Today’s headlines are filled with bad news – Swine Fever killing scores of people in Mexico and spreading internationally; Taliban gaining in their takeover efforts in nuclear armed Pakistan; rising unemployment and deepening world economic crisis; famines, natural disasters, earthquakes, cholera, AIDS and other disease epidemics, and grinding world poverty.
Suffering and bad news is relentless …it’s time we had a break!
So, does Christ’s message carry any future hope …for you?
Well …the good news is that it does, but it is not the typical “turn-off” news you may have heard in the past about Christ.
Most people have heard a message about the life of Jesus …but hardly anyone has actually heard the futuristic message delivered by Jesus.
“Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel (good news) of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.” (Mark 1:14-15)
·we need to understand the good news and begin preparing for the coming Kingdom of God on this earth, when He returns to rule the world, by establishing His Government here on this planet. (Isaiah 9:6-7);
·we need to repent and turn to God with all our heart, mind …be baptised …and become converted, by developing the mind of Christ in our lives, with the gift of His Holy Spirit within us;
·we need to continue faithfully to believe and live by Christ’s good news message of how we should live by God’s right way of life;
·we need salvation, which can only come through Jesus Christ (Act 4:12) “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”
The message is clear …and the rewards are enormous.
Imagine being a son or daughter of God …and being able to help serve Jesus in His Government on this earth?
The real Jesus taught this message and gave His life in place of you and me …so that we might choose to take up the invitation to be in the Family of God.
Many are offered the invitation but few accept the invitation, and do something about it.
“For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:14-19)
Did you notice that?
God the Father is the Head of the Family of God.
God is a Family.
You too can be part of God’s Family.
“Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons (children) of God: therefore the world knows us not, because it knew Him not.Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. And every man that has this hope in him purifies himself, even as He is pure.” (1John 3:1-3)
Did you realise that?
What is the purpose that God the Father has in mind for you?
What is the purpose of the Gospel of the Kingdom, which was the true message of the real Christ?
Yes! You can be a son or daughter of God …serve in His Kingdom when He establishes His Government on this earth …and live a happy life in His Family for eternity.
“Wherefore come out from among them, and be you separate, says the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” (2Corinthians 6:17-18)
Did you grasp that?
You can be considered by God …as a son or daughter of God …now.
PS:You can obtain FREE copies of this literature and the FREE Good News Magazine by contacting the United Church of God-Australia, Office on FREE CALL 1800 356202 or write to: PO Box 535, Brisbane, Qld 4001 OR as shown under Literature Requeston the Church webpage…OR you can FREE download by clicking on to:Bible Study Course AND The Road to Eternal Life AND What is Your Destiny.
PPS: “Why not have Your say?”Feel free to click onto these next 4 words and drop me an email.
Platypus are unique in all of God’s creation and leave evolutionists stunned and flat-footed.
Platypus smile at evolution with a knowing smile
“Old Flatfoot”, which is what Platypus means, (Greek: Platys = broad and pous=foot) is perfectly designed for its environment on which it depends for its survival.
When we look at the pointers of proof of God’s existence, as Designer, Creator, Lifegiver, Lawgiver, and Sustainer, we see all of these elements in a Platypus.
We also see how impossible it would be for a Platypus to evolve.
Native only to Australia, the platypus appears to be a “patchwork” animal to evolutionists in their frustrated efforts to try to imaginatively connect its evolution from about 5 widely differing creatures, nowhere near each other in the fanciful “evolutionary tree”.
Platypus have a bill like a duck (but much more sophisticated), webbed feet like an otter …but which retract and have claws for digging, the males have poisonous spurs in their hind legs like a snake, its tail is like a beaver but covered with fur and not scales. It lays eggs but suckles its young through secretion of milk on its under hairs.
No wonder Evolutionists are baffled by its existence. Platypus are an amazing complex designed, brilliantly created monotreme mammal, given life, and laws that govern its sustenance. It even bamboozles the pseudo-god of “natural selection”.
Male platypus poison spur
At birth all platypus, male and female, are born with poisonous spurs, but, get this fact…after one year the females poisonous spurs fall off! Now, if survival of the fittest is the determining regime …evolutionists go figure?
The male uses his poisonous spurs in the August-September mating season to ward off other male platypus and can inject a potent poison into any predator, which causes a nasty pain. However, during courtship the male uses his spurs gently to hold the female, without injecting the poison. It is the only venomous furred animal.
The crural gland produces a cocktail of venom, composed of over 250 different chemicals but with four major toxins.
Close up of male platypus poison spur
Of the four, three are defensin-like proteins (DLPs) unique to the Platypus. The different chemicals in the poison have a range of effects from lowering blood pressure to causing pain and increasing blood flow around the wound.
Now, please explain to me, how the platypus invented and evolved this unique poison out of 250 different chemicals??
What an amazing design, created into life and sustained by an all-wise Creator.
The waterproof hair of a platypus is nothing short of extraordinary. Their outer hair is dark brown with yellowish hair on its underside. There are about 800 hairs per square millimetre! This is denser than the fur of the river otter or polar bear. It has 2 layers of hair. The top or longer layer is a shiny guard fur with a woolly short fur undercoat. The thermal qualities of the fur allow the platypus to withstand cold temperatures and extended periods in water and underground.
Christ said: “…you cannot make one hair white or black.” (Matthew 5:36)Plainly, not even humans, with all our intelligence, can choose the colour of our hair, let alone 2 layers of waterproof different coloured hair at 800 per square millimetre!
The platypus pliable bill is an amazing engineering feat! The bill contains an electro-receptor system which has about 850,000 electrical and tactile receptors. Even though the platypus has brilliant eyes and ears above water, special membranes seal off its eyes and ears underwater and it fishes for its food, blind! Again …evolutionists go figure?
Its electo-receptor system detects the electric currents created by the muscle activity of small prey such as worms, shrimp, and frogs, and may even help the platypus detect the electric field created when water flows over prey hidden under rocks, mud and small debris.
Grinding bill of Platypus jaw. Notice the engineered ribbing for crushing and elimination of debris
As the platypus gathers food in its mouth during its up to 10 minute stay underwater, it moves the food to its cheek pouches. At the water surface, it pushes the food from its cheek pouches up to its mouth. It has magnificently engineered ribbed grinding pads for crushing the food and dispensing the unwanted mud and debris through its horny serrations.
Platypus ears or grooves are very sensitive to sounds. Its beady eyes are also very sensitive to movement. That is why it is difficult and rare to see them in the wild.
Its 4 legs are a marvel of engineered design and creation as well. The platypus uses its two front feet to propel itself forward in a unique, alternate rowing motion. Its hind feet, also webbed, are held against the body and along with the tail are used for steering. The marine engineering involved with how the platypus can move so quickly and dextrously in the water, is nothing short of awesome!
On land its webs fold back, revealing sharp claws for walking and digging burrows. Its claws are also useful for cleaning its fur and to help keep its fur brushed and waterproof.
Rubbery coated platypus egg
They dig a camping burrow about 1-3 meters long in stream banks. However, the female digs her nesting burrow up to 20 metres long! She lays 2-3 rubbery eggs and when they hatch she suckles them on specially designed milk glands. Her milk has about 60 times more iron than cows milk and 40% more solids. The young lap the milk from the hair of the underbelly, where the milk drips, in utter darkness.
