Beware New Science Curricula for Christian Schools!

The BioLogos Forum, founded by Dr. Francis Collins (President Obama's pick to head the National Institutes of Health), is aggressively leading the charge into biblical compromise. BioLogos teaches that the Bible is not completely without error, that Adam was symbolic and not real, and that Genesis does not teach the creation of the material world. On their website they announce that if Christians today do not accept the theory of evolution, the Church will die off in the form of an insignificant cult!

BioLogos is conducting workshops for Christian school science teachers in order to train them how to teach evolution to their students - to supposedly harmonize the Bible and Darwinian evolution in the classroom. They are also developing an evolution-based science curriculum for use in homeschools and Christian schools. One of the BioLogos teachers, Dr. Peter Enns [recently terminated by Westminster Theological Seminary for his views that are contrary to Biblical Inerrancy - MM], is even developing a Bible story curriculum for children! Anticipated to release in February 2011, this material is being published by homeschool guru Susan Wise Bauer. Parents, beware! BioLogos is also leading and participating in Christian conferences to influence pastors and other Christian leaders with the message that the Bible and evolution are compatible.

There is a Biblical alternative for Christian schools. In Fall 2010, the Institute for Creation Research (ICR) launched Science Education Essentials, a new line of science curriculum supplements that cover topics with a crucial bearing on creation and evolution. Five modules are now available:

Science Education Essentials
for Christian Schools

• The Origin of Life
• The Structure of Matter
• Human Heredity
• Genetic Diversity
• Geologic Processes

Each module includes a Teacher Content Book that allows K-12 science teachers to absorb the facts related to the topic, as well as a Resources CD-ROM that contains activity sheets, reproducible lab experiments, and PowerPoint presentations ready for teachers to use in the classroom. Each educational level was pilot tested with real teachers and their students on every science topic, allowing ICR's faculty to fine-tune these materials for maximum impact. Teachers may visit http://icr.org/essentials to learn more about this exciting new resource.

(Lawrence E. Ford, Executive Editor, "Confronting Evolutionary Ideas", Acts & Facts, January 2011, Institute of Creation Research)

Evangelical Seminaries and the Biblical Doctrine of Creation

What is most disturbing in our culture today is the way in which the Darwinian belief system - the "religion" of Darwin - has influenced those who name the name of Christ, even those calling themselves "evangelicals." For instance, two or three decades ago there were dozens of private Christian colleges that maintained a biblical doctrine of creation. Today, only a handful have resisted compromise.

Evangelical seminaries today are filled with professors who have compromised the biblical text. They train pastors that it's okay to teach evolutionary ideas - the Big Bang, millions and billions of years, common ancestry, etc. - to their congregations. Leaning on the understanding of men (who happen to wear lab coats and have impressive letters behind their names), these professors and pastors have opted not to lean on the understanding of God, placing science over Scripture when they open the book of Genesis.

(Lawrence E. Ford, Executive Editor, "Confronting Evolutionary Ideas", Acts & Facts, January 2011, Institute of Creation Research)

Why are Darwinists so Adamant?

Most scientists today refuse to acknowledge God as Creator, or even that the overwhelming evidence of design in the world around us points to any kind of Designer.

The Heavens declare the glory of God...

Admitting that there exists some sort of supernatural intelligence - a Creator - logically leads us to confront a Judge, and most people in the world are reluctant to face the One who will judge the intents of their hearts and punish their bad behavior.

Darwinism has thus given an "out" that sounds scientific to those who want to avoid confrontation with the eternal!

(Lawrence E. Ford, Executive Editor, "Confronting Evolutionary Ideas", Acts & Facts, January 2011, Institute of Creation Research)

Muslim Prisoners come to the Lord

News from a Muslim country: several men in one prison have placed their faith in Christ and are studying the New Testament together.

Unfortunately, family visitors have been skeptical and abusive. Please uphold these men before the Lord.

(from a Christian newletter, January/February 2011)

Mixed Verdict in Turkey's trial of Christians

A Turkish Judge.

News from Turkey: after three years, the highly-publicized trial of Turan Topan and Hakan Taştan for supposedly slandering Turkish culture has come to a close.

The charges against the two men were based on a telephone call to state police claiming they were trying to form illegal groups in public schools. However, they had merely been distributing Scriptures among adults and visiting Bible Correspondence Course students.

Both were finally acquitted of the main charges against them, but were given a huge fine on a lesser charge.

Pray for fair treatment as they appeal this. Observers believe the charges and lengthy court case were fabricated to discourage national believers from sharing their faith. Ask God to overrule all of this and grant believers encouragement and exceptional boldness.

(from a Christian newsletted, January/February 2011)

Mosques allowed in Germany, but not Churches in Turkey...

