Sunday, July 30, 2023

Are You Happy? Don’t Think Christ Came to Destroy the Law. Got Milk, Got Disease.

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Are You Happy?

Are You Happy?“Many people are not happy! They lead unfulfilled lives and wonder if happiness will ever come. Are you happy? If not, there is a solution you should try.

In every country, people experience varying degrees of happiness and unhappiness.

Only a third of Americans say they are very happy, according to a Harris Poll. And, according to a worldwide ranking, the U.S. is the 19th happiest country in the world. The World Happiness Report lists another 137 countries that are even less happy!

Declining happiness

And even in a comparatively happy country like the United States, different groups can face decreasing levels of happiness.

According to the World Happiness Report 2019, “Happiness and life satisfaction among United States adolescents, which increased between 1991 and 2011, suddenly declined after 2012. … Thus, by 2016-17, both adults and adolescents were reporting significantly less happiness than they had in the 2000s.”

We all want to achieve a level of well-being and satisfaction in our lives, but few of us have been taught or discovered the keys to happiness. Many of the popular ideas and self-help solutions turn out to be temporary or even counterproductive. The pursuit of happiness can seem like a fool’s game.

How to become happy

However, becoming happy is not as difficult as you might imagine. God gave us guidance on how to become happy in Proverbs 29:18: “Happy is he who keeps the law.”

Can becoming happy be that simple, and will it work? The answer is yes!

Unfortunately, many teach that the laws of God are no longer relevant in this “enlightened” society. Listings of the 10 Commandments have been removed from U.S. schools and from other public institutions. The mention of God or Jesus Christ in public forums is frowned upon.

Jesus explains what makes you happy

Notice how the Founder of Christianity summarizes God’s law-the way to true happiness.

Jesus Christ makes it very plain in Matthew 22:37-40: “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

These two great commandments encompass all of God’s laws. God wants us to honor Him and not allow idolatry or anything else to come between us and our worship of Him. He doesn’t want us to take His name in vain, and He wants us to keep His Sabbath.

God also wants us to respect others by honoring our parents and rejecting murder, adultery, stealing, lying and coveting.

These are the 10 Commandments. They reflect God’s thinking and bring automatic benefits for us and for those around us. And God promises blessings and happiness to those who obey His laws!

Happiness is a world with God’s laws

Can you imagine a world where everyone tries to keep God’s laws? Can you just picture the peace there would be? Can you visualize how much happiness and joy everyone would have?

The Bible says this will become a reality after Jesus Christ returns to the earth and initiates a world of peace and happiness. Everyone will be taught to keep the laws of God.

Isaiah 2:3-4 says, “Many people shall come and say, ‘Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob.; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.’ For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.”

And one of the results of that action will be that “nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore” (verse 4).

Happy day: no more war!

Think of that—no more war! Wars have claimed millions of lives over the centuries. The vast majority of wars are the result of lust (disobeying the 10th Commandment) and break the Sixth Commandment, “you shall not murder” (James 4:1-2; Exodus 20:13).

Even now, if everyone obeyed the Sixth Commandment, there would be no more war, plus no one would be murdered! We would never hear of tragic stories of school or workplace shootings. People would be freed from the fear of being shot, stabbed or poisoned.

Ultimately, when God writes His laws in our hearts and minds, there will be no more hatred—of anyone. Jesus equated unrighteous anger toward others with the sin of murder (Matthew 5:21-22). A world without hatred would no longer see bigotry, road rage, violent beatings or bullying.

Just keeping this one commandment would change the entire way people deal with others. Therefore, if you want to be happy now, don’t harbor the spirit of murder or hate others.

Happiness comes by obedience

Just think how happy everyone would be if they obeyed all the laws of God!

For instance, the Seventh Commandment demands that we not commit adultery. How many marriages would be saved if no one gave in to infidelity? How many people would be spared from contracting horrific sexually transmitted diseases if everyone obeyed this one law?

Just as Jesus emphasized the deeper meaning of the commandment against murder, so He expanded on the meaning of the command against adultery (Matthew 5:27-28). For a man to even look lustfully upon a woman who isn’t his wife is adulterous!

If this law were obeyed, the pornography industry would no longer exist, children would never be sexually exploited again, and rape would be a scourge of the past.

If you want to be happy, don’t commit adultery—period.

The same reasoning applies to all of God’s commandments. If you want to be happy—don’t lie, don’t cheat, don’t steal and, above all, honor God at all times and keep His Sabbath holy.

You want to be happy and God wants to help

Doing these things is not impossible—and God wants to help. The apostle John wrote the following definitive statement in 1 John 5:3: “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.”

And you will be happier! Though even those who obey God suffer in this current evil world, they are making the choices that will lead to satisfaction and joy now and for eternity (Psalms 34:19; 16:11).

As the apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, “For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness [becoming like our loving God] is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come” (1 Timothy 4:8).

So give it a try! According to Revelation 22:14, “Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life.” The sooner we begin to keep God’s laws, the happier and more blessed we will be.”  From: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/bible/10-commandments/the-ten-commandments/are-you-happy/

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Don’t Think Christ Came to Destroy the Law

Matthew 5:17-19

“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”

“Some misunderstand Jesus Christ’s mission, feeling He did away with the teachings of the Old Testament and replaced them with new teachings. But Christ made clear that His teachings were a continuation of the teachings He inspired to be a part of the Holy Scriptures.

It was the One who became Jesus Christ who thundered the 10 Commandments from Mount Sinai and spoke to Moses (1 Corinthians 10:4; see “Jesus in the Old Testament?”).

What does it mean to “fulfill” the law? The Greek word translated “fulfill” is pleroo, which means “to make full, to fill to the full” (Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words).

Jesus Christ continued in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5, 6 and 7) to expand the meaning of God’s law, to show its spiritual intent. By doing this, He gave fuller understanding and magnified and exalted the law (Isaiah 42:21). He in no way destroyed or annulled it.

In Matthew 5:19 Jesus clearly tells His followers to obey even what someone might consider “one of the least of these commandments.”

The essence of the New Covenant is not a change in the commandments, but the fact that they can be written on our hearts and minds by the Holy Spirit dwelling in Christians (Hebrews 10:16). This allows us to internalize and fully obey God in a way ancient Israel never could.”    Listen to the "Verse by Verse" episode covering this scripture at: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/bible/blog/dont-think-christ-came-to-destroy-the-law/?

For more about God’s commandments, see “The 10 Commandments for Today” and download our free booklet God’s 10 Commandments: Still Relevant Today.

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Got Milk, Got Disease

milk-carton-300x200-9531803The British Medical Journal reported in the news on October 29, 2014 on “Milk intake and risk of mortality and fractures in women and men: cohort studies.” This observational study found higher death rates for men and women who drank 3 or more glasses of milk daily, compared to less than a glass a day. There were also more fractures in general, and hip fractures, in the higher milk-consuming women. The researchers from Sweden focused on the milk sugar, D-galactose, as the trouble causer. They believe that oxidative stress and inflammation all over the body is caused by D-galactose.

