Old MacDonald Has a Shell

Today's Creation Moment: Old MacDonald Has a Shell

Genesis 4:2b  "And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground."

Until recently, it was thought that, excluding mankind, only a few insects, beetles, ants and termites actually farmed crops for their food supply. Then an amazing snail was found.

The snail lives on the leaves of plants growing in East Coast salt marshes. This amazing snail cuts long gashes down the leaves of cord-grass. It doesn't eat the cord-grass. Rather, it waits. Before long, a fungus begins to grow on the gash, aided by the snail's own droppings. Moreover, without the fungus, the snails do not thrive, hardly even grow, and almost half of their young die. However, when the fungus is available, they thrive and grow, losing almost none of their young.

Now the question must be asked: How could this arrangement evolve? How did these snails exist before they discovered that they needed this fungus? How did they learn to grow the fungus? If they evolved from snails that didn't need the fungus, how did they discover that they all-of-a-sudden needed the fungus? The most straightforward answer is that the same Creator Who taught us to farm also taught these snails to farm when He made them and the fungus they need to survive. He knows all of our needs before we do and provides what we need, including the forgiveness of sins, eternal life and salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ.

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Today is the last day of Creation Moment month. I hope you all enjoyed learning about God's creation. Which creation moment was your favorite? :) 

Seismic Sayings

Today's Creation Moment: Seismic Sayings
James 2:19 "Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest
well: the devils also believe, and tremble."      

Speaking, singing, writing and body language are all familiar ways of communicating. Science has now learned of another means of communication that has been going on all around us, yet we are not even aware of it.

A vast range of creatures communicate through vibration. This vibratory communication goes on at frequencies beyond human hearing. Researchers have learned that a number of insects communicate with other members of their species on the same plant by quivering the plant. A tree hopper will call its friends with a specific type of vibration when it finds a good place to feed. The cape mole rat spends nearly its entire life underground. When a solitary male is ready to mate, he thumps against the side of his burrow and then listens for a female's response. The female's burrow may be nine feet away, but she'll sense the vibration.

Golden moles are completely blind, but they hunt for live prey. Further, they live in a desert environment where there are only small stands of grass. They hunt by sensing ground vibrations generated when the wind blows through a stand of grass, where the next meal is likely to be found.

Communication is God's gift. However, we want to be clear in our communication of our faith. To do that, our communication of our faith needs to center on Jesus Christ.

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Baby May Be in Charge of His Own Birth

Today's Creation Moment: Baby May Be in Charge of His Own Birth
Galatians 4:19  "My little children, of whom I travail in birth
again until Christ be formed in you..."

 

 

Does the mother's body or the unborn baby's body trigger the birth process? Those who advise that the baby will come when it's ready may be correct.

Researchers studying mice have found that a protein called SP-A, which coats the inside of a newborn's lungs, begins to rise in concentration in the amniotic fluid shortly before birth. Normally, the protein is used by the newborn to fend off lung infections. SP-A causes the release of the unborn child's immune cells, called macrophages. These macrophages leave the amniotic fluid and go to the uterus. Once there, they produce inflammation that eventually causes the cervix to open and contractions to begin. It seems that this entire sequence of events that leads to a successful birth is controlled by the unborn infant's own body. If the researchers' findings with mice also apply to humans, many premature births might be prevented by manipulating levels of SP-A in the mother's amniotic fluid.

Every step of this system must be in place and work if there is to be a next generation. This fact in itself argues against this carefully tuned system having evolved through trial and error. Rather, it is the gift of our loving God, Who also gave us the new birth into His kingdom by calling us through the Gospel of the forgiveness of sins in His Son, Jesus Christ.

 Copyright © 2016 by Creation Moments, Inc.

Birds With a Memory to Envy

Today's Creation Moment: Birds With a Memory to Envy

Job 38:41  "Who provideth for the raven his food? when his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat." 

The shy bird called Clark's nutcracker collects food during the growing season and stores it for the cold winter months. In one year, a bird will store between 22,000 and 33,000 seeds in as many as 2,500 locations, which can be more than ten miles apart. But does the little bird remember where he put all those seeds?