In late October the President of Germany visited Turkey and met with the President and Prime Minister. He also spoke to the national parliament. His main message was about the need for true religious freedom. He said there are mosques throughout Germany and that churches should also be freely built in Turkey.

Thank the Lord for this unexpected support for the needs of Turkish Christians. Pray that the nation's leaders will take prompt action on this matter.

(from a Christian newsletter, January/February 2011)

For more, see http://hetq.am/en/world/41592/

Transition Home for Teenage Orphan Girls in Moldova

In 2009, New Hope International opened a transition home for teenage girls in Soldenesti, Moldova, formerly in the former Soviet Union. All were orphans and, at the age of 16 or 17 years old were "graduated" with no place to go.

The Russian Mafia is a human trafficker of orphan girls in many Eastern European countries such as Moldova, promising them jobs as maids or cleaning women. Then they confiscate their passports, and ship them to other countries such as Turkey or the Netherlands to be slaves in the sex industry.

Because of New Hope, teenage orphan girls in Moldova now have true friends that helps them make the transition to adulthood. They learn social and basic living skills, such as making decisions as an individual, and how to handle finances and freedom. All of this is done within a Christian environment and connected to a local church family.

Svetlana with her transition home
parents, Lucia and Vasile.

This year several of the girls are ready to move on, to seek employment or further education. One of them is Svetlana. She received a full scholarship and will study social work at Moldova's main seminary. Why? She wants to be prepared, both spiritually and practically, to invest her life in helping other orphans. Praise God!

Joshua Project

Jesus said in Matthew 24:14 "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come." Jesus directly links His return to the fulfillment of the Great Commission. While no one knows the date or time of His return, we do know that this gospel of the kingdom must be preached to all the nations first. Revelation 5:9 and 7:9-10 show that there will be some from every tribe, tongue, nation and people before the Throne.



Joshua Project is a research initiative seeking to highlight the ethnic people groups of the world with the least followers of Christ. Accurate, regularly updated ethnic people group information is critical for understanding and completing the Great Commission.

The Project gathers, integrates and shares people group information to encourage pioneer church-planting movements among every ethnic group and to facilitate effective coordination of mission agency efforts. They compile the work of numerous missions researchers to develop a list of all ethnic peoples that is as complete as possible.

For more info, see http://joshuaproject.net/joshua-project.php.

Guajajara Bible Translation complete!

It is the first weekend in October 2010. In Brazil, at the eastern margin of the Amazon region, the dusty towns of Arame, Grajau, and Barra do Corda host parades and public celebrations. The Guajajara (pronounced gwah-zha-zhara), Brazil's most numerous indigenous people (population 21,000), have just received the complete Bible in their own language. This day was preceded by 35 years of live-in, "relational" Bible translating. It represents the joint efforts of an international array of missionaries and translators from various organizations.

Only a few days before, at a lake 25 miles from Arame, 29 baptisms took place. CrossWorld missionary Bron reports:

By 3:30 p.m., there were over 150 Guajajara Indians and others gathered by the side of the lake. We sang praises to the Lord, read His Word, prayed, listened to testimonies from some of those who were being baptized and heard the Word shared by one of the Guajajara Christian leaders. After the baptism, about 80 of us shared around the Lord's table as we joined together in communion.

(from CrossWorld, 80 Years of Missions, 2011 Calendar)

Spiritual ADHD

"Our son, Jonah, was diagnosed with ADHD when he was three years old. Jonah's therapist gave us great insight into this condition through a simple explanation. He told us that Jonah lacked the ability to screen input the way "normal" people do. For instance, the dog barking next door, the clock ticking in the kitchen, the birds singing in the garden, the washing machine humming in the garage - these all vied equally for his attention, making it difficult for Jonah to hear me calling him to dinner.

"I suspect some of us may be "spiritually ADHD." In our culture, so many sights and sounds compete for our attention, drowning out the Master's quiet call. But if we are attuned to the Spirit and the Word, we will not miss His still small voice..."

(from a Christian missionary newsletter, Fall 2010)

A Muslim's Internet Journey to Christ...

Here is what Osman, from a Muslim country, writes about his journey to Christ:

"A divine hand was directing me to God's truth. It took me about a year to come to the conclusion that Jesus is the Savior of the world and the Lord of all. I broke all my ties with Islam and the false prophet and chose to follow Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. My whole life has changed. I am thankful to God for this web ministry that helped me find God in a personal way."

Osman is one of those who became a disciple of Jesus Christ in 2010 through Internet evangelism ministry. Today he has a growing faith in Christ and is now a part of God's kingdom!

(from a Christian missionary newsletter, December 2010)

A 142-year old Fraud is STILL in your 7th Grader's Science Book!