An accompanying editorial in the British Medical Journal, as well as the worldwide lay press; have tried to put these findings in perspective for the consumer.  In reality, this balanced reporting has kept the consumer from making sensible decisions that would undermine the dairy industry.

Cow’s milk is not only unnecessary for strong bones and healthy bodies, but this category of food is a more important cause of obesity and illness than is red meat. See my article: When Friends Ask: Where Do You Get Your Calcium?

May I remind you of some of the harmful qualities of this product?

1) The milk sugar, galactose, is toxic. As far back as 1981, cow’s milk was reported to cause cataracts of the eyes.

2) The fat you eat is the fat you wear. (Overweight and obesity.) Whole milk is 50% fat, milk advertised as 1% (low fat) is still 18% fat, and cheese is 70% fat.

3) Risk for heart attacks and stroke is most strongly tied to animal fats also called saturated fats. Dairy fat is 97% saturated fat. Dairy is loaded with cholesterol.

4) Milk is loaded with people poisoning chemicals. High levels of pesticides and herbicides are present in these foods. They cause cancer and brain damage.

5) Milk is filthy with microbes. Cow’s milk drinkers consume bovine leukemia viruses, bovine immunodeficiency viruses, listeria bacteria, mad cow prions, and much more.

6) Osteoporosis and kidney stones are from bone loss caused by eating animal proteins and dietary acids. Hard cheese is the greatest source of dietary acids.

7) Constipation is caused by lack of dietary fiber. Dairy products contain no dietary fiber. Plus cow’s milk protein causes allergic reactions, which paralyze the bowels making it almost impossible for children and adults to move their rock-hard stools.

8) Cow’s milk protein is the most common dietary cause of allergy and autoimmune diseases, including nephritis (kidney disease) and severe forms of arthritis.

9) Lactose, the basic milk sugar, causes the majority of people worldwide to become sick with diarrhea, stomach cramps, and gas (lactose intolerance).

10) The factory farming of dairy cows is considered to be animal abuse and production of dairy foods is a leading cause of environmental pollution and climate change.

Hopefully, today’s headlines will cause you to eliminate all cows’ milk products from your life.”  From: https://www.drmcdougall.com/education/nutrition/got-milk-got-disease/

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Sunday, July 23, 2023

What’s the Real Source of Contentment? Don’t Miss The Beauty! Pets & Human Lymphoma.

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What’s the Real Source of Contentment?

What Is the Real Source of Contentment“Why are some of the most prosperous people some of the least satisfied? What is the real secret of satisfaction and contentment?

Where do satisfaction and contentment come from?

Throughout human history, people have been searching for contentment and satisfaction—but when they think they have found it, the feelings have been fleeting and temporary. Mostly people have been looking in all the wrong places.

For example, it is common and seems logical to conclude that if everyone were prosperous, everyone would automatically be content and satisfied. But is having enough to eat and drink with the peace to enjoy it enough to make us lastingly content? Is physical abundance the cause of contentment and satisfaction?

What is the real source of deep, lasting contentment and eternal satisfaction? We’ll see it’s not prosperity that will bring contentment. It’s something much more important.

The satisfaction experiment

How do we know that physical things alone won’t satisfy people? We may know this by personal experience or by learning about others’ experiences.

We can also learn it by reading about it in a book of revealed wisdom. There are verses in the biblical book of Ecclesiastes that tell us:

“The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing” (1:8).

“All the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet the soul is not satisfied” (6:7).

No matter what we see or hear or taste—whatever we experience with our physical senses—it will be temporary.

King Solomon performed the quintessential experiment on this subject. He recorded his experimental search for happiness and satisfaction in Ecclesiastes 2. In this chapter, we see a man who had it all—who was rich and powerful and had everything he could imagine. Few people in history have had all the blessings he had—and yet he was not satisfied. He decided to try an experiment to see what would really bring him the satisfaction he longed for. He tried humor and wine and song—every type of entertainment. He tried building projects and big fancy homes and gathering all the treasures and luxuries he could.

Solomon summarized his experiment this way: “Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart rejoiced in all my labor; and this was my reward from all my labor” (Ecclesiastes 2:10).

Yes, he had some level of rejoicing and reward for what he accomplished. God designed the physical world to give us joy. But Solomon goes on in verse 11 to show the longer-term outcome of his experiment: “Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done and on the labor in which I had toiled; and indeed it was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun.”

He found it all futile—empty—like trying to grab a handful of wind!

Solomon’s reign was a time of plenty. The people of Israel, and Solomon in particular, were blessed with peace and abundance. But Solomon learned that peace and prosperity are not everything. These physical blessings aren’t what bring ultimate satisfaction and contentment. You can have it all—physically—but still feel empty inside.

The real source of satisfaction

So what does bring true contentment—real satisfaction?

Solomon concluded the book of Ecclesiastes with this moral of the story: “Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all” (12:13). This is what makes us whole and complete.

Solomon explained it more completely in Proverbs 19:23: “The fear of the LORD leads to life, and he who has it will abide in satisfaction; he will not be visited with evil” (emphasis added).

The main Hebrew and Greek words translated fear in the Bible can have several shades of meaning, but in the context of the fear of the Lord, they convey a positive reverence.

The Hebrew verb yare can mean “to fear, to respect, to reverence” and the Hebrew noun yirah “usually refers to the fear of God and is viewed as a positive quality. This fear acknowledges God’s good intentions. … This fear is produced by God’s Word … and makes a person receptive to wisdom and knowledge” (The Complete Word Study Dictionary: Old Testament).

The fear of the Lord is not talking about a paralyzing terror. The positive fear of the Lord taught in the Bible is a key element in leading us to change. It helps us have a proper, humble perspective of ourselves in relation to our awesome God; it helps us in times of temptation when we need to remember the serious consequences of disobeying God; and it motivates us to become more like our loving Creator.

By doing these things, the fear of the Lord helps us build a strong, loving relationship with God that brings eternal benefits. (Learn more about this in our article “Fear of the Lord: What Does It Mean?”)

When we do put God first—fearing to displease Him and seeking to please Him always—we will be on the way to true and eternal satisfaction. Even in the “Millennium”—the utopian age God promises will spread around the world after Jesus Christ’s second coming—peace and prosperity and physical things won’t be the cause of satisfaction. The real contentment comes from a right relationship with God.

When we do put God first—fearing to displease Him and seeking to please Him always—we will be on the way to true and eternal satisfaction.

God has real and permanent eternal blessings in store—He has things that the human eyes have not seen and that human minds have not even imagined!

Consider some wisdom recorded by King Solomon’s wise and God-fearing father, King David. Psalm 36 starts by talking about those who do not fear God, and how that leads to sin, wickedness and evil. But in verses 7-8 David shows the eternal blessings of a close relationship with God:

“How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings. They are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of Your house, and You give them drink from the river of Your pleasures.”

Learn the lessons of King Solomon in Ecclesiastes and recognize that the true source of satisfaction and contentment—now and forever—is a right relationship with our loving God!

Related reading:

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Don’t miss the beauty!

“For as long as I can remember, I’ve been continually astounded by the incredible beauty in the world. 

