ICR
"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils." (1 Timothy 4:1)
Halloween was a corruption of "Hallowed E'en," the evening before "All Saints Day" in which civil disobedience and sinful license were tolerated prior to the forgiveness and penance sought the next day.
Although the level of debauchery and wickedness has waxed and waned over the centuries, nothing "hallowed" has ever been associated with the practice--until more recent times among evangelical churches. Now we promote a "Harvest Festival" or a "Bible Character Dress-up Night"--much of which encourages the practice of costuming and treats as a harmless alternative.
The difficulty is not with the church activities, but with the timing and the association with that which is evil. That obvious connection with a pagan holiday will undermine resolve to "come out from among them, and be ye separate" (2 Corinthians 6:17).
Yes, no doubt that passage warns against an "unequal yoke" in marriage--but its primary focus is on church and individual purity! "What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?" (2 Corinthians 6:14-15).
As a parent, I know the pain of restricting my children from participating in the "fun" of Halloween. And as a former pastor, I know the pressure to accommodate the majority of church members who see no "harm" in such things. However, our allegiance and our responsibility are to the Lord, not men (Colossians 3:23). HMM III
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
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PNN Executive Editor - Mike Shoesmith
Zev Porat
Monday, October 31, 2011
PASTOR GALLUPS to be Fla. Tea Party Convention Speaker! Come if you can!
Hey PPSIMMONS fans and family - Pastor Carl Gallups of PPSIMMONS will be a keynote convention speaker at the Florida Tea Party Convention in Daytona Beach Fla this coming weekend.
The convention is the 4th, 5th and 6th at the Daytona Ocean Center.
All the republican candidates will be there in a question and answer session hosted by nationally renowned talk radio host Laura Ingraham. Marco Rubio and Sarah Palin are also slated for appearances.
Pastor Gallups received a personal invitation to the be the after-dinner speaker from the convention center podium. He will be speaking at around 7:45 Pm. He will be speaking on the necessity of restoring America's character and restoring America's heart for God. Please pray for Pastor Gallups. It is being reported that CAIR is already taking out Ads in the regional papers condemning the Tea Party Conference.
Thousands are lining up to get tickets. If you live anywhere near the Daytona area - we urge you to attend this historical conference. You can get all the details and registration information on line at www.ttpnc.com. If you are able to attend - make certain that you introduce yourself to Pastor Gallups as one of the PPSIMMONS family! God bless you - and again - please pray for Pastor Gallups and the PPSIMMONS ministry representation at the Florida Tea Party Convention this weekend!
The convention is the 4th, 5th and 6th at the Daytona Ocean Center.
All the republican candidates will be there in a question and answer session hosted by nationally renowned talk radio host Laura Ingraham. Marco Rubio and Sarah Palin are also slated for appearances.
Pastor Gallups received a personal invitation to the be the after-dinner speaker from the convention center podium. He will be speaking at around 7:45 Pm. He will be speaking on the necessity of restoring America's character and restoring America's heart for God. Please pray for Pastor Gallups. It is being reported that CAIR is already taking out Ads in the regional papers condemning the Tea Party Conference.
Thousands are lining up to get tickets. If you live anywhere near the Daytona area - we urge you to attend this historical conference. You can get all the details and registration information on line at www.ttpnc.com. If you are able to attend - make certain that you introduce yourself to Pastor Gallups as one of the PPSIMMONS family! God bless you - and again - please pray for Pastor Gallups and the PPSIMMONS ministry representation at the Florida Tea Party Convention this weekend!
Friday, October 28, 2011
The Miracle of Water
ICR
The earth is the only known planet with huge bodies of water. Seventy percent of its surface area consists of oceans, lakes, and seas surrounding huge bodies of land. The few other planets that have water contain only moisture floating as vapor on their surface or small amounts of ice or liquid water on the planet itself, not large bodies of liquid water as on earth.
Water is unique in that it can absorb enormous amounts of heat without a large alteration in its temperature. Its heat absorption level is about ten times as great as steel. During the day, the earth's bodies of water rapidly soak up enormous amounts of heat; thus, the earth stays fairly cool. At night, they release the vast amounts of heat that they absorbed during the day, which, combined with atmospheric effects, keeps most of the surface from freezing solid at night. If it were not for the tremendous amounts of water on the earth, far greater day and night temperature variations would exist. Many parts of the surface would be hot enough to boil water during the day, and the same parts would be cold enough to freeze water at night. Because water is an excellent temperature stabilizer, the large oceans on earth are vital for life to exist on earth.
In contrast to virtually all other materials (the rare exceptions include rubber and antimony), water contracts when cooled only until it reaches 4 degrees Celsius. Then it amazingly expands until it freezes. Thus, because of this anomaly, the ice that forms in seas, oceans, and lakes stays near the surface, where the sun heats it during the day and the warm water below melts it in the summer. This and the Coriolis effect, which produces ocean currents, ensure that most of the ocean stays in a liquid form, allowing the myriads of water creatures to live.
This is one more "stunning" demonstration that the "Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens" (Proverbs 3:19).
Original Article with references.
The earth is the only known planet with huge bodies of water. Seventy percent of its surface area consists of oceans, lakes, and seas surrounding huge bodies of land. The few other planets that have water contain only moisture floating as vapor on their surface or small amounts of ice or liquid water on the planet itself, not large bodies of liquid water as on earth.
Water is unique in that it can absorb enormous amounts of heat without a large alteration in its temperature. Its heat absorption level is about ten times as great as steel. During the day, the earth's bodies of water rapidly soak up enormous amounts of heat; thus, the earth stays fairly cool. At night, they release the vast amounts of heat that they absorbed during the day, which, combined with atmospheric effects, keeps most of the surface from freezing solid at night. If it were not for the tremendous amounts of water on the earth, far greater day and night temperature variations would exist. Many parts of the surface would be hot enough to boil water during the day, and the same parts would be cold enough to freeze water at night. Because water is an excellent temperature stabilizer, the large oceans on earth are vital for life to exist on earth.
In contrast to virtually all other materials (the rare exceptions include rubber and antimony), water contracts when cooled only until it reaches 4 degrees Celsius. Then it amazingly expands until it freezes. Thus, because of this anomaly, the ice that forms in seas, oceans, and lakes stays near the surface, where the sun heats it during the day and the warm water below melts it in the summer. This and the Coriolis effect, which produces ocean currents, ensure that most of the ocean stays in a liquid form, allowing the myriads of water creatures to live.
This is one more "stunning" demonstration that the "Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens" (Proverbs 3:19).
Original Article with references.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
New PPSIMMONS Book Helps Readers Quit ANY Addiction
Ever seen that guy or gal outside in the forty below weather freezing to "death" enjoying that cigarette? How about that person taking their "smoke break" in the blistering heat of summer? These scenes often provoke feelings of pity or disbelief from spectators and embarrassment or feelings of defeat from the person trapped in the addiction. Let's face it - generally speaking it is not the person going out for s cigarette, it's the cigarette addiction taking the person out for more punishment.
You don't have to define yourself as a "smoker, big eater or alcoholic" any longer. God has provided a tool from heaven - a source of strength which will break any addiction. God is pleased to give it to you and longs to see you gain freedom. Get FAST TRACK TO FREEDOM today.
How about that husband - the one who spends a little too much time on his laptop; not that laptops are evil but men are very easily addicted to things going on in internet land. Often times men become entrenched in pornographic images seen in the relative secrecy of websites only to give themselves completely over to this dark place known as porn addiction. Like a claw on the mind they've been taken over - unable to disconnect from the fantasy. Marriages have been destroyed by the power of this addiction and lives have been severely scarred due to unhealthy sexual bondage.
Think about the drugs your loved-one is using; robbing him or her of everything of value in their life. Like a merciless thief the addiction is slowly stealing the breath of life from them and robbing any future potential the person may have. Like a frog in a pot of water which is slowly heated up to a boil the person stays in it - perhaps secretly longing for relief but finding none - no ability or strength to pull up out of the nose dive.
One of the sad myths of religion is that fasting has anything at all to do with food. God Himself gave us the definition of the fast and it's amazing power which anyone can access.
Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?Isaiah 58:6
Earth Hit the 7-Billion Mark Too Late
ICR
The world's population will reach seven billion on October 31, 2011, according to the United Nations, and media outlets are heralding the issue of overcrowding on the planet. How long did it take for this many humans to be born?
The evolutionary version of human population growth presents a fantastic scenario to answer that question. In this imaginary long-ages history, the population did not grow at all for millions of years before suddenly taking off only a few thousand years ago. In the July 29, 2011, issue of Science, demographic anthropology expert Jean-Pierre Bocquet-Appel wrote:
After the members of the genus Homo had been living as foragers for at least 2.4 million years, agriculture began to emerge in seven or eight regions across the world, almost simultaneously at the beginning of the Holocene.1
Supposedly, the advent of agriculture enabled population growth at that time. But according to the Bible and historical records, there was never a time when humans weren't engaged in agriculture.
The problem is that in this projected timeline, people ("genus Homo") must have had virtually no population growth "for at least 2.4 million years." Bocquet-Appel wrote, "The world's population on the eve of the emergence of agriculture is estimated to have been 6 million individuals."1 Thus, the first human couple that supposedly evolved from ape-like ancestors would have had only 6 million descendants after 2.4 million years. This requires a population growth rate of about 0.000000009—essentially zero. Virtually no growth for 2.4 million years?
In contrast, the average historically observed growth rate has been at least 0.4 percent, at times spiking to above two percent. Even a "pre-industrial farming population" growth rate of 0.1 percent per year—Bocquet-Appel's number—would have yielded today's seven billion people in only 7,062 years.1 As the late Dr. Henry Morris, founder of the Institute for Creation Research, asked, "How could it be that the planet only now is experiencing a population crisis—why not several hundred thousand years ago, soon after man first appeared on earth?"2
To try and explain this slow growth, Bocquet-Appel stated, "An increase in the birth rate was closely followed in time by an increase in mortality." And the cause of all this death was "infectious diseases" such as "Rotavirus and Coronavirus."1
But this only invokes more unlikely events. How could such diseases maintain a near zero balance of birth and death rates for so long without randomly killing the whole population at some point? And why would these diseases suddenly lose their population-reducing effect after so many supposed eons? Plainly, the infectious disease idea, along with unrealistically slow growth rates, are ad hoc add-ons that prop up long-age thinking.
But the current world population aligns completely with biblical history, with no added stories. Using census records from the last 400 years and a bit of algebra, and assuming a natural logarithmic growth, eight Flood survivors 4,500 years ago produce 7 billion people almost exactly.3 This is powerful evidence that biblical history is accurate, and man-made evolutionary history is not.
Original Article with references.
The world's population will reach seven billion on October 31, 2011, according to the United Nations, and media outlets are heralding the issue of overcrowding on the planet. How long did it take for this many humans to be born?
The evolutionary version of human population growth presents a fantastic scenario to answer that question. In this imaginary long-ages history, the population did not grow at all for millions of years before suddenly taking off only a few thousand years ago. In the July 29, 2011, issue of Science, demographic anthropology expert Jean-Pierre Bocquet-Appel wrote:
After the members of the genus Homo had been living as foragers for at least 2.4 million years, agriculture began to emerge in seven or eight regions across the world, almost simultaneously at the beginning of the Holocene.1
Supposedly, the advent of agriculture enabled population growth at that time. But according to the Bible and historical records, there was never a time when humans weren't engaged in agriculture.
The problem is that in this projected timeline, people ("genus Homo") must have had virtually no population growth "for at least 2.4 million years." Bocquet-Appel wrote, "The world's population on the eve of the emergence of agriculture is estimated to have been 6 million individuals."1 Thus, the first human couple that supposedly evolved from ape-like ancestors would have had only 6 million descendants after 2.4 million years. This requires a population growth rate of about 0.000000009—essentially zero. Virtually no growth for 2.4 million years?
In contrast, the average historically observed growth rate has been at least 0.4 percent, at times spiking to above two percent. Even a "pre-industrial farming population" growth rate of 0.1 percent per year—Bocquet-Appel's number—would have yielded today's seven billion people in only 7,062 years.1 As the late Dr. Henry Morris, founder of the Institute for Creation Research, asked, "How could it be that the planet only now is experiencing a population crisis—why not several hundred thousand years ago, soon after man first appeared on earth?"2
To try and explain this slow growth, Bocquet-Appel stated, "An increase in the birth rate was closely followed in time by an increase in mortality." And the cause of all this death was "infectious diseases" such as "Rotavirus and Coronavirus."1
But this only invokes more unlikely events. How could such diseases maintain a near zero balance of birth and death rates for so long without randomly killing the whole population at some point? And why would these diseases suddenly lose their population-reducing effect after so many supposed eons? Plainly, the infectious disease idea, along with unrealistically slow growth rates, are ad hoc add-ons that prop up long-age thinking.
But the current world population aligns completely with biblical history, with no added stories. Using census records from the last 400 years and a bit of algebra, and assuming a natural logarithmic growth, eight Flood survivors 4,500 years ago produce 7 billion people almost exactly.3 This is powerful evidence that biblical history is accurate, and man-made evolutionary history is not.
Original Article with references.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Mercury's Fading Magnetic Field Fits Creation Model
ICR
Planets, including the earth, generate magnetic fields that encompass the space around them. Observations have shown that, like earth's, the planet Mercury's magnetic field is rapidly breaking down, and NASA's Messenger spacecraft confirmed that again earlier this year.
If the planets in the solar system are billions of years old, why do these magnetic fields still exist?
In 1974 and 1975, the Mariner 10 spacecraft measured Mercury's magnetic field strength with its onboard magnetometer and sent the data to earth. The astronomers analyzing the data at the time found that the average field strength was 4.8 x 1022 gauss cm3, which "is about 1% that of the Earth."1
A decade later, creation physicist D. Russell Humphreys published a magnetic field model based on clues from the Bible. He reasoned that earth and the planets all shared a watery beginning, in accord with Genesis 1 and 2 Peter 3:5.2 He calculated what the magnetic field strength would have been at the creation by using a mass of aligned water molecules equal to the masses of each planet.
Then, he plotted the rate at which the magnetic fields would have diminished over the roughly 6,000 years since. Humphreys wrote, "Electrical resistance in a planet's core will decrease the electrical current causing the magnetic field, just as friction slows down a flywheel."3 The resulting model accurately predicted the magnetic field strengths of Uranus and Neptune, as well as the declining strength of Mercury's field.4
In 2008, Messenger flew past Mercury and captured a magnetic field measurement, and Humphreys compared it with the decaying slope generated by his creation model. Sure enough, Mercury's magnetic field strength had diminished since 1974, right in line with the predicted value of the creation magnetic field model.
If Mercury's magnetic field is supposed to have lasted for many millions of years, then it should be very stable over vast time periods. But as Messenger's data show, researchers can measure its decay within a person's lifetime.
Humphreys wrote, "My predicted 4% decrease in only 33 years would be very hard for evolutionary theories of planetary magnetic fields to explain, but a greater decrease would be even harder on the theories."3 He anticipated more accurate 2011 measurements, which Science published on September 30.
The Science authors wrote that the field strength for Mercury is "~27% lower in magnitude than the centered-dipole estimate implied by the polar Mariner 10 flyby."5 This confirms that Mercury's magnetic field is rapidly diminishing, which in turn confirms that the field must only be thousands of years old—just as the creation model predicts.
Full article from ICR with references.
Planets, including the earth, generate magnetic fields that encompass the space around them. Observations have shown that, like earth's, the planet Mercury's magnetic field is rapidly breaking down, and NASA's Messenger spacecraft confirmed that again earlier this year.
If the planets in the solar system are billions of years old, why do these magnetic fields still exist?
In 1974 and 1975, the Mariner 10 spacecraft measured Mercury's magnetic field strength with its onboard magnetometer and sent the data to earth. The astronomers analyzing the data at the time found that the average field strength was 4.8 x 1022 gauss cm3, which "is about 1% that of the Earth."1
A decade later, creation physicist D. Russell Humphreys published a magnetic field model based on clues from the Bible. He reasoned that earth and the planets all shared a watery beginning, in accord with Genesis 1 and 2 Peter 3:5.2 He calculated what the magnetic field strength would have been at the creation by using a mass of aligned water molecules equal to the masses of each planet.