SHAME on Dr. Donald Cronkite, Ph.D., author of the extremely popular 7th grader's Science textbook, Pearson Prentice Hall's Cells and Heredity in the Science Explorer series, for parading junk science as truth to our youth.

My two sons are both in 7th grade, one in public and the other in Christian school. Both schools are using Cronkite's textbook. Cronkite, who is Professor of Biology at Hope College in Holland, Michigan (cronkite@hope.edu), resuscitates the Recapitulation theory of evolutionist Ernst Haeckel, first formulated in 1868. This theory is also known as the Biogenetic Law or Embryological Parallelism - and is often taught to college students with the catchy phrase "Ontogeny Recapitulates Phylogeny". Listen to the 2005 edition of the Prentice Hall textbook, on page 149, where this is what Dr. Cronkite and your 7th grade science class teacher are instructing your child:

Figure 8

Since Darwin's time, scientists have found a great deal of evidence that supports the theory of evolution. Fossils, patterns of early development, and similar body structures all provide evidence that organisms have changed over time.

Similarities in early development. Scientists also make inferences about evolutionary relationships by comparing the early development of different organisms. Suppose you were asked to compare an adult fish, salamander, chicken, and opossum. You would probably say they look quite different from each other. However, during early development, these four organisms are similar, as you can see in Figure 8. For example, during the early stages of development all four organisms have a tail and a row of tiny slits along there throats. These similarities suggest that these vertebrate species are related and share a common ancestor.

Haeckel's embryo drawings.
The top row has been faked and
the four right-hand collumns are
all from the same taxonomic subclass.

What is wrong here? This is a basically a repeat of Haeckel's 1868 Recapitulation theory. Haeckel's hypothesis is that developing from embryo to adult, animals go through stages resembling or representing successive stages in the evolution of their remote ancestors. He "proved" this with a series of embryo drawings from different kinds of animals emphasizing their similarities.

Haeckel's series of pictures was first shown to be based on a fraud by Professor His in 1874. Professor His showed that  that Haeckel had added 3.5 mm to the head of Bischoff''s dog embryo, taken 2 mm off the head of Ecker's human embryo, doubled the length of the human posterior, and substantially altered the details of the human eye. Haeckel confessed the fraud, but by then it had taken on a life of its own.

Eminent evolutionists up until the present know that Haeckel's recapitulation theory is junk science. For example, Stephen Jay Gould, who invented the theory of punctuated equilibrium to try to explain away the problem that evolutionists could not locate any intermediate forms in the fossil record, said this about Haeckel's fraud: "We do, I think, have the right to be both astonished and ashamed by the century of mindless recycling that has led to the persistence of these drawings in a large number, if not a majority, of modern textbooks."

Fast forward to today. Dr. Donald Cronkite decided to use as his "Figure 8" Michael K. Richardson's picture from Scott Gilbert's book Developmental Biology, 6th edition. However, in Richardson's own review paper titled "There is no highly conserved embryonic stage in the vertebrates: implications for current theories of evolution and development." Richardson says the following: 

Contrary to recent claims that all vertebrate embryos pass through a stage when they are the same size, we find a greater than 10-fold variation in greatest length at the tailbud stage. Our survey seriously undermines the credibility of Haeckel’s drawings, which depict not a conserved stage for vertebrates, but a stylised amniote embryo. In fact, the taxonomic level of greatest resemblance among vertebrate embryos is below the subphylum. The wide variation in morphology among vertebrate embryos is difficult to reconcile with the idea of a phyogenetically-conserved tailbud stage, and suggests that at least some developmental mechanisms are not highly constrained by the zootype.

This is basically saying the exact opposite from Cronkite's statement to 7th graders, that "these similarities suggest that these vertebrate species are related and share a common ancestor."

Now there are still some evolutionists who would spring to Cronkite's defense, even 142 years after the fraud was first hatched. For example, Steve Matheson in his blog entry "It’s just a stage. A phylotypic stage", complains that some "propagandists and demagogues" are "shadow boxing with Haeckels' ghost" for political purposes! (I suppose that includes yours truly).

I would say the opposite, SHAME on Dr. Cronkite and all of his ilk for brazenly passing off Haeckel's hoax of recapitulation to our youth. It is sad that science teachers are forced to meekly accept what is passed off as truth within textbooks, or do not take the time to find out for themselves the accuracy of those textbooks.

Furthermore, this so-called Racapitulation theory has a very dubious heritage, as pointed out in the article by Dr. Henry Morris. Areas of science that quietly use the ideas of Racapitulation as their centerpiece include the Standard Geologic Column, Freudian Psychoanalysis, Modern Racism, and Abortionism. Abortionists say, "the fetus is still in its fish stage so you are just cutting up a fish" to convince young women that killing their child is acceptable!