The platypus tail is a wonderment. It is used as a sensitive rudder when swimming; to push soil within the burrow like a shovel; and to store fat for when food supplies are low or for when the platypus needs more energy in store while incubating eggs. Thereby hangs a tail, for evolutionists to ponder.
Platypus red blood cells carry larger amounts of haemoglobin than any other mammal. This allows it to go without air for long periods and for its heart beat to be able to change from 140-230 beats to almost 0 beats per minute.
Unlike reptiles, Platypus are warm-blooded and not cold-blooded. They have one opening for elimination, mating and birth.
There is nothing “transitional” about the platypus. It is highly intelligent and remarkably built to fit its environment. In fact, it is an integral part of its environment functioning in balance. Without its surrounding natural environmental system, platypus could not exist.
Mother platypus suckling babies
Evolutionists claim that the gradual evolution of animals such as the Platypus was determined by the blind per-chance pseudo-god of “natural selection” …and highly complex intricate creatures like the platypus, simply came into being by “adaption” or some sort of required “change” due to changing environment.
Do you know what happens to platypus when their delicate environment changes? Sadly, they die. They are so sensitive that many have perished in the hands of well meaning humans, collecting them for zoos and wildlife sanctuaries.
There is no fossil record of changes or transformations or “natural selection” of the development of platypus. They had to be created perfectly, as well as their unique inter-connected, inter-dependent environment and food sources or else they would die.
The preposterous idea that somehow platypus thought their way to change to become what they are today, is baloney. It is a hoax of the 1st Order.
“Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? …” (Jeremiah 13:23)
No, we cannot change the colour of our skin, just as the leopard cannot change its spots…and nor can the amazingly designed and engineered platypus change, by thinking about it.
It is magnificently designed, engineered, created, and given life and sustenance by its omnipotent Creator.
Let’s be logical. Let’s go back to the future for the moment millions and millions of years ago …even quintillions for the sake of evolutionists.
Multifaceted platypus perfectly designed and created for its environment
Let’s say he lives beside a stream but he can’t swim yet, and like any other normal burrowing animal, he has claws only for digging, but hasn’t developed retractable webbed feet, nor developed a tail for a keel, nor developed the means to seal off his nostrils and hold his breath nor developed waterproof hair at 800 per square millimetre.
The hungry “platywhatever”, launches off into the stream, for whatever insane reason. It can’t see, can’t swim, can’t go underwater, and can’t find any food. If there was no worm food on the land, then why didn’t all creatures on earth, with a similar diet, throw themselves into the water?
If the first “platywhatever” had to evolve water-feeding apparatus and sensitive electro-sonar bills, then he only evolved it because he needed it. And if he needed it then he wasn’t getting enough food where he was, to survive.
But, if he couldn’t have survived where he was …and obviously couldn’t succeed in obtaining food from stream bottoms until he had gradually over millions of years developed them within his 15 year maximum lifespan …then he obviously starved to death, and doesn’t exist today.
No "intermediate" fossils of Platypus exist
But, then, if a male or female evolved …where then was a female or male close by to mate with?
No worries …hey presto! A genie provides a female. Yes …and pigs fly, too!
Babies are born to the “platywhatever”, but the special technique of secreting milk on a given signal that involves a complexity of hormones, nerve endings and sensory techniques in pitched black darkness have not evolved. So, all the young die, too.
All fossil remains of platypuses found look exactly like “modern” platypus. It is called a “living fossil” because, in the geological record, it has never changed.
“Unhappily, no fossils have yet been found in any continent which reveal the lineage of the monotremes (single vent, or the platypus) prior to the last few million years in Australia itself” (The Land and Wildlife of Australia, Life Nature Library, David Bergamini, page 62, 65)
So, how to evolutionists say they know the platypus evolved? Easy. They just say it.
Every untruth is based on a false premise, that is carelessly assumed.
“For the invisible things of him (God) from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,…
Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient (right);…” (Romans 1:20-28)
Platypus camping burrow
The fact that a platypus was thought out in detail, with genius design, carefully planned, then created magnificently in all of its engineering and complicated detail, even to electronic mind-blowing sensitivity, then given life and ongoing sustained power …never occurs to an evolutionist, for the reasons shown in the verses above.
No fossil record exists of “primitivus beaverus otterus, duckus, beakus, snakeus, eggus, suckleus incredibilus”.Here’s the first “platywhatever” but without his beaver’s tail, duck’s sonar sensitive bill, snake fangs, otter’s body, mammal’s glands, warm blood, or turtles eggs, etc,.
The brain of a platypus is known to be surprisingly large in proportion to its body weight and than that of any reptile. It is mysteriously well endowed with cerebral cortex and intelligence and highly sensitive electro-recognition, far removed from that of reptiles. This also, is a problem for evolutionists who desperately try to link mammalian warm-blooded platypus, with small brained, cold-blooded reptiles. Nice try, but it just doesn’t compute.
Every intricate part of a platypus takes its place in a co-ordinated, functional, complicated system that makes the platypus one of the awe-inspiring creatures we see, today.
The platypus is one of zillions of amazing creatures that God has made, that testify to why God inspired these following wise words to be repeated twice, so hopefully, we might get the point:
“Only a fool says in his heart that there is no God.” (Psalm 14:1; Psalm 53:1-2)
I had to laugh at a cartoon recently of a parent explaining to their little child about how they were born, to which their child responded:
“Yes, yes, I understand how I was born. But, I want to know why?”
Even some entertainers like Cher, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald have sung the lyrics of Oscar Hammerstein II, in the Jerome Kern song, “Why was I born?”:
“Why was I born? Why am I living? What do I get? What am I giving? What can I hope for? I wish I knew.”
Atheists can’t answer the question, because they think that this life you are living is all that there is. When you die …Kapput!! That’s it, they believe. There ain’t no more you.
The reality is …before God …you are unique. No one else has your genes. No one else has your same personality. What you are and who you are and the character you have developed in overcoming the things you have overcome, is unique before God. Your life is precious.
Better than that, God has in store for you the most incredible fulfilling purpose you can imagine. It is awesome!
Have you heard the definition of an Athesist?
“An Atheist is a person with no invisible means of support.” (John Buchan 1875-1940)
Many people never pause to consider their real purpose in life. Sadly, most assume there is no goal or purpose, beyond this physical life. They remain ignorant of the reason why they were born and why their lives are sustained by God. Your ultimate future is awesome!
An Agnostic is someone who knows nothing, who is not sure of what to believe, and is proud of it.
A Gnostic on the other hand, is someone who thinks they know things separately from God, but in so doing, separate themselves from God.
Understanding the answer to life’s biggest question: “Why was I born?” starts with the knowledge, understanding and wisdom that there is a true God.
“The fool has said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that does good.” (Psalm 14:1)
Yes, it is true, only a fool says there is no God.
The Apostle Paul explains how we can find the true God, and what happens to people who don’t.
“For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.” (Romans 1:20-22)
In actual fact, the answer to another huge question in life, gives us the answer to: “Why was I born?”
PS:You can obtain FREE copies of this literature and the FREE Good News Magazine by contacting the United Church of God-Australia, Office on FREE CALL 1800 356202 or write to: PO Box 535, Brisbane, Qld 4001 OR as shown under Literature Requeston the Church webpage…OR you can FREE download by clicking on to:Bible Study Course AND What is Your Destiny.
PPS: “Why not have Your say?”Feel free to click onto these next 4 words and drop me an email.
