Is there someone to whom you can show God's kindness?

Is there no one still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show God's kindness? (2 Samuel 9:3)

Three thousand years ago King David asked this question, because he wanted to show God's kindness. David then found Mephibosheth, the crippled and forgotten grandson of the previous king, Saul. Saul had regarded David as a mortal enemy. He brought Mephibosheth to live with him, and put at his disposal an army of some 35 servants! What an impact David's action must have made on all who heard of it. Mephibosheth was so astounded that he asked, "what is your servant, that you should notice a dead dog like me?"

Today, we are not called to simply act on our own behalf but to represent God. Is there someone, perhaps an enemy or someone who is estranged from you, to whom you can show God's kindness?

(based on a letter from Dale Losch, CrossWorld, March 2011)

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Turkey: from 0 to 100 in 50 years

When we and others began rallying people to pray in the 1960's and 70's, there wasn't one congregation in all of Turkey made up of converts from Islam. Now there are more than a hundred! God has also provided exciting new avenues for sharing the Gospel. Christian satellite broadcasts presently reach areas where most of the world's 190 million Turks live. In addition, we and other ministries have begun to see astounding responses to Internet evangelism.

That's why it is urgent that we recruit more Christians to pray. We need more prayer warriors for the Turks!

(Steve Hagerman, Turkish World Outreach, March 2011)

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Simple bacteria are not so simple, they are God's handiwork!

Science has shown how naive the long-held assumption of “simple bacteria” is. Indeed, there is nothing simple about these tiny prokaryotes. 

For example, two German scientists said in regard to intracellular signaling in bacteria:

"Despite the apparent simplicity of the basic signaling mechanisms, signal processing in bacteria can show a large degree of complexity. The magnitude of internal and external stimuli means that behavioral decisions must involve cross-regulation between individual sensory systems. At the same time, individual signals have to be insulated against unspecific cross talk to preserve the specificity of input-output relations." (Kentner, 2011)

In the face of such enormous complexity, secular scientists must engage in “just-so” accounts of its origins. In regard to how bacteria respond to the vast assortment of environmental signals, six evolutionists said, “A wide range of signal perception modes have evolved.” (Krell, 2010) This explains nothing. Neither does stating that membrane pores (channels) in microbes “have evolved to be usually closed (in an occluded conformation).” (Kung, 2010) Scientists have never observed signal perception modes “evolving” or membrane channels “evolving” to be usually closed. Creationists maintain that the detailed conditions required for their very existence (life) were created “in the beginning.”

(for more, see Frank Sherwin, Life: More Complicated than we can Imagine, Acts & Facts March 2011, Institute for Creation Research)

References (selected)

Kentner, D. and V. Sourjik. 2010. Use of Fluorescence Microscopy to Study Intracellular Signaling in Bacteria. Annual Review of Microbiology. 64: 373-390.

Krell, T. et al. 2010. Bacterial Sensor Kinases: Diversity in the Recognition of Environmental Signals. Annual Review of Microbiology. 64: 539-559.

Kung, C., B. Martinac and S. Sukharev. 2010. Mechanosensitive Channels in Microbes. Annual Review of Microbiology. 64: 313-329

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There are only 1,000 Orochi people in Siberia

With approximately 200 million Punjabi Shaikhs (in India and Pakistan), 121 million Japanese, 54 million Brahmins (India), and 52 million Turks in desperate need of hearing the good news, why would anyone bother with the 1,000 Orochis? Not only are they small in number, but they make their home on the remote rivers of Tartar Strait in Russia's far east.

A Siberian Shaman.

Living in near-total isolation, the Orochi people long ago assumed the world to be full of dangerous spirits. In order to appease these gods, they created an elaborate system of rules and sacrifices. Fire and tigers were considered worthy of worship. In order for them to communicate with the many deities, they sought the assistance of mediators or shamans.

The Orochi people were right to seek a mediator. It is true that by their own merit or works they cannot gain the approval of God. What they did not know, and still have not heard, is that God Himself provided a mediator in Jesus Christ. Instead of consulting shamans, they can go directly to Him and find favor with the One True God.

(from Global Prayer Digest, March 2011)

Louis Agassiz, greatest paleontologist of Darwin's day, was a Creationist

Jean Louis Agassiz (1807-1873) is regarded as one of the greatest scientists of the 19th century. A founding father of the modern American scientific establishment, Agassiz was also a lifelong opponent of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution.

Long before the mutational theory of evolution was popularized, Agassiz foresaw the overwhelmingly harmful nature of mutations and the inability of “selection” to produce new life forms. He recognized that the problem with Darwinism was not the survival of the fittest, but rather the arrival of the fittest. Agassiz knew, as did most all animal and plant breeders both then and today, that clear limits exist to variation and no known way exists to go beyond these limits in spite of 4,000 years of trying. Creationists today refer to this fact as variation in life limited to that existing within the Genesis kinds. The fact is, all mutations known to us cannot even begin to produce the variety required for molecules to mankind evolution, but rather they create monstrosities.

(for more, see Jerry Bergman, Louis Agassiz: Anti-Darwinist Harvard Paleontology Professor, Acts & Facts March 2011, Institute for Creaton Research)

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