Then, he plotted the rate at which the magnetic fields would have diminished over the roughly 6,000 years since. Humphreys wrote, "Electrical resistance in a planet's core will decrease the electrical current causing the magnetic field, just as friction slows down a flywheel."3 The resulting model accurately predicted the magnetic field strengths of Uranus and Neptune, as well as the declining strength of Mercury's field.4
In 2008, Messenger flew past Mercury and captured a magnetic field measurement, and Humphreys compared it with the decaying slope generated by his creation model. Sure enough, Mercury's magnetic field strength had diminished since 1974, right in line with the predicted value of the creation magnetic field model.
If Mercury's magnetic field is supposed to have lasted for many millions of years, then it should be very stable over vast time periods. But as Messenger's data show, researchers can measure its decay within a person's lifetime.
Humphreys wrote, "My predicted 4% decrease in only 33 years would be very hard for evolutionary theories of planetary magnetic fields to explain, but a greater decrease would be even harder on the theories."3 He anticipated more accurate 2011 measurements, which Science published on September 30.
The Science authors wrote that the field strength for Mercury is "~27% lower in magnitude than the centered-dipole estimate implied by the polar Mariner 10 flyby."5 This confirms that Mercury's magnetic field is rapidly diminishing, which in turn confirms that the field must only be thousands of years old—just as the creation model predicts.
Full article from ICR with references.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
2,000 protestors tell MPPs to end taxpayer funding of abortion in Ontario
2,000 protestors tell MPPs to end taxpayer funding of abortion
TORONTO, Oct. 23, 2011 – Holding placards with slogans such as “Kill babies with tax dollars?” and “Not from my wallet!”, around 2,000 demonstrators gathered at Queen’s Park on Saturday Oct. 22, calling on Ontario legislators to end the practice of subsidizing elective abortions. The first ever Defund Abortion Rally was organized by the Youth division of Campaign Life Coalition.
The Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) pays for 30,000 to 51,000 abortions each year, costing the health care system about $1000 for each elective procedure. 23-year old rally organizer, Alissa Golob, opened the rally by belting out a question: “Did you know that $30 - $50 million dollars per year would allow our health care system to hire an additional 200 doctors, or 400 nurses or purchase 20 MRI machines or provide urgent therapy to an additional 500 autistic children each year?”
“I’m here to represent the next generation of taxpayers... I don’t want my taxes to go towards funding the killing of innocent unborn children” said Lia Mills, guest speaker and Toronto area high school student, expressing the frustration felt by all the young people present. “Mr. McGuinty, Members of the Legislature – defund abortion now!” added Mills to enthusiastic applause.
Other guest speakers included university students and Dr. Sze Wan Sit, a staff family physician at St. Michael’s Hospital in downtown Toronto. “If abortion is done electively, it makes sense that the patient will have to pay for it, especially when there are so many other medically necessary procedures that are not funded by OHIP” said Dr. Sit, reinforcing the message.
At the rally, Campaign Life Coalition Youth kicked off a province-wide petition campaign to end taxpayer funding of abortion. The petition will be presented to MPPs in November.
About Campaign Life Coalition Youth
Campaign Life Coalition Youth is a division of Campaign Life Coalition, the national, non-profit organization involved in political action and advocacy for legal and cultural change in Canada with respect to protecting human life and the family. CLC Youth’s mission is to educate youth and to create opportunities for young people to engage in this modern-day civil rights movement.
Visit Campaign Life Coalition for more details.
TORONTO, Oct. 23, 2011 – Holding placards with slogans such as “Kill babies with tax dollars?” and “Not from my wallet!”, around 2,000 demonstrators gathered at Queen’s Park on Saturday Oct. 22, calling on Ontario legislators to end the practice of subsidizing elective abortions. The first ever Defund Abortion Rally was organized by the Youth division of Campaign Life Coalition.
The Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) pays for 30,000 to 51,000 abortions each year, costing the health care system about $1000 for each elective procedure. 23-year old rally organizer, Alissa Golob, opened the rally by belting out a question: “Did you know that $30 - $50 million dollars per year would allow our health care system to hire an additional 200 doctors, or 400 nurses or purchase 20 MRI machines or provide urgent therapy to an additional 500 autistic children each year?”
“I’m here to represent the next generation of taxpayers... I don’t want my taxes to go towards funding the killing of innocent unborn children” said Lia Mills, guest speaker and Toronto area high school student, expressing the frustration felt by all the young people present. “Mr. McGuinty, Members of the Legislature – defund abortion now!” added Mills to enthusiastic applause.
Other guest speakers included university students and Dr. Sze Wan Sit, a staff family physician at St. Michael’s Hospital in downtown Toronto. “If abortion is done electively, it makes sense that the patient will have to pay for it, especially when there are so many other medically necessary procedures that are not funded by OHIP” said Dr. Sit, reinforcing the message.
At the rally, Campaign Life Coalition Youth kicked off a province-wide petition campaign to end taxpayer funding of abortion. The petition will be presented to MPPs in November.
About Campaign Life Coalition Youth
Campaign Life Coalition Youth is a division of Campaign Life Coalition, the national, non-profit organization involved in political action and advocacy for legal and cultural change in Canada with respect to protecting human life and the family. CLC Youth’s mission is to educate youth and to create opportunities for young people to engage in this modern-day civil rights movement.
Visit Campaign Life Coalition for more details.
Ancient Paint Workshop Challenges Human Evolutionary Story
ICR
In 2008, excavations in a South African cave uncovered two red-stained abalone shell bowls along with various tools in what was evidently a workshop where ochre and other ingredients were mixed, most likely for use as paint. Researchers examined the artifacts and have published a study in which they say the artifacts are 100,000 years old. Could they really be that ancient?
According to standard evolutionary dogma, mankind did not start evolving advanced cognitive abilities until about 70,000 years ago. Christopher Henshilwood, lead author of the study that appeared in Science, told Nature News that these artifacts "push back by 20,000 or 30,000 years" the imagined advent of "complex cognition,"1 or the time when humans finally had the brainpower to prepare and use paint.
In 2001, Donald Johanson, the famed discoverer of the fossil primate "Lucy," wrote, "The archaeological picture changed dramatically around 40-50,000 years ago with the appearance of behaviorally modern humans."2 But Henshilwood said that his date for these paint-processing materials "suggests conceptual and probably cognitive abilities which are the equivalent of modern humans" (emphasis added).1
So, did man evolve modern thought capacities 40-50,000, 70,000, or 100,000 years ago? Are any of these numbers trustworthy? Not only does the 100,000-year date assignment conflict with prior evolutionary notions, but also with the straightforward 6,000 or so years of world history recorded in the Bible.
The study authors performed three different dating techniques on the remains.3 Curiously, however, they did not carbon-date any artifacts. Some of the tools included cow, seal, and dog bones, and the abalone shells must still contain protein. All of this material should have datable carbon. Why were they not carbon-dated?
The answer probably has to do with the fact that carbon dating is unreliable for artifacts older than 60,000 or so carbon-years. If any carbon-14 was detected in these remains, then the carbon age would be no more than 60,000 years, and probably far fewer—thousands of years younger than these scientists' target date.
In their Science report, the archaeologists showed dates on a photograph of several vertical feet of cave floor layers. However, one dating method showed an age of 100,000 years for a layer that was dated at only 75,000 years by another method. And there were other inconsistencies, raising suspicion over the reliability of the age assignments.4
And there is more. They labeled the very top eight-or-so-inch-thick layer "hiatus," instead of assigning it an age like the other layers. Then they labeled the next lower layer at about 68,000 years. Why would nine feet of cave sediments accumulate over 32,000 years, then almost no sediment accumulate for 68,000 years?
The idea that man evolved his cognitive abilities has no scientific support, either. Cognitive thoughts are not traits encoded by particular genes, but immaterial traits. Thoughts interact with the material world through the sophisticated architecture of the brain, which requires thousands of precisely interacting genes. Tinkering with brains or brain-developing genes brings disaster, not improvement. Thus, brain biology shows that modern human cognition must have been purposeful and present at the beginning.
The ideas that human cognition evolved and that these cave sediments are 100,000 years old are both underpinned by evolutionary dogma, not historical or scientific research. However, these paint-making tools do show that the earliest human inhabitants of what is today South Africa possessed modern human abilities—which makes sense if they had recently descended from Noah.
Original Article with references.
In 2008, excavations in a South African cave uncovered two red-stained abalone shell bowls along with various tools in what was evidently a workshop where ochre and other ingredients were mixed, most likely for use as paint. Researchers examined the artifacts and have published a study in which they say the artifacts are 100,000 years old. Could they really be that ancient?
According to standard evolutionary dogma, mankind did not start evolving advanced cognitive abilities until about 70,000 years ago. Christopher Henshilwood, lead author of the study that appeared in Science, told Nature News that these artifacts "push back by 20,000 or 30,000 years" the imagined advent of "complex cognition,"1 or the time when humans finally had the brainpower to prepare and use paint.
In 2001, Donald Johanson, the famed discoverer of the fossil primate "Lucy," wrote, "The archaeological picture changed dramatically around 40-50,000 years ago with the appearance of behaviorally modern humans."2 But Henshilwood said that his date for these paint-processing materials "suggests conceptual and probably cognitive abilities which are the equivalent of modern humans" (emphasis added).1
So, did man evolve modern thought capacities 40-50,000, 70,000, or 100,000 years ago? Are any of these numbers trustworthy? Not only does the 100,000-year date assignment conflict with prior evolutionary notions, but also with the straightforward 6,000 or so years of world history recorded in the Bible.
The study authors performed three different dating techniques on the remains.3 Curiously, however, they did not carbon-date any artifacts. Some of the tools included cow, seal, and dog bones, and the abalone shells must still contain protein. All of this material should have datable carbon. Why were they not carbon-dated?
The answer probably has to do with the fact that carbon dating is unreliable for artifacts older than 60,000 or so carbon-years. If any carbon-14 was detected in these remains, then the carbon age would be no more than 60,000 years, and probably far fewer—thousands of years younger than these scientists' target date.
In their Science report, the archaeologists showed dates on a photograph of several vertical feet of cave floor layers. However, one dating method showed an age of 100,000 years for a layer that was dated at only 75,000 years by another method. And there were other inconsistencies, raising suspicion over the reliability of the age assignments.4
And there is more. They labeled the very top eight-or-so-inch-thick layer "hiatus," instead of assigning it an age like the other layers. Then they labeled the next lower layer at about 68,000 years. Why would nine feet of cave sediments accumulate over 32,000 years, then almost no sediment accumulate for 68,000 years?
The idea that man evolved his cognitive abilities has no scientific support, either. Cognitive thoughts are not traits encoded by particular genes, but immaterial traits. Thoughts interact with the material world through the sophisticated architecture of the brain, which requires thousands of precisely interacting genes. Tinkering with brains or brain-developing genes brings disaster, not improvement. Thus, brain biology shows that modern human cognition must have been purposeful and present at the beginning.
The ideas that human cognition evolved and that these cave sediments are 100,000 years old are both underpinned by evolutionary dogma, not historical or scientific research. However, these paint-making tools do show that the earliest human inhabitants of what is today South Africa possessed modern human abilities—which makes sense if they had recently descended from Noah.
Original Article with references.
NEVER has a TRUE Christian become an ATHEIST
Imagine this scenario in the theatre of your mind. You walk into a Walmart, shop around for a while, and then leave. A couple of days later you come across a friend and he tells you he's on his way to Walmart. You tell your friend there is no such thing as Walmart and you have a great debate on the existence of Walmart. Eventually your friend gives up and goes to Walmart anyway. What have you just done?
This is exactly what Atheists who claim to be former Christians are expecting to convince others to be true about them. They don't know that's what they are doing but alas, just as John Locke told Jack Shepherd on "LOST"... "crazy people don't admit when they're crazy".
Christianity does not have an arbitrary definition. The first six letters in the word "Christian" spell "CHRIST". A Christian is - a the very minimum - someone who believes and follows the teachings of Christ! And one of the core tenets of His teaching is this:
So then, since Jesus now dwells in the supernatural (transcendental) realm, and a Christian, according to Christ, is someone who hears His voice and follows Him, how could it ever be possible that a person who believes supernatural realities do not exist was ever a Christian? It is not possible.
So how does a person hear from Jesus? How does that work? If we're only saved when we hear and follow Him then how do we know we're hearing from Him? How do we know we're following Him? This is a huge problem for ministries like Ray Comfort's "Way of the Master". He talks people into the Kingdom. He reasons with them and convinces them they are sinners in need of a savior and by intellectual ascension they embrace Christ - intellectually. The question remains: are they REALLY saved? Ray's ministry is valuable, don't get me wrong. It is certain that many people probably are saved because of his effort. The apostle Paul was a highly skilled debater and won many converts because of this. However it should be emphasized that if a smart person can talk you into the Kingdom then someone smarter can talk you out of it. This is the overwhelming state of the vast majority of atheists today.
I can remember being in the office of a ministry colleague many years ago in Salt Lake City talking about the things of God when a young man walked right into our meeting and said he was driving along I-80 and suddenly realized, without any intellectual manipulation at all, that he needed to be saved. Jesus was speaking to this young man. He gave his life to the Lord right then and there. Twenty minutes later he was back on the road headed for California.
To know when Jesus is speaking to us we should first know when He is not. The believer must always be led, even when conversing with God, by peace. Jesus is not speaking while you are in a fit of rage, confusion, mentally disturbed, or in the flesh. He waits for you to be still - to relax - to chill out and wait for Him. He waits for you - patiently - while you go through all the motions of trying to figure it all out on your own. When you've finally stopped doing that He can, and will, speak to you. Even when we THINK we are still and quiet, we often are not. Our minds tend to go a mile a minute even in our quiet time. We think "geeeeez when will this be over so I can go out and think some more".
Picture this scene - you're a truck driver. You hear that your friend is injured in the hospital and you rush to see him. You head to the nurses station and wait for assistance. While standing there a doctor comes and stands beside you. All of a sudden everything that doctor knows is transferred to your mind. In an instant you gain the knowledge required to do what took the doctor a decade or more to learn. This is what it is like to hear from God. This scenario happens every day to millions of believers around the world who are literally hearing from Jesus. It is a form of knowledge communication. Just like the young man who was driving down the interstate, perhaps in a quiet moment of meditation, and he heard from God that salvation was his and he was led, by God, to two men who would lead him to say the words with his mouth which broke the curse of death off of his soul and voila! He was born again!
Believers do not hear the audible voice of Jesus but the voice or instructions from Jesus get downloaded to us. Have you ever bee in a church and the pastor pulls someone out of the crown and says something like "the Lord has shown me this about you" and the person breaks down and can't believe his ears? Generally it will be something the Lord does to show Himself to a person - to show that you cannot hide from Him - but it will ALWAYS be a way for the person to get free or get an answer to a secret question. I have seen this countless times. In fact this is how I was delivered from smoking.
When I was saved I smoked and couldn't quit. I tried and tried but could not. So one day I just said "Jesus when you're ready you just take it from me" and that was it. Eight years later the church I was attending had a guest speaker come up from Dallas. I came in late so I sat in the back. With my chair leaning against the wall I listened to this man and all of a sudden he interrupted himself and said "you - come up here". He was pointing to me. I went up front, stood in from of him and he said "God is taking tobacco out of your life right now". Remember that eight years prior I had said to God that when He was ready he could just "take" it! And now, eight years later, this preacher from Texas, who could not possible know what I had said all those years ago or even that I smoked for that matter (he didn't know me and we came in late) tells me God is "taking" tobacco out of my life? Astounding! I haven`t had a cigarette since. Did God mess with my mind - possibly - but whatever the means the result is that I was delivered from a 21 year addiction because a preacher from Texas knew how to hear from God, get information downloaded to him about me that God wanted him to know so that I could be free.
That is how we hear the voice of Jesus; by getting quiet before Him and recieving information He wants us to know. If a person has never heard the Voice of Jesus and yet has recieved the free gift of salvation that person should at least be striving to hear from Him - to enter into that perpetual Sabbath Rest purchased in the cross. We enter into that rest so that we can hear from Him.