Here is a copy of a letter I have just sent to one of our outspoken politicians …who still has some backbone …in the hope that he might say something more to alert Australians, in an area of where this Government has us on a self-destruct course.
“Why doesn’t this Australian Government invest our taxpayers money into real capital assets …like, buying what the Chinese want.
For example, why don’t we Australian taxpayers buy a controlling number of shares in OZ Minerals and retain the 2nd biggest zinc mine in the world, Century mine? We could buy the whole shebang for around $1.5billion.
We would then be able to preserve Australian jobs and stop the Chinese Government from nationalising some of our richest turf as part of China.
You know Barnaby, once the Chinese are happily owning a critical mass of Australia’s best resources …they will invoke the 457 Visa, using our own laws …and import their own “skilled labour” coolie workforce at vastly reduced wages.
We could also take a share in Rio Tinto in the same way …rather than spraying borrowed Chinese Bond money all over the world and to criminals. druggies, drinkers and poker machine players.
Then when the Economy picks up again we could sell half our share holdings in these companies and get our money back …as well as retaining our other half of shares and collecting dividends for us Taxpayers.
Why isn’t any politician suggesting some sensible investments of our hard won taxpayers money??
Today, our Diggers, on Anzac Day, figuratively must be moaning and groaning in their graves …to see how our beloved Australia is stealthily being invaded and taken over, piece by valuable resource-rich piece …and how cheaply their sacrifice, paid with their own blood, is being sold for less than a bowl of soup!
Why isn’t someone saying these things in Parliament?”
You know, we need a biblical Joseph or Daniel in charge of Australia, now, more than in any time in our history.
PS:You can obtain FREE copies of this literature and the FREE Good News Magazine by contacting the United Church of God-Australia, Office on FREE CALL 1800 356202 or write to: PO Box 535, Brisbane, Qld 4001 OR as shown under Literature Requeston the Church webpage…OR you can FREE download by clicking on to:Bible Study Course
PPS: “Why not have Your say?”Feel free to click onto these next 4 words and drop me an email.
It has been mind blowing to see how this current Australian Government have taken us …in just 18 months …from $20 billion surplus and $60 billion in future fund …to scores of $billions into the red.
Now their blithering ‘enlightened target’ is to have us much more than $200 billion in debt and are claiming on tonight’s news …by lies and deceit …that it is only going to be a “temporary debt”.
Blind fools leading the blind…
Our Government is selling Australia to the Chinese and Japanese at the rate of over $500million in Government Bonds each week.
Why are people so apathetic about the consequences of just this action alone?
Then we have the apathy about the Chinese Government and Japanese interests buying up our best mining and food industry capital assets at an alarming rate …but the majority of our politicians and leaders are asleep at the alarm switch.
We have become conditioned to a false paradigm of eternal safety and security in Australia, thinking we will never be taken over by other foreign powers.
People are living in a dreamlike lah lah land.
We have been lulled into a false sense of security.
Why, we can’t even man our 6 Collins Class submarines. We can only staff 3 of them with overly stressed naval personnel.
Meanwhile China is expanding its submarine fleet bigtime.
Why?
Won’t be long now and Japan will be upgrading and re-arming as well …now that North Korea is giving them the perfect alibi excuse.
…ohh my Country …my wonderful Aussie Country!
I am an average Aussie with a sense of larrikin humour.
But, there is nothing funny about the mismanagement of our wonderfully blessed Australia.
We desperately need a Joseph or a Daniel, to handle our economy wisely and invest in capital assets, instead of letting other nations like the Chinese nationalise Australia for themselves.
Our Government should be buying Oz Minerals …not the Chinese Government.
We should be buying the power share of ownership of Rio Tinto …not the Chinese Government.
The borrower is servant to the lender (Proverbs 22;7; Deuteronomy 28:44-45)
The biblical prophecies are steadily coming home to roost for Australia.
He who has “withheld” in the past is lifting His protection and is “withholding no longer” (2 Thessalonians 2:6-7).
Christ’s warning about the end-time rulership of the “times of the Gentiles”, is rapidly developing before our very eyes …for those who have eyes to see. (Luke 21:24)
At dawn this coming Saturday, 25 April many Australian’s will stop, to remember generations of our brave soldiers …men and women …who sacrificed their lives or put their lives on the line for Australia.
Australians such as my wife’s Grandfather, Hubert, served in the Boer War in South Africa, in 1900. Her father, Robert, served in the worst wars in all history, both the 1st World War and the 2nd World War.
Boer War 1900 - Royal Bucks, King's Own Militia
My Grandfather, Charles, also served in World War 1.It was reputed to be such a dreadful traumatic war that it was declared to be: “The War to end all wars” (Woodrow Wilson, President USA).
Well, in actual fact through the horrific wars of the 20th Century more than 102,000 Australian servicemen and women died in war. This 2009 year will be the 95th anniversary of the beginning of World War I.
Insanely, despite the mass casualties suffered in World War I and World War II, the world remains in conflict today.
“Wars and rumours of wars” (Matthew 24:6) continue to rage, and the innocent continue suffer death and maiming, causing us all to ask: “Is war our permanent condition?”
Is it necessary for every generation go through war to relearn why there should be no war?
For everyone who has died tragically in war, there is a very personal story, of a family changed forever.
What is the cause of War?For every effect there is a spiritual cause.
James 4:1-2 gives us the cause of why we have war?
“From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?
You lust, and have not: you kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: you fight and war, yet you have not, because you ask not.”
Notice that is our own human nature of lust, vanity, jealousy and greed that leads people into war.
Yes, the 1st World War 1914-1918 was supposed to be the “War to end all wars” …but was it?
Rising Sun – Anzac Badge
No …World War II, 1939-1945 followed …and numerous subsequent blood baths …but still no end to war.
So let’s ask ourselves a question?
Does the Bible speak of a war to end all wars?
Well, it may serve as a surprise to many who read this, but …yes it does.
There is coming a War to end all wars …and the combatants in this war, would surprise most people …especially the well-informed in matters of news and geopolitics.
How often have you heard someone older and wiser say: “Ohh …it’s so hard to put an old head on young shoulders!”
The Wise Thinker
Is there a way for a young person to reverse that trend? The good news is …yes there is!
Yes, the Bible shows the way to do it. You can gain great wisdom years ahead of your time.
Does wisdom grow with old age?
To some degree it does and to some it doesn’t. It depends on how people grow in Godly knowledge, understanding and wisdom, seasoned with grace.
Sometimes the older people get the more they become set in a rut. Some say that they will put off turning to God , until they are old …but sadly, when they are older they are all too often, so set in their ways …they never turn to God.
Miracles can happen though. I know a very lovely lady, who recently, at 92 years young, turned to God and has been baptised.
So how can we attain a deeper level of true Godly wisdom?
1st Step in attaining wisdom?
Pray to God. Ask God to help you to gain Godly knowledge and understanding …so that you can apply Godly wisdom in your life.
“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that gives to all men liberally, and upbraids not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” (James 1:5-8)
2nd Step in attaining wisdom?
Read the words of God so that you can understand how He thinks, how He speaks, and how He conducts Himself.
How do you do that?
Read the Bible. Why? Because it is the inspired words of God from 40 inspired writers in 66 books. We all know, don’t we that “we become like the company we keep”.
Let me challenge you with this simple reading in wisdom.
Proverbs 21
How many chapters are there in Proverbs? 31, right?
How many days are there in a month? 30 to 31, right?