Please examine your 7th grader's textbook and look for a Haeckel-type picture. If you find one, explain the truth to your child and to their science teacher. Creatures did not evolve based on their similarities, they were created by a wonderful God who demonstrates his love through their amazing diversity! For more information, see the book of Genesis in your Bible, and the ongoing and fantastic findings by modern-day creation scientists on websites like Creation Wiki

References

Cells and Heredity, Science Explorer series, 2005. Pearson Prentice-Hall.

Gilbert, Scott F. 2000. Developmental Biology. 6th edition. Sunderland, Massachusetts, Sinauer Associates.

Gould, Stephen Jay. 2000. Abscheulich! Atrocious! Natural History, March, 2000, p. 45.

Mattheson, Steve. 2010. It’s just a stage. A phylotypic stage. Part I, accessed 12/24/2010.

Recapitulation Theory, 2010. Wikipedia.

Rudd, Steve, Piltdown Embryo, accessed 12/24/2010.

Was Darwin the first to think up Evolution? 2009, accessed 12/24/2010.

World Christians: 80-20 has flipped to 20-80

God has caused astounding worldwide expansion of His church over the last 100 years.

In 1910, 80% of the world's evangelical believers could be found in what is commonly called the West (North America, Western Europe, Australia and New Zealand).

By 2010, the distribution had been turned on its head ... now 80% of the evangelical church is non-Western! And a groundswell of new missionaries is emerging from the continents of Asia, South America and Africa.

(from CrossWorld, 80 Years of Missions, 2011 Calendar)

Iraqi Christmas Celebrations cancelled after al-Qaida Threat

Their cathedrals stand silent and their neighbourhoods are rapidly emptying. Now Iraq's Christians face two further unthinkable realities: that Christmas this year is all but cancelled, and that few among them will stay around to celebrate future holy days.

It has been the worst of years for the country's Christians, with thousands fleeing in the past month and more leaving the country during 2010 than at any time since the invasion nearly eight years ago.


A shrine to Christians killed at the
Our Lady of Salvation church in Baghdad
in the autumn. Al-Qaida has renewed
threats against Iraq's Christians.

The latest exodus follows a massacre led by al-Qaida at a Chaldean Catholic church in central Baghdad on 31 October, which left about 60 people dead, almost 100 maimed and an already apprehensive community terrified. Since then, the terrorist group has targeted Christians in their homes, including family members of those who survived the attack.
Now more than 80% of Christians are not going to the churches," said the head of Iraq's Christian Endowment group, Abdullah al-Noufali. "There is no more sunday school, no school for teaching Christianity. Yesterday we had a discussion about what we would do for Christmas. We took a decision just to do one mass. In years before we had many masses."

(As reported by Martin Cholov, The Guardian, UK, Christian exodus from Iraq gathers pace)

Among the estimated 500,000 Christians left in Iraq—half or less of the estimated pre-invasion population of 800,000 to 1.4 million—the Chaldean archbishop is a central figure. Chaldeans, an Eastern rite of the Catholic Church, not only account for two-thirds of Iraq's remaining Christian population, but Archbishop Nona also filled a position left vacant when his predecessor in Mosul was kidnapped and killed.

Archbishop Nona was ordained at the start of 2010, almost two years after al Qaeda-linked militants kidnapped Paulos Faraj Rahho as he celebrated mass at a Mosul church. Archbishop Paulos died in captivity in March 2008.

(As reported by Sam Dagher, Wall Street Journal, US, Amid Violence, Iraq Christians Strive for Silent Night)

Witchdoctor is Healed

In the Maasai tribal area of Kenya called Loita, a witchdoctor named Olais was in critical condition with double pneumonia. CrossWorld doctor and missionary Dana Witmer treated him immediately and put him on a course of medication.

Olais began to improve and decided to go to the Kijabe mission hospital. While there, he asked Jesus Christ to rule in his life! He left word for his witchdoctor colleagues that they need not visit him again. Olais has since cut off all the spiritist amulets that he used to wear around his angles, neck and wrist.

Praise God that over 50% of the Maasai in Kenya's Rift Valley are now following Jesus.

(from CrossWorld, 80 Years of Missions, 2011 Calendar)

10 New Year's Resolutions to Get Along Better with People

1. Keep skid chains on your tongue; always say less than you think. Cultivate a low, persuasive voice. How you say it counts more than what you say.

2. Make promises sparingly, and keep them faithfully, no matter what it costs.

3. Never let an opportunity pass to say a kind and encouraging word to or about somebody. Praise good work, regardless of who did it. If criticism is needed, criticize helpfully, never spitefully.