Biologists tracked the activity of Clark's nutcrackers in the San Francisco Peaks in northern Arizona. A small army of researchers tracked the birds' seed gathering and storing activities. One of the first things they discovered was that the birds quickly figured out that they were being observed. Some refused to store food when researchers were watching them. Others faked storing seeds when they were watched. Back in the lab, researchers studied the storing activity of Eurasian nutcrackers. After the birds stored seeds in a large sand floor, the birds were removed. Then the seeds they stored were dug up. When the birds were allowed to return, they quickly discovered that their seeds had been stolen, so they refused to store any more seeds. In the end, researchers concluded that the nutcrackers recover as many as two-thirds of their stored seeds within 13 months.

The remarkable memory of these little birds is their gift from God that enables them to be fed all year around.

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Plants Have Immune Systems

Today's Creation Moment: Plants Have Immune Systems

Malachi 4:2a  "But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings..."

People and mammals have a multi-pronged immune system. When a bacterial infection is detected, cells begin to release nitric oxide, which kills bacteria, and they begin a cascade of other defense strategies. Ultimately, antibodies that directly attack any invader are produced.

In recent years, scientists have discovered that even in certain plants there are immune systems that respond to infectious agents. These researchers, working with mustard plants, subjected them to 15 proteins unique to infectious microbes. In response, the plants began producing nitric oxide. Measurable increases of this gas were noted within two minutes of exposure. And, just as in people and mammals, the nitric oxide began to kill real microbes. It also begins a chain of other strategies that would enable the plant to fight infection. In some cases, the entire plant – and not just the plant cells exposed to the infectious agents – also joined in fighting the "infection." Further research has shown that a number of genes in the mustard plant are involved in defense against infectious agents.

While no plants have yet been found to produce antibodies, it appears that many plants have immune systems similar to our own. At creation God said everything was "very good" so there were no diseases, but He gave us immune systems anyway because He knew we would fall, just as He already had our salvation worked out.

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Smart Leaves

Today's Creation Moment : Smart Leaves

Job 36:5 "Behold, God is mighty, and despiseth not any: he is mighty in strength and wisdom."

As science learns more about the universe, some are suggesting that they see basic mathematical principles that underlie everything. This principle, which one scientist has called "cellular automata", might be at the root of everything from astronomy to zoology.

The leaves of plants have pores that let in carbon dioxide. However, if the pores open too far or remain open too long, the plant may lose too much water. How does a plant, that has no brain or nervous system, keep these factors in balance? Researchers had always thought that the pores work independently. However, close study has shown that patches of pores in a leaf open and close together. In fact, over several minutes, open and closed patches of pores move across a leaf in patterns. As scientists studied these patterns, they realized that the pattern they were looking at was what they call "distributed, emergent computation" or "cellular automata." The individual cells of the leaves are working with each other to perform complex large-scale computations. In short, the cells of plant leaves are working together as a computer, even though they lack a central processor.

While evolutionists would hope to explain this built-in intelligence by chance, it is difficult to get around the fact that intelligence is built into the creation. Such intelligence can only be ascribed to an intelligent source, our Creator.

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Do You Know How Complex a Single Cell Is?

Today's Creation Moment: Do You Know How Complex a Single Cell Is?
Psalm 96:3  "Declare his glory among the heathen, his wonders among all people."

 

 

It wasn't until 1839 that cell theory was first described by Theodor Schwann in basically its modern form. By 1858, researcher Rudolf Virchow had learned enough about the cell to conclude that every cell must come from a preexisting cell. But Charles Darwin wasn't paying attention. The very next year he published a book, On the Origin of Species, which theorized that the first cell was formed from non living matter.

In Darwin's day, the cell was thought to be just a simple sac filled with jellied carbon. This concept is the origin of the term protoplasm. However, nearly 150 years of cell research has shown us that even protozoan and fungi cells are hugely complex. Today we know that even the simplest of these cells, eukaryotes, have an estimated 100,000 parts. Many thousands of different operations are taking place continuously within each of the cell's many parts, called organelles. Furthermore, the cell cannot live until all these parts are working properly. Even the simple E. coli bacterium has 4,000 genes. If we were able to magnify the DNA of the E. coli to the thickness of a clothesline, it would be five miles long!