Whether it is a dazzling sunset, a mirror-smooth mountain lake, an undulating field of ripening wheat or palm trees gently swaying on the breeze next to the ocean, these sights have always impressed me, making me want to drink them in completely.  And no photograph I’ve ever taken can really do justice to those beautiful vistas!

Every autumn, my wife and I are struck by the awesome fall colors of the trees on the mountains.  During the fall we’ve had the opportunity to travel a two-lane blacktop road through the Ozark National Forest as we went to visit some church members. We were both greatly impressed with the beauty and majesty of this part of the country—this part of God’s creation! 

Have you ever wondered why God created things of such beauty?  In fact, why did God create beauty at all? 

The theory of evolution would only allow for something to develop (evolve) if there were a useful purpose for it, so what could be the evolutionary purpose of incredible beauty?  From a purely practical standpoint, it would be easier for deciduous trees to have “evolved” for their leaves to simply turn brown and fall off, rather than going through incredible shades of reds and yellows before becoming brown and dropping to the ground.  But they don’t generally work that way.  

Couldn’t the same thing be said about sunrises and sunsets, the aurora borealis (northern lights), gurgling mountain streams, a proud whitetail buck, a strutting wild turkey or a thousand other beautiful sights we may be privileged to witness? 

The world doesn’t have to be this way, but it is—by God’s design!  It seems He purposefully created awesome beauty all around us, rather than making the creation bland or just various shades of gray. He infused color and texture everywhere in creation!

I can only conclude that our loving God appreciates and enjoys beauty.  So, as a special gift, He has given us senses that allow us to enjoy it as well. And it isn’t limited to just sight! He also gave us hearing so we could enjoy a bird singing and beautiful music, as well as give our hearts a stir with loving words from a mate or a child. 

He gave us the sense of taste to enjoy a wonderful meal. And the sense of touch to express love and tenderness to a mate, or to caress the soft coat of a loving and loyal pet.  To my way of thinking, all of these are things of beauty, and they are all around us.

The problem is that we sometimes get so busy with all the things in life, and perhaps so burdened down by the weighty challenges we may be facing, that the beauty of things around us pass by without our even noticing.  It is also so human to become embroiled in all the “negatives” of life that the beautiful is not appreciated.  It seems such a shame to have gifts of beauty all around us, only to miss them. 

I encourage us all to take the time to recognize and appreciate the beauty God has created, and enjoy that gift our Father has given.

Kind regards, and have a great rest of your week,

Tom Clark, for Life, Hope and Truth

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Pets & Human Lymphoma

Transcript of video at: https://nutritionfacts.org/video/pets-human-lymphoma/

To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by veganmontreal.

“Is having a cat or dog associated with a higher or lower risk of developing non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma?

Every year, for example, 60,000 Americans come down with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma—a blood cancer that goes on to kill about 1 in 3 patients. There’s been a significant rise in incidence in past decades, and no one really knows why.

Some have suspected exposure to the bovine leukemia virus, which infects the majority of herds in this country, and can cause similar tumors in cattle. More than five years ago, we learned that about three-quarters of people tested have been exposed to this virus; likely, through their consumption of meat and dairy products.

The risk may extend beyond those just eating animal products, though. The viral contamination of meat, in general, can give people who handle fresh meat for a living unpleasant conditions, with names like contagious pustular dermatitis. In fact, meat is so laden with viruses that there’s a well-defined medical condition colloquially known as “butcher’s warts,” which affects the hands of those who handle fresh meat—including poultry and fish. Even the wives of butchers appear to be at higher risk for cervical cancer, a cancer definitively associated with wart virus exposure.

So, in the first study of its kind, researchers looked at farm animal exposure as a risk factor for human non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. To be fair, though, there’s also feline leukemia virus. And a child is likely to have more intimate contact with their family cat or dog, or other pets, than with livestock. Animal contact and cancer risk—harmful, harmless, or helpful? And no matter how this comes out, remember, I’m just the messenger.

In terms of our risk of developing non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, contact with cows—harmful, harmless, or helpful? Harmful, increases our risk.  What about pig contact? Harmful, harmless, or helpful? Same as cattle; harmful, increases our risk.

What about having a cat? Or three, like we do. Do cats increase our cancer risk, do nothing to our cancer risk, or maybe having cats is even protective against cancer? What do you think? It turns out cats are protective against cancer. In fact, even if you don’t live with a cat now, but did in the past, you seem to be protected against developing lymphoma.

All right, now, for you dog people. Canine companionship—now, or in the past: harmful, harmless, or helpful? Good boy.  And finally, what about other companion animals, like corn-loving hamsters? Rodents in the house—increased risk, no risk, or decreased risk? Decreased risk.”  From: https://nutritionfacts.org/video/pets-human-lymphoma/

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Sunday, July 16, 2023

Problems With Evolution. This Cancer-Causing Chemical May Be Lurking In Your Bread.

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Problems With Evolution

Problems With Evolution“Do evolutionists believe in evolution solely because of science? Or is it rooted in belief in a materialistic philosophy? Consider the problems with evolution.

Over the last couple hundred years an evolutionary worldview has replaced a biblical worldview in Western science and education.

The Bible contains statements that are quite at odds with many of the accepted “truths” of the modern world.

Creation or evolution?

Often, a person must make a fundamental choice, with no wiggle room for compromise: Do I believe that the Bible is the inspired, inerrant Word of God, and do I therefore believe what is stated in the Bible?

Or do I believe what is confidently taught and believed by fallible human beings—including the majority of the elite, the intellectual leaders, the teachers, the powerful and the trendsetters in the world around me?

The Bible asserts that God created everything, and this has significant implications that will make a real difference for each person.

A prime example of the choice a person must make in what to believe is found in the book of the prophet Jeremiah.

“No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.

“Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for a light by day, the ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, who disturbs the sea, and its waves roar (the LORD of hosts is His name)” (Jeremiah 31:34-35, emphasis added throughout, except where noted).

Here is a description in the Bible of a time when all people in the world will personally know (not just know about, but know) the “LORD.” He is the eternal, uncreated, self-existent Creator God of the Bible. He’s the One who created the sun, moon and stars—the One who is the moral judge of mankind (with the authority and power to forgive the sins of people). Is that believable?

Disbelief in God

In today’s world, a person who believes in the literal truth of all aspects of Jeremiah’s statement is in the minority. What the Bible teaches is contrary to what is considered possible by most people.

Jeremiah’s description is a stark contrast to what is commonly believed in today’s world—when so many people don’t really know God at all—primarily because they have doubts that He even exists! It’s obviously hard to know someone when you don’t even believe, with certainty, that he is real.

But why? The impact of evolution on society

And so we ask, what is it that contributes to so much doubt in so many people’s minds that the God of the Bible even exists—and that someday, everyone will know Him personally?

What is it in today’s world—in the foundation of popular culture, politics, entertainment and especially in education—that causes so much doubt in people’s minds as to whether the Creator God of the Bible even exists?

Answer: the theory of evolution.