4. Be interested in others, their pursuits, their work, their homes and families. Make merry with those who rejoice; with those who weep, mourn. Let everyone you meet, however humble, feel that you regard him as a person of importance.

5. Be cheerful. Don’t burden or depress those around you by dwelling on your minor aches and pains and small disappointments. Remember, everyone is carrying some kind of a load.

6. Keep an open mind. Discuss but don’t argue. It is a mark of a superior mind to be able to disagree without being disagreeable.

7. Let your virtues, if you have any, speak for themselves. Refuse to talk of another’s vices. Discourage gossip. It is a waste of valuable time and can be extremely destructive.

8. Be careful of another’s feelings. Wit and humour at the other person’s expense are rarely worth it and may hurt when least expected.

9. Pay no attention to ill-natured remarks about you. Remember, the person who carried the message may not be the most accurate reporter in the world. Simply live so that nobody will believe them. Disordered nerves and bad digestion are a common cause of back-biting.

10. Don’t be too anxious about the credit due you. Do your best, and be patient. Forget about yourself, and let others “remember.” Success is much sweeter that way.

(Ann Landers, Ten Commandments of Getting Along with People)

'Homosexuality is a sin’ street preacher wins £7k from British police

A street preacher wrongly arrested for saying homosexuality is a sin has won substantial damages as U.K. police chiefs issue new guidelines telling officers to be more thick-skinned.

(reported by Jonathan Petre, Daily Mail)

Dale Mcalpine was held for seven hours and charged with a public-order offence in April after telling a gay police community support officer (PCSO) that he believed homosexuals were acting against the word of God. He was accused of uttering ‘threatening, abusive or insulting’ words ‘to cause harassment, alarm or distress’ contrary to Section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986.

But the charges were dropped after the case was highlighted by The Mail on Sunday and now police in Cumbria have agreed to pay him £7,000 in compensation as well as his legal costs, potentially an extra £10,000.

The payout came as new national guidance was issued to police following growing criticism of their heavy-handed treatment of Christians expressing their religious views.

Keeping The Peace, published by the Association of Chief Police Officers, says officers must be aware that the right to free speech allows people to express unpopular views as long as ‘their conduct is reasonable or the actual or potential violence provoked in others is “wholly unreasonable” ’.

Pressure is mounting on the Government to reform the Public Order Act when it introduces its Freedom Bill in the New Year. Campaigners want the word ‘insulting’ removed from Section 5 of the Act because they believe it leaves street preachers and others vulnerable to arrest.

At a magistrates’ court hearing his trial date was set for September, but coverage of his treatment provoked a public outcry.

Mr Mcalpine said last night: ‘I am delighted the police are going to apologise. It is not about the money but about freedom of speech. I hope the police will in future do their duty defending freedom of speech.’

The Christian Institute, which backed his case, said: ‘We’re obviously pleased that Cumbria Police has seen common sense. But Mr Mcalpine should not have been arrested in the first place. Sadly, it’s not an isolated case. The Government needs to amend the Public Order Act as a matter of urgency.’

Earlier this month, street preacher Anthony Rollins, who was handcuffed and arrested for condemning homosexuality, was awarded £4,250 in damages following a court case against West Midlands Police. Even homosexual rights campaigner Peter Tatchell has called for reform of the law.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1339843/Homosexuality-sin-street-preacher-wins-7k-police

Please pray for persecuted believers in Columbia.



FARC Colombia - a group of armed rebels
against the government. They have been
known to be involved in kidnapping
and drug trafficking.


"Will will serve in the church as long as God allows. ... But the fear doesn't leave; like all humans, sometimes we worry."

(from a persecuted pastor in Columbia, Voice of the Martyrs,  2010)

The Physics of the Resurrection?

My friend Michael Turley asks:

Do I understand from a previous post that you are a Physicist? If so, I want to ask you your professional opinion about Dr Francis Tipler's Omega Point theory (tried to read physics of immortality and could only grasp it in a very elementary fashion) and also what do you think of Dr Russell Humphreys' White Hole Cosmology and the plausibility of that....I understand it has problems, and if it does have problems are they as great as the problems facing naturalist's Big Bang cosmology. Thanks!!! :)

My answer:

Tipler is not Biblical. His Omega Point theory is not much better than Eric Van Daniken, who went to town in his Chariots of the Gods with the strange spacecraft of Ezekiel Chapter 1, which he interprets as a detailed description of a landing alien spacecraft.

How would Tipler use his Omega Point theory to explain Jesus' Resurrection from the dead? He can't, since what he's talking about has no real reference to the God of the Bible. But Bible believers know that "Surely the Lord does nothing without revealing his secrets to his servants the prophets" (Amos 3:7). And God tells us that "on the third day, He will raise us up, that we may live before him" (Hosea 6:2).