This is exactly what Atheists who claim to be former Christians are expecting to convince others to be true about them. They don't know that's what they are doing but alas, just as John Locke told Jack Shepherd on "LOST"... "crazy people don't admit when they're crazy".
Christianity does not have an arbitrary definition. The first six letters in the word "Christian" spell "CHRIST". A Christian is - a the very minimum - someone who believes and follows the teachings of Christ! And one of the core tenets of His teaching is this:
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
John 10:27
So then, since Jesus now dwells in the supernatural (transcendental) realm, and a Christian, according to Christ, is someone who hears His voice and follows Him, how could it ever be possible that a person who believes supernatural realities do not exist was ever a Christian? It is not possible.
So how does a person hear from Jesus? How does that work? If we're only saved when we hear and follow Him then how do we know we're hearing from Him? How do we know we're following Him? This is a huge problem for ministries like Ray Comfort's "Way of the Master". He talks people into the Kingdom. He reasons with them and convinces them they are sinners in need of a savior and by intellectual ascension they embrace Christ - intellectually. The question remains: are they REALLY saved? Ray's ministry is valuable, don't get me wrong. It is certain that many people probably are saved because of his effort. The apostle Paul was a highly skilled debater and won many converts because of this. However it should be emphasized that if a smart person can talk you into the Kingdom then someone smarter can talk you out of it. This is the overwhelming state of the vast majority of atheists today.
I can remember being in the office of a ministry colleague many years ago in Salt Lake City talking about the things of God when a young man walked right into our meeting and said he was driving along I-80 and suddenly realized, without any intellectual manipulation at all, that he needed to be saved. Jesus was speaking to this young man. He gave his life to the Lord right then and there. Twenty minutes later he was back on the road headed for California.
To know when Jesus is speaking to us we should first know when He is not. The believer must always be led, even when conversing with God, by peace. Jesus is not speaking while you are in a fit of rage, confusion, mentally disturbed, or in the flesh. He waits for you to be still - to relax - to chill out and wait for Him. He waits for you - patiently - while you go through all the motions of trying to figure it all out on your own. When you've finally stopped doing that He can, and will, speak to you. Even when we THINK we are still and quiet, we often are not. Our minds tend to go a mile a minute even in our quiet time. We think "geeeeez when will this be over so I can go out and think some more".
Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
Proverbs 3:5
Picture this scene - you're a truck driver. You hear that your friend is injured in the hospital and you rush to see him. You head to the nurses station and wait for assistance. While standing there a doctor comes and stands beside you. All of a sudden everything that doctor knows is transferred to your mind. In an instant you gain the knowledge required to do what took the doctor a decade or more to learn. This is what it is like to hear from God. This scenario happens every day to millions of believers around the world who are literally hearing from Jesus. It is a form of knowledge communication. Just like the young man who was driving down the interstate, perhaps in a quiet moment of meditation, and he heard from God that salvation was his and he was led, by God, to two men who would lead him to say the words with his mouth which broke the curse of death off of his soul and voila! He was born again!
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Romans 10:10
Believers do not hear the audible voice of Jesus but the voice or instructions from Jesus get downloaded to us. Have you ever bee in a church and the pastor pulls someone out of the crown and says something like "the Lord has shown me this about you" and the person breaks down and can't believe his ears? Generally it will be something the Lord does to show Himself to a person - to show that you cannot hide from Him - but it will ALWAYS be a way for the person to get free or get an answer to a secret question. I have seen this countless times. In fact this is how I was delivered from smoking.
When I was saved I smoked and couldn't quit. I tried and tried but could not. So one day I just said "Jesus when you're ready you just take it from me" and that was it. Eight years later the church I was attending had a guest speaker come up from Dallas. I came in late so I sat in the back. With my chair leaning against the wall I listened to this man and all of a sudden he interrupted himself and said "you - come up here". He was pointing to me. I went up front, stood in from of him and he said "God is taking tobacco out of your life right now". Remember that eight years prior I had said to God that when He was ready he could just "take" it! And now, eight years later, this preacher from Texas, who could not possible know what I had said all those years ago or even that I smoked for that matter (he didn't know me and we came in late) tells me God is "taking" tobacco out of my life? Astounding! I haven`t had a cigarette since. Did God mess with my mind - possibly - but whatever the means the result is that I was delivered from a 21 year addiction because a preacher from Texas knew how to hear from God, get information downloaded to him about me that God wanted him to know so that I could be free.
That is how we hear the voice of Jesus; by getting quiet before Him and recieving information He wants us to know. If a person has never heard the Voice of Jesus and yet has recieved the free gift of salvation that person should at least be striving to hear from Him - to enter into that perpetual Sabbath Rest purchased in the cross. We enter into that rest so that we can hear from Him.
Hebrews 4:9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.11 ¶Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.13 Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Mercury's Surface Looks Young - evidence AGAINST deep time evolution
ICR
NASA's Messenger spacecraft mission to Mercury has given scientists the opportunity to learn more about the properties of the solar system's innermost planet. After supposedly billions of years since its formation, the planet should be dead, or geologically inactive. New data from Messenger, however, show that Mercury remains active and is still generating surface features.
Before the Messenger data acquisition, astronomers observed that the sunny side of Mercury is hot enough to melt lead, and like other rocky objects in the solar system, many craters pockmark the planet's surface. In early 2011, Messenger carefully maneuvered into orbit and took photographs with unprecedented detail.
Images of the planet's surface revealed unusual, irregularly shaped hollows or depressions with rounded edges that were comprised of material so bright that many showed "high reflectance halos." Researchers hadn't expected to find such highly reflective features, which "appear fresh and lack superposed impact craters, implying that they are relatively young," according to the report published in Science.1
The study authors evaluated several possible causes for these fresh-looking features and ultimately described the most likely explanation as outgassing of volatile material from below the planet surface.
Of course, this conclusion only prompted new questions. How did Mercury obtain volatile chemicals in the first place, especially since its proximity to the sun should have burned them all off when the planet was supposedly forming? And, assuming they somehow did form, why would any such materials stay put for billions of years? After all, they're volatile. And how, after billions of years, does the planet still have the energy to expel the volatile-containing material through the planet's crust?
But if Mercury was created, then its volatile and non-volatile constituents would have been formed on purpose. And if Mercury was created only thousands of years ago, as the Bible clearly indicates, then it could easily have plenty of residual energy.
The study authors wrote, "Mercury is a small rocky-metal world whose internal geological activity was generally thought to have ended long ago. The presence of potentially recent surface modification implies that Mercury's nonimpact geological evolution may still be ongoing."1
Mercury's active geology is the exact opposite of long-age predictions—but it is just what one would expect if Mercury is only thousands of years old.
Full article with references.
NASA's Messenger spacecraft mission to Mercury has given scientists the opportunity to learn more about the properties of the solar system's innermost planet. After supposedly billions of years since its formation, the planet should be dead, or geologically inactive. New data from Messenger, however, show that Mercury remains active and is still generating surface features.
Before the Messenger data acquisition, astronomers observed that the sunny side of Mercury is hot enough to melt lead, and like other rocky objects in the solar system, many craters pockmark the planet's surface. In early 2011, Messenger carefully maneuvered into orbit and took photographs with unprecedented detail.
Images of the planet's surface revealed unusual, irregularly shaped hollows or depressions with rounded edges that were comprised of material so bright that many showed "high reflectance halos." Researchers hadn't expected to find such highly reflective features, which "appear fresh and lack superposed impact craters, implying that they are relatively young," according to the report published in Science.1
The study authors evaluated several possible causes for these fresh-looking features and ultimately described the most likely explanation as outgassing of volatile material from below the planet surface.
Of course, this conclusion only prompted new questions. How did Mercury obtain volatile chemicals in the first place, especially since its proximity to the sun should have burned them all off when the planet was supposedly forming? And, assuming they somehow did form, why would any such materials stay put for billions of years? After all, they're volatile. And how, after billions of years, does the planet still have the energy to expel the volatile-containing material through the planet's crust?
But if Mercury was created, then its volatile and non-volatile constituents would have been formed on purpose. And if Mercury was created only thousands of years ago, as the Bible clearly indicates, then it could easily have plenty of residual energy.
The study authors wrote, "Mercury is a small rocky-metal world whose internal geological activity was generally thought to have ended long ago. The presence of potentially recent surface modification implies that Mercury's nonimpact geological evolution may still be ongoing."1
Mercury's active geology is the exact opposite of long-age predictions—but it is just what one would expect if Mercury is only thousands of years old.
Full article with references.
Friday, October 21, 2011
Could a Virus Jump-Start the First Cell?
ICR
Evolutionists have had a hard time imagining how mitochondria evolved. One theory is that these cellular powerhouses originated when bacteria invaded a primitive cell. A recent study deciphered the structure of a key mitochondrial enzyme, some features of which were described as providing "new insights" into this theory. The insights it actually provided, though, make an evolutionary origin even less likely.
A press release highlighting the enzyme discovery stated, "It is now generally accepted that mitochondria evolved from free-living bacteria that were engulfed by the progenitor of today's animal cells at an early stage in evolution."1
However, evolving mitochondria are not possible. These tiny cellular machines produce energy for the cell through clockwork-like machinery and interdependent networking. The cells would have died while waiting for just the right changes to retrofit a bacterium into an effective mitochondrion.2 Plus, retrofitting would have required an engineer, which naturalists are dogmatically unwilling to consider.
The newly described mitochondrial enzyme, an RNA polymerase, forms RNA molecules by reading and matching corresponding DNA sequences. This enzyme shared some features with the RNA polymerase found in certain viruses.
Because of these shared features, some scientists now suggest that right at the time when the cell supposedly engulfed its would-be mitochondrion bacterium, a virus attacked the cells. However, instead of causing any damage, the virus supposedly donated the DNA code for its RNA polymerase enzyme!
It was difficult enough to believe, without any observational precedent, that one bacterium could engulf another without killing it, that the engulfed bacterium would then immediately become an integral part of the host cell, and that nature somehow retrofitted the bacterium into a mitochondrion. But now readers are asked to believe—again with no observational support—that a virus donated the gene for an enzyme that was also immediately adopted by the imaginary cell-within-a-cell.
But that's not all. The gene was precisely and rapidly modified, all at the same time. What are the odds of that?
The researchers, publishing in Nature, explored the structural differences between the viral RNA polymerase and the human mitochondrial RNA polymerase enzymes. They found that the mitochondrial RNA polymerase required at least two additional proteins to "melt" DNA so that it could read the sequence. Apparently, the presence or absence of these partner proteins enables "mitochondrial gene regulation and the adaptation of mitochondrial function to changes in the environment."3
Though the study authors mentioned these concepts in their paper's abstract, they didn't explore them in the rest of their report. However, it is apparent that the mitochondrial RNA polymerase's methods of interacting with DNA are fine-tuned to the microscopic world of the cell's mitochondria, not to that of viruses. Insisting that such a fine-tuned machine arose by a chance viral infection and that the viral machine just happened to modify and integrate so perfectly as to activate mitochondrial machinery is too much to ask of nature.
But of course, fine-tuning molecules that enable life is not too much to ask a super-intelligent Being to accomplish. Indications are clearer than ever that God purposefully engineered the machinery of life.
Original article with references.
Evolutionists have had a hard time imagining how mitochondria evolved. One theory is that these cellular powerhouses originated when bacteria invaded a primitive cell. A recent study deciphered the structure of a key mitochondrial enzyme, some features of which were described as providing "new insights" into this theory. The insights it actually provided, though, make an evolutionary origin even less likely.
A press release highlighting the enzyme discovery stated, "It is now generally accepted that mitochondria evolved from free-living bacteria that were engulfed by the progenitor of today's animal cells at an early stage in evolution."1
However, evolving mitochondria are not possible. These tiny cellular machines produce energy for the cell through clockwork-like machinery and interdependent networking. The cells would have died while waiting for just the right changes to retrofit a bacterium into an effective mitochondrion.2 Plus, retrofitting would have required an engineer, which naturalists are dogmatically unwilling to consider.
The newly described mitochondrial enzyme, an RNA polymerase, forms RNA molecules by reading and matching corresponding DNA sequences. This enzyme shared some features with the RNA polymerase found in certain viruses.
Because of these shared features, some scientists now suggest that right at the time when the cell supposedly engulfed its would-be mitochondrion bacterium, a virus attacked the cells. However, instead of causing any damage, the virus supposedly donated the DNA code for its RNA polymerase enzyme!
It was difficult enough to believe, without any observational precedent, that one bacterium could engulf another without killing it, that the engulfed bacterium would then immediately become an integral part of the host cell, and that nature somehow retrofitted the bacterium into a mitochondrion. But now readers are asked to believe—again with no observational support—that a virus donated the gene for an enzyme that was also immediately adopted by the imaginary cell-within-a-cell.
But that's not all. The gene was precisely and rapidly modified, all at the same time. What are the odds of that?
The researchers, publishing in Nature, explored the structural differences between the viral RNA polymerase and the human mitochondrial RNA polymerase enzymes. They found that the mitochondrial RNA polymerase required at least two additional proteins to "melt" DNA so that it could read the sequence. Apparently, the presence or absence of these partner proteins enables "mitochondrial gene regulation and the adaptation of mitochondrial function to changes in the environment."3
Though the study authors mentioned these concepts in their paper's abstract, they didn't explore them in the rest of their report. However, it is apparent that the mitochondrial RNA polymerase's methods of interacting with DNA are fine-tuned to the microscopic world of the cell's mitochondria, not to that of viruses. Insisting that such a fine-tuned machine arose by a chance viral infection and that the viral machine just happened to modify and integrate so perfectly as to activate mitochondrial machinery is too much to ask of nature.
But of course, fine-tuning molecules that enable life is not too much to ask a super-intelligent Being to accomplish. Indications are clearer than ever that God purposefully engineered the machinery of life.
Original article with references.
Herman Cain supports UNREGULATED abortion in US!
REAL CLEAR POLITICS
Herman Cain expresses his personal views on abortion, but says his opinion is not a "directive on the nation." - "The government shouldn't be telling people what to do, especially when it comes to social decisions that they need to make," Cain said."I respect their right to make that choice. I don't have to agree with it."
So essentially Herman Cain, a so-called "conservative" has decided that people should be permitted, without government intervention, to murder their babies. This is absolute insanity. To suggest that government has no say in the preservation of life at all suggests that women have complete say-so on when their unborn baby gets killed and how often that should happen. When did the "right to life" section of the American dream get erased from the American conscience? When did unregulated abortion become a conservative platform? When will Herman Cain be denounced as a conservative?
See original article with video here.
Canada has unregulated abortion. In that country they abort 30% of their conceived population every year as a result. Additionally Canada discovers 500 new cases of breast cancer every week. The link between breast cancer and abortion is known.
Herman Cain expresses his personal views on abortion, but says his opinion is not a "directive on the nation." - "The government shouldn't be telling people what to do, especially when it comes to social decisions that they need to make," Cain said."I respect their right to make that choice. I don't have to agree with it."
So essentially Herman Cain, a so-called "conservative" has decided that people should be permitted, without government intervention, to murder their babies. This is absolute insanity. To suggest that government has no say in the preservation of life at all suggests that women have complete say-so on when their unborn baby gets killed and how often that should happen. When did the "right to life" section of the American dream get erased from the American conscience? When did unregulated abortion become a conservative platform? When will Herman Cain be denounced as a conservative?
See original article with video here.
Canada has unregulated abortion. In that country they abort 30% of their conceived population every year as a result. Additionally Canada discovers 500 new cases of breast cancer every week. The link between breast cancer and abortion is known.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Did Dragonflies Really Predate Dinosaurs?
ICR
No flying machine or other creature has the aerial dexterity of dragonflies. They can fly upside-down and backward as easily as straight ahead. And they move so fast that researchers have to use high-speed cameras to study them.
A recent report asserted that dragonflies achieved their flying skills because they have had millions of years to perfect and hone them. But is this scientifically grounded, or just a flight of fancy?
