Creation Devotional March 6 - Botany
Daily Devotional – March 6
Botany
Botanists have long been fascinated by the design of the giant Amazon water lily (Victoria amazonica) with its raised rim that surrounds floating leaves reaching eight feet in diameter. In fact, the lily’s floating leaves can easily support a full-grown adult lying on the thin leaf structure! The secret to the strength of these leaves is the well-engineered supporting veins on the underside of these floating marvels.
Before the very first World’s Fair, being held in London, England in 1851, the organizing committee announced a contest for the best and most original design for the Great Exhibition Hall. Architects and engineers from around the world sent in their designs. Yet, it was not a trained architect, but a botanist named Joseph Paxton, who won the contest. His “Crystal Palace” was to be constructed with 200,000 panes of glass, weighing an estimated one million pounds, supported by a thin iron framework. The entire building was to stand 108 feet tall and cover 18 acres. Experts declared that the foolish structure would collapse before being finished.
Paxton based the design of his building on the same design used to support the heavy leaves of the giant water lily. Not only were the experts wrong, but the beautiful glass building stood as a testimony to the genius of God’s design ability for the next 80 years before being destroyed by fire. Paxton realized that the giant water lily was well engineered; he just copied the greatest Engineer, God Himself.
Through wisdom is a house built.
~ Proverbs 24:3a
Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett
References for this devotional.
Creation Devotional March 5 - History
Daily Devotional – March 5
History
One of the stories from ancient Norway speaks of the existence of a magical glowing stone called the “sunstone.” It was believed that these fabled sunstones aided mariners when the days were so cloudy that the sun was obscured. Vikings write of using these prized sunstones to navigate the perilous Arctic seas. It turns out that sunstone stories are true, there is a transparent spar crystal found in Iceland that creates a double refraction or image. (You can see this for yourself by placing an Iceland spar crystal on a newspaper and seeing a double image appear).
Vikings would mount this crystal of Iceland spar into a wooden block and rotate the block until the two fuzzy images of the sun equalized; from that position, the Vikings could determine the sun’s exact position without a visible sun. Knowing the sun’s location allows sailors to calculate their exact latitude upon the globe. The ancient Vikings were one of the dispersing clans from the Tower of Babel as the Viking civilization is amongst the earliest of European settlers. As one of the earliest human cultures, were they unsophisticated, primitive humans? No, the very opposite is true. They developed advanced technologies needed to survive in the harsh post-Flood world and sailed the globe in search of new resources.
And God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness….”
~ Genesis 1:26
Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett
References for this devotional.
Creation Devotional March 4 - Geology
Daily Devotional – March 4
Geology
During the Flood of Noah’s day not only was the earth covered with water but also with a large number of volcanoes. In fact, you can travel to the very throat of one of these super volcanoes, Yellowstone National Park. That’s right; almost the entire park is a collapsed volcanic cone or caldera. It is 44 miles long and 34 miles wide and covers 1500 square miles in area. Imagine this super volcano spewing out ash and lava!
Evolutionary geology believes in enormous time periods, so it places eruptions that formed the Yellowstone area at 2.1, 1.2, and 0.64 million years ago. Yet these dates are based on dating methods that have been proven to be both inaccurate and subjective. The fact that the collapsed caldera of Yellowstone remains geologically active – creating the geysers, mud pots, hot springs, and fumaroles found throughout the area - actually testifies to its recent creation during the Flood of Noah about 4400 years ago. It remains hot and active because the eruption which created this area DID NOT occur millions of years ago. The underground magma remains hot and close to the surface because the entire area was recently created.
In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
~ Genesis 7:11
Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett
References for this devotional.
Creation Devotional March 3 - Biology
Daily Devotional – March 3
Biology
Have you ever thought about how a honeybee communicates to the rest of the colony where the new source of nectar is? She does a dance! If the food source is near, she just dances in a circle. If the food source is over 100 yards away, she does the “waggle” dance, which is like a figure eight. The center of the “waggle” reveals the direction and distance to the flower. The bee uses the sun as a reference point to signal the direction to the flower from the hive. If the flower is toward the sun, the bee “waggles” up the vertical comb. If it is away from the sun, it “waggles” down the comb. If it is 60 degrees to the east of the sun, it will “waggle” at a 60 degree angle and so forth. The type of “waggle” is either fast or slow that communicates the distance and quality of the nectar. The dance is a complex but efficient form of communication.