This idea is nearly universally taught in modern schools, at all levels. It’s the belief that everything in the universe (including the sun, moon and stars and all life) just came into existence—by sheer chance. It is the idea that everything we can perceive came about by undirected forces with no intelligent planning or purpose—caused by no intelligent and powerful and righteous Creator. Thus, no God would be necessary, and no God would judge mankind for its sins or forgive them.

The theory of evolution permeates the modern world. And yet, the idea of evolution is completely inconsistent with what is revealed in the Bible. Accepting the theory of evolution necessitates disbelieving the Bible—or at minimum engaging in the tortuous mental gymnastics of reinterpreting the clear statements of the Bible in such a way as to squeeze evolution into it.

Theistic evolution?

A significant number of Christian denominations have adopted a belief in theistic evolution, which holds that God’s method of creation was to cleverly design a universe in which everything would naturally evolve. Others hold to a belief in directed evolution, in which God had a hand in guiding the evolutionary process.

But these views assume that the biblical description of creation is allegorical rather than literal. For a discussion on these questions, see our articles “Theistic Evolution,” “Can Christians Believe in Evolution?” “How Long Were the ‘Days’ in Genesis 1?” and “The Gap Theory.”

Creation summary

The Bible states that God created the world and all that is in it by speaking the created realm into existence, and that the majesty of what He made should cause those who observe it to glorify and praise Him.

Here are some summary Bible verses about the creation:

  • “For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it” (Exodus 20:11).
  • “By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth. He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap; He lays up the deep in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast” (Psalm 33:6-9).
  • “Praise Him, sun and moon; praise Him, all you stars of light! Praise Him, you heavens of heavens, and you waters above the heavens! Let them praise the name of the LORD, for He commanded and they were created” (Psalm 148:3-5).
  • “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork” (Psalm 19:1).
Evolution summary

Evolution-based teaching presents quite a different story. It is the story that nothing became everything long ago, beginning with a quantum fluctuation—a Big Bang—all matter, energy, time and space emerging from an infinitesimally small compaction. (No real explanation for how this could come into existence without a Creator can be offered.)

Then all sorts of things are hypothesized to have happened that have never been observed, and that violate all known laws of physics. This was followed by stars and galaxies assembling themselves together. Followed much later by non-living chemicals somehow (no one knows how) becoming alive. Followed by single cells mutating and eventually developing, over eons of time, through various intermediate life-forms, into modern human beings.

No scientist has observed any of this happening. But that is the story. And the God of the Bible is not a part of it. It all happened by itself, with no guidance, no intelligence, no purpose. It just happened.

Evolution as a religion

The evolutionary ideology and worldview is much more than a scientific theory. It is, in fact, a religion—a competing religion to the religion of the Bible—with nothing in it but matter and energy and its own set of miracles.

It has its own assumptions, which pointedly invalidate and suppress the conclusions that should be obvious from examining the marvels of the physical world. It flatly contradicts the Bible’s account of the origin of the world. 

In the stark terms of the Bible, the theory of evolution is “foolish” and a “lie” (see Romans 1:25 and surrounding verses).

What greater lie could there be than the one that claims that the ultimate cause of everything that can be seen doesn’t even exist? And yet, it dominates our modern world. Science curricula require the teaching of evolution to all students in much of the world’s formal education system.

But is it based on real science?

Regarding the development of living things, the “Neo-Darwinian Synthesis” is an attempt to update Charles Darwin’s 1859 theory (published in his book On the Origin of Species) with the modern findings of genetics. Darwin’s book sought to explain the variety of life-forms, from simple to complex, through natural processes entirely.

Charles Darwin’s book sought to explain the variety of life-forms, from simple to complex, through natural processes entirely.

No intelligent, wise and powerful Creator God was necessary, according to Darwin. He theorized that unguided and unintelligent forces in nature itself (“natural selection”) would see to it that small differences between life-forms would be “selected” if those differences conveyed some sort of reproductive advantage. And thus those creatures that had somehow been endowed with these advantageous differences would survive, and those without them would die out.

Darwin proposed that in this process, over great periods of time, one sort of creature would gradually develop and gain advantages and turn into another sort of creature.

The source of all those small, cumulative, advantageous changes was unknown to Darwin. In more modern times, evolutionary proponents point to random mutations as a source. The information needed to build and maintain living things is found in the DNA in their cells. When cells divide and when organisms reproduce, this DNA code must be copied. The occasional random errors that take place in this copying process are called mutations.

Thus, the modern theory of biological evolution assumes that life somehow began (no one knows how), and then simple life changed into more and more complex forms of life through mutation and natural selection. All this was theorized to occur gradually, over immense periods of time.

No God was involved in this process. No intelligence. No purpose. Thus, in the theory, there are no divine standards to guide humans morally, or to which they are accountable.

Faith in evolution

Evolution’s advocates acknowledge that it is a religion—and they are zealous for their faith in it.

Michael Ruse, an atheist and evolution-believing professor of philosophy and zoology who taught at the University of Guelph in Canada for 35 years before accepting a position at Florida State University, wrote the following in Canada’s National Post:

“Evolution is promoted by its practitioners as more than mere science. Evolution is promulgated as an ideology, a secular religion—a full-fledged alternative to Christianity, with meaning and morality. I am an ardent evolutionist and an ex-Christian . . .

“The literalists are absolutely right. Evolution is a religion. This was true of evolution in the beginning, and it is true of evolution still today. . . Evolution therefore came into being as a kind of secular ideology, an explicit substitute for Christianity” (“How Evolution Became a Religion: Creationists Correct?” May 13, 2000).

Humanist beliefs oppose Christianity

If there is no Creator God, then man looks to himself as a god—thus the modern philosophy of humanism.

The American Humanist Association listed six “primary beliefs” of humanism in its 2003 Humanist Manifesto III. The second of these beliefs is, “Humans are an integral part of nature, the result of unguided evolutionary change” (“Humanism and Its Aspirations,” American Humanist Association, 2003).

Secular humanists have a zeal to spread their belief in evolution, especially through the public schools. In their zeal, they see it as their mission to eventually win the battle of beliefs and to stand triumphant over the “rotting corpse of Christianity.” They don’t hide their agenda, as seen in the following statement.

“I am convinced that the battle for humankind’s future must be waged and won in the public school classroom by teachers who correctly perceive their role as the proselytizers of a new faith: a religion of humanity that recognizes and respects the spark of what theologians call divinity in every human being. These teachers must embody the same selfless dedication as the most rabid fundamentalist preachers, for they will be ministers of another sort, utilizing a classroom instead of a pulpit to convey humanist values [including a belief in evolution] in whatever subject they teach, regardless of the educational level—preschool day care or large state university.

“The classroom must and will become an arena of conflict between the old and the new—the rotting corpse of Christianity, together with all its adjacent evils and misery, and the new faith of humanism . . .

“It will undoubtedly be a long, arduous, painful struggle replete with much sorrow and many tears, but humanism [and its fundamental principle of evolution] will emerge triumphant. It must if the family of humankind is to survive” (John Dunphy, “A Religion for a New Age,” The Humanist, January-February 1983).