The best book on resurrection that I've read is John W. Cooper, Body, Soul & Life Everlasting, Biblical Anthropology and the Monism-Dualism Debate, 1989, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids. 

Sorry, it does not try to deduce principles of the resurrection from fantastic models of physics.... Instead, Cooper goes to both the Old Testament and New and gives a very satisfying explanation of what awaits believers after death, in both the intermediate state before they receive their glorified bodies, and who they will be after judgment day.

Humphrey's White Hole Cosmology is really cool. I really like the way it starts with a huge ball of water. It also has a neat explanation of the uniformity of the background cosmic radiation field. Humphrey admits that his model is incomplete. It has been tweaked a little, but remains unfinished.

But the best physics explanation I've read so far of God's 6 day creation is Anisotropic Synchrony Convention—A Solution to the Distant Starlight Problem, by Jason Lisle. He demonstrates with some amazing relativistic equations that "starlight from the most distant galaxy can reach earth on the fourth day of the Creation Week when the correct relativistic synchrony convention is employed". I don't understand the math there yet, but I hope someday to write a blog entry on it.

~ Marko, M.S. Physics, M.Div Pastoral Ministry

Nerds searching for WIMPs

The search for dark matter is likely to go on for another 77 years, because without it the Big Bang would become the Bankrupt Bang. Bigger and better detectors will be begged for and built. Until then, it is probable that dark matter will only fill the minds of physicists!

"Nerds at work"

That's the logo on T-shirts sold at the visitor center in Lead, South Dakota. A team of physicists and former miners is converting the Homestake gold mine in Lead to become the Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory, or DUSEL. It will become the world's deepest underground laboratory, to be used in search for Dark Matter. The centerpiece is the LUX, or Large Underground Xenon detector, with 1.6 octillion (billion billion billion) xenon atoms. This according to the January 2011 issue of Popular Science.

"No one knows what dark matter is, or if it even really exists. For now, it is just a placeholder, an x that must be plugged into various calculations in order to square astronomical observations with the rules of Newtonian physics. The name comes from Fritz Zwicky, a Swiss astronomer who in 1933 used two well-established methods to calculate the mass of the Coma cluster, a group of more than 1,000 galaxies. The Coma galaxies were spinning much faster than would be predicted by the amount of overall light emitted. For the Newtonian equation to add up, there had to be more mass. Zwicky dubbed this missing bulk dark matter.

Searching for WIMPs

"Today, most (but by no means all) physicists agree that dark matter exists, and that it is probably made up of what they call WIMPs, or weakly interacting massive particles. "Massive" doesn't mean that the particles are large, but that they have mass and therefore both respond to and cause gravitational pull. "Weakly interacting" means that the particles, despite having mass, nonetheless only rarely interact with matter. Scientists also assume that WIMPs are electromagnetically neutral, which is why we can't see them.

Dark Matter supposedly makes up 90% of the universe, but for the last 77 years, it has only been detected in the minds of physicists. Physicists Tom Shutt and Dan Akerib of the LUX team theorize that about three or four dark matter particles per year will interact with the xenon in their detector.

More Nerds searching for WIMPs

"The LUX team's competitors, though in some cases further ahead in their projects, are also working through their own problems.  One project, the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search II, is located in an old iron mine in Minnesota. The physicists there made headlines in December 2009 when they thought they had detected two WIMP signals. Both turned out to be false alarms, but they intend to try again with a bigger detector called SuperCDMS. Another frontrunner, Xenon 100, hidden under the Gran Sasso mountain in central Italy, is already operational. It uses a technology similar to LUX, but its detector tank is much smaller. Thus far, it has detected nothing.

Nerds are stuck on the letter B

"The LAX lab is just the first stage in the larger DUSAL project, which is expected to receive more than $875 million from the federal government and has already pulled in another $47.3 from the state of South Dakota and $70 million from private donors. The project's annual operating budget is $23 million."

But it would be no surpirse if the search for dark matter went on for another 77 years, because without it the Big Bang would become the Bankrupt Bang. Bigger and better detectors will be begged for and built.  Until then, dark matter will continue to fill the mind of most physicists!

MOND is a cheaper alternative to Dark Matter

In their book Dismantling the Big Bang, Alex Williams and John Hartnett explain that some physicists with lighter minds do not believe in WIMPs or any sort of dark matter. Their alternative theory is called MOND (Modified Newtonian Dynamics).

"It proposes that the acceleration due to gravity in the inner reaches of a galaxy is above a threshold value, so gravity behaves normally and falls off with distance according to the inverse square law. But in the outer reaches of a galaxy it drops below the threshold value, and so the effect of gravity falls away as an inverse linear function of distance. As a result, the force of gravity remains unexpectedly strong in the outer arms of the galaxy and thus holds it all together. No one knows why the MOND theory works for spiral, elliptical, dwarf, and large galaxies, galaxy clusters, superclusters, molecular clouds and globular star clusters. There is, as yet, no theoretical explanation for either the threshold or the change in gravitational behaviors.

