Obama wants congressional approval for Syria strike;
Protesters gather near White House;
Nelson Mandela still hospitalized despite false media reports;
Tropical storm Kiko in eastern Pacific.

Some of the world’s wealthiest people are trying to purchase immortality by funding research into anti-aging science (“The Immortality Financiers: The Billionaires Who Want to Live Forever,” Book Beast, Aug. 20, 2013). Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle and the fifth-richest person in the world, says, “Death makes me very angry,” so he created the Ellison Foundation which funds more than $40 million a year in research. Russian multimillionaire Dmitry Itskov created the 2045 Initiative with the goal of “helping humans achieve physical immortality within the next three decades.” He believes that our minds will be backed up in cyberspace and “we’ll just download ourselves into bionic avatars whenever we get a hankering for the thrills of materiality.” Itskove is “100 percent certain” that this will be achieved by 2045. Venture capitalist Paul Glenn contributes to the Methuselah Foundation, which claims that “the first person to live to be 1,000 years old is certainly alive today.” Google cofounder Sergey Brin has led Google to contribute heavily to the Singularity University, where the director of engineering, Ray Kurzwell, “claims humans will merge with computers over the next few decades to become immortal superbeings.” The Bible explains the mystery of death. It is “the wages of sin” against God.  Man will never find a solution to the problem of death, but God has already provided the answer. The Son of God suffered in the sinner’s place so that we might be justified and have eternal life. “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:23).

(Friday Church News Notes, August 30, 2013, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

Kerry says Syrian regime carefully prepared recent chemical attack;
Pelosi says she doesn't wish to be House Speaker again;
Stocks drift lower on weak consumer spending report.

In 2006, Elane Photography was fined $7000 by the New Mexico Human Rights Commission for refusing to photograph the private “commitment ceremony” for two lesbians. Owners Elane and Jonathan Huguenin are Christians who believe that marriage is the union of one man and one woman.  The Elanes took the matter to court, but they lost in the original trial as well in the court of appeals. Now, the New Mexico Supreme Court has “ruled that Christian photographers cannot decline to participate in gay-marriage commitment ceremonies” (“New Mexico Court,” Breitbart, Aug, 22, 2013). Justice Richard Bosson said that forcing Christians to act contrary to their religious faith is “the price of citizenship.” The Alliance Defending Freedom, which is representing the Elanes, is considering whether to appeal to the U.S. Supreme court, saying, “Government-coerced expression is a feature of dictatorships that has no place in a free country. This decision is a blow to our client and to every American’s right to live free. Decisions like this undermine the constitutionally protected freedoms of expression and conscience that we have all taken for granted.”

(Friday Church News Notes, August 30, 2013, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

Congress wants to hear more about Syria;
Tourists still going to Yosemite;
8 year old boy wrecks car, sister dies;
NORAD, Russian joint exercise.

“A section in the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago is devoted to discoveries that have revolutionized modern medical science. Among those honored by a greater-than-life portrait is Sir James Simpson (1811-70), the man who discovered chloroform. Before this discovery even the simplest operation was a nightmare. Simpson not only let people sleep through the worst horrors of an operation, but he opened the door to medical operations before impossible. Sir James Simpson was a Christian. Once he was interviewed by a newspaper man who asked, ‘Sir, what do you consider your greatest discovery?’ Sir James replied, ‘My greatest discovery was when I discovered I was a sinner in the sight of God.’ The newspaper man tried again: ‘Thank you, Sir James. And now would you please tell me your second greatest discovery.’ ‘By all means,’ he replied. ‘My second greatest discovery was when I discovered that Jesus died for a sinner like me.’”

(John Phillips’ commentary on Psalm 117)

Psalm 93:5
"Thy testimonies are very sure: holiness becometh thine house, O LORD, for ever."

As we learn more about God's creation, we find that a number of things we learned in school aren't really true, and never were. We learned in school that plants are plants and animals are animals, and there are always distinct differences between them. We also learned that complex things like eyes are found only in higher, more evolved creatures.

Dinoflagellates are considered by biologists to be among the simplest forms of cellular life. Yet these amazing creatures are far from simple. Both zoologists, who study animals, and botanists, who study plants, claim that dinoflagellates belong to their area of study. In other words, scientists can't even figure out whether they are plants or animals. Many dinoflagellates – even though they are but a single cell – have a sense organ like an eye.

Some dinoflagellates cause the deadly red tide that often kills fish. Others give off a red dye during the daytime that is harmless, and by night they produce brilliant displays of phosphorescence. Many have a whip-like appendage for swimming.

While they are small, even these so-called simplest forms of one-celled life are by no means simple. Man's word, even in matters of science, can never be as sure as God's Word about the fact that He made all things. As God's Word says, every creature was created in finished form.

Photo: Courtesy of Minami Himemiya. 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

White House to brief Congress on Syria intelligence;
NFL to compensate retired players with brain injuries;
Tylenol bottle caps warn consumers;
Some Oklahomans told not to drink the water.

Thousands could take part in Fast Food Strike;
Ban wants more time for Syria investigation;
Yosemite fire 30% contained;
Bay Bridge to open next week.

“There are many that ... remain where their conscience tells them they ought not to be, because, they say, they are more useful than they would be if they went ‘without the camp.’ This doing evil that good may come, can never be tolerated by an enlightened conscience. If an act of sin would increase my usefulness tenfold, I have no right to do it; and if an act of righteousness would appear likely to destroy all my apparent usefulness, I am yet to do it. It is yours and mine to do the right though the heavens fall, and follow the command of Christ whatever the consequences may be.”

(Charles Haddon Spurgeon)