Is it science at all?

So, is this science? Or, is it not an antibiblical, godless philosophy—a religion opposed to Christianity? Is it entirely objective? Do the observations and measurements of the natural world lead scientists inevitably to these conclusions—as summarized in the theory of neo-Darwinism?

Or was an agenda driving the development of the theory of evolution from the start—back to Darwin’s day, and even before?

What do leading proponents of the theory have to say about all of that? Consider the following statements by leading zealous proponents of the modern theory of evolution.

Richard Lewontin, a leading evolutionist, author, geneticist and retired professor of biology at Harvard University, wrote:

“We take the side of science in spite of the patent absurdity of some of its constructs, in spite of its failure to fulfil many of its extravagant promises of health and life, in spite of the tolerance of the scientific community for unsubstantiated just-so stories, because we have a prior commitment, a commitment to materialism.

“It is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to accept a material explanation of the phenomenal world, but, on the contrary, that we are forced by our a priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations, no matter how counter-intuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated. Moreover, that materialism is absolute, for we cannot allow a Divine Foot in the door” (“Billions and Billions of Demons,” The New York Review, Jan. 9, 1997, p. 31, emphasis in original).

Thomas Nagel wrote:

“I want atheism to be true . . . It isn’t just that I don’t believe in God and, naturally, hope that I’m right in my belief. It’s that I hope there is no God! I don’t want there to be a God; I don’t want the universe to be like that. My guess is that this cosmic authority problem is not a rare condition and that it is responsible for much of the scientism and reductionism of our time. One of the tendencies it supports is the ludicrous overuse of evolutionary biology to explain everything about human life, including everything about the human mind . . . This is a somewhat ridiculous situation” (The Last Word, 1997, pp. 130-131).

Professor Nagel is an American intellectual and professed atheist. He is professor of philosophy and law, emeritus, at New York University, where he taught from 1980 to 2016. Later in life, he controversially questioned materialism as the answer for all things, including human consciousness, and in so doing raised the ire of his fellow evolution-believing atheists.

Stephen J. Gould wrote: “The extreme rarity of transitional forms in the fossil record persists as the trade secret of paleontology.”Stephen J. Gould wrote:

“The extreme rarity of transitional forms in the fossil record persists as the trade secret of paleontology . . . To preserve our favored account of evolution by natural selection we view our data as so bad that we never see the very process we profess to study” (“Evolution’s Erratic Pace,” Natural History, May 1977, 86:14).

Dr. Gould was an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist and historian of science. He admitted that the evidence to support the evolutionary story just isn’t there—certainly not in the fossil record. He was one of the modern world’s most influential and widely read authors on the subject of evolution. Gould taught at Harvard University and worked at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

D.M.S. Watson said, “Evolution itself is accepted by zoologists not because it has been observed to occur or . . . can be proved by logically coherent evidence to be true, but because the only alternative, special creation, is clearly incredible” (quoted in Herbert Schlossberg, Idols for Destruction: Christian Faith and Its Confrontation With American Society, [1983] 1993, pp. 144-145).

Dr. Watson was a professor of zoology and comparative anatomy at University College, London.

Scott C. Todd wrote, “Most important, it should be made clear in the classroom that science, including evolution, has not disproved God’s existence because it cannot be allowed to consider it (presumably). Even if all the data point to an intelligent designer, such an hypothesis is excluded from science because it is not naturalistic. Of course the scientist, as an individual, is free to embrace a reality that transcends naturalism” (“A View From Kansas on That Evolution Debate,” Nature, Vol. 401, Sept. 30, 1999, p. 423).

This statement by Professor Todd highlights an important modern reality. The term science has been co-opted by the evolutionist academic and intellectual elite to exclude God and the supernatural, by definition!

Playing the game by these rules means that anyone who disbelieves the theory of evolution, and who instead believes the biblical account of creation, is “unscientific.”

Scientific flaws in evolution

Even though evolutionists have defined the Creator God out of the discussion, they are still left with devastating weaknesses in their theory. Other articles on this website address many of these problems. In briefest summary, some of the problems are these.

The links between kinds of creatures are missing.

Darwin’s theory postulates innumerable in-between life-forms as life evolved from single-cell creatures to man. It was true in Darwin’s day, and it remains true today—the fossil record is full of holes. The innumerable missing links are still missing!

The biblical account is true. Each “kind” of creature reproduces after its kind—never changing into a completely different kind (Genesis 1:11-12, 21, 24-25). There is variety within biblical “kinds”—within definite limits of variability—but no evidence has ever been found of one kind giving rise to another. Cows give birth to cows. Fish produce fish. Birds produce birds. Roses generate new roses.

Even among evolutionists this is known and admitted. Harvard Professor Stephen J. Gould wrote, “The absence of fossil evidence for intermediary stages between major transitions in organic design, indeed our inability, even in our imagination, to construct functional intermediates in many cases, has been a persistent and nagging problem for gradualistic accounts of evolution” (“Is a New and General Theory of Evolution Emerging?” Paleobiology, Winter 1980, p. 127).

Life—including the molecular machinery of life at the cellular level—is far too complex and obviously designed to have developed by the unguided process of natural selection acting on random mutations.

The “irreducibly complex” molecular machines in living cells—consisting of many precisely fitted parts, all of which must be present for these biomechanical machines to function—cannot possibly be constructed and “selected” one small step at a time. All the parts have to be present and properly assembled from the start for these machines to support life.

No one has a clue as to how the first life could have come into being, without the biblical Creator.

Though evolutionists may speculate about a chemical soup in ancient oceans, in which certain chemicals randomly attached themselves to each other to make the first living cell, no scientist has been able to reproduce this in a laboratory, or even describe in detail the steps by which it could possibly have happened.

Evolution probability

Even the most optimistic odds are against evolution.

Various researchers have concluded that the odds of chemicals coming together to produce life by chance are vanishingly small. Even evolutionists admit this. British astronomer Sir Fred Hoyle estimated the odds of even one step along the way from chemicals to a living cell by random chance at one in 1040,000 (Fred Hoyle and Chandra Wickramasinghe, Evolution From Space, 1981, p. 148).

One evolutionist, information theorist Hubert Yockey, on the faculty of the University of California at Berkeley, put it this way: “The origin of life by chance in a primeval soup is impossible in probability in the same way that a perpetual [motion] machine is in probability. The extremely small probabilities calculated in this chapter are not discouraging to true believers [i.e., committed evolutionists, those who choose to believe it simply because they want it to be true] . . . [however] a practical person must conclude that life didn’t happen by chance” (Information Theory and Molecular Biology, 1992, p. 257).

Some evolutionists, when honestly considering the impossibility of life beginning on earth from random processes, take the next step and speculate that life then must have begun in outer space. Then it must have somehow arrived on earth via comets or alien spacecraft or other means, then developed further here through Darwinian processes!

Included among the well-known evolutionists who, at some points in their careers, have postulated about some sort of outer space origin for life on earth are Hoyle, Francis Crick (codiscoverer of the structure of DNA), and physicist Stephen Hawking.