Ok, so whatever the date is in the month …ie; today is 21 April …so, read Proverbs Chapter 21, ok?
Tomorrow is 22 April …so read Proverbs Chapter 22 …do you follow my drift?
The next day is 23 April so read Proverbs 23 …and so on each day. You know what I mean?
Just imagine how much wisdom you might glean …and be able to apply in 12 months …by effectively reading and re-reading Proverbs each month …based on reading the chapter corresponding to each day that you wake up. You could do it easily while eating your breakfast.
Now something else i have learned. Whenever you come across a jewel of wisdom in a chapter of Proverbs that you are reading …underline the words that have meaning to you, and put an asterisk* beside the verse
Asterisk Proverbs 21:21
Why put an asterisk* beside your personally encouraging verses?
Well, if ever you are feeling like a lift …just drop in on Proverbs and read your asterisks*.
Guarantee …you will feel great in no time.
This is especially helpful when studying God’s inspired wisdom in Psalms, which you can also read, using the same technique.
How many chapters in Psalms? 150, right? Ok, so divide 30 days of the month into 150 and what do you get? 5, right?
Ok, so today is 21 April …so read Psalm 21 add 30 and read Psalm 51 add 30 and read Psalm 81 add 30 and read Psalm 111 add 30 and read Psalm 141.
That’s 5 wise chapters of Psalms you just covered. Not bad, eh?
Tomorrow is 22 April …so read Psalm 22 …and then by adding 30’s …read Psalm 52, Psalm 82, Pslam 112, Psalm 142.
Asterisk * any verses that you find personally encouraging.
Whenever one of those cloudy days come along when you don’t feel so happy …just read your asterisked* verses in Psalms.
I can guarantee, you will be feeling stratospheric in no time! Heh heh!
God is a very loving, generous God.
Our Father and Jesus Christ our Saviour are so willing and happy to extend their wisdom to you.
The wisdom of God is yours for the asking …and the reading.
PS:You can obtain FREE copies of this literature and the FREE Good News Magazine by contacting the United Church of God-Australia, Office on FREE CALL 1800 356202 or write to: PO Box 535, Brisbane, Qld 4001 OR as shown under Literature Requeston the Church webpage…OR you can FREE download by clicking on to:Bible Study Course AND Is the Bible True AND How to understand the Bible.
PPS: “Why not have Your say?”Feel free to click onto these next 4 words and drop me an email.
Beauty is God’s trademark in creation. Intricacy of His Design and creative Engineering, show God’s phenomenal intelligence. God’s genius.
Praying preying chameleon
The functions and activities of His creation display His wonderful humour, love, and character.
To illustrate this …Let’s play “Anything you can do I can do better”, ok?
Are you ready for your first set of challenges??
Ok. Can you?:
1.Lift up a 10 kilogram steak with only your tongue and put it in your mouth?
2.Now step back twice your body length from the 10kg steak, then shoot your tongue out …suction on to the steak …reel it back instantly and pop it into your mouth?
3.Turn your left eye so that you can see a 180 degree arc in front of you and at the same time turn your right eye so you can see a 180 degree arc behind you?
4.Move only your eyes, again, left separate from your right eye …so that you can see a full 360 degrees …front, back, sides, up, down, all around? Feel dizzy yet?
5.Quickly change the colours of your skin to blend in with the colours and textures of your immediate surroundings, so that you are camouflaged so well that you are nearly impossible to distinguish?
6.Now change your surroundings to bright colours to attract someone you like?
7.Change colours now to dark and sombre or bright yellow to show someone you don’t like them?
How did you go? Were you able to do any of those things?
Jeremiah 13:23: “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?”
How long do you think it would take you to evolve those capabilities? According to the Bible …never.
Did I hear you say: “Forget it! There’s no creature on earth that could do those 7 impossible feats!”
Oh yes there is. Its name lies camouflaged in my Title.
Wat ch-a-me-leon bamboozle evolution
Let me give you a hint:
I can be yellow, pink or green.
I am well camouflaged,
and often not seen.
What am I?
Answer: A Chameleon.
The name “Chameleon” originated from Greek words “chami”(on the earth) and “leon”(lion)
Hence my camouflaged Title with the name Chameleon embedded. How many of you noticed? Heh heh!
Yes, God in His great intelligence has created the humble Chameleon lizard, to do the equivalent of the above 7 impossible feats, and much, much, more.
Now, just how do you think Chameleons evolved those amazing capabilities? Evolutionists have no idea.
Evolution is just like trying to erase the Author’s signature from the corner of a great master work of art.
More than 160 species of Chameleons are known, arranged in 9 genera. The main distribution of Chameleons is in Africa and over 60 species in Madagascar alone. There are others found in parts of southern Europe, southern India and Sri Lanka.
Chameleons vary greatly in size and body structure, with total length from approximately 1 centimetre (thumbnail) for the tiny Pigmy Chameleon of Malawi to the 68 centimetre (armlength) Chameleon Furcifer Oustaleti, from Madagascar.
1.A Chameleon’s tongue can easily zap prey the weight equivalent to us of a 10kg steak! In fact David Attenborough says they can do it up to half their own body weight! Can you imagine that? The engineering involved is mind boggling.
How does it work? Their tongue has a sticky tip on the end making it impossible for the prey to escape. As it shoots its tongue it also forms a suction cap which partly wraps around its prey. Once the tongue sticks to the prey, it is pulled back to the mouth where the chameleon’s strong jaw crushes it and consumes.
After a century of debate, biologists have figured out how a Chameleon shoots its tongue out at lightning speed to snare its prey. The secret is a spring-loading mechanism that stores up energy like the elastic of a catapult prior to release.
This makes the whole tongue shoot out like an orange pip seed squeezed between your fingers.
“Energy for the speedy lick comes from parts of the tongue called the intralingual sheathes, which wrap around bones running along the core of the tongue and are in turn sheathed by the accelerator muscle. 200 milliseconds before its tongue strikes, a chameleon uses the accelerator muscle to spring-load energy into the intralingual sheathes, packing them into one another like sections of a telescope. When the chameleon strikes, the pent-up energy can be released in just 20 milliseconds, accelerating the tongue pad forward at up to 50g.” (Proceedings of the Royal Society B, DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2003.2637. From issue 2438 of New Scientist magazine, page 16)
2. Its tongue is twice the length of its body. The resting tongue is folded like an accordion around a bone called Processus entoglossus.
Now, imagine a grasshopper landing on a branch away from the hungry chameleon thinking he is way out of range. Ooops! Little does he know he’s in the crosshair sights of the Chameleon’s Smart Missile tongue. ZAP! One grasshopper shot and sucked up by the hungry lizard sitting far away from his unsuspecting dinner.
Yes, a chameleon’s tongue extends faster than the human eye can follow, at around 26 body lengths per second. Usually it hits the prey in about 30 thousandths of a second. Chameleons hunt mainly insects (including bees and wasps that do not have time to employ their defensive stings because of the velocity of the tongue), spiders and even small birds and rodents.
Faster than a speeding bullet …almost as fast as Lightning.
You will be gob-smacked, yourself, when you click onto the stunning videos at the end of this blog.
God's signature on His works of Art
3.While humans have 3D vision and need both eyes to determine depth and distance, the chameleon can move each eye independently so they don’t miss any prey and also makes it much harder for a predator to sneak up on him. They can also focus on one object which gives them precisely sharp stereoscopic vision and depth perception better than an Abrams battle tank.
