The message of salvation - wrapped very securely in a small plastic bag

The young hostess said, "We've watched the Jesus Film many times since we found it in the canal behind our house." The foreign Christian couple were amazed - they had just finished a breakfast of homemade butter, cheese, cucumbers, olives and tomatoes, along with plenty of good hot tea. "You could watch a movie after it had been in water?" they asked. The Kurdish woman replied, "It was wrapped very securely and put in a small plastic bag. This also contained a New Testament that wasn't damaged."

Although her visitors carefully explained the message of salvation, she remains staunchly loyal to Islam.

Pray that this young woman and her family will continue to read the New Testament and ponder its message. Ask God to open their spiritual eyes to discern between truth and error.

Please also give thanks for whoever placed the film and New Testament nearby! May the Kurdish woman recognize that God's message of salvation is also wrapped up very securely, in the person of Jesus Christ.

(from a Christian prayer letter, November 2011)

(To receive new uMarko posts via a daily email, please click Subscribe)
(On Twitter: FOLLOW uMarko or http://www.twitter.com/uMarko)

Pop and R&B preach Sex, Country is much better at True Relationships

Attention parents: it DOES matter what kind of music your child grows up on. If they listen to secular music, there is a pretty substantial difference between Country music, Pop, and R&B.

The four most frequent "reproductive" categories contained in the lyrics of hit Country songs in 2009 were commitment, parenting, rejection, and fidelity assurance, in that order.

For Pop songs the most frequent reproductive categories were sex appeal, reputation, short-term strategies, and fidelity assurance.

For R&B songs, sex appeal, resources (luxury items, cars, money), sex act, and status constituted the most frequent themes.
 
These are the findings of psychologists Dawn Hobbs and Gordon Gallup in their article Songs as a Medium for Embedded Reproductive Messages, a study published in Evolutionary Psychology, 2011. 9(3): 390-416.

They analyzed close to 60 hit songs from 2009 in Country, Pop, and R&B, and categorized all the "reproductive" messages contained in those songs. Please click on this graph to see the results more clearly(color codes added):

Whereas 46 out of the 58 parenting themes came from Country songs, only four appeared in R&B songs. In contrast, references to resources were featured 106 times in R&B songs, but appeared only six times in Country songs. Approximately 92% of the 174 songs that made it into the Top Ten in 2009 contained one or more reproductive messages, with an average of 10.49 reproductive phrases per song. The most popular/bestselling songs contained significantly more reproductive messages.

Marko comments: If you look at the graph carefully, Country scores the most messages in the positive green items (courtship, fidelity assurance, commitment, and especially parenting). The extremely negative red items (genitalia, arousal, sex act, sex appeal, infidelity) are the specialty of R&B and to a large extent Pop as well. These two also are big in red items (short term strategies meaning one night stands and sexual prowess, ), and materialistic areas in yellow (body parts, reputation, resources, and status).

Contemporary Christian music was not analyzed. This is much to the detriment of the readers of "Evolutionary" psychology. Also, these evolutionary psychologists did not comment on whether the cause of evolution is advanced by the increase in hedonism found in music. Perhaps this is devolution, not evolution!

(referenced on the Michael Medved Radio Program)

(To receive new uMarko posts via a daily email, please click Subscribe)
(On Twitter: FOLLOW uMarko or http://www.twitter.com/uMarko)

15 years of Cloning, not the Panacea we were Told

Remains of Dolly the sheep.

Would cloning be a scientific way for a person to achieve immortality, or at least for a succession of copies of him to live for an indeterminate length of time? Fifteen years ago, a sheep named “Dolly” was cloned from the mammary-gland cell of a six year old donor. There was discussion as to whether humans were next (Anonymous 2002).

One would expect that by today, fifteen years after Dolly was cloned, the cloning of animals would have advanced far beyond Dolly’s example. Yet this is not what has happened. Notice the extended quote below taken from a recent fact sheet put out by the U.S. Government’s Genome Project web site (Anonymous, 2011):

Reproductive cloning is a very inefficient technique and most cloned animal embryos cannot develop into healthy individuals. For instance, Dolly was the only clone to be born live out of a total of 277 cloned embryos. This very low efficiency, combined with safety concerns, presents a serious obstacle to the application of reproductive cloning.