Harvard University biomechanist Stacey Combes and her team studied the way dragonfly flight operates. In a video posted by Science Nation, an online magazine funded by the National Science Foundation, one dragonfly with half of its right wing removed successfully caught a fruit fly in flight. No man-made aircraft of any kind can fly with the same kind of extensive wing damage.
However, when it came to explaining dragonfly origins, the report said:
Dragonflies have had a long time to evolve their skills as predators. They have been on the planet for about 300 hundred [sic] million years and predate dinosaurs. They can fly straight up, straight down, hover like helicopters and disappear in a blur.1
But does any scientific observation show that these kinds of predatory skills evolve? Does any experiment demonstrate that the addition of more evolutionary time yields better flying (or other equally challenging) structures in animals? And does credible evidence substantiate the "300 million years" claim?
It is true that dragonfly fossils are found in sedimentary rock layers below those containing dinosaurs. However, if most fossils were deposited in just one year by the worldwide Flood of Noah, then the geologic "periods" are not separated by millions of years. Instead, they represent different biomes.2 In other words, some swamp-dwelling dragonfly habitats were inundated prior to the more terrestrial habitats that contained the dinosaurs, conifers, birds, and mammals that are found together as fossils. But since they show catastrophe and are broad in extent, both the rock layers containing dragonfly fossils and those with dinosaurs appear to have been deposited as phases within the overall Flood year.
In addition, researchers can test the idea that dragonflies evolved their flying skills. Dragonflies were catastrophically buried in mud—which evidently flowed faster than the insects could fly—that later turned to stone. If the dragonfly fossils show partially evolved features, then that would support the claim that they might have evolved. But their fossils don't. Instead, ancient dragonflies are identical in core construction to modern ones. That, of course, supports the idea that they were created perfectly equipped for flight from the beginning.
In fact, the biggest difference between modern and fossil dragonflies is that many of the fossilized ones were several times larger, some having wingspans of over three feet! If anything, dragonflies have "devolved," not evolved.
So, there is no fossil evidence whatsoever that dragonfly flight evolved. In fact, since fossilized and living dragonflies share the same structure, they show no sign either of millions of years or of evolution. This is because, like man-made flying machines, dragonflies were also recently and purposely designed.
See original article for references.
No flying machine or other creature has the aerial dexterity of dragonflies. They can fly upside-down and backward as easily as straight ahead. And they move so fast that researchers have to use high-speed cameras to study them.
A recent report asserted that dragonflies achieved their flying skills because they have had millions of years to perfect and hone them. But is this scientifically grounded, or just a flight of fancy?
Harvard University biomechanist Stacey Combes and her team studied the way dragonfly flight operates. In a video posted by Science Nation, an online magazine funded by the National Science Foundation, one dragonfly with half of its right wing removed successfully caught a fruit fly in flight. No man-made aircraft of any kind can fly with the same kind of extensive wing damage.
However, when it came to explaining dragonfly origins, the report said:
Dragonflies have had a long time to evolve their skills as predators. They have been on the planet for about 300 hundred [sic] million years and predate dinosaurs. They can fly straight up, straight down, hover like helicopters and disappear in a blur.1
But does any scientific observation show that these kinds of predatory skills evolve? Does any experiment demonstrate that the addition of more evolutionary time yields better flying (or other equally challenging) structures in animals? And does credible evidence substantiate the "300 million years" claim?
It is true that dragonfly fossils are found in sedimentary rock layers below those containing dinosaurs. However, if most fossils were deposited in just one year by the worldwide Flood of Noah, then the geologic "periods" are not separated by millions of years. Instead, they represent different biomes.2 In other words, some swamp-dwelling dragonfly habitats were inundated prior to the more terrestrial habitats that contained the dinosaurs, conifers, birds, and mammals that are found together as fossils. But since they show catastrophe and are broad in extent, both the rock layers containing dragonfly fossils and those with dinosaurs appear to have been deposited as phases within the overall Flood year.
In addition, researchers can test the idea that dragonflies evolved their flying skills. Dragonflies were catastrophically buried in mud—which evidently flowed faster than the insects could fly—that later turned to stone. If the dragonfly fossils show partially evolved features, then that would support the claim that they might have evolved. But their fossils don't. Instead, ancient dragonflies are identical in core construction to modern ones. That, of course, supports the idea that they were created perfectly equipped for flight from the beginning.
In fact, the biggest difference between modern and fossil dragonflies is that many of the fossilized ones were several times larger, some having wingspans of over three feet! If anything, dragonflies have "devolved," not evolved.
So, there is no fossil evidence whatsoever that dragonfly flight evolved. In fact, since fossilized and living dragonflies share the same structure, they show no sign either of millions of years or of evolution. This is because, like man-made flying machines, dragonflies were also recently and purposely designed.
See original article for references.
"Terra Nova" Overtly Slams Christianity
There's a new show on television called "Terra Nova" which seems to be attempting to capitalize on the enormous popularity of "Lost". A group of people in a jungle atmosphere with a central cast consisting of a doctor, a cop, a leader, and, yes, their own version of the "others". Terra Nova looks rather amateurish and, well, silly.
But it also, quite openly, appears to be attacking Christian beliefs and especially creationism. The opening scene indicates that science is humanity's "only hope". The show's script constantly vomits up all the evolution talking points with the entire premise being an attack on YEC (young earth creationism). So then the plot is based entirely on the presupposition of atheism's creation story - evolution.
To make matters even more obvious, the "others" (perceived bad guys) are called... wait for it... "The Sixers". And what do creationists believe?
Terra Nova will probably not last long. It reminds one of the original Star Trek show where, if you looked hard enough, you could actually see the wires holding up the space ships. And even if they improve on the quality, they still have to contend with the impossible task of turning deep time evolutionary mythology into a believable plot while openly attacking the truth of Christianity with less than stellar acting. Since this will fail in the US market, well, so long Terra Nova.
But it also, quite openly, appears to be attacking Christian beliefs and especially creationism. The opening scene indicates that science is humanity's "only hope". The show's script constantly vomits up all the evolution talking points with the entire premise being an attack on YEC (young earth creationism). So then the plot is based entirely on the presupposition of atheism's creation story - evolution.
To make matters even more obvious, the "others" (perceived bad guys) are called... wait for it... "The Sixers". And what do creationists believe?
For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Exodus 20:11
Terra Nova will probably not last long. It reminds one of the original Star Trek show where, if you looked hard enough, you could actually see the wires holding up the space ships. And even if they improve on the quality, they still have to contend with the impossible task of turning deep time evolutionary mythology into a believable plot while openly attacking the truth of Christianity with less than stellar acting. Since this will fail in the US market, well, so long Terra Nova.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Canada Spending BILLIONS - Getting Ready for WAR
CBC NEWS
Halifax's Irving Shipbuilding is getting the $25-billion contract to build 21 Canadian combat ships and Vancouver's Seaspan Marine has been awarded an $8-billion contract for seven non-combat vessels, the federal government announced Wednesday afternoon.
FULL STORY HERE
Halifax's Irving Shipbuilding is getting the $25-billion contract to build 21 Canadian combat ships and Vancouver's Seaspan Marine has been awarded an $8-billion contract for seven non-combat vessels, the federal government announced Wednesday afternoon.
FULL STORY HERE
Scientists Don't Know How Universe Works, Started
Institute for Creation Research
Perhaps no realm of inquiry is as fraught with fantastic speculation as the origin of the universe. Theories of how it could have come about naturally have regularly been proposed and discarded as new evidence surfaces. Ongoing studies seem to have merely widened the gap in understanding how it began—or even how it currently works.
For example, astronomers have observed that the earth has hundreds of parameters fine-tuned for life. This "anthropic principle" most reasonably implies that a wise Creator deliberately created them for this purpose. In order to avoid this inference, so-called string theorists invoked the idea of a "multiverse." They speculated that an infinite number of universes exists, one of which contains the life-friendly earth.1 However, real science shows only this one universe.2
Some researchers have attempted to explain that life—the evolution of which would directly oppose the laws of nature—came about through various scenarios that would be right at home in the realm of science fiction. One researcher, in true comic book fashion, entertained the idea that heavy radiation bombardment on a distant planet jumpstarted life.3 But science clearly shows that radiation kills!
And life is not the only thing that researchers have a hard time explaining from a naturalistic perspective. Even fundamental aspects of the universe are very difficult to explain—such as why electrons don't collapse down into their atomic nuclei, and why or how electrons apparently inhabit discrete energy levels inside atoms. Thus, researchers use the phrase "quantum mechanics" in place of a realistic and transferrable explanation for these mysterious observations. University of Minnesota physics professor James Kakalios told Scientific American recently that quantum mechanics "has weird ideas and it can be confusing."4 But if it is so confusing that physicists can't explain it to non-physicists, then do they truly understand it themselves?
Gravity is also supposedly another fundamental property of the universe, but there is no consensus on why or how it works, or how it might relate to quantum physics. One researcher proposed the idea that gravity is not an independent force, but is an after-effect of the standard laws of thermodynamics.5 His ideas have not yet been worked into standard physics texts, and they may never get that far, which shows that considerable doubt and debate reign over the nature of even something as basic a force as gravity.
Adding to the mix of unexplained phenomena, a team of physicists announced on September 23, 2011, that neutrinos, which have mass, were observed moving faster than light, which has no mass while in transit.6 But models of the structure and age of the universe depend on the idea that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light! Most cosmologies will have to be totally re-tooled if the speed of light is not a constant, but a variable.
And now, three astronomers have been awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for showing that the universe's expansion is accelerating—the cause of which is a total mystery.7 And like all the other mysteries, the proposed solution to this one has received a nifty name: "dark energy." Dark energy supposedly pulls galaxies apart, despite their gravitational attraction. However, "dark energy is the biggest mystery in science," according to Meg Urry, Director of the Yale Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics.8
If naturalistic scientific models don't even accurately describe how basic features of the universe such as atoms, gravity, neutrinos, or light work in the present, why rely on similarly structured models that purport to explain the beginnings of the universe? Even in this age of scientific advancement, the best information about the distant past comes not from physics, but from the eyewitness accounts of those present in the beginning, as recorded in God's Word.
Visit ICR for full article with references.
Perhaps no realm of inquiry is as fraught with fantastic speculation as the origin of the universe. Theories of how it could have come about naturally have regularly been proposed and discarded as new evidence surfaces. Ongoing studies seem to have merely widened the gap in understanding how it began—or even how it currently works.
For example, astronomers have observed that the earth has hundreds of parameters fine-tuned for life. This "anthropic principle" most reasonably implies that a wise Creator deliberately created them for this purpose. In order to avoid this inference, so-called string theorists invoked the idea of a "multiverse." They speculated that an infinite number of universes exists, one of which contains the life-friendly earth.1 However, real science shows only this one universe.2
Some researchers have attempted to explain that life—the evolution of which would directly oppose the laws of nature—came about through various scenarios that would be right at home in the realm of science fiction. One researcher, in true comic book fashion, entertained the idea that heavy radiation bombardment on a distant planet jumpstarted life.3 But science clearly shows that radiation kills!
And life is not the only thing that researchers have a hard time explaining from a naturalistic perspective. Even fundamental aspects of the universe are very difficult to explain—such as why electrons don't collapse down into their atomic nuclei, and why or how electrons apparently inhabit discrete energy levels inside atoms. Thus, researchers use the phrase "quantum mechanics" in place of a realistic and transferrable explanation for these mysterious observations. University of Minnesota physics professor James Kakalios told Scientific American recently that quantum mechanics "has weird ideas and it can be confusing."4 But if it is so confusing that physicists can't explain it to non-physicists, then do they truly understand it themselves?
Gravity is also supposedly another fundamental property of the universe, but there is no consensus on why or how it works, or how it might relate to quantum physics. One researcher proposed the idea that gravity is not an independent force, but is an after-effect of the standard laws of thermodynamics.5 His ideas have not yet been worked into standard physics texts, and they may never get that far, which shows that considerable doubt and debate reign over the nature of even something as basic a force as gravity.
Adding to the mix of unexplained phenomena, a team of physicists announced on September 23, 2011, that neutrinos, which have mass, were observed moving faster than light, which has no mass while in transit.6 But models of the structure and age of the universe depend on the idea that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light! Most cosmologies will have to be totally re-tooled if the speed of light is not a constant, but a variable.
And now, three astronomers have been awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for showing that the universe's expansion is accelerating—the cause of which is a total mystery.7 And like all the other mysteries, the proposed solution to this one has received a nifty name: "dark energy." Dark energy supposedly pulls galaxies apart, despite their gravitational attraction. However, "dark energy is the biggest mystery in science," according to Meg Urry, Director of the Yale Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics.8
If naturalistic scientific models don't even accurately describe how basic features of the universe such as atoms, gravity, neutrinos, or light work in the present, why rely on similarly structured models that purport to explain the beginnings of the universe? Even in this age of scientific advancement, the best information about the distant past comes not from physics, but from the eyewitness accounts of those present in the beginning, as recorded in God's Word.
Visit ICR for full article with references.
Obama Channeling "Seventh Sense" with Reverse Speech
"Inside of us exists a powerful voice of truth. Now you can clearly access it with reverse speech". Those are the words which greet the person who visits the website of reverse speech analyst David John Oates.
In Feb 2009 PPSIMMONS documented a reverse speech catch when Barack Obama accepted the nomination by the Democrat Party in 2008. When we reversed the words "let me express" we heard something quite eerie and more than a little creepy. Reverse speech specialist David John Oates says "reverse speech is the world’s leading technology to give insight into the unconscious mind". See for yourself what we gleened from Obama's unconscious mind.
In that video we documented the then candidate Barack Obama's unconscious mind telling Americans to "Serve Satan". It had more to do with the WAY he was speaking which caused the reverse to sound the way it did. Many people could have said the exact same thing and not even come close to sounding like "serve Satan" but remember we are talking about the unconscious mind here - a manipulation of the forward speech to produce a reverse effect.
Recently we got out our reverse speech app on our i-pod and reversed Obama's version of his 2008 motto "Yes We Can". We spoke it the exact same way he did with the same voice fluctuations as best we could. Here was the result.
Of course you guys will have to be the judges on this issue. Clearly, however, if reverse speech has any credibility at all Obama's unconscious mind has been worshiping the lord of darkness and calling on others to do so as well. Add to that the mountains of evidence in favor of Obama being the prophesied End Time "Antichrist" and you've got yourself a case - a case that the end time is not coming... the end time is now.
In Feb 2009 PPSIMMONS documented a reverse speech catch when Barack Obama accepted the nomination by the Democrat Party in 2008. When we reversed the words "let me express" we heard something quite eerie and more than a little creepy. Reverse speech specialist David John Oates says "reverse speech is the world’s leading technology to give insight into the unconscious mind". See for yourself what we gleened from Obama's unconscious mind.
In that video we documented the then candidate Barack Obama's unconscious mind telling Americans to "Serve Satan". It had more to do with the WAY he was speaking which caused the reverse to sound the way it did. Many people could have said the exact same thing and not even come close to sounding like "serve Satan" but remember we are talking about the unconscious mind here - a manipulation of the forward speech to produce a reverse effect.
Recently we got out our reverse speech app on our i-pod and reversed Obama's version of his 2008 motto "Yes We Can". We spoke it the exact same way he did with the same voice fluctuations as best we could. Here was the result.
Of course you guys will have to be the judges on this issue. Clearly, however, if reverse speech has any credibility at all Obama's unconscious mind has been worshiping the lord of darkness and calling on others to do so as well. Add to that the mountains of evidence in favor of Obama being the prophesied End Time "Antichrist" and you've got yourself a case - a case that the end time is not coming... the end time is now.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Mythical Planet Doesn't Solve Orbit Origins
INSTITUTE FOR CREATION RESEARCH
It has always been impossibly difficult for astronomers to realistically explain how galaxies, stars, and planets might have formed through natural processes. To prop up their naturalistic theories, they will sometimes invent unobserved structures, such as the Oort cloud for comets.1
More recently, astronomers conjured an unknown massive planet that was supposedly responsible for placing Uranus and Neptune in their unique paths around the sun. However, the fictional planet is still a woefully insufficient cause for today's planetary orbits.