The ability to switch between synchronous and uncoupled saccadic eye movements has not been described for any other vertebrate.
An astonishing ability of chameleons is that of moving the eyes independently, with an angle of 180o horizontally and 90o vertically.
This way they can scan larger portions of their environment. Still, when an eye spots a prey, the eyes are moved to look in the same direction forward, for creating the binocular vision necessary for assessing the distance where the prey is. Each eye can form 3-D images, the eyes functioning alternatively and independently one from the other. This way, the chameleon can explore in 3-D its environment without moving its head, so that it does not attract the attention of the targeted prey.
A very stealthy and deadly accurate hunter. Imagine having those eye talents in an Olympic clay shooting competition. There would be no contest! …Just give him the gold medal.
4.Chameleons have 360o vision. Its 2 eyes move separately to each other in different directions at the same time! It is an engineering, technologically inexplicable marvel.
Their eyes are the most distinctive among the reptiles. The upper and lower eyelids are joined, with only a pinhole large enough for the pupil to see through, for protection. The eyes can rotate and focus separately to observe two different objects simultaneously, giving them a full 360-degree arc of vision around their body. Extremely effective for spotting predators and checking out, where the next meal is coming from, while being perfectly camouflaged. It’d make a top line SAS soldier jealous.
5.Chameleons are naturally coloured for their surroundings as a camouflage. Chameleons use their camouflage defensively, to hide from predators; offensively, to hide themselves while they stalk prey. They can also change colour to indicate health or feelings such as aggression; fear or anxiety; and in mating and courtship rituals. Let me ask you this question: What colour is a chameleon on a mirror? (Answer at bottom of this blog :)) ).
6.A chameleon’s colourful beauty is truly skin deep. All chameleon species are able to change their skin colour. Different chameleon species are able to change into different colours which can include pink, blue, red, orange, green, black, brown and yellow.
The colour change is under the control of spine nerves and hormones (adrenaline secreted by the adrenal gland and hormones of the hypophysis).
Under the transparent outer skin are two cell layers that contain red and yellow pigments, or chromatophores. Below the chromatophores are cell layers that reflect blue and white light. Even deeper down is a layer of brown melanin (which gives human skin its various shades). Levels of external light and heat, and internal chemical reactions cause these cells to expand or contract. A calm chameleon, for example, may exhibit green, because the somewhat contracted yellow cells allow blue-reflected light to pass through. An angry chameleon may exhibit yellow, because the yellow cells have fully expanded, and block off all blue-reflected light from below.
Do you know …What’s the definition of a nervous breakdown?
A chameleon on a tartan rug! :))
Tartan coloured Chameleon
7. Chameleons change their colour in response to light exposure and ambient temperature, as well as to express their mood not only for camouflage. Emotions and attraction of a mate can induce the colour changes seen in a chameleon. The colour changes also play a part in communication. If a leaf is put on the back of a chameleon and removed after a period, it will leave a colour mark on its back, following its shape, due to the shifts in light and temperature.
Adding to their natural colours their ability to stay still for minutes and their wagging and extremely slow movements (unusual for a lizard) that makes their laterally flattened bodies, adorned by spikes, horns and protuberances, to look like a leaf or twig shaken by wind. No wonder they appear inconspicuous to their predators and prey.
Do you know, what is a chameleon’s motto?
“A change is as good as a rest!” :))
Any intelligent observer of life cannot help but be continually amazed and astonished at the wonderful and mysterious variety of incredible life forms that abound …like the Chameleon.
To fail to give the Creator Godpraise and thanks for the marvellous beauty we see the intricate and delicate life forms around us, the incredible habits of creatures we take for granted is to miss out on some of the truly savoury experiences of life.
Chameleons have a unique anatomy that distinguishes them separately from their lizard cousins. So how did that evolve?
They are the only lizard with zygodactyls feet which allows them to climb trees. Their feet are split into two main fingers with a soft pad in between. An interesting fact about chameleon’s feet is that they have two claws on the outside of their front foot and three on the inside, yet the situation is reversed in their back feet. The back foot is not only a pattern, but it also reveals the sex of the chameleon. On the outer part of the foot, there will be three toes if male, four toes if female. Evolutionists, go figure that one out?
The chameleon has five toes on each foot; the back feet have three toes outside and two inside. The front feet are the opposite way around. This provides the chameleon with the same number of toes on each side of the twig and allows for a firm and balanced grip.
Evolutionists claim that the Chameleon’s closest relatives are …the Iguanas and dragon lizards (Agamidae). They claim there are Iguanas living in the Americas, that were the ancient ancestors of the Chameleon.
Now, I know I don’t have to tell you that the Americas is a long, long way from Madagascar, where 60 amazingly different species of Chameleon live. Also the Iguana is an incredibly complicated amazingly engineered creation in its own right, perfectly made for the lifestyle it lives.
Today, the over 160 species of chameleon species are concentrated in Africa, Madagascar and neighbouring areas. Just one species reaches southern Europe and another one India.
Most chameleons have a prehensile (grabbing) tail, and can stay on a branch securing with just two feet and the tail.
Chameleons look out for other chameleons only during the late summer which is the breeding season. Females lay eggs after 3-6 week gestation. She finds a warm spot at the base of tree when she is ready to lay her eggs. Then she digs down 10-30 centimetres depending on the species. Commonly they lay up to 30 eggs, but some extraordinary chameleon species such as Veiled Chameleons (Chamaeleo calyptratus) have been known to lay clutches of 80-100 eggs. Small Brookesia species only lay 2-4 eggs. So, the size of clutch vary greatly even among the same species. Eggs generally hatch after 4-12 months after they are laid, but some unusual species such as Parsons Chameleon (Calumma parsonii) are known to hatch out 2 years after they are laid!
Oh yes …and the young hatch, dig their way out and instantly do what Chameleons do.
No parental training or guidance needed.
Now really! Tell me how they evolved?
Just to give us a smile, God has designed some Chameleons that don’t lay eggs but give live birth.
Chameleons are mostly oviparous (lay eggs), and some are ovoviviparous (born alive without placenta), such as the Jackson’s Chameleon (Chamaeleo jacksonii) which has a 5-6 month gestation period. The newborn are in a transparent, very sticky membrane and they are still sleeping. Once they touch the ground or branch, they will wake up and crawl out of the membrane, instantly ready to catch their own food. The female can have 8-30 live young at once. Think about the headaches for Evolutionists about that amazing feat. See this most miraculous birth sequence in the David Attenborough video clip below.
Chameleons drink dew and rain water, but they can also absorb water through their skin, like some desert dragon lizards do.
But how did Chameleons develop those unique swivelling eyes able to see 360o?
How did they develop the incredibly intricate colour changing chemistry …and a tongue twice its body length?
What hypotheses must Evolutionists use to explain these amazing varied and unique lizards?
Let’s go back in history — billions and billions of years, perhaps — since Evolutionists seem to assume that, given enough time, practically anything can happen. Here is our first little would-be Chameleon. Only he’s not a Chameleon, because he doesn’t have swivel independent eyes, tongue twice as long as his body and no curled up prehensile tail and no protective colour changing abilities.
Let’s say he’s surviving just fine — obtaining his food just like any other lizard.
But he can’t spot his insect prey fast enough with limited forward eyesight — he is easy prey for the whole host of predators because he can’t change his camouflaging colour. Even if he can spot a grasshopper or fly by the time he gets near enough to grab them, they have easily jumped or flown away.