Researchers have observed some adverse health effects in sheep and other mammals that have been cloned. These include an increase in birth size and a variety of defects in vital organs, such as the liver, brain and heart. Other consequences include premature aging and problems with the immune system. Another potential problem centers on the relative age of the cloned cell’s chromosomes. As cells go through their normal rounds of division, the tips of the chromosomes, called telomeres, shrink. Over time, the telomeres become so short that the cell can no longer divide and, consequently, the cell dies.

This is part of the natural aging process that seems to happen in all cell types. As a consequence, clones created from a cell taken from an adult might have chromosomes that are already shorter than normal, which may condemn the clones' cells to a shorter life span. Indeed, Dolly, who was cloned from the cell of a 6-year old sheep, had chromosomes that were shorter than those of other sheep her age. Dolly died when she was six years old, about half the average sheep's 12-year lifespan.

Marko comments: There seems to be something very mysterious that is at work here. Cloning evidently does not work as the way to eternal life. Bible believers who understand the fall of all mankind into sin would say that the finger of God is at work here....

References (selected)

Anonymous. 2002. Class Notes: The Cloning of Dolly, 'Cc', and other Mammals (see paragraphs V and VI). IUPUI Department of Biology. Retrieved August 18, 2011 from
www.biology.iupui.edu/biocourses/N100/2k2cloning.html

Anonymous. 2011. What are the potential drawbacks of cloning animals? Fact Sheets about Science: Cloning. National Human Genome Research Institute. Retrieved August 19, 2011, from www.genome.gov/25020028#al-11

(based on Timothy R. Stout, The Testimony of Clones & Telomeres, published in Creation Matters, a publication of Creation Research Society, Volume 16, Number 4, July/August 2011, to appear at http://www.creationresearch.org/creation_matters/pdf/2011/CM16%2004%20low%20res.pdf)

(To receive new uMarko posts via a daily email, please click Subscribe)
(On Twitter: FOLLOW uMarko or http://www.twitter.com/uMarko)

Jesus rescues Muslims from the occult side of Islam

The evil eye is a subject that generates a great deal of fear and superstitious bondage among Muslims of many countries. It is commonly believed that a jealous or hateful glance, or even a look of admiration, can deliberately or unwittingly bring a curse on others. Babies and young children are thought to be especia1ly vulnerable. For this reason, mothers typically pin blue and white charms on their little ones in the hope that this will protect them.

Occult practices are common in the world of the average Muslim. Many pray to Muslim saints at their tombs, visit astrologers and fortune tellers, wear protective lockets with verses from the Kor'an, and hire shamans and witches to place spells or curses on others.

A Christian camp in a Muslim country recently ministered to teens from horrific backgrounds surrounded by occult practices. Some of their families make sacrifices to folk gods, have incestuous relationships, are prone to violence, and are infested with demon possession.

Pray that these young people and their loved ones will be delivered from satanic bondage and experience the joy of salvation. Pray that Muslims who become followers of Christ will be diligent to forsake such practices, and will use the authority of Jesus to deal with such evils.

(from a Christian prayer letter, November 2011)

(To receive new uMarko posts via a daily email, please click Subscribe)
(On Twitter: FOLLOW uMarko or http://www.twitter.com/uMarko)

Jerusalem, sung by Marko

I sang "Jerusalem" on September 25th at Fellowship Bible Church of Philadelphia. This song is originally by the Hoppers, a wonderful song.



If you don't see the DivShare control above, you can listen at
http://www.divshare.com/download/16030413-696.

Our pastor preached his final sermon on the book of Revelation that morning, this song was the perfect one to sing for the occasion. Come, Lord Jesus, come to us soon!

(To receive new uMarko posts via a daily email, please click Subscribe)
(On Twitter: FOLLOW uMarko or http://www.twitter.com/uMarko)