The extra planet was proposed because cosmologists have had a miserable time trying to model the evolution of the solar system's four gas giant planets from a huge, unorganized dust disc.2 The recent modeling effort, partly funded by the National Science Foundation, defined a "successful" attempt very loosely.
First, the outcome had to result in four giant planets that correspond to the four outer gaseous planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. So far, that makes sense.
But second, the four planets in the model only needed to have orbits that merely resembled, rather than exactly matching, those of the real planets. And the study's resemblance tolerances were broad. For example, the researchers only required the semimajor axis [the longest radius of an orbit] of each resulting planet to be "within 20% to its present value."3
Third, since they had such poor luck achieving Jupiter's current amplitude, the scientists settled for "at least half of its current value." The study's author wrote, "The overall success rate for the criterion C [achieving the correct amplitude] was disappointingly low," even with that extra fifth fictional planet added to the simulations.3
The fourth condition specified the orbital periods of Jupiter and Saturn. However, the formation of these was difficult, if not impossible, to model. "This condition may therefore require planetary encounters, but is more subtle in that not all simulations with Jupiter encounters are good," according to the technical report.3 The researchers imagined that the fifth planet had encountered and displaced Saturn and Jupiter into their present orbits.
The proposed fifth planet was declared "promising," but the study author never clearly asserted that it provided a solution for all four criteria—or even one of them. And even if it did, the defined criteria were not up to the standards of the solar system's true structure, which just "happen" to be perfect for life on earth.4 (For example, the outer gas giant planets act as massive gravity-acting "vacuum cleaners" that scour much incoming debris from outer space before it penetrates deeper into the part of the solar system where earth resides.)
Since no combination of natural factors, even with the addition of imaginary planets, can result in the known solar system, it must have been created by intent and not accident. If anything, this solar system simulation perhaps unwittingly confirms the Genesis account of creation, in which God purposely made the "lights in the firmament of the heaven" on Day 3 of the creation week.
See here for original article plus references.
It has always been impossibly difficult for astronomers to realistically explain how galaxies, stars, and planets might have formed through natural processes. To prop up their naturalistic theories, they will sometimes invent unobserved structures, such as the Oort cloud for comets.1
More recently, astronomers conjured an unknown massive planet that was supposedly responsible for placing Uranus and Neptune in their unique paths around the sun. However, the fictional planet is still a woefully insufficient cause for today's planetary orbits.
The extra planet was proposed because cosmologists have had a miserable time trying to model the evolution of the solar system's four gas giant planets from a huge, unorganized dust disc.2 The recent modeling effort, partly funded by the National Science Foundation, defined a "successful" attempt very loosely.
First, the outcome had to result in four giant planets that correspond to the four outer gaseous planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. So far, that makes sense.
But second, the four planets in the model only needed to have orbits that merely resembled, rather than exactly matching, those of the real planets. And the study's resemblance tolerances were broad. For example, the researchers only required the semimajor axis [the longest radius of an orbit] of each resulting planet to be "within 20% to its present value."3
Third, since they had such poor luck achieving Jupiter's current amplitude, the scientists settled for "at least half of its current value." The study's author wrote, "The overall success rate for the criterion C [achieving the correct amplitude] was disappointingly low," even with that extra fifth fictional planet added to the simulations.3
The fourth condition specified the orbital periods of Jupiter and Saturn. However, the formation of these was difficult, if not impossible, to model. "This condition may therefore require planetary encounters, but is more subtle in that not all simulations with Jupiter encounters are good," according to the technical report.3 The researchers imagined that the fifth planet had encountered and displaced Saturn and Jupiter into their present orbits.
The proposed fifth planet was declared "promising," but the study author never clearly asserted that it provided a solution for all four criteria—or even one of them. And even if it did, the defined criteria were not up to the standards of the solar system's true structure, which just "happen" to be perfect for life on earth.4 (For example, the outer gas giant planets act as massive gravity-acting "vacuum cleaners" that scour much incoming debris from outer space before it penetrates deeper into the part of the solar system where earth resides.)
Since no combination of natural factors, even with the addition of imaginary planets, can result in the known solar system, it must have been created by intent and not accident. If anything, this solar system simulation perhaps unwittingly confirms the Genesis account of creation, in which God purposely made the "lights in the firmament of the heaven" on Day 3 of the creation week.
See here for original article plus references.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Scientists Discover New Clue to Geckos' Climbing Ability
INSTITUTE FOR CREATION RESEARCH
Geckos can run just as easily along a wall or ceiling as they can across a floor. This is due to special pads on their toes, which can even grip glass. No man-made adhesive technology comes even close to functioning as well as gecko feet. And after years of research, the last missing puzzle piece to gecko foot design has apparently been found.
Even though gecko toe pads adhere strongly to almost any surface, they can peel off of those surfaces quickly. That's because the pads have tiny hair-like projections made from the tough protein keratin that can only be seen at incredibly strong magnification. If the geckos' feet and tiny keratin fibers got dirty, that sticky interaction wouldn't work, making them instantly vulnerable to predators.
In an effort to find out how geckos keep their feet clean, researchers based at the University of Akron (UA) found that phospholipids, which are special kinds of thin oils, are manufactured and excreted to keep the keratin hairs clean and serve as the temporary contact adhesive between geckos' toes and the surface on which they're walking.
In a study published in Journal of the Royal Society Interface, the team discovered the phospholipids using a technique called "surface-sensitive spectroscopy," finding the substance as a residue in "the near-invisible gecko footprints." Before this, phospholipids had not been considered in understanding the self-cleaning and fluid-like ability of gecko feet to adhere and release, according to a UA news release.1 The researchers called the nature of the phospholipids "superhydrophobicity," which means extremely water-repellent.
An article featured in Nature reported that a separate research group "mimicked pitcher-plant surfaces by making a sponge-like material and filling it with a lubricating liquid to create slippery liquid-infused porous surfaces (SLIPS)."2 The pitcher plant also uses a superhydrophobic lubricant to trap insects that slip on the plant's surface and fall into its "pitcher."
The senior author in the gecko study noted that "the lipids in gecko footprints have significant implications for scientists working to design synthetic adhesives,"1 while the Nature author wrote that the pitcher plant findings "will probably also lead to the development of new materials for many applications — in biomedical devices, for example, or as coatings to prevent the icing or fouling of surfaces." Researchers hope to mimic the substance qualities of their test subjects, but "making superhydrophobic surfaces is a challenge."2
As remarkable as its phospholipids are, a gecko requires much more than that to get around the way it does. Gecko locomotion is an all-or-nothing system. For example, these lizards need curved toe pads. If their toes were flat, the entire surfaces of their feet would adhere, and the geckos would not be able to lift their legs. But because of the curved shape, only a portion of the footpad contacts the substrate at any one time. By rolling their toes, geckos can quickly and repeatedly remove and replace their feet as they walk or run.
This requires integrated neuromuscular coordination, as well as peculiarities in skeletal arrangement. Without coordination, curved footpads, keratin hairs, and the newly discovered phospholipids all working together at the same time, geckos would become easy prey as they vainly stumbled about in an imaginary evolutionary past.
The only possible means to achieve such all-or-nothing systems is through intentional creation. And although producing the remarkable "superhydrophobicity" found in the gecko and pitcher plant is clearly a challenge for intelligent people, and impossible for unintelligent nature, it is no problem for an all-wise Creator.
See here for original article with references.
Geckos can run just as easily along a wall or ceiling as they can across a floor. This is due to special pads on their toes, which can even grip glass. No man-made adhesive technology comes even close to functioning as well as gecko feet. And after years of research, the last missing puzzle piece to gecko foot design has apparently been found.
Even though gecko toe pads adhere strongly to almost any surface, they can peel off of those surfaces quickly. That's because the pads have tiny hair-like projections made from the tough protein keratin that can only be seen at incredibly strong magnification. If the geckos' feet and tiny keratin fibers got dirty, that sticky interaction wouldn't work, making them instantly vulnerable to predators.
In an effort to find out how geckos keep their feet clean, researchers based at the University of Akron (UA) found that phospholipids, which are special kinds of thin oils, are manufactured and excreted to keep the keratin hairs clean and serve as the temporary contact adhesive between geckos' toes and the surface on which they're walking.
In a study published in Journal of the Royal Society Interface, the team discovered the phospholipids using a technique called "surface-sensitive spectroscopy," finding the substance as a residue in "the near-invisible gecko footprints." Before this, phospholipids had not been considered in understanding the self-cleaning and fluid-like ability of gecko feet to adhere and release, according to a UA news release.1 The researchers called the nature of the phospholipids "superhydrophobicity," which means extremely water-repellent.
An article featured in Nature reported that a separate research group "mimicked pitcher-plant surfaces by making a sponge-like material and filling it with a lubricating liquid to create slippery liquid-infused porous surfaces (SLIPS)."2 The pitcher plant also uses a superhydrophobic lubricant to trap insects that slip on the plant's surface and fall into its "pitcher."
The senior author in the gecko study noted that "the lipids in gecko footprints have significant implications for scientists working to design synthetic adhesives,"1 while the Nature author wrote that the pitcher plant findings "will probably also lead to the development of new materials for many applications — in biomedical devices, for example, or as coatings to prevent the icing or fouling of surfaces." Researchers hope to mimic the substance qualities of their test subjects, but "making superhydrophobic surfaces is a challenge."2
As remarkable as its phospholipids are, a gecko requires much more than that to get around the way it does. Gecko locomotion is an all-or-nothing system. For example, these lizards need curved toe pads. If their toes were flat, the entire surfaces of their feet would adhere, and the geckos would not be able to lift their legs. But because of the curved shape, only a portion of the footpad contacts the substrate at any one time. By rolling their toes, geckos can quickly and repeatedly remove and replace their feet as they walk or run.
This requires integrated neuromuscular coordination, as well as peculiarities in skeletal arrangement. Without coordination, curved footpads, keratin hairs, and the newly discovered phospholipids all working together at the same time, geckos would become easy prey as they vainly stumbled about in an imaginary evolutionary past.
The only possible means to achieve such all-or-nothing systems is through intentional creation. And although producing the remarkable "superhydrophobicity" found in the gecko and pitcher plant is clearly a challenge for intelligent people, and impossible for unintelligent nature, it is no problem for an all-wise Creator.
See here for original article with references.
Harold Camping FULFILLING Ancient Bible Prophecy
Well he's at it again - Harold Camping of Family Radio fame is predicting the end of the world... again. It's not actually a new prophecy but a continuation of his previous failed one - it's the end of the world... round three.
His 2011 end times prediction was that on May 21, 2011 Jesus Christ would return to Earth, the righteous would fly up to heaven, and that there would follow five months of fire, brimstone and plagues on Earth, with millions of people dying each day, culminating on October 21, 2011 with the end of the world.
After May 21 passed without the predicted incidents, Camping said he believed that a "spiritual" judgment had occurred on that date, and that the physical Rapture would occur on October 21, 2011, simultaneously with the destruction of the universe by God. Camping has recently confirmed his belief that the end will come on Oct 21.
His 2011 end times prediction was that on May 21, 2011 Jesus Christ would return to Earth, the righteous would fly up to heaven, and that there would follow five months of fire, brimstone and plagues on Earth, with millions of people dying each day, culminating on October 21, 2011 with the end of the world.
After May 21 passed without the predicted incidents, Camping said he believed that a "spiritual" judgment had occurred on that date, and that the physical Rapture would occur on October 21, 2011, simultaneously with the destruction of the universe by God. Camping has recently confirmed his belief that the end will come on Oct 21.
For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew
great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive
the very elect.
Matthew 24:24
Harold Camping - whether willingly or not - is actually fulfilling End Time prophecy. Jesus himself said that in the time of the "End" so-called "false prophets" would arise. A false prophet is simply a person who prophesies a future event and that event fails to come true. So in the context of End Time prophecy we should - and can - expect him to do this. And not only him but others will also come and do likewise. Jesus said "false prophets" - plural.
There have been many of these End Time/end of the world predictions and predictors over the centuries. Calculations abound as people try to figure it all out - for whatever personal reasons they may have. They seem to be completely ignoring, however, the words of Jesus himself who said -
Mark 13:30 Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done.31 Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.32 But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.33 Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.34 For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch.35 Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning:36 Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.37 And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.
Harold Camping was wrong on his 1994 prediction of the end of the world. He was wrong on his May 21 2011 prediction and he will be wrong on his Oct 21 2011 prediction. Round three will be strike three for Camping. However we are witnessing the time of the End as prophesied by the Bible in stunning detail. We have documented evidence that the seventh seal is open and the six trumpets contained in the seventh seal are blowing today! Just as Jesus said to "Watch" so we are - and we are witnesses to the End Time unfolding before our very eyes. The End Time is not coming... the End Time is now... and Harold Camping is simply further evidence of this sobering fact.
Friday, October 14, 2011
Genesis Flood Insights More Relevant Today than Ever
INSTITUTE FOR CREATION RESEARCH
Scientific observations made in the seminal book The Genesis Flood are even more scientifically valid today than when they were first written. Although subsequent research has shown a few to be inaccurate, most of the perspectives that were laid out by John Whitcomb and Henry Morris in their 1961 publication have been verified beyond reasonable doubt by ongoing observations.
This is amazing, considering how geologic interpretation has changed since the 1950s. For example, plate tectonics has become a core model and catastrophic floods are now invoked to explain most sedimentary rock. Below are some Genesis Flood insights that science has clearly validated.
Catastrophic Sedimentary Deposits
Drs. Whitcomb and Morris noted agreement between some basic implications of a world-destroying Flood and large-scale observations from the earth’s surface. For example, since “almost all of the sedimentary rocks of the earth…have been laid down by moving waters,” it is legitimate to consider flooding as the primary cause.1
The bulk of mountains and continents are comprised of sedimentary mudstones of some type. When The Genesis Flood was written, mainstream geologists believed that certain mudstones could only form by slow accumulation of sediments in the bottom of calm, shallow water bodies. But in 1980, layered mudstones resulted from the Mount St. Helens volcanic eruption. Then in 2009, a paper in Science caught up with Whitcomb and Morris, saying, “Mudstones can be deposited under more energetic conditions than widely assumed, requiring a reappraisal of many geologic records.”2
Rapid Mountain Uplift
The Genesis Flood also surmised that “great tectonic movements and isostatic adjustments would have to take place, forming the deep ocean basins and troughs and elevating the continents.”3 This reference to “great tectonic movements” connects well with what has been discovered about mountains and sea floors.
Secular geologists, who choose to ignore the implications of a Genesis Flood, say that slow continental plate movements lifted the mountains to such great heights. However, this reliance on slow speed causes big problems.
For example, erosion through observed processes of wind, water, and gravity slumping happens much faster today than any slow pace of mountain build-up, so how could mountains ever have reached their current dizzying heights? Instead, it appears that tremendous “great tectonic movements” rapidly pushed up land that was catastrophically carved into today’s steep-sided mountains, perhaps by continental water runoff and heavy post-Flood rains. If mountain uplift was as slow as is often claimed, then “mountains” would be eroded humps, if they existed at all.
Recent Mountain Uplift
Additional study has added stunning verification to the idea that “great tectonic movements” recently shaped the earth’s surface. Applying conventional thinking reveals a narrow two to five-million-year time span for all the world’s mountains to rise, but shouldn’t there be mountains from many different “ages” of evolutionary earth history?4
Though the “millions of years” age assignments applied to the rock record have been disproved by the ICR RATE initiative and other research, the raw isotope data often used in such dating correspond to the relative positions of rock layers. This means that rocks or minerals “dated” at 250 million years in a lower layer are likely older than rocks “dated” at 5 million years in an upper layer.5 In reality, however, the former may represent an igneous rock formed during the Flood, and the latter might be typical of a rock formed soon after the Flood.