No would-be Chameleon survives.
All are eaten.
Why reason this way?
Simple.
If the Chameleonneeded to develop his extraordinary unique independent set of eyes, plus his incredible ‘top-gun’ tongue, plus his rapid colour changes for camouflage protection, mating and warding off predators …which would have taken, admittedly, an innumerable number of years in order to survive — then he couldn’t have survived withoutthem.
And if he DIDN’T survive until he developedthem — then he doesn’t exist.
But let’s assume (being facetious, of course) that somehow, one little would-be Chameleon(who wasn’t really a completely developed Chameleon yet) sprouted a set of independent eyes.
Can you imagine it? His brain recoils in mute shock! Dizzily, he runs about in two directions at once. One eye communicates danger from above, while the other one tells him there is danger from behind Transfixed by the double vision messages of approaching horror, his mixed-up brain dizzily tries to leap out of the way …but which way?
This results in complete paralysis —and the very first successful Chameleon iseaten alive.
But others keep sprouting one wobbly left eye and a fixed confused right eye twitching and mixed up in a wild frenzy stumbling over this stupid sticky tongue, growing longer.
Confused, paralysed, none survive, so they don’t exist!
How many millions of years did it take their incredibly complex brilliantly engineered eyes, let alone their colour chemistry laboratory through various layers of their skin, which leaves Chemical Engineers perplexed with wonderment?
How many millions MORE years (while none survived!) did it take for their brains to sort out the double images?
Look up information about eyes. Study the fantastic complexity of the eyes of Chamelions, birds, lizards, fish, animals and humans.
Look at the numbers of cones and rods, complexity, engineered design, transmission and translation of information by brain cells, etc,.
Anything “simple” about an eye?
Independent Eyes of Chameleon
Modern man, with all his fantastic cameras, cannot begin to accomplish with a camera lens what is automatically accomplished in the eyes of thousands of creatures instantaneously, such as the Chameleon.
Its eyes are perfectly formed. They function perfectly for specific and set purposes, instantly upon birth!
No training required.
Is it a convenient accidentthat the Chameleon has such a complex and wonderfully intricate defence system? Or was it very intelligently designed, engineered, and created?
Either Chameleonsbegan uniquely seeing, colour changing, tongue zapping the instant they were born or they didn’t survive.
And remember, Evolutionists don’t claim millions ofChameleons, suddenly appeared all at once!
No, the Chameleon is just one more of the amazing marvels of the creation around us, inspiring testimony to the love, warmth and humour of our Creator, who gives us every breath of air we breathe!
PS:You can obtain FREE copies of this literature and the FREE Good News Magazine by contacting the United Church of God-Australia, Office on FREE CALL 1800 356202 or write to: PO Box 535, Brisbane, Qld 4001 OR as shown under Literature Requeston the Church webpage…OR you can FREE download by clicking on to:Bible Study Course AND Does God Exist? AND Creation or Evolution?
PPS: “Why not have Your say?”Feel free to click onto these next 4 words and drop me an email.
PPPS: Why not watch these short VIDEO CLIPS, of the wondrous and miraculous Chameleons, God has created for our pleasure and the things we can observe and learn. Just left click onto the blue words below.
How is lightning like a novice violinist’s fingers?
Lightning striking Eiffel Tower, 1902
Neither one strikes the same place twice. 🙂
Here’s another humourous intriguing question:
How did lightning and thunder, along with the vital life supporting lightning-nitrogen cycle, evolve?
No one Evolutionist strikes the same answer twice.
Lightning is like the 100 or so non-living elements on earth. How they came to exist in the first place is a complete mystery to evolutionists.
Here’s a couple of theories about the original cause and evolution of lighting from chats I have been having with some seriously minded Evolutionists:
“I’ve been out of active meteorological research for some time but I keep an interested eye on the field. Lightning was probably triggered by energy in the flux of cosmic rays to Earth and cosmic ray fluxes vary in time.” (Physicist, Holwick, UK)
“It started out with single volt lightnings that spontaneously appeared, and after millions of years of chance they’re now millions and millions of volts, and contain multiple branches, and evolved thunder as a defence mechanism. Oh and the Nitrogen Cycle is a distant ancestor of these primitive 1 Volt lightnings. By chance it became the nitrogen cycle over a trillion years. I’m an Atheist, Hail Satan.” (Software Developer, Nuneaton, UK)
Really? …can you pick the basic flaws in these theories? Why not drop me an email.
No laboratory lightning experiment has ever produced life from non-life.
Lightning bolts destroy Evolutionist theory
God taunts and has fun with evolutionists: Job 38:35 Can you send lightnings, that they may go, and say unto you, Here we are? (Job 38:35).
Yet, Evolutionists speculate that perhaps a lightning bolt struck the “prebiotic soup” that instigated all life on this planet. Now, really?! Lightning kills; it does not impart life!
Fact is …Once lightning has passed through an object, no living energy remains. Yet living creatures must have ongoing energy sources within themselves to exist. N
Hello??? Evolutionists out there in cyberspace!!!
Hellooo!!! …Lightning is a sterilizer NOT a lifegiver!
It never engendered or stimulated life in some ancient “prebiotic soup”. That is a HOAX!
No …even a child has the observed wisdom to know WHO created lightning.
God’s Flash Camera
School was out and a little child was trekking home, while an afternoon gale filled with lightning, was brewing. Mother in a very concerned state anxiously left home to find her child in the roar of thunder and lightning. Suddenly, she saw her child in between dazzling flashes through the hazy misted rain. She noticed her child with every crash of thunder and flash of lightning …stop …look up …and smile.
Worried sick, she pulled the car up, wound the window down and cried: “What on earth are you doing? Why do you keep stopping, looking up, and smiling??
“Her child answered: “I am trying to look nice. God keeps taking my picture!”
Job understood too, that God created the powerful force of lightning:
“When He (God) made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder:” (Job 28:26)
“He directs it under the whole heaven, and His lightnings unto the ends of the earth.” (Job 37:3)
The origin of how lightning came into existence is an anathema and mystery to evolutionists.
So many aspects of the “way for the lightning of the thunder” are still a great mystery to scientists.
Honest scientists freely admit: “As common as lightning is, it still sparks considerable confusion among scientists.
Many of the basics are understood, but researchers admit they don’t really understand how lightning gets from there to here (“the way for the lightning of the thunder”). And they’re totally baffled by lightning’s link to X-rays, a discovery made back in 2001.
“Nobody understands how lightning makes X-rays,” says Martin Uman, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Florida. “Despite reaching temperatures five times hotter than the surface of the sun, the temperature of lightning is still thousands of times too cold to account for the X-rays observed.” Live Science 17 July 2008.
So …how did lightning evolve over eons of trillions of years of time?
Hello? Lightning is a non-living incredibly potent powerful force.
It either had to come into being ONCE, perfectly, with all of its complexity …or not at all!
Its design, complexity, and importance to the sustenance of every living thing …points to lightning proof of God.
In simple language Lightning comes from differences in electrical charges that occur in thunderstorm clouds or between a thunderstorm cloud and the ground. As a thunderstorm grows to the point where its top extends to above the freezing level, a charge separation begins to develop, with positively charged particles accumulating near the top of the thunderstorm cloud and negatively charged particles near the base.
So how does science try to explain how lightning works, even though many aspects of its workings and functions still remains as a scientific mystery?
