallies and sameSex marriage; almost a third think homosexuality is the result of ‘a sickness or a psychological trauma,’ the Levada surveys show.”

(“Russia to Enact Anti-gay Law Nationwide,” AP, Jan. 21, 2013)

Luke 12:54-55
“And he said also to the people, When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower; and so it is. And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, There will be heat; and it cometh to pass.”

When we think of science and kites, we usually think of Ben Franklin flying his kite in the thunderstorm. Ben Franklin was not the first to use kites to study the weather. Nor was he the last. The U.S. Weather Bureau began using kites to study the weather after the invention of the box kite in 1893. Kites became important weather station tools for the next 30 years. As balloons were improved, the Weather Bureau’s use of kites stopped.

In 1990, meteorologists again returned to the kite. Modern, high-tech materials gave meteorologists the hope of doing research with kites that was impossible with balloons. Modern meteorological kites can be “parked” miles high for weeks. A kite the size of two compact cars can weigh only a pound. Vents in the front of the wing-shaped kite inflate it so that it holds its wing shape. Instruments on the kite send down weather readings from various altitudes along the tether. The world record altitude reached by one of these kites is almost 12 miles!

The creation that God made for us has always inspired man’s curiosity and wonder. Unfortunately, many of today’s scientists would just as soon ignore God. However, the foundation upon which they build is the scientific accomplishments of earlier scientists who, for the most part, believed in and worshiped our Creator.

Notes: Richard Monastersky. 1992. “Astride the Wind.” Science News, Vol. 141, April 4, pp. 216-219.
Painting: (ca. 1816) by artist Benjamin West.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

Bipartisan immigration reform looms;
Detentions in Brazil after fatal club fire;
More violence sweeps Egypt;
Sea foam in Australia.

Immigration reform deal progress?;
Brazilian town prepares for funerals;
Clashes in Egypt despite state of emergency;
Where GM tests out cars. Warning: a slang word is used.

“A longtime substitute teacher in Phillipsburg, NJ, has been fired after he shared a Bible verse with a student--and upon request gave the child a Bible. The Phillipsburg School Board voted Monday night to terminate the employment of Walter Tutka. He was accused of breaking two policies--distributing religious literature on school grounds and another policy that directs teachers to be neutral when discussing religious material. ‘It’s unfortunate the Phillipsburg School District chose the path of religious hostility and intolerance against a retired man serving his community and simply responding to a student’s intellectual curiosity,’ Hiram Sasser, director of litigation at Liberty Institute, told Fox News.

‘What’s next--are they going to ban Shakespeare because his plays have Bible quotations?’ ... ‘Just because this guy gave a student a pocket New Testament on his lunch hour--that’s enough to throw you out of school,’ ... Imhof and Tutka serve together in Gideons International--a ministry known for providing Bibles to school children across the world. ‘One of the Gideons in our local camp is from the Soviet Union,’ Imhof said. ‘In most countries overseas we are allowed to go into public schools and give Bibles to students.

But since this is America--you can’t do it here. When the Soviet Union fell, Bibles were allowed in the schools, people could pray in the schools,’ Hussey said. ‘It seems we have more persecution in America than they do in Russia.’... ‘I am sure the school would have celebrated if the issue was a Koran or Hindu text, but this school sent the message that anything associated with the Bible, even good, old-fashioned intellectual curiosity, must be squelched at the source,’ Sasser told Fox News.”

(Todd Starnes, Fox News, Jan. 21, 2013)