"Light intensity also propagates according to the inverse square law. If gravity fails to obey the inverse square law at galactic distances, then perhaps light does also. This would have an enormous impact on cosmology and the Big Bang theory."

Mature Creation and Anisoptropic Synchrony

An even stronger alternative offered by some Creation Scientists is Mature Creation. Jason Lisle explains, that "It has been suggested that God supernaturally created the beams of light themselves. That is, the light beam from every star to earth is created “in transit” at the same time the stars are created."

In his article titled Anisotropic Synchrony Convention—A Solution to the Distant Starlight Problem, Lisle demostrates with some amazing relativistic equations that "starlight from the most distant galaxy can reach earth on the fourth day of the Creation Week when the correct relativistic synchrony convention is employed". 

If "any spiral galaxy were more than 1 billion years old, its spiral structure should be so tightly wound that it would no longer be discernable. Yet this is not what we find. Spiral structure is easily visible in most face-on galaxies, indicating the youth of these galaxies regardless of their distance from the solar system."

Further research needs to be done on Anisotropic synchrony as a replacement for Dark matter. I suspect that such research is likely to cost less than $875 million of taxpayer dollars.

Conclusion

The missing matter that remains missing is another evidence that Big Bang is not the mother of all matter and energy. Instead, we have a Father God, creator of heaven and earth, whose wonderful universe cannot be fathomed without signs of Him everywhere, even in the spinning of galaxies.

References

Borel, Brooke. 2011. Mining for Dark Matter. Popular Science, January 2011:42ff.

Lisle, Jason. 2010. Anisotropic Synchrony Convention—A Solution to the Distant Starlight Problem, Answers Research Journal 3 (2010): 191-207.Modified Newtonian dynamics, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modified_Newtonian_dynamics, accessed 12/16/2010





Williams, Alex, John Hartnett. 2005. Dismantling the Big Bang. Master Books, Green Forest, Arizona, USA, 138-139.
  

Bible Correspondence for Youth in Ukraine

God is at work in big ways in New Hope International's Bible Correspondence Course in Ukraine. More than 15,700 children and teens are learning about Christ and growing in their faith. Here are responses from four of them:

"I just wanted you to know that my friend signed me up for your Bible courses and after some time I got saved. These courses help me understand the most important thing - that Jesus died for me." ~ Maria

"From the 12 lessons I received from you, I understand that Satan will not steal me from God's family because Jesus is my best Friend and Savior." ~ Diana

"Thank you for the lessons. I want to be a missionary and share God's Word with others." ~ Olya

"I wanted to thank you for corresponding with me. The lessons you sent me helped me invite Christ into my heart. Now I realilze that the greatest gift from God is our salvation." ~ Ivan

Many lives are being changed by God's power!

(from New Hope International newsletter, December 2010)

A Mighty Fortress, by Christy Nockels, sung by Marko

I sang "A Mighty Fortress" by Christy Nockels, on 28-Nov-2010 at Fellowship Bible Church of Philadelphia.



If you don't see the DivShare control above, you can listen at
http://www.divshare.com/download/13485208-237

This was my best Special Music solo performance so far. May you be blessed by it. Thank you, Jesus!

Queen Sacrifice!

My best chess-playing days were almost 40 years ago, but somehow I played this gem of a game recently. Had to share it!

White to move. Do you see the Queen sacrifice?

(For a full-screen version where you can play through the moves, click
http://blog.chess.com/view/queen-sacrifice-annotated)

Actions YOU *must* take to protect your Facebook password

Use https://www.facebook.com, not http://www.facebook.com!! Or you can be easily hacked!!

Your Facebook password can be easily sniffed by hackers on your network, your co-workers, your boss, your ISP and virtually anyone that you didn’t meet before. This is because you probably get to Facebook by typing in www.facebook.com or http://www.facebook.com.

The S, yes it’s all about the S, meaning SECURED, simply add the S to the http:// so it becomes https:// . By doing this Facebook will exchange a key with your machine that only you and Facebook have and it’s unique for every session, the key will be used to encrypt all data transfered between you and facebook which we web developers call SSL or Secure Socket Layer.

In other terms, without typing the S your information including Facebook password is being transferred in the internet in plain text waiting for someone to pick it up which is not a hard thing to do.

Next time remember:
https://www.facebook.com

What is Mark Zuckerberg is thinking, SSL should be enabled by default and forced like in Gmail, why do we have to force SSL on Facebook ourselves?