This charge separation is likely a result of small ice particles and hailstones colliding with each other in the updrafts and downdrafts of a thunderstorm. When the difference in electrical voltage between these charged particles becomes large enough, an electrical discharge occurs in an attempt to equalize the charge separation. This is lightning.
“When He utters His voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens; and He causes the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth: He makes lightnings with rain, and brings forth the wind out of His treasures.” (Jeremiah 51:16)
Evolutionists cannot explain cloud to cloud lightning
About 80 percent of all lightning is cloud-to-cloud lightning, which occurs within a thunderstorm cloud. The remaining 20 percent is cloud-to-ground lightning, in which a charge separation develops between the negatively charged particles in the cloud base and positively charged particles near the ground.
Lightning and its vital myriad complex component parts, is an incredible pointer to the design and creative genius of God our Father and Jesus Christ, who created all things. (Ephesians 3:9; Colossians 1:16)
Miracle of the “Lightning-Nitrogen” Cycle
We take lightning for granted, but few people realise that we depend on it to continue our human existence on this earth, via the Lightning-Nitrogen Cycle.
Most don’t understand that there is an almost constant discharge of electricity from our Earth.
Over the whole globe the total is only about 1500 amps with expenditure of about 50,000 kilowatts. This was first discovered in 1917, by Dr Vannevar Bush.
He found that the current comes from the still air lying above the clouds of thunderstorms. The current there is going downward instead of upward.
Now, the amount of it that reaches the earth, over all the World, is estimated to total …well, what do you think? Yes, you are right …1500 amps!!
This cycle goes on steadily in magnificent perfect harmony and balance.
Explain that by evolution?!
There are over 16 million thunderstorms over the World, every year.
These thunderstorms, with the accompanying lightning, produce about 100,000 tons of nitrogen compounds annually, dropped into the soil, to fertilise it so things that we eat can grow.
No lightning-nitrogen cycle? We no eat!
No “nitrogen-fixing” with lightning and specialist bacteria …plants could not absorb the necessary nitrogen to live. We all die!
You see, Nitrogen is an inert gas (doesn’t easily mix with other elements or water) …fortunately …otherwise it would mix with water and we’d all die a death worse than millions of nuclear bombs …eaten away by nitric acid.
Plants cannot absorb nitrogen directly out of the atmosphere, so guess what? They get their “nitrogen-fix” through lightning turning nitrogen and oxygen with some ammonia, which can then dissolve into the falling rain and becomes just the very best fertiliser. This requires intense heat from lightning (5 times hotter than the surface of the Sun). Also, with the help of nitrogen-fixing specialist bacteria.
Evolutionists, I defy you to explain how that all came about, perfectly in the first instance …or no life could be sustained on the Earth! These are non-living things and energy forces and elements that don’t evolve through “natural selection”. They have no mind or ongoing regenerated life of their own.
But how did Nitrogen (78%) happen to be in the atmosphere with oxygen (21%) at just the perfect ratio?
An error in making even one gas would have made the Earth uninhabitable.
Just a little more or less of either nitrogen or oxygen, would have tipped an imperfect balance of disaster upon us all.
God’s nitrogen cycle is as important to us as the “carbon cycle” of photosynthesis by which plants recapture carbon dioxide from the air and convert the carbon into organic compounds.
The nitrogen fixers and the photosynthetic organisms, linked in a majestic partnership, keep the living economy of the world solvent.
Lightning has a vital role in replacing nitrogen in the soil, so that plants can assimilate it. 100 million tons of usable plant food per year is supplied to the soil by lightning.
Nitrogen and oxygen are combined by lightning into plant food.
Lightning in the nitrogen-cycle and carbon cycle, is another witness to the fact of Almighty God’s genius in designing and creating the World in awesome wisdom …past finding out.
God made it self-supporting, to the finest tuned mind-boggling details, in perfect balance and harmony. Lightning proof of God!
Scientists estimate that at any given moment about 2,000 thunderstorms are producing lightning around the earth. These storms shoot an average estimated 100 bolts.
The average lightning stroke has a peak electrical current of 30,000 amps. Extreme lightning discharges can reach 10 times that. The electricity flowing within a lightning bolt can reach 200 million volts, and kills, instantly.
Ball lightning too hot for Evolutionists to handle
Ball lightning is extremely rare, as a floating sphere, often about the size of a basketball. The origins of ball lightning continue to elude scientists .
Other baffling forms of lightning, that God has created, include:
·Forked lightning: Crooked or branched channels in a lightning stroke. Occasionally these strike up to 16km away from a thunderstorm. If the sky overhead is clear when the renegade lightning strikes, these “bolts from the blue” will seem to appear out of nowhere.
·Sheet lightning: Stroke appears within a cloud or is obscured by nearby clouds. Flashes of lightning can illuminate entire clouds, making them visible from miles away.
·Heat lightning: It’s called heat lightning because it is seen more frequently on hot summer nights when the sky overhead is clear. Often, air molecules and dust particles in the atmosphere refract the light coming from distant lightning, making the bolts or flashes appear orange.
·Ball lightning: Extremely rare, nearly phantom, luminous spheres. Less than three feet wide, these glowing balls have been seen coming from some of the more violent thunderstorms;
·St. Elmo’s Fire: Luminous greenish or bluish glow above pointed objects on the ground. Named for the mythical ‘patron saint of sailors’, St. Elmo’s Fire is created by the soft glow of an electric field generated by a continuous flow of tiny sparks. The tiny sparks are positive charge reaching skyward in response to a growing area of negative charge in the clouds or air above. High-altitude lightning: Recently-discovered colored flashes of light high above thunderstorms. Playful names such as “red sprites,” “blue jets,” and “green elves” have been given to these distinctly different forms of lightning. They shoot up from the tops of thunderstorms about the same moment lightning discharges within the storm cloud. Occurring in the middle of the atmosphere, red sprites look like the stems of carrots, while blue jets are small streaks of light with flared ends like the horn of trumpet. Green elves are nearly-invisible, glowing, jellyfish-shaped amoebas that spread across the upper atmosphere.
Yes, the way of the lightning of thunder as Job again describes in Job 38:25:(“Who has divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters, or a way for the lightning of thunder;”) is still a mystery but scientists have tried to explain it.
In ‘forked’ or ‘branch lightning’, the way of the lightning of thunder is described as a single stepped leader that happens in less than a second:
·The stepped leader is a stream of weakly charged particles. It’s not very bright because so little charge flows from the cloud.
·The stream moves downward out of the cloud in fits and starts, travelling about from just centimetres to 50 metres before stopping, and quickly starting again. With a duration of less than one-millionth of a second, the leader pauses about 50 microseconds, branching numbers of times, before taking the next step;
·Most stepped leaders take only 1/20th of a second to reach their full length. As a stepped leader nears the ground, it attracts a surge of positive charge that streams skyward from the tallest nearby objects. The stepped leader and “streamers” typically meet around 100 to 300 feet above the Earth.
·Since the atmosphere is a good insulator, this weak charge snakes its way downward, often branching, trying to find the path of least resistance toward oppositely charged particles.
·When each branch of a stepped leader forking from the cloud meets a rising streamer, multiple return strokes are generated.
·Each return stroke travels from the ground to the cloud in less than a half second, so all the channels appear to light up at the same time as forked lightning.
Awesome to think about, isn’t it?
Very different from my mind at times…:)
My mind works like lightning, One brilliant flash and it is gone! (Heh heh!)