The information needed to build and maintain living things is found in their DNA. The occasional random errors that take place when the DNA is copied are called mutations. And mutations are nearly always harmful. 

The thinking here, apparently, is that the odds are so small that it could have begun on earth that it is ridiculous to even consider it, so maybe it started in outer space and was brought to earth. But that doesn’t solve the problem. It only speculates that the incredibly unlikely event of a chance beginning of life here on earth could have better odds somewhere else in the universe—a notion with absolutely no scientific basis.

Mutations and natural selection

Mutations—the alleged source of new genetic information to allow life to develop from single cells into all of today’s the complex organisms—are nearly always degradative, destroying information from the genome, not adding to it.

Mutations harm and set life back, instead of being the engine that pushes it forward. This is the conclusion of many studies. A good summary of this material is found in the recently published book Darwin Devolves, by American biochemist and author Michael Behe (2019).

Natural selection culls out, but doesn’t create.

The very process of natural selection accounts for the elimination and extinction of life-forms that are not “fit” enough for survival, but it has never been shown to lead to upward development of life-forms, beyond fairly strict limits.

Famed evolutionist Lynn Margulis acknowledged as much. “Natural selection eliminates and maybe maintains, but it doesn’t create” (“Discover Interview: Lynn Margulis Says She’s Not Controversial, She’s Right,” discovermagazine.com, June 16, 2011).

This once again vindicates the biblical principle of creatures being able to reproduce within narrow bounds set by God—“after their kind.”

Blind pitiless indifference

Evolution is a religion of despair and one that offers no hope or purpose or cheer.

It’s all so dispiriting. The high priests of the religion of neo-Darwinian evolutionary theory may claim that it is true and liberating, and they do indeed have a zeal to proselytize and spread their religion—especially to young, impressionable minds in school. However, they seem to know that it is an utterly bleak idea.

Cambridge University evolutionary biologist, atheist and author Richard Dawkins put it this way:

“The total amount of suffering per year in the natural world is beyond all decent contemplation . . . It must be so . . . In a universe of blind physical forces and genetic replication, some people are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you won’t find any rhyme or reason in it, nor any justice. The universe that we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but blind pitiless indifference” (River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life, p. 131-133, 1995).

Not to be outdone in spreading the anti-cheer of evolutionary theory, atheist professor of evolutionary biology William Provine said:

“There are no gods, no purposeful forces of any kind, no life after death. When I die, I am absolutely certain that I am going to be completely dead. That’s just all—that’s gonna be the end of me. There is no ultimate foundation for ethics, no ultimate meaning in life, and no free will for humans, either” (Darwinism: Science or Naturalistic Philosophy? video, 1994).

Does science prove evolution?

As we have seen, committed and leading evolutionists have arbitrarily and arrogantly redefined “science” in such a way that:

  • It excludes even the possibility of the God of the Bible being the creator of the world.
  • Their “science” thus must support evolution, because it’s the only game in town.

Evolution is their religion and their faith. They choose to believe their theory (and disbelieve the Bible) because they want it that way.

However, as the many quotes in this article have demonstrated, no one need be held mentally captive to the theory of evolution nor feel intimidated into thinking that the evidence for evolution is overwhelming. It isn’t. Precisely the opposite is true.

A sound-minded person has the freedom to choose to believe the truth—that this marvelous world, in all its complexity, is indeed the product of design by a powerful and brilliant Creator—Jeremiah’s LORD.

We can base our religion on truth, instead of the falsehood of evolutionary theory. To do so does not make us ignorant or mean we have to reject the evidence and facts of science.

Evolution and Christianity

What a person chooses to believe is important. The stakes are pretty high.

One evolutionist expressed it in stark terms: “The most devastating thing though that biology did to Christianity was the discovery of biological evolution. Now that we know that Adam and Eve never were real people the central myth of Christianity is destroyed. If there never was an Adam and Eve there never was an original sin. If there never was an original sin there is no need of salvation. If there is no need of salvation there is no need of a savior. And I submit that puts Jesus, historical or otherwise, into the ranks of the unemployed. I think that evolution is absolutely the death knell of Christianity” (Frank Zindler, American atheist, in a debate with William Craig, Atheism vs Christianity video, 1993).

Another atheist evolutionist, the famous historian and science fiction writer H.G. Wells, made the same ominous point long ago.

“For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made” (Romans 1:20). 

Discussing the undeniable ramifications of the theory of evolution, he wrote, “If all the animals and man had been evolved in this ascendant manner, then there had been no first parents, no Eden and no Fall. And if there had been no fall, then the entire historical fabric of Christianity, the story of the first sin and the reason for an atonement, upon which the current teaching based Christian emotion and morality, collapsed like a house of cards” (The Outline of History—Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind, fourth revision, Vol. 2, 1925, p. 616,).

God has the last word

The words of the apostle Paul, referred to earlier, are appropriate as a concluding summary.

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may Does God Exist?be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

“Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things . . . [they] exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen” (Romans 1:18-23, 25).”  From: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/god/is-there-a-god/proof-of-god/problems-with-evolution/?

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This cancer-causing chemical may be lurking in your bread

Kid eating grilled cheese“Potassium bromate is a possible human carcinogen added to the flour of many packaged baked goods.

  • Potassium bromate is banned in several countries, including Brazil, Canada, the European Union and the United Kingdom.
  • Despite health concerns, potassium bromate is legal for use in the U.S., and the FDA hasn’t reviewed it since at least 1973.

Many packaged baked goods are made with flour that may contain potassium bromate, an additive linked to cancer. The chemical is added to flour to strengthen dough and allow it to rise higher, benefits that have led many U.S. companies to embrace it.

EWG has identified over 130 different products that contain potassium bromate, including Best Choice Wheat Sliced Bread, Gomez Flour Tortillas, Hy Vee Blueberry Crisp and Balducci's Sugar Cookies, among others. The use of this additive in the U.S. is widespread and legal, even though it’s been banned in other countries because of health concerns.

In 1999, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, echoing findings in several studies, determined potassium bromate is a possible human carcinogen.

In ab tests<?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = "[default] http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" NS = "http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" />,l animals exposed to it had increased incidences of both benign and malignant tumors in the thyroid and peritoneum, the membrane that lines the abdominal cavity. Later research found that ingesting potassium bromate resulted in significant increases in cancer of the animals’ thyroid, kidneys and other organs.

Because of these health concerns, potassium bromate is not allowed for use in several countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada, Brazil and the European Union. California requires food with potassium bromate to carry a warning label.

Even with plenty of evidence showing potassium bromate’s potential to harm human health, it’s still legal for use in food sold in the U.S.

The food industry has long argued that potassium bromate isn’t a concern in baked products, because in theory the baking process fully converts it into potassium bromide, a similar yet non-carcinogenic chemical. But tests in the U.K. found that potassium bromate remains detectable after baking, with all six unwrapped breads and seven out of 22 packaged breads tested found to have measurable levels.

Potassium bromate was first approved for use in the U.S. by the Food and Drug Administration in the 1960s. In 1973, the FDA announced a planned literature review of the additive, but it’s unclear whether the review was completed, and the chemical hasn't been assessed since.