Evolutionists believe that this dance came about slowly over a long period of time. Really? If only one bee came up with the idea and the others did not understand, the result would be no nectar gained. If this dance slowly evolved, how would all the bee ancestors have survived? If they survived without this complicated dance, why would they need to invent the dance? God programmed within the honeybee this unique form of communication. The honeybee’s communication style is so precise and complex that it shouts design! And God is that Designer!
O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph. For the Lord most high is terrible; he is a great King over all the earth.
~ Psalm 47:1-2
Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett
References for this devotional.
Creation Devotional March 2 - Biology
Daily Devotional – March 2
Biology
For thousands of years, the bee’s honeycomb has fascinated man. Pappus of Alexandria, a third-century A.D. astronomer and mathematician, was intrigued by the honeycomb shape found inside of hives. He asked himself, “Why is the honeycomb cell six-sided? Why isn’t the honeycomb cell a circle, triangle, or square?”
Pappus found that the six-sided shape, the hexagon, holds more honey and takes less wax to produce than any other shape. It was not until modern calculus was invented over a thousand years later that the shape of the cap at the end of the honeycomb cell was analyzed. Each cell cap is a pyramid made of three rhombuses. This cap shape was found to require the smallest possible amount of wax for construction. Each bee knows how to build this type of cell and cap. Some say they are great engineers; however, it is the One who designed the programming that controls the honeybee who is really the great engineer. That would be Jesus!
My son, eat thou honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste:
~ Proverbs 24:13
Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett
References for this devotional.
Creation Devotional March 1 - Christian Truth
Daily Devotional – March 1
Christian Truth
Why spend time talking about the evidence for creation, aren’t we, “justified by faith?” (Romans 5:1)
Romans 1:19-20 states that all people are without excuse for lack of belief in God because all people can clearly see what He has made by observing the creation. The world is filled with people who can see the intricacies and design of life and the vast scale of the universe – but are still blinded to the reality of God’s existence. Therefore, more than physical evidence is needed to convince people that God exists, that He has died for our sins, and that we must accept His sacrifice for our sins to come back into fellowship with Him. Mature Christians understand that this awakening to the truth is the working of the Holy Spirit within people’s lives, but hearing the evidence from creation opens people’s spiritual eyes. Immature Christians absolve themselves of any responsibility to do anything to reach others with this truth by assuming that it is the Holy Spirit’s job to reach people and that people have been given the freedom to reject the obvious (if they choose to).
God has always used people to reach other people. Yes, all the credit for a person’s spiritual eyes being opened goes to God, but He commands us to be the ones who place the truth in front of others. He has always used people to reach other people with the truth. The greatest teacher, Jesus Christ, was both fully man and fully God. Thus God Himself became a man to reach other men with the truth. We MUST explain to others that God is the Creator and evolution is just a story. Christians need to get out of the bleachers and into the game and speak of God the designer/Creator/Redeemer.
How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
~ Romans 10:15b
Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett
References for this devotional.
Creation Devotional February 29 - Anatomy
Daily Devotional – February 29
Anatomy
Incredible complexity shows up in every area of the human body. The study of any one of our organs (our heart, liver, stomach, lungs, eyes, ears, and dozens of others) is enough to totally discredit the belief in slow evolutionary development. Doctors spend a lifetime specializing in understanding the operation of just one specific human organ and understand that even tiny variations in one of a thousand different specifically designed parts of the organ wreaks havoc with the human body. To believe that even one of the complex systems listed below developed itself is to believe in pure fantasy.1
In his chapter “Purposeful Design,” Geoffrey Simmons, M.D. lists 81 facts that he believes point to design rather than chance as postulated in Darwin’s theory of evolution.2 Simmons points out that Darwin had little knowledge of genetics, physiology, and conception. So how could his theory