There is no such thing as a "simple cell." The fact that a cell cannot live without all these thousands of parts shows that cells were created in their finished form, just as the Bible says. Even bacteria declare the glory of our Creator!

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Nasty Nannies

Today's Creation Moment: Nasty Nannies

Romans 8:21 "Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God."

There is a species of ant that, although quite small, makes slaves of yet smaller ants. This slave-making ant makes its nest inside acorns, and unlike the species they enslave, they have chemical weapons and powerful jaws.

While they enslave the smaller species, they don't seem to do much else, including caring for their own young. They get their captives by raiding the nests of the smaller species, stealing larvae and pupae. Once these ant babies mature in the acorn, they are expected to do all the work, including taking care of the slave-makers' eggs.

Evolutionary scientists have said that such ants could not evolve resistance against their enslavement. However, now they have learned that the slave ants do indeed resist. Once the slave-maker's eggs mature to the pupa stage, the slave-ants will neglect them or even eat them. This is behavior they do not do in their home colony. Researchers say the slave-maker ant queens lay enough eggs. However, between 60 and 80 percent never make it to maturity when cared for by captive slaves. Such population reductions help reduce future raids on their home colonies – home colonies they have never seen! Clearly, an altruistic objective.

But not all slavery is physical. God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to be our Lord and Savior when we were enslaved by sin, death and the devil.

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No Heartbeat? Don't Worry!

Today's Creation Moment: No Heartbeat? Don't Worry!

I Chronicles 16:24

"Declare his glory among the heathen; his marvellous works among all nations."

Evolutionists say that an animal's unique features developed because the unique feature gives the animal some survival benefit. Just what that benefit might be is open to interpretation, and sometimes the explanation is a little fuzzy. Sometimes the explanation just doesn't work.

Such is the case with the marine iguanas of the Galapagos islands. These iguanas are excellent swimmers and search underwater for much of their food. However, when they are underwater they are vulnerable to the marine food chain. Sharks find the marine iguanas very tasty. With their sensitive hearing, these predators can hear the heartbeat of a hiding iguana 12 feet away. So part of the iguana's defense is to stop its heartbeat voluntarily. Amazingly, the iguana can keep its heart stopped for up to 45 minutes without suffering any ill effects.

Evolutionists explain that this ability evolved because it gives the iguana a survival advantage in shark-infested waters. Obviously, a creature's ability to stop its heart for this long requires some major internal modifications. To believe that the iguana knew all the changes it needed to intentionally stop its heart for 45 minutes without death requires quite a leap of faith! However, this evolutionary explanation just doesn't work. The Komodo dragon can also stop its heart. For the Komodo this ability provides no survival advantage, for these huge lizards have no natural enemies.

These lizards received their special abilities from their wise Creator. Their special abilities glorify Him, not mindless evolution.

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Intelligence is Built Into the Creation

Today's Creation Moment: Intelligence is Built Into the Creation

Psalm 104:24a "O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all:"

Those who believe that the universe, the Earth and everything on it are the result of mindless evolution are hard-pressed to explain the origin of intelligence. Some even try to argue that there is no such thing as intelligence, saying that we only think that certain things reflect intelligence. As we learn more about the world, it takes an ever greater faith to believe in evolution.

The incredible structure of DNA and how it works is one example. Scientists have now demonstrated, though they did not intend to do so, that DNA is itself infused with intelligence. In 1994 it was discovered that DNA could be used as a computer. Since then, much has been learned about the computing power of DNA. How can DNA be used to solve the problem of, for example, finding a flight path between seven cities so that each city is visited only once? To solve the problem, researchers assign a numerical value to individual strands of DNA. Through a series of steps, they allow the strands of DNA to interact with each other, saving the results after each step. An electronic computer can solve a math problem with 30 clauses and 50 variables in 1.6 million steps. A DNA computer can solve the same problem in only 91 steps!

DNA computers would not be possible unless intelligence was built into the very fabric of the creation. Only our all-wise Creator could have been responsible for this.

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