Isotope data has confirmed Morris and Whitcomb’s observation “that most of the present mountain ranges of the world are believed to have been uplifted (on the basis of fossil evidence) during the Pleistocene or late Pliocene,” which corresponds to the post-Flood Ice Age.6
Even granite has been found to form quickly from magma. A 2000 study in the journal Nature said, “Provided flow is continuous, mechanical considerations suggest that—far from being geologically sluggish—granite magmatism is a rapid, dynamic process operating at timescales of ≤100,000 years, irrespective of tectonic setting.”7
Sea Floor Formation
Similarly, sea floor studies from the last few decades “show that today’s igneous ocean floor—all of it—has formed via seafloor spreading since roughly mid-way through the Flood.”8 And as Whitcomb and Morris suggested, “ocean basins were deepened after the Flood.”9 But what colossal energetic process could have done this?
It looks like the sea floors were made recently and rapidly. Experiments have demonstrated that silicate-rich sea floor “material can weaken dramatically, by factors of a billion or more, at mantle temperatures.”10 This means that once the earth’s crust was broken at the start of the Flood, hot mantle material, forming new lower ocean basins, propelled continent-size tectonic plates horizontally on the order of one meter per second. This catastrophic breakup and heating was implied in Genesis 7:11, which references the “fountains of the great deep” bursting forth. Again, Morris and Whitcomb were ahead of their time.
Living Fossils
The Genesis Flood provided the best explanation for earth’s major surface features. Drs. Morris and Whitcomb also pointed to “living fossils” as evidence that refutes evolution’s long ages. Since then, many more of these have been found.
Living fossils are “supposedly ancient and long extinct creatures which have suddenly and unexpectedly turned up in the modern world.”11 They openly challenge the vast ages posited by evolutionary theory by showing none of evolution’s expected changes in body plans over supposedly vast time spans.
For example, evolutionists were confident that grasses evolved millions of years after the dinosaurs—until dinosaur coprolites (fossilized excrement) were discovered containing several species of grass.12 In August 1994, a “dinosaur-age” tree called the Wollemi pine was discovered alive and well in Australia. It was declared the “botanical find of the century.”13
A grand host of “living fossils” in the animal world stubbornly remain virtually the same as their ancient predecessors after the unimaginable millions of years demanded by evolution. Evolutionists such as the late Stephen Gould refer to this lack of change as stasis. One recent study found bacteria named Mariprofundus that left “distinctive traces in the fossil record.” The study’s authors wrote:
Petrographic images of Mariprofundus-like stalks from a 350-million-year-old rock associated with an ancient hydrothermal vent site are indistinguishable from modern-day organisms.14
Fossilized grasshoppers and seastars found entombed in the same layer as Archaeopteryx (an extinct bird) are virtually identical to modern varieties. From “Jurassic” shrimp to the shovelnose ray, animals and plants—some supposedly long extinct—are discovered alive today looking virtually identical to their fossilized counterparts. Evolution means “change,” but these living fossils are a testimony to stasis—no change!15
In 1961, The Genesis Flood discussed living fossils, rapid alteration of the sea floor, rapid and recent uplift of all the world’s mountains, and catastrophic deposition of sedimentary rocks. Since then, science has strongly confirmed each of these.
See original article with references here.
Scientific observations made in the seminal book The Genesis Flood are even more scientifically valid today than when they were first written. Although subsequent research has shown a few to be inaccurate, most of the perspectives that were laid out by John Whitcomb and Henry Morris in their 1961 publication have been verified beyond reasonable doubt by ongoing observations.
This is amazing, considering how geologic interpretation has changed since the 1950s. For example, plate tectonics has become a core model and catastrophic floods are now invoked to explain most sedimentary rock. Below are some Genesis Flood insights that science has clearly validated.
Catastrophic Sedimentary Deposits
Drs. Whitcomb and Morris noted agreement between some basic implications of a world-destroying Flood and large-scale observations from the earth’s surface. For example, since “almost all of the sedimentary rocks of the earth…have been laid down by moving waters,” it is legitimate to consider flooding as the primary cause.1
The bulk of mountains and continents are comprised of sedimentary mudstones of some type. When The Genesis Flood was written, mainstream geologists believed that certain mudstones could only form by slow accumulation of sediments in the bottom of calm, shallow water bodies. But in 1980, layered mudstones resulted from the Mount St. Helens volcanic eruption. Then in 2009, a paper in Science caught up with Whitcomb and Morris, saying, “Mudstones can be deposited under more energetic conditions than widely assumed, requiring a reappraisal of many geologic records.”2
Rapid Mountain Uplift
The Genesis Flood also surmised that “great tectonic movements and isostatic adjustments would have to take place, forming the deep ocean basins and troughs and elevating the continents.”3 This reference to “great tectonic movements” connects well with what has been discovered about mountains and sea floors.
Secular geologists, who choose to ignore the implications of a Genesis Flood, say that slow continental plate movements lifted the mountains to such great heights. However, this reliance on slow speed causes big problems.
For example, erosion through observed processes of wind, water, and gravity slumping happens much faster today than any slow pace of mountain build-up, so how could mountains ever have reached their current dizzying heights? Instead, it appears that tremendous “great tectonic movements” rapidly pushed up land that was catastrophically carved into today’s steep-sided mountains, perhaps by continental water runoff and heavy post-Flood rains. If mountain uplift was as slow as is often claimed, then “mountains” would be eroded humps, if they existed at all.
Recent Mountain Uplift
Additional study has added stunning verification to the idea that “great tectonic movements” recently shaped the earth’s surface. Applying conventional thinking reveals a narrow two to five-million-year time span for all the world’s mountains to rise, but shouldn’t there be mountains from many different “ages” of evolutionary earth history?4
Though the “millions of years” age assignments applied to the rock record have been disproved by the ICR RATE initiative and other research, the raw isotope data often used in such dating correspond to the relative positions of rock layers. This means that rocks or minerals “dated” at 250 million years in a lower layer are likely older than rocks “dated” at 5 million years in an upper layer.5 In reality, however, the former may represent an igneous rock formed during the Flood, and the latter might be typical of a rock formed soon after the Flood.
Isotope data has confirmed Morris and Whitcomb’s observation “that most of the present mountain ranges of the world are believed to have been uplifted (on the basis of fossil evidence) during the Pleistocene or late Pliocene,” which corresponds to the post-Flood Ice Age.6
Even granite has been found to form quickly from magma. A 2000 study in the journal Nature said, “Provided flow is continuous, mechanical considerations suggest that—far from being geologically sluggish—granite magmatism is a rapid, dynamic process operating at timescales of ≤100,000 years, irrespective of tectonic setting.”7
Sea Floor Formation
Similarly, sea floor studies from the last few decades “show that today’s igneous ocean floor—all of it—has formed via seafloor spreading since roughly mid-way through the Flood.”8 And as Whitcomb and Morris suggested, “ocean basins were deepened after the Flood.”9 But what colossal energetic process could have done this?
It looks like the sea floors were made recently and rapidly. Experiments have demonstrated that silicate-rich sea floor “material can weaken dramatically, by factors of a billion or more, at mantle temperatures.”10 This means that once the earth’s crust was broken at the start of the Flood, hot mantle material, forming new lower ocean basins, propelled continent-size tectonic plates horizontally on the order of one meter per second. This catastrophic breakup and heating was implied in Genesis 7:11, which references the “fountains of the great deep” bursting forth. Again, Morris and Whitcomb were ahead of their time.
Living Fossils
The Genesis Flood provided the best explanation for earth’s major surface features. Drs. Morris and Whitcomb also pointed to “living fossils” as evidence that refutes evolution’s long ages. Since then, many more of these have been found.
Living fossils are “supposedly ancient and long extinct creatures which have suddenly and unexpectedly turned up in the modern world.”11 They openly challenge the vast ages posited by evolutionary theory by showing none of evolution’s expected changes in body plans over supposedly vast time spans.
For example, evolutionists were confident that grasses evolved millions of years after the dinosaurs—until dinosaur coprolites (fossilized excrement) were discovered containing several species of grass.12 In August 1994, a “dinosaur-age” tree called the Wollemi pine was discovered alive and well in Australia. It was declared the “botanical find of the century.”13
A grand host of “living fossils” in the animal world stubbornly remain virtually the same as their ancient predecessors after the unimaginable millions of years demanded by evolution. Evolutionists such as the late Stephen Gould refer to this lack of change as stasis. One recent study found bacteria named Mariprofundus that left “distinctive traces in the fossil record.” The study’s authors wrote:
Petrographic images of Mariprofundus-like stalks from a 350-million-year-old rock associated with an ancient hydrothermal vent site are indistinguishable from modern-day organisms.14
Fossilized grasshoppers and seastars found entombed in the same layer as Archaeopteryx (an extinct bird) are virtually identical to modern varieties. From “Jurassic” shrimp to the shovelnose ray, animals and plants—some supposedly long extinct—are discovered alive today looking virtually identical to their fossilized counterparts. Evolution means “change,” but these living fossils are a testimony to stasis—no change!15
In 1961, The Genesis Flood discussed living fossils, rapid alteration of the sea floor, rapid and recent uplift of all the world’s mountains, and catastrophic deposition of sedimentary rocks. Since then, science has strongly confirmed each of these.
See original article with references here.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Letting the Science Speak for Itself
INSTITUTE FOR CREATION RESEARCH
"Geology will survive creationist undermining," according to a recent commentary by Steven Newton in New Scientist. Newton is Programs and Policy Director for the National Center for Science Education (NCSE), a nonprofit advocacy group based in Oakland, California, that is dedicated to censoring academic freedom and promoting evolution-only teaching in public schools.
He described how presentations at Geological Society of America (GSA) meetings by scientists who question the flaws in evolutionary theories have some members of the group "outraged" and calling for a ban on such presentations.
However, Newton argued that a ban "would be a mistake as it would hand [creation scientists] a PR coup."1 He then cited a lawsuit in which the California Science Center settled with the American Freedom Alliance for infringing on free speech rights when it censored a showing of the film Darwin's Dilemma.
"Scientific organisations will continue to experience creationist infiltration….But it is important for scientists not to overreact and to remember the science is far stronger than any creationist attempts to undermine it," he wrote.1
Actually, all that creation scientists really want is the freedom to do their work without the fear of retribution, such as losing their jobs or funding. If the science—rather than popular opinion—won't support their hypotheses, then the research will show that.
But while some in the GSA have frowned upon creation science presentations, other scientists don't seem to mind publishing about Atlantis2 or speculating on the existence of the mythical kraken.3 And considering that some of the founders4,5,6 of, and great contributors to,7,8 modern science approached their work from the perspective that the earth was created and that mankind didn't evolve from a common ancestor, why would conducting studies with a similar mindset today be deemed less scientific than research prompted by the writings of Plato or old sea monster stories?
Even though the NCSE's Newton clearly doesn't support the endeavors of creation scientists—or even non-creation scientists who don't blindly believe in random evolutionary theories—he does make the valid point that their work should be not be banned, which can lead, and has led, to legal drama beyond the scope of scientific investigation.
Regardless of worldview, letting the science speak for itself is something upon which all scientists should be able to agree.
Full article with references here.
"Geology will survive creationist undermining," according to a recent commentary by Steven Newton in New Scientist. Newton is Programs and Policy Director for the National Center for Science Education (NCSE), a nonprofit advocacy group based in Oakland, California, that is dedicated to censoring academic freedom and promoting evolution-only teaching in public schools.
He described how presentations at Geological Society of America (GSA) meetings by scientists who question the flaws in evolutionary theories have some members of the group "outraged" and calling for a ban on such presentations.
However, Newton argued that a ban "would be a mistake as it would hand [creation scientists] a PR coup."1 He then cited a lawsuit in which the California Science Center settled with the American Freedom Alliance for infringing on free speech rights when it censored a showing of the film Darwin's Dilemma.
"Scientific organisations will continue to experience creationist infiltration….But it is important for scientists not to overreact and to remember the science is far stronger than any creationist attempts to undermine it," he wrote.1
Actually, all that creation scientists really want is the freedom to do their work without the fear of retribution, such as losing their jobs or funding. If the science—rather than popular opinion—won't support their hypotheses, then the research will show that.
But while some in the GSA have frowned upon creation science presentations, other scientists don't seem to mind publishing about Atlantis2 or speculating on the existence of the mythical kraken.3 And considering that some of the founders4,5,6 of, and great contributors to,7,8 modern science approached their work from the perspective that the earth was created and that mankind didn't evolve from a common ancestor, why would conducting studies with a similar mindset today be deemed less scientific than research prompted by the writings of Plato or old sea monster stories?
Even though the NCSE's Newton clearly doesn't support the endeavors of creation scientists—or even non-creation scientists who don't blindly believe in random evolutionary theories—he does make the valid point that their work should be not be banned, which can lead, and has led, to legal drama beyond the scope of scientific investigation.
Regardless of worldview, letting the science speak for itself is something upon which all scientists should be able to agree.
Full article with references here.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Living Creatures Were Clearly Designed
INSTITUTE FOR CREATION RESEARCH
Some of the same attributes seen in man-made tools are also found in living organisms. When parts fit well together, depend on each other, and interact to achieve a purpose, they can be recognized as a designed system. It is this recognition that enables the practice of archaeology and forensics. Generally, the more specified and complex the parts of a system are, the more numerous they are, and the more efficient the system is, the more engineering skill and knowledge were required to form that system.
Some of the same attributes required of the designer of a man-made machine such as a camera—intelligence, purposeful intent, knowledge of the materials and physical principles involved, etc.—must also be required of the One who designed complex biological features like the vertebrate vision system. Scripture confirms that enough of the attributes of God are known to all men through what He has made that “they are without excuse” if they choose to ignore Him (Romans 1:20).
Clear examples abound of design in living creatures. One is the tendon that emerges from a chest muscle in most birds. It is threaded through a hole in the bird’s bone, wraps around a “pulley,” and then is attached to the top of the humerus bone. This way, when the muscle flexes, the wing moves up. Each specification involved is exactly fitted to perform its needed function. If only one of them failed to work, the bird would not fly.
In recent decades, the incredible world of tiny machines inside living cells has been revealed. It demonstrates a supremely efficient, and in many cases perfectly specified, collection of parts upon which each living cell depends. Large creatures were clearly designed, but it is even more certain that single cells must have had a Designer of unsurpassed engineering genius. There is no such thing as a simple living organism.
Some of the same attributes seen in man-made tools are also found in living organisms. When parts fit well together, depend on each other, and interact to achieve a purpose, they can be recognized as a designed system. It is this recognition that enables the practice of archaeology and forensics. Generally, the more specified and complex the parts of a system are, the more numerous they are, and the more efficient the system is, the more engineering skill and knowledge were required to form that system.
Some of the same attributes required of the designer of a man-made machine such as a camera—intelligence, purposeful intent, knowledge of the materials and physical principles involved, etc.—must also be required of the One who designed complex biological features like the vertebrate vision system. Scripture confirms that enough of the attributes of God are known to all men through what He has made that “they are without excuse” if they choose to ignore Him (Romans 1:20).
Clear examples abound of design in living creatures. One is the tendon that emerges from a chest muscle in most birds. It is threaded through a hole in the bird’s bone, wraps around a “pulley,” and then is attached to the top of the humerus bone. This way, when the muscle flexes, the wing moves up. Each specification involved is exactly fitted to perform its needed function. If only one of them failed to work, the bird would not fly.
In recent decades, the incredible world of tiny machines inside living cells has been revealed. It demonstrates a supremely efficient, and in many cases perfectly specified, collection of parts upon which each living cell depends. Large creatures were clearly designed, but it is even more certain that single cells must have had a Designer of unsurpassed engineering genius. There is no such thing as a simple living organism.
SIXTH TRUMPET WATCH - Saudi Arabia says Iran will "pay the price" for alleged plot
YAHOO NEWS
Saudi Arabia vowed on Wednesday that Iran would "pay the price" for an alleged plot to kill its ambassador in Washington and U.S. officials said there could be a push for a new round of U.N. sanctions.
Tehran angrily rejected the charges laid out by a number of top U.S. officials on Tuesday as "amateurish," but a threat nevertheless to peace and stability in the Gulf, a region critical to global oil supplies with a number of U.S. military bases.
"The burden of proof is overwhelming... and clearly shows official Iranian responsibility for this. Somebody in Iran will have to pay the price," senior Saudi prince Turki al-Faisal, a former ambassador to Washington, said in London.