An average bolt of lightning can soar to temperatures of approximately 50,000°F, five times hotter than the surface of the sun, and can contain as much as 200 million volts of electricity. A typical bolt is about 5 to 6 kilometres in length, but some have been measured as long as 144 kilometres, or as short as a couple of metres.
Thunder is the sound that lightning makes, it is not a separate force.
Job described it well as the way of the lightning of thunder.
The reason why some people think lightning is separate from thunder is because they experience them separately. However, we see lightning instantaneously because it travels 186,000 miles per second …the speed of light. Thunder moves at the speed of sound – 1100 ft per second, thus the delay in seeing and hearing.
When you see lightning count the seconds and divide by 5 or 2.5. That’s the number of miles or kilometres away the lightning struck. Useful, in giving you a warning of how far a storm is away from you.
“For as the lightning comes out of the east, and shines even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” (Matthew 24:27)
Christ’s coming will be more dazzling than lightning, when the 1st Resurrection takes place
There is, of course, a very extraordinarily special day of lightning that many of us long for from God…
So thrilling a time to look forward to in our lives …it’s worth repeating:
“For as the lightning, that lightens out of the one part under heaven, shines unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day.” (Luke 17:24)
Yes Christ is returning to this Earth as our Creator …with the indescribable power of innumerable lighting bolts.
Pray that God hastens “that day”. (Zechariah 14;4)
Most people never know the true God, because they don’t have knowledge of the pointers to the evidence.
Many get confused, because evolution is drummed into them during their schooling, and God is kept hidden from the school curriculum.
Evolutionists themselves will agree that the odds of any single living thing coming into existence by evolution is zillions of zillions to one. Yet they feel that it must be true, because this can be the only explanation if we rule out the possibility of a Creator, which they will not admit to.
These are the odds for even one creature coming into existence. What would the odds have to be, to have just two living creatures come into existence at the same time, even if they were clones of each other?
What would be the odds of them being male and female?
What would be the odds of them living for more than a few seconds?
What would be the odds of the non-living world, involving lightning, the rain cycle, the seasons, the nitrogen cyle, the carbon dioxide to oxygen cycle, elements, minerals, vitamins, etc, etc, all being in place to support an impossibly evolved creature?
Now we would have to calculate the odds of a MALE and a FEMALE coming into existence at the same time and surviving long enough to mate, even if you are given the capability of procreation being evolved in them both at the same time.
Now all these calculations have been considered for ONE PAIR of ONE SPECIES let alone the astronomical odds that we would have to calculate for ALL SPECIES coming into existence both MALE and FEMALE at the same time.
All creatures are dependent upon their sustained life upon non-living and living systems being in place …or else they turn up their toes and die, pronto!
Yes, the creation itself, in its complexity, design, dynamic life, and awesome variety reveals evidence of the great God who made it. This is evidence of God external from the Bible.
Actually, you might be surprised to see how the Bible has numerous revelations and evidence about God’s existence for those who are not so blind as to use these pointers, to really see, investigate, and prove it for themselves.
For example Psalm 14:1 and Pslam 53:1 ..”The fool has said in his heart there is no God”. It’s funny but true …from God’s point of view only a fool would say there is no God …because …from His perspective …the reports of His death and non-existence are grossly exaggerated.
1. GOD is the great CREATOR:
The Bible reveals the true God, who created matter, living and non-living.
“For since the CREATION of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.” (Romans 1:20)
“You are worthy O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power; For You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were CREATED.” (Revelation 4:11)
“You send forth Your Spirit, they are CREATED; and You renew the face of the earth.” (Psalm 104:30)
“I have made the earth, and CREATED man on it. It was I–My hands that stretched out the heavens, and all their host I have commanded.” (Isaiah 45:12)
2. GOD the great LIFEGIVER
Life comes from life, and our life comes from the ever-living God, who created living things.
“Nor is He worshipped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all LIFE, breath, and all things. And has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation. (Acts 17:25-26)
3. GOD is the great LAWGIVER
There is a myriad of immutable incredible laws in effect that govern living and non-living matter.
“For the Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our LAWGIVER, the Lord is our King; He will save us.” (Isaiah 33:22)
“There is one LAWGIVER, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?” (James 4:12)
4. GOD is the great SUSTAINER
It is one thing to create, and to engender life, and the laws to govern it all. It then needs powerful sustaining from the most potent energy source in the universe. God, the supreme sustainer.
“I lay down and slept; I awoke, for the Lord SUSTAINED me. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around.” (Psalm 3:4)
5. GOD is the great DESIGNER
The remarkable, intricate, magnificent design of all living and non-living, points to the evidence of an intelligent Designer. Everything meshes together in the designed systems that are sustained by our great Designer God.
“But now ask the beasts, and they will teach you; and the birds of the air, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; and the fish of the sea will explain to you. Who among these does not know that the hand of the Lord has DONE (or designed) this, in whose hand is the LIFE of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind? Does not the ear test words and the mouth taste its food?” (Job 12:7-11)
6. GOD is the great ANSWERER OF PRAYER
One of the great evidences that God exists, is found personally, by answers to our personal prayers.
“I love the Lord, because He has heard my voice and my supplications (prayers). Because He has inclined His ear to me, Therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live.” (Psalm 116:1)
7. GOD is the SUPREME PROPHET
The Bible is full of detailed prophecies that have been already fulfilled. It also contains hundreds of prophecies yet to be fulfilled in the future, including Christ’s return and establishment of His Government on this Earth for 1000 years. (Isaiah 9:6-7; Revelation 20:4-6)
“Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He REVEALS His secret to His servants the PROPHETS.” (Amos 3:7)
“The King answered Daniel and said ‘Truly your God is the God of gods, the Lord of Kings, and a REVEALER of secrets, since you could reveal this secret.” (Daniel 2:47)
8. We Prove His existence by DOING His laws and Way of life
Another evidence of God’s existence, comes to us personally, when we live by His laws, statutes, ordinances, principles, precepts, and God’s Way of Life.
We prove it is right and it really works …by living it the way God wants us to live.
Doing and seeing the positive results shows us God’s Way is the best.
“If any man will do His will he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself.” (John 7:17)
WE PROVE GOD BY DOING IT! By the good fruits or results of living God’s Way compared to Satan’s worldly way, we learn through experience that God’s Way of Living is definitely better with longer lasting fun, blessings and automatic rewards. (Revelation 12:17; Revelation 14:12; and Revelation 22:14)
9. Resurrection from the Dead
Jesus Christ’s Resurrection to life and the reality that as a result we can be resurrected to life in the 1st or 2nd Resurrection (and not have to face the 3rd Resurrection) is perhaps the greatest and most reassuring hope of God’s existence (see Revelation 20, etc).
”I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.” (John 11:25)
I have only scratched the surface of some of the scriptures that give us pointers, to help us understand the evidence that God exists.
You might like to find and add to this skeletal list.
PS: You can obtain FREE copies of this literature and the FREE Good News Magazine by contacting the United Church of God-Australia, Office on FREE CALL 1800 356202 or write to: PO Box 535, Brisbane, Qld 4001 OR as shown under Literature Request on the Church webpage …OR you can FREE download by clicking on to: FREE booklets Does God Exist?AND Creation or Evolution? AND Radio interview – Does God Exist?
PPS: “Why not have Your say?” Feel free to click onto these next 4 words and drop me an email.
Posted by aaaworldwitness 
AAA World Witness 