Absent federal action, California has taken measures to warn residents of potassium bromate’s dangers. The additive has been on the state's Proposition 65 list since 1990, so products containing it must carry a cancer warning. But no other regulatory agency has acted to regulate or remove potassium bromate from grocery store shelves.

Get Your Free Guide: EWG's Guide to Food Additives  Link at: https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news/2022/05/cancer-causing-chemical-may-be-lurking-your-bread    Stay informed by signing up to receive email tips, action alerts, promotions to support our work and more from EWG. You can opt-out at any time.

Our broken food chemical review system

The U.S. food additive review system fails repeatedly to keep Americans safe and needs an overhaul if it is to protect us from potentially cancer-causing chemicals like potassium bromate.

Congress is considering legislation that aims to break through the regulatory standstill. The Food Chemical Reassessment Act of 2021<?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = "[default] http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" NS = "http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" />, introduced by Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), would help bolster our food regulatory system. If enacted, the bill would create an Office of Food Safety Assessment within the FDA to confirm that chemicals that entered the food supply chain through legal loopholes, or were reviewed by the FDA decades ago, are still safe to eat. The bill identifies 10 chemicals for immediate reassessment, including potassium bromate.

While we await the passage of this bill or new federal action, consumers can minimize exposure to potassium bromate by checking food labels and avoiding products that use it. You can also check our Food Scores database to find alternatives without potassium bromate.”     From: https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news/2022/05/cancer-causing-chemical-may-be-lurking-your-bread

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Monday, July 3, 2023

Prove Evolution Is False Without The Bible. Living lessons from the Dead Sea. Kids’ Breakfast Cereals as Nutritional Façade.

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Prove evolution is false without the Bible

Prove evolution is false without the Bible“Charles Darwin's theory of evolution is a biological explanation of how creatures have supposedly "evolved" through natural selection and variation (now known as mutation) over eons of time from the tiny cell to the largest creatures on earth today.

What is taught in classrooms is not mere microevolution—small changes within a species—but macroevolution, the change from one type of creature to another quite distinct life form.

Many who support the theory of evolution therefore believe there is no need for a Creator, since evolution is the mechanism for creating and transforming life. They believe life arose from non-life and evolved from simpler creatures to more complex life forms. The tiny cell eventually became an amoeba, then a lizard, then a monkey, and finally—you!

In this article, in order to remember key points disproving Darwinian evolution the acronym FALSE is used. Some of these points will also disprove the compromise of theistic evolution—the notion God employed macroevolution over eons in forming the creatures we see on earth today.

F for Fossils

A fossil is the preserved remains of a living thing. The fossil record around the earth extends to an average of one mile deep. Below this level there is no evidence of any living creatures. The fossils of the earliest type of complex creatures with hard bodies are called trilobites. No previous ancestors of these arthropods have been found.

Trilobites were similar to some marine "bugs" we see today on the seashore that disappear into the sand when the waves retreat. They had hard shells, all the basic organs, and complex eyes like those of flies, with hundreds of sophisticated lenses connected to the optic nerve. Trilobite fossils are found around the earth, and in all cases the level of rock beneath them does not reveal other creatures with similar features.

As one source states: "The dominant life form was the now-extinct sea creature known as a trilobite, up to a foot long, with a distinctive head and tail, a body made up of several parts, and a complex respiratory system. But although there are many places on earth where 5,000 feet of sedimentary rock stretch unbroken and uniformly beneath the Cambrian [layer], not a single indisputable multi-celled fossil has been found there…Darwin himself said he could give 'no satisfactory answer' to why no fossils had been discovered. Today's scientists are none the wiser" (Francis Hitching, The Neck of the Giraffe, 1982, pp. 26-27).

"If throughout past ages life was actually drifting over in one continual stream from one form to another, it is to be expected that as many samples of the intermediate stages between species should be discovered in fossil condition as of the species themselves…But these missing links are wanting. There are no fossils of creatures whose scales were changing into feathers or whose feet were changing into wings, no fossils of fish getting legs or of reptiles getting hair. The real task of the geological evolutionist…is to find those thousands upon thousands of missing links that connect the many fossil species with one another" (Byron Nelson, After Its Kind, 1970, pp. 60-62).

A for Assumption

When there is no real evidence, assumptions are made. We do see limited changes within species, but we do not see any changes into other species. There is also no evidence of gradual change in the fossil record. Yet evolutionists continue to assume that transitional forms must have existed.

In Darwin's book On the Origin of Species there are some 800 subjective clauses, with uncertainty repeatedly admitted instead of proof. Words such as "could," "perhaps" and "possibly" plague the entire book. Evolution is still called a theory—a possible explanation or assumption—because it is not testable according to the scientific method, as this would require thousands or millions of years.

L for Life

The law of biogenesis as taught in biology class states that only life can produce life. You've probably heard the famous question: Which came first, the chicken or the egg? It's a real dilemma for an evolutionist to answer. An egg comes from a chicken, yet the chicken comes from an egg. How can there be one without the other?

To complicate matters even more, the chicken has to come from a fertilized egg that has the mixture of two different genetic strains from both its parents. So the problem of the origin of life and initial reproduction is still a mystery evolutionary science cannot adequately answer. Yet for someone who believes in special creation by a Creator, there is no dilemma. First God made the male and female chickens, which produced the first fertilized egg.

S for Symbiosis

When one living thing needs another different living thing to survive, it's called a symbiotic relationship. An example of this is the relationship between bees and flowers. The bees need the nectar from some types of flowers, while these flowers need bees to pollinate them. Both depend on the other to survive.

The question for evolutionists is: How did these plants exist without the bees, and how did the bees exist without these plants? Yet if you believe in a Creator who specially created the various forms of life on earth, the answer is simple—both were created at about the same time.

E for Engineering

All living things are exquisitely engineered or designed. A bacterium is as majestically built for its purpose as a human body is for its function. Yet evolution says it's only an illusion of design—that there is no real designer behind it. Living things are multi-functional. They do many complex things at the same time, something evolution with its step-by-step process has never been able to demonstrate.

One example of a living thing with exquisite engineering is the tree. It provides breathable oxygen for us while processing carbon dioxide, which in high amounts in the air would be toxic to us. It supplies wood, housing for birds, roots to limit erosion, fruit and seeds to eat, is biodegradable and gives shade. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, "A healthy tree provides a cooling effect equivalent to 10 room-size air conditioners operating 20 hours a day."

How could something so complex arise from a random, undirected evolutionary process? We need more "faith" to believe in blind evolution than in an all-knowing Creator who designed the marvelous tree in the first place! Evolution is F-A-L-S-E and the story of creation in the Bible, our Creator's great book of truth, tells us what really took place.