Vice President Joe Biden echoed those hawkish sentiments, telling U.S. network ABC Iran would be held accountable. He said Washington was working for a new round of international sanctions against Iran, warning that "nothing has been taken off the table."
U.S. authorities said on Tuesday they had broken up a plot by two men linked to Iran's security agencies to assassinate Saudi Ambassador Adel al-Jubeir. One was arrested last month while the other was believed to be in Iran.
The motive for the alleged plot was not clear. Iran has in the past assassinated its own dissidents abroad, but an attempt to kill an ambassador would be a highly unusual departure.
Iran and Saudi Arabia are bitter regional and to some extent sectarian rivals, but they maintain diplomatic ties and even signed a security agreement in 2001. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited Riyadh in 2007.
The United States has led a global effort to isolate Iran and pile on United Nations sanctions in recent years over Tehran's nuclear energy program which Washington and its regional allies including Israel and Saudi Arabia fear is a front for developing nuclear weapons. Iran denies nuclear arms ambitions.
Those allies fear Washington could take its eye off the ball on Iran. US diplomatic cables from Riyadh leaked by Wikileaks over the past year -- in which Jubeir features prominently -- show Riyadh repeatedly pushing the United States to take a tougher stand, including the possible use of military force.
Tensions rose between Riyadh and Tehran when Saudi Arabia sent troops to help Bahrain put down pro-democracy protests let by the island state's Shi'ite majority that both governments accused Iran, a non-Arab Shi'ite state, of fomenting.
This month Riyadh accused some among its Shi'ite Muslim minority of conspiring with a foreign power -- a reference to Iran -- to cause instability, following street clashes in the Eastern Province.
But Iranian analyst Saaed Leylaz said it was hard to see why Iran would risk involving itself in such a plot.
"Killing the Saudi envoy in America has no benefit for Iran," he said. "The consequences of this plot are dangerous ... It could cause military confrontation in 2012 between Iran and America."
ACTION AT U.N.
A Western diplomat in Riyadh said the charges would likely be discussed at the UN Security Council.
"The U.S. and Saudi Arabia and other allies are discussing the possibility of taking this to the Security Council because this is an assault on a foreign diplomat in the U.S," he said.
President Barack Obama, who seeks reelection next year, called the alleged conspiracy a "flagrant violation of U.S. and international law."
The United States said Tehran must be held to account and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she hoped countries hesitant to enforce existing sanctions on Iran would now "go the extra mile."
But also seeking recourse in the world body, Iran's ambassador to the United Nations voiced outrage and complained of U.S. "warmongering" in a letter to Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. "The U.S. allegation is, obviously, a politically motivated move and a showcase of its long-standing animosity toward the Iranian nation," Mohammad Khazaee wrote.
Ali Larijani, Iran's parliament speaker, said the "fabricated allegations" aimed to divert attention from Arab uprisings Iran says were inspired by its own Islamic revolution that toppled the U.S.-backed Shah -- though Islam has not been the overt driving force for unrest across the Arab world.
"America wants to divert attention from problems it faces in the Middle East, but the Americans cannot stop the wave of Islamic awakening by using such excuses," Larijani said, calling the a "childish, amateur game."
"These claims are vulgar," he said in an open session of parliament. "We believe that our neighbors in the region are very well aware that America is using this story to ruin our relationship with Saudi Arabia."
The State Department issued a three-month worldwide travel alert for American citizens, warning of the potential for anti-U.S. action, including within the United States.
"The U.S. government assesses that this Iranian-backed plan to assassinate the Saudi ambassador may indicate a more aggressive focus by the Iranian government on terrorist activity against diplomats from certain countries, to include possible attacks in the United States," it said in a statement.
At a news conference, FBI Director Robert Mueller said a convoluted plot involving monitored international calls, Mexican drug money and an attempt to blow up the ambassador in a Washington restaurant smacked of a Hollywood movie.
Attorney-General Eric Holder tied it to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), guardian of Iran's 1979 revolution, and the Quds Force, its covert, operational arm.
"I think one has to be concerned about the chilling nature of what the Iranian government attempted to do here," he said.
QUDS FORCE CONNECTION
The primary evidence linking Iran to the alleged conspiracy is that the arrested suspect is said to have told U.S. law enforcement agents that he had been recruited and directed by men he understood were senior Quds Force officials.
The Quds Force has not previously been known to focus on targets in the United States.
A plot against targets inside the U.S. "would be a first for the Quds Force," said Kenneth Pollack, a former CIA and National Security Council analyst who now heads the Saban Center at the Brookings Institution in Washington.
"I do want to hear more about what evidence (U.S. authorities) have and why they believe" that the Quds Force was involved, Pollack said.
U.S. officials said there had also been initial discussions about other plots, including attacking the Saudi and Israeli embassies in Washington, but no charges for those were brought.
There are no formal diplomatic ties between the Islamic republic and Washington, which accuses Tehran of backing terrorism and pursuing nuclear arms, charges Iran denies.
Iran already faces tough U.S. economic and political sanctions and Washington slapped further sanctions on five Iranians, including four senior members of Quds.
U.S. SAYS AMBASSADOR NEVER IN DANGER
U.S. officials identified the two alleged plotters as Gholam Shakuri, said to be a member of the Quds Force, and Manssor Arbabsiar, who was arrested on September 29 when he arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport from Mexico.
Arbabsiar, 56, a naturalized U.S. citizen with an Iranian passport, initially cooperated with authorities after being arrested. He made calls to Shakuri after being arrested and acted as if the plot was still a go, court documents said.
Arbabsiar appeared briefly in a Manhattan courtroom on Tuesday where he was ordered detained and assigned a public defender. He appeared in blue jeans and a dress shirt, with thinning gray hair and a scar on the left side of his face.
Officials said the Saudi ambassador, who is close to King Abdullah and has been in his post since 2007, was never in danger. Obama was briefed in June about the alleged plot.
Court documents say a plot began to unfold in May 2011 when Arbabsiar sought help from an individual in Mexico who was posing as an associate of an unidentified drug cartel and who was in fact a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration informant.
The unidentified paid informant tipped off law enforcement agents, according to the criminal complaint. Arbabsiar paid $100,000 to the informant in July and August for the plot, a down-payment on the $1.5 million requested.
LIKE A "HOLLYWOOD MOVIE"
Shakuri approved the plan to kill the ambassador during telephone conversations with Arbabsiar, the complaint said.
As part of the plot, the informant talked to Arbabsiar about trying to kill the ambassador at a Washington, D.C. restaurant he frequented, but warned him that could lead to dozens of others being killed, including U.S. lawmakers.
The criminal complaint said that Arbabsiar responded "no problem" and "no big deal."
In a monitored call, Shakuri told Arbabsiar to execute the plot, saying "just do it quickly, it's late," court papers say.
After Arbabsiar's arrest in New York, he gave U.S. authorities more details of Tehran's alleged involvement, Holder said.
Mueller, the FBI director, said that "individuals from one country sought to conspire with a drug trafficking cartel in another country to assassinate a foreign official on United States soil."
He added: "Though it reads like the pages of a Hollywood script, the impact would have been very real and many lives would have been lost."
The men face one count of conspiracy to murder a foreign official, two counts of foreign travel and use of interstate and foreign commerce facilities in the commission of murder for hire and one count each of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction and conspiracy to commit an act of terrorism.
Authorities said no explosives were acquired for the plot and the weapon of mass destruction charge can range from a simple improvised device to a more significant weapon. The two men face up to life in prison if convicted.
Saudi Arabia vowed on Wednesday that Iran would "pay the price" for an alleged plot to kill its ambassador in Washington and U.S. officials said there could be a push for a new round of U.N. sanctions.
Tehran angrily rejected the charges laid out by a number of top U.S. officials on Tuesday as "amateurish," but a threat nevertheless to peace and stability in the Gulf, a region critical to global oil supplies with a number of U.S. military bases.
"The burden of proof is overwhelming... and clearly shows official Iranian responsibility for this. Somebody in Iran will have to pay the price," senior Saudi prince Turki al-Faisal, a former ambassador to Washington, said in London.
Vice President Joe Biden echoed those hawkish sentiments, telling U.S. network ABC Iran would be held accountable. He said Washington was working for a new round of international sanctions against Iran, warning that "nothing has been taken off the table."
U.S. authorities said on Tuesday they had broken up a plot by two men linked to Iran's security agencies to assassinate Saudi Ambassador Adel al-Jubeir. One was arrested last month while the other was believed to be in Iran.
The motive for the alleged plot was not clear. Iran has in the past assassinated its own dissidents abroad, but an attempt to kill an ambassador would be a highly unusual departure.
Iran and Saudi Arabia are bitter regional and to some extent sectarian rivals, but they maintain diplomatic ties and even signed a security agreement in 2001. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited Riyadh in 2007.
The United States has led a global effort to isolate Iran and pile on United Nations sanctions in recent years over Tehran's nuclear energy program which Washington and its regional allies including Israel and Saudi Arabia fear is a front for developing nuclear weapons. Iran denies nuclear arms ambitions.
Those allies fear Washington could take its eye off the ball on Iran. US diplomatic cables from Riyadh leaked by Wikileaks over the past year -- in which Jubeir features prominently -- show Riyadh repeatedly pushing the United States to take a tougher stand, including the possible use of military force.
Tensions rose between Riyadh and Tehran when Saudi Arabia sent troops to help Bahrain put down pro-democracy protests let by the island state's Shi'ite majority that both governments accused Iran, a non-Arab Shi'ite state, of fomenting.
This month Riyadh accused some among its Shi'ite Muslim minority of conspiring with a foreign power -- a reference to Iran -- to cause instability, following street clashes in the Eastern Province.
But Iranian analyst Saaed Leylaz said it was hard to see why Iran would risk involving itself in such a plot.
"Killing the Saudi envoy in America has no benefit for Iran," he said. "The consequences of this plot are dangerous ... It could cause military confrontation in 2012 between Iran and America."
ACTION AT U.N.
A Western diplomat in Riyadh said the charges would likely be discussed at the UN Security Council.
"The U.S. and Saudi Arabia and other allies are discussing the possibility of taking this to the Security Council because this is an assault on a foreign diplomat in the U.S," he said.
President Barack Obama, who seeks reelection next year, called the alleged conspiracy a "flagrant violation of U.S. and international law."
The United States said Tehran must be held to account and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she hoped countries hesitant to enforce existing sanctions on Iran would now "go the extra mile."
But also seeking recourse in the world body, Iran's ambassador to the United Nations voiced outrage and complained of U.S. "warmongering" in a letter to Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. "The U.S. allegation is, obviously, a politically motivated move and a showcase of its long-standing animosity toward the Iranian nation," Mohammad Khazaee wrote.
Ali Larijani, Iran's parliament speaker, said the "fabricated allegations" aimed to divert attention from Arab uprisings Iran says were inspired by its own Islamic revolution that toppled the U.S.-backed Shah -- though Islam has not been the overt driving force for unrest across the Arab world.
"America wants to divert attention from problems it faces in the Middle East, but the Americans cannot stop the wave of Islamic awakening by using such excuses," Larijani said, calling the a "childish, amateur game."
"These claims are vulgar," he said in an open session of parliament. "We believe that our neighbors in the region are very well aware that America is using this story to ruin our relationship with Saudi Arabia."
The State Department issued a three-month worldwide travel alert for American citizens, warning of the potential for anti-U.S. action, including within the United States.
"The U.S. government assesses that this Iranian-backed plan to assassinate the Saudi ambassador may indicate a more aggressive focus by the Iranian government on terrorist activity against diplomats from certain countries, to include possible attacks in the United States," it said in a statement.
At a news conference, FBI Director Robert Mueller said a convoluted plot involving monitored international calls, Mexican drug money and an attempt to blow up the ambassador in a Washington restaurant smacked of a Hollywood movie.
Attorney-General Eric Holder tied it to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), guardian of Iran's 1979 revolution, and the Quds Force, its covert, operational arm.
"I think one has to be concerned about the chilling nature of what the Iranian government attempted to do here," he said.
QUDS FORCE CONNECTION
The primary evidence linking Iran to the alleged conspiracy is that the arrested suspect is said to have told U.S. law enforcement agents that he had been recruited and directed by men he understood were senior Quds Force officials.
The Quds Force has not previously been known to focus on targets in the United States.
A plot against targets inside the U.S. "would be a first for the Quds Force," said Kenneth Pollack, a former CIA and National Security Council analyst who now heads the Saban Center at the Brookings Institution in Washington.
"I do want to hear more about what evidence (U.S. authorities) have and why they believe" that the Quds Force was involved, Pollack said.
U.S. officials said there had also been initial discussions about other plots, including attacking the Saudi and Israeli embassies in Washington, but no charges for those were brought.
There are no formal diplomatic ties between the Islamic republic and Washington, which accuses Tehran of backing terrorism and pursuing nuclear arms, charges Iran denies.
Iran already faces tough U.S. economic and political sanctions and Washington slapped further sanctions on five Iranians, including four senior members of Quds.
U.S. SAYS AMBASSADOR NEVER IN DANGER
U.S. officials identified the two alleged plotters as Gholam Shakuri, said to be a member of the Quds Force, and Manssor Arbabsiar, who was arrested on September 29 when he arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport from Mexico.
Arbabsiar, 56, a naturalized U.S. citizen with an Iranian passport, initially cooperated with authorities after being arrested. He made calls to Shakuri after being arrested and acted as if the plot was still a go, court documents said.
Arbabsiar appeared briefly in a Manhattan courtroom on Tuesday where he was ordered detained and assigned a public defender. He appeared in blue jeans and a dress shirt, with thinning gray hair and a scar on the left side of his face.
Officials said the Saudi ambassador, who is close to King Abdullah and has been in his post since 2007, was never in danger. Obama was briefed in June about the alleged plot.
Court documents say a plot began to unfold in May 2011 when Arbabsiar sought help from an individual in Mexico who was posing as an associate of an unidentified drug cartel and who was in fact a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration informant.
The unidentified paid informant tipped off law enforcement agents, according to the criminal complaint. Arbabsiar paid $100,000 to the informant in July and August for the plot, a down-payment on the $1.5 million requested.
LIKE A "HOLLYWOOD MOVIE"
Shakuri approved the plan to kill the ambassador during telephone conversations with Arbabsiar, the complaint said.
As part of the plot, the informant talked to Arbabsiar about trying to kill the ambassador at a Washington, D.C. restaurant he frequented, but warned him that could lead to dozens of others being killed, including U.S. lawmakers.
The criminal complaint said that Arbabsiar responded "no problem" and "no big deal."
In a monitored call, Shakuri told Arbabsiar to execute the plot, saying "just do it quickly, it's late," court papers say.
After Arbabsiar's arrest in New York, he gave U.S. authorities more details of Tehran's alleged involvement, Holder said.
Mueller, the FBI director, said that "individuals from one country sought to conspire with a drug trafficking cartel in another country to assassinate a foreign official on United States soil."
He added: "Though it reads like the pages of a Hollywood script, the impact would have been very real and many lives would have been lost."
The men face one count of conspiracy to murder a foreign official, two counts of foreign travel and use of interstate and foreign commerce facilities in the commission of murder for hire and one count each of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction and conspiracy to commit an act of terrorism.
Authorities said no explosives were acquired for the plot and the weapon of mass destruction charge can range from a simple improvised device to a more significant weapon. The two men face up to life in prison if convicted.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
SIXTH TRUMPET WATCH - US ties Iran to plot to assassinate Saudi diplomat
DENVER POST
WASHINGTON—The Obama administration on Tuesday accused agents of the Iranian government of being involved in a plan to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the thwarted plot would further isolate Tehran.
Two people, including a member of Iran's special operations unit known as the Quds Force, were charged in New York federal court. Justice Department officials say they were working with a person they thought was an associate of a Mexican drug cartel to target the Saudi diplomat, Adel Al-Jubeir. But their contact was an informant for the Drug Enforcement Agency who told U.S. authorities about all their planning.
WASHINGTON—The Obama administration on Tuesday accused agents of the Iranian government of being involved in a plan to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the thwarted plot would further isolate Tehran.