(Reproduced from http://www.technolibya.com/internet/security/force-ssl-secure-facebook.html, Mar 11, 2010)

Recently Discovered 'Goldilocks' Planet May Not Exist

A distant rocky planet was recently discovered orbiting close enough to its red dwarf star that liquid water could exist on its surface. This rare position is called the goldilocks zone (not too hot and not too cold). But it would be tough for life to exist on a planet that doesn’t!

"All the excitement has been over the subtlest of wiggles” observed in a star system named Gliese 581, 20 light years from earth.¹ However, a Geneva group, also looking at subtle wiggles in Gliese 581’s position in the sky, “announced that they could find no trace of the prized planet.”¹

Even if the planet (dubbed Gliese 581g) is in the goldilocks zone and has water, it would probably be frozen, since one side of the planet always faces its star. But even if one were to grant the presence of surface liquid water on Gliese 581g, there are many more hurdles to clear before entertaining the possibility of life there.

Life also depends on the right temperature, pressure, atmospheric composition, and appropriate available elements. It also needs internal equipment capable of producing new generations of the biochemical machines, and this equipment would have to be protected from the very environmental conditions—like water, for example—that make life possible.

None of this deters study leader Steven Vogt, who said at a press briefing, “Personally, given the ubiquity and propensity of life to flourish wherever it can, I would say, my own personal feeling is that the chances of life on this planet are 100 percent.”²

There could be no stronger statement of blind faith (!) that an evolution-inspired, imaginary property of nature could somehow generate life. In reality, any propensity for life to flourish is a direct result of the specialized machinery and coded instructions already placed into living cells, rather than the result of any known natural law. 

Wild pronouncements of life on other planets are fueled by evolution-inspired “excitement,” not by real science. Those coded instructions make life possible precisely because they circumvent or exploit the laws of nature.

God is the Miraculous Creator. And Goldilocks ran away into the forest, never to appear again.

References (selected)

1. Kerr, R. A. Recently Discovered Habitable World May Not Exist. Science Now. Posted on news.sciencemag.org October 12, 2010, accessed October 28, 2010.

2. Bryner, J. Odds of Life on Newfound Earth-Size Planet ‘100 Percent,’ Astronomer Says. Space.com, reporting on research slated for publication in Astrophysical Journal. Posted on space.com September 29, 2010, accessed September 30, 2010.

(Brian Thomas, M.S., Acts & Facts, December 2010, Institute of Creation Research)

Creationists are the new Ghost busters

Evolutionary science increasingly believes in the supernatural. How can evolutionary science then be “scientific”?

For example, evolutionists believe in “ghost lineages”, which they conjure up to explain puzzling gaps in the fossil record. Commenting on the implications of finding tetrapod tracks “18 million years” earlier than expected, authors of a Nature study stated, “This forces us to infer much longer ghost lineages for tetrapods and elpistostegids [lobe-finned fish] than the body fossil record suggests.” ¹

A particular animal might appear near the bottom of the record, be absent for many strata, then reappear far above the first layer. In some cases, the upper specimen is found first, then another much lower down. Sometimes a lower-layer fossil is surprisingly discovered still alive!

The enigma of ghost lineages is solved when the rock record is decoupled from belief in millions of years. Some of the same kinds of organisms may have been inundated and fossilized earlier in the year of the Great Flood, with others fossilized a little later on. Large hiatuses in the fossil record are no mystery if all these creatures lived at the same time, as the Genesis record states.

References (selected)

1. Nied´zwiedzki, G. et al. 2010. Tetrapod trackways from the early Middle Devonian period of Poland. Nature. 463 (7277): 43-48.

(Frank Sherwin, M.A., Acts & Facts, December 2010, Institute of Creation Research)

Reformed Blacks of America...

RBA is an organization helping to unite the growing movement of African Americans embracing the Reformed faith. It seeks to build and maintain an infrastructure and network among African-Americans in a Reformed theological context for indigenous leadership, church growth and theological research for today's world.

Black Tulip.

RBA was led to its existence due to the lack of an intentional multifaceted structure through which the Reformed Black community in all its diversity can reach its fullest potential in America. The cultivation of this infrastructure will be fulfilled through these three aspects of the mission of RBA: (1) the advancement of indigenous Black Reformed leadership, (2) growth of Reformed Black churches and (3) theological research that addresses the pathologies of Black America and the challenges of this complex world.

One of RBA's distinctives is that it embodies the next generation of Black Reformed thinkers and thought.

RBA on the Doctrines of Grace: Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistable Grace, Perseverence of the Saints.

The Cambridge Declaration: Sola Scriptura, Solus Christus, Sola Gratia, Sola Fide, Soli Deo Gloria.

For more info, see http://reformedblacksofamerica.org/.