Source:  The Good News Magazine (Mar-Apr 2012) From: https://www.ucg.org/the-good-news/prove-evolution-is-false-even-without-the-bible

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Living lessons from the Dead Sea

“The Dead Sea between Israel and Jordan is aptly named—because it is dead in nearly every sense.  It is a dead end. Several rivers flow into it, but none exit.  Because of the blistering desert sun, water evaporates, leaving minerals behind. The brine that is left is choked with salt, bromide, magnesium chloride, potassium chloride and sulfur.  The salt and mineral content is between 25 and 30 percent—where the average salt level in the oceans is less than 5 percent. No marine life can live in the Dead Sea.  Swimmers regularly enter the sea, and some claim its high mineral content will help cure a variety of skin disorders. But you have to be careful not to splash the water on your face or in your eyes! 

The Dead Sea is the lowest body of water on earth. 

The surface of the Dead Sea is an incredible 1,400 feet below sea level, and it is estimated that in places the bottom extends an additional 1,300 feet down. Standing on its shores, one has a sense of being at the bottom of the earth!  To add to the meaning of its name, some scholars believe the destroyed remains of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah may lie beneath the Dead Sea.  Those oily, briny waters may therefore cover the graves of thousands, or tens of thousands, of people who provoked the God of creation to take their lives in an onslaught of what the Bible calls fire and brimstone (Genesis 19:24). 

When I stop to evaluate my own spiritual condition, I think back to the time I was baptized. I had come to see that I was nothing, had nothing, and was as spiritually dead and valueless as the waters of the Dead Sea. Apart from God’s grace, and a powerful miracle, I had no hope.  Ezekiel 47:8-10 prophesies of a time when a river will flow from Jerusalem down to the Dead Sea, and its waters will be healed—something unthinkable now. Any fisherman who would launch his boat to fish the Dead Sea today would probably be the subject of scorn. 

But we are told in the future God is going to purify those waters so that fishermen will throw their nets into waters that are teeming with fish!  That’s how you and I become after conversion. God’s Spirit begins to flow into and through our minds, and we are purified and healed.  We become converted and change from people with little or no spiritual value into the children of God, offered eternal life in the Kingdom of God if we will remain faithful to our calling. 

I was able to visit the Dead Sea in 1984, and the memories are still clear. There were salt and mineral formations all around the shores, various shades of yellows and whites, but no life. I remember coming back out of the water with the feeling that I’d been swimming in cooking oil, and needing to shower off before getting back into regular clothes. 

The picture Ezekiel paints of those waters being healed and vibrantly healthy is amazing! Even more amazing is that God intends to restore even the lives of those who died in Sodom and Gomorrah—the ancient towns whose ruins may lay deep beneath the Dead Sea.  Ezekiel 37 talks about a time when those who have died will live again and be offered God’s Holy Spirit (verse 14). Revelation 20:11-12 also talks about this time of judgment. And Jesus talked about Sodom and Gomorrah being in the judgment. They are awaiting this second resurrection, when God will teach them the way to live in peace and happiness.

That healing and restoration is happening now in the minds of those He has called. Looking back to my baptism reminds me where I’ve come from, and the wonderful future God has laid out before me!

I’ve often wondered where I’d be today without God’s calling

Whatever it might have been, my life would be very different from what I have today. I’d never have met my wife, nor most of the people I know today.  Whether I’d be well off or very poor, I don’t know. But I do know that spiritually I’d be of about as much value as the Dead Sea is today.  We are all in the same position, and we should draw great encouragement from this as we press on to lay hold of what Christ Jesus has for us (Philippians 3:12).”

Kind regards, and have a great rest of your week, Tom Clark, for Life, Hope and Truth.

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Kids’ Breakfast Cereals as Nutritional Façade

“Plastering front-of-package nutrient claims on cereal boxes is an attempt to distract from the incongruity of feeding our children multicolored marshmallows for breakfast.

Transcript of video at: https://nutritionfacts.org/video/kids-breakfast-cereals-as-nutritional-facade/

Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.

“The American Medical Association started warning people about excess sugar consumption over 75 years ago, based in part on our understanding that “sugar supplies nothing in nutrition but calories, and the vitamins provided by other foods are sapped by sugar to liberate these calories.” Hence, added sugars aren’t just empty calories, but like negative nutrition—the more added sugars one consumes, the more nutritionally depleted one may become.

Given the totality of scientific evidence, the FDA decided to make processed food manufacturers declare “added sugars” on the nutrition facts label. The National Yogurt Association was livid, opposing the added sugars declaration, since they needed “added sugars” to increase their products’ palatability. The junk food association questioned the science…whereas the ice cream folks seemed to imply consumers would be too stupid to use it, so, better leave it off. The world’s biggest cereal company, Kellogg’s, took a similar tact, opposing it so as not to confuse the consumer, and should the FDA proceed with such labeling against their objections, added sugars should at most be “communicated in a footnote.” See, their goal is to provide consumers with “useful information so they can make informed choices.” This from a company that describes their Froot Loops as “packed with delicious fruity taste, fruity aroma, and bright colors. Made with whole grains and ‘lightly sweetened,’ a good source of fiber.”

Lightly sweetened? Froot Loops has more sugar than a Krispy Kreme doughnut…. Froot Loops is more than 40% sugar by weight.

The tobacco industry used similar terms, such as “light,” “low,” and “mild” to make their products appear healthier before they were recently barred from doing so. Now, sugar interests are fighting similar battles over whether their “healthy,” “natural,” and “lightly sweetened” terminology is similarly deceptive.

But just look at all those vitamins and minerals they added. That was one of the ways the cereal companies responded to calls for banning sugary cereals. General Mills defended the likes of Franken Berry, Trix, and Lucky Charms for being fortified with essential vitamins. Sir Grapefellow, I learned, was a grape-flavored cereal complete with sweet grape starbit marshmallows––but don’t worry, it was “vitamin charged.”

Sugary breakfast cereals, said Dr. Jean Mayer from Harvard, are not a complete food even if fortified with eight or 10 vitamins. “I think your point is well taken,” replied Senator McGovern, “that these products may be mislabeled, perhaps more correctly called candy vitamins than cereals.”

Plastering nutrient claims on the box can create a “nutritional facade,” acting to distract attention away from unsavory qualities, such as excess sugar content. The majority of parents have been found to misinterpret the meaning of claims commonly used on children’s cereals, raising significant public health concerns…. Ironically, cereal boxes bearing low-calorie claims were found to have more calories on average than those without such a claim; so, it’s like the cereal doth protest too much.

Even candy bar companies are getting in on the action, bragging about their protein content because it has some peanuts, but it’s also a candy bar, with 50 grams of sugar, just like Froot Loops could be considered breakfast candy, as the same serving would have 40….

Given research suggesting “consumers believe front-of-package claims, perceive them to be government-endorsed, and use them to ignore the Nutrition Facts Panel” on the back, there’s been a call from nutrition professionals to consider “an outright ban on all front-of-package claims.” The industry’s short-lived Smart Choices label was met with disbelief when it was found adorning qualifying cereals like Froot Loops and Cookie Crisp. The processed food industry spent more than a billion dollars lobbying against the adoption of more informative labeling, a traffic-light approach, railing against the suggestion that “any food [might be] too high in anything.”  From: https://nutritionfacts.org/video/kids-breakfast-cereals-as-nutritional-facade/

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