Two people, including a member of Iran's special operations unit known as the Quds Force, were charged in New York federal court. Justice Department officials say they were working with a person they thought was an associate of a Mexican drug cartel to target the Saudi diplomat, Adel Al-Jubeir. But their contact was an informant for the Drug Enforcement Agency who told U.S. authorities about all their planning.
One Israeli Jew Worth a THOUSAND Palestinian Terrorists
BBC
Gilad Shalit: Israel and Hamas agree prisoner swap deal Gilad Shalit has been held by Palestinian militants for the past five years Continue reading the main story
Related Stories
Q&A: Shalit capture
Who are the Mid-East prisoners?
Five years in captivity
Israel and Hamas have agreed a deal for the release of Sgt Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier held hostage by Palestinian militants for five years.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the deal had been reached after arduous talks, and that Sgt Shalit would be back with his family "within days".
Israel is likely to release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange.
Sgt Shalit was captured in a cross-border raid in 2006, and repeated attempts to free him have failed.
But Mr Netanyahu said in a national TV address: "We have concluded arduous negotiations with Hamas to release Gilad Shalit. He will be coming home in the next few days."
'Window of opportunity'
The militant group Hamas, which runs Gaza, said in a statement that there were tens of thousands of people on the streets celebrating the deal.
Continue reading the main story
Analysis
Paul Danahar
BBC Middle East Bureau Editor
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It is hard to overstate how important the fate of Gilad Shalit is to Israel.
Almost every family in the country has a son or daughter serving in the military. Shalit's capture resonates with them all. He is probably the most recognisable figure in the country.
It is for that reason that the government is ready to swap him for - according to Hamas officials -1,000 Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
But after so many false dawns why now? The timing is important because Hamas has been on the back foot in recent months after Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas's attempt to get Palestinian membership at the UN gained huge support in the occupied territories.
This is their way of showing their more violent approach can also win results. What will be key politically for both sides is how many high-profile prisoners Israel has been ready to give up.
The group's leader Khaled Meshaal appeared on TV to hail the swap deal as a victory for the Palestinian people.
He promised to carry on working to free every Palestinian prisoner held in Israeli jails.
The BBC's Jon Donnison in Jerusalem says Sgt Shalit's family and the families of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails will not believe a deal has been done until their relatives are home.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz quoted an unnamed official in Mr Netanyahu's office as saying that "a brief window of opportunity has been opened" that could lead to Gilad Shalit's release.
The official added: "The window appeared following fears that collapsing Mid-East regimes and the rise of extremist forces would make Gilad Shalit's return impossible."
An Israeli source involved in the talks was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying that the deal called for 1,000 Palestinians prisoners to be freed in two stages.
The first involves the release of 450 for the soldier, with the remaining 550 to be freed later.
Some of the 5,000 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel have been convicted of serious crimes, but others are being held without charge.
Israel's Channel 2 TV reported that both sides had shown greater flexibility in recent talks.
Indirect talks over 25-year-old Sgt Shalit's release - being mediated by Egypt and Germany - had focused on prisoner exchanges.
In October 2009, Hamas released a video of the soldier calling on Mr Netanyahu to do everything to free him.
Gilad Shalit: Israel and Hamas agree prisoner swap deal Gilad Shalit has been held by Palestinian militants for the past five years Continue reading the main story
Related Stories
Q&A: Shalit capture
Who are the Mid-East prisoners?
Five years in captivity
Israel and Hamas have agreed a deal for the release of Sgt Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier held hostage by Palestinian militants for five years.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the deal had been reached after arduous talks, and that Sgt Shalit would be back with his family "within days".
Israel is likely to release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange.
Sgt Shalit was captured in a cross-border raid in 2006, and repeated attempts to free him have failed.
But Mr Netanyahu said in a national TV address: "We have concluded arduous negotiations with Hamas to release Gilad Shalit. He will be coming home in the next few days."
'Window of opportunity'
The militant group Hamas, which runs Gaza, said in a statement that there were tens of thousands of people on the streets celebrating the deal.
Continue reading the main story
Analysis
Paul Danahar
BBC Middle East Bureau Editor
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It is hard to overstate how important the fate of Gilad Shalit is to Israel.
Almost every family in the country has a son or daughter serving in the military. Shalit's capture resonates with them all. He is probably the most recognisable figure in the country.
It is for that reason that the government is ready to swap him for - according to Hamas officials -1,000 Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
But after so many false dawns why now? The timing is important because Hamas has been on the back foot in recent months after Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas's attempt to get Palestinian membership at the UN gained huge support in the occupied territories.
This is their way of showing their more violent approach can also win results. What will be key politically for both sides is how many high-profile prisoners Israel has been ready to give up.
The group's leader Khaled Meshaal appeared on TV to hail the swap deal as a victory for the Palestinian people.
He promised to carry on working to free every Palestinian prisoner held in Israeli jails.
The BBC's Jon Donnison in Jerusalem says Sgt Shalit's family and the families of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails will not believe a deal has been done until their relatives are home.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz quoted an unnamed official in Mr Netanyahu's office as saying that "a brief window of opportunity has been opened" that could lead to Gilad Shalit's release.
The official added: "The window appeared following fears that collapsing Mid-East regimes and the rise of extremist forces would make Gilad Shalit's return impossible."
An Israeli source involved in the talks was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying that the deal called for 1,000 Palestinians prisoners to be freed in two stages.
The first involves the release of 450 for the soldier, with the remaining 550 to be freed later.
Some of the 5,000 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel have been convicted of serious crimes, but others are being held without charge.
Israel's Channel 2 TV reported that both sides had shown greater flexibility in recent talks.
Indirect talks over 25-year-old Sgt Shalit's release - being mediated by Egypt and Germany - had focused on prisoner exchanges.
In October 2009, Hamas released a video of the soldier calling on Mr Netanyahu to do everything to free him.
Monday, October 10, 2011
The Circle of the Earth - What the Bible Really Says
INSTITUTE FOR CREATION RESEARCH
“It is He that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in” (Isaiah 40:22).
The discovery that the world is round is considered one of man’s greatest scientific achievements, often wrongly attributed to Christopher Columbus. Columbus was, indeed, a courageous thinker and explorer, as well as a Bible-believing Christian, but many scholars had long before so concluded, and many people had already migrated to the New World.
As far as the sphericity of the earth is concerned, the “flat-earth” myth of the Middle Ages was not the belief of many scholars of antiquity. The Bible, in particular, never hints of a drop-off point at the earth’s edge, or any such notion as that. Its few references to “the four corners” of the earth (e.g., Isaiah 11:12) literally mean “the four quarters of the earth”—that is, the four quadrants of the compass.
In our text for the day, the word for “circle” is translated “compass” in Proverbs 8:27: “(God) set a compass upon the face of the depth” (same as “deep,” referring to the ocean). Other occurrences are in Job 26:10: “He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end,” and Job 22:14: “(God) walketh in the circuit of heaven.” All of these passages are best understood in terms of a spherical Earth, with its basic shape at sea level determined by its ocean surface as controlled by gravity. The Hebrew word itself (khug) basically means a circle. Any vertical cross section through the earth’s center is a “great circle,” of course, with any “straight” line on the ocean surface actually representing an arc of such a circle.
This is only one of many “pre-scientific” insights of the Bible written by divine inspiration long before the rise of modern science. HMM
“It is He that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in” (Isaiah 40:22).
The discovery that the world is round is considered one of man’s greatest scientific achievements, often wrongly attributed to Christopher Columbus. Columbus was, indeed, a courageous thinker and explorer, as well as a Bible-believing Christian, but many scholars had long before so concluded, and many people had already migrated to the New World.
As far as the sphericity of the earth is concerned, the “flat-earth” myth of the Middle Ages was not the belief of many scholars of antiquity. The Bible, in particular, never hints of a drop-off point at the earth’s edge, or any such notion as that. Its few references to “the four corners” of the earth (e.g., Isaiah 11:12) literally mean “the four quarters of the earth”—that is, the four quadrants of the compass.
In our text for the day, the word for “circle” is translated “compass” in Proverbs 8:27: “(God) set a compass upon the face of the depth” (same as “deep,” referring to the ocean). Other occurrences are in Job 26:10: “He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end,” and Job 22:14: “(God) walketh in the circuit of heaven.” All of these passages are best understood in terms of a spherical Earth, with its basic shape at sea level determined by its ocean surface as controlled by gravity. The Hebrew word itself (khug) basically means a circle. Any vertical cross section through the earth’s center is a “great circle,” of course, with any “straight” line on the ocean surface actually representing an arc of such a circle.
This is only one of many “pre-scientific” insights of the Bible written by divine inspiration long before the rise of modern science. HMM
SPIN METER: Obama disconnects from reality
Chron.com
In President Barack Obama's sales pitch for his jobs bill, there are two versions of reality: The one in his speeches and the one actually unfolding in Washington.
When Obama accuses Republicans of standing in the way of his nearly $450 billion plan, he ignores the fact that his own party has struggled to unite behind the proposal.
When the president says Republicans haven't explained what they oppose in the plan, he skips over the fact that Republicans who control the House actually have done that in detail.
And when he calls on Congress to "pass this bill now," he slides past the point that Democrats control the Senate and were never prepared to move immediately, given other priorities. Senators are expected to vote Tuesday on opening debate on the bill, a month after the president unveiled it with a call for its immediate passage.
See full story here.
In President Barack Obama's sales pitch for his jobs bill, there are two versions of reality: The one in his speeches and the one actually unfolding in Washington.
When Obama accuses Republicans of standing in the way of his nearly $450 billion plan, he ignores the fact that his own party has struggled to unite behind the proposal.
When the president says Republicans haven't explained what they oppose in the plan, he skips over the fact that Republicans who control the House actually have done that in detail.
And when he calls on Congress to "pass this bill now," he slides past the point that Democrats control the Senate and were never prepared to move immediately, given other priorities. Senators are expected to vote Tuesday on opening debate on the bill, a month after the president unveiled it with a call for its immediate passage.
See full story here.
Christians Slaughtered in Egypt - Happy NOW Jimmy Carter?
The Christian protesters said their demonstration began as a peaceful attempt to sit in at the television building. But then, they said, they came under attack by thugs in plainclothes who rained stones down on them and fired pellets.
"The protest was peaceful. We wanted to hold a sit-in, as usual," said Essam Khalili, a protester wearing a white shirt with a cross on it. "Thugs attacked us and a military vehicle jumped over a sidewalk and ran over at least 10 people. I saw them."
Wael Roufail, another protester, corroborated the account. "I saw the vehicle running over the protesters. Then they opened fired at us," he said.
See full story here.
"The protest was peaceful. We wanted to hold a sit-in, as usual," said Essam Khalili, a protester wearing a white shirt with a cross on it. "Thugs attacked us and a military vehicle jumped over a sidewalk and ran over at least 10 people. I saw them."
Wael Roufail, another protester, corroborated the account. "I saw the vehicle running over the protesters. Then they opened fired at us," he said.
See full story here.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Homosexual Disclaimer - Know the TRUTH about your actions
Center for Disease Control
Gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM) represent approximately 2% of the US population, yet are the population most severely affected by HIV and are the only risk group in which new HIV infections have been increasing steadily since the early 1990s. In 2006, MSM accounted for more than half (53%) of all new HIV infections in the United States, and MSM with a history of injection drug use (MSM-IDU) accounted for an additional 4% of new infections. At the end of 2006, more than half (53%) of all people living with HIV in the United States were MSM or MSM-IDU. Since the beginning of the US epidemic, MSM have consistently represented the largest percentage of persons diagnosed with AIDS and persons with an AIDS diagnosis who have died.
Gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM) represent approximately 2% of the US population, yet are the population most severely affected by HIV and are the only risk group in which new HIV infections have been increasing steadily since the early 1990s. In 2006, MSM accounted for more than half (53%) of all new HIV infections in the United States, and MSM with a history of injection drug use (MSM-IDU) accounted for an additional 4% of new infections. At the end of 2006, more than half (53%) of all people living with HIV in the United States were MSM or MSM-IDU. Since the beginning of the US epidemic, MSM have consistently represented the largest percentage of persons diagnosed with AIDS and persons with an AIDS diagnosis who have died.
Progressives Hiring Professional Speakers Through Craigslist
From a Craigslist posting for The Working Families Party (WFP)...
New York's most energetic, independent and progressive political party. Formed in 1998 by a grassroots coalition of community organizations, neighborhood activists, and labor unions, we came together to build a society that works for all of us, not just Wall Street CEOs and the well-connected. WFP is independent from corporate and government funding and in-addition we are community based; community funded and equally uninfluenced by both major parties. Our agenda focuses on economic and social justice, corporate accountability, job creation, environmental protection, and investment in education and healthcare.
For the past twelve years the WFP has been at the fore front of progressive politics,
Leading the fight and helping to frame the debate. The WFP has a proud record of fighting for issues that matter and has been instrumental in implementing key pieces of legislation such as Raising New York's Minimum Wage, Enacting Living Wage Laws, Creating Thousands of Jobs In the Green Economy, Passing Healthcare Reforms on the Local Level, Fighting for Affordable Housing, Keeping Tuition Costs Low, A Progressive Tax Code, Reliable/Cost Effective Public Transit System, Public Financing Of Elections and Corporate Accountability . In addition, we have an unapologetic stance on supporting and pushing good candidates to enact progressive legislation
The WFP is seeking immediate hires.
You must be an energetic communicator, with a passion for social and economic justice.
Only outgoing, articulate dedicated, determined candidates will be considered for the positions.
For those candidates that qualify WFP offers substantial paid-training provided by senior leadership, on varied issues such as: advocacy, public speaking, mobilizing, fundraising, networking and organizing. We invest in passionate people with excellent communication skills and a full benefits package is offered to those candidates that qualify. In addition, there is opportunity for advancement and travel to our satellite chapters and out of state affiliates.
This is not a policy job! Through direct action you will be shaping NY state politics for the next 20 years.
If you care about New York and want to help educate and mobilize around legislative campaigns-then we look forward to hearing from you!
Compensation: $350-$650 A Week Depending On Responsibility & Length Of Time On Staff
•Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
•Please, no phone calls about this job!
•Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.
PostingID: 2618821815
New York's most energetic, independent and progressive political party. Formed in 1998 by a grassroots coalition of community organizations, neighborhood activists, and labor unions, we came together to build a society that works for all of us, not just Wall Street CEOs and the well-connected. WFP is independent from corporate and government funding and in-addition we are community based; community funded and equally uninfluenced by both major parties. Our agenda focuses on economic and social justice, corporate accountability, job creation, environmental protection, and investment in education and healthcare.
For the past twelve years the WFP has been at the fore front of progressive politics,
Leading the fight and helping to frame the debate. The WFP has a proud record of fighting for issues that matter and has been instrumental in implementing key pieces of legislation such as Raising New York's Minimum Wage, Enacting Living Wage Laws, Creating Thousands of Jobs In the Green Economy, Passing Healthcare Reforms on the Local Level, Fighting for Affordable Housing, Keeping Tuition Costs Low, A Progressive Tax Code, Reliable/Cost Effective Public Transit System, Public Financing Of Elections and Corporate Accountability . In addition, we have an unapologetic stance on supporting and pushing good candidates to enact progressive legislation
The WFP is seeking immediate hires.
You must be an energetic communicator, with a passion for social and economic justice.
Only outgoing, articulate dedicated, determined candidates will be considered for the positions.
For those candidates that qualify WFP offers substantial paid-training provided by senior leadership, on varied issues such as: advocacy, public speaking, mobilizing, fundraising, networking and organizing. We invest in passionate people with excellent communication skills and a full benefits package is offered to those candidates that qualify. In addition, there is opportunity for advancement and travel to our satellite chapters and out of state affiliates.
This is not a policy job! Through direct action you will be shaping NY state politics for the next 20 years.
If you care about New York and want to help educate and mobilize around legislative campaigns-then we look forward to hearing from you!
Compensation: $350-$650 A Week Depending On Responsibility & Length Of Time On Staff
•Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
•Please, no phone calls about this job!
•Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.
PostingID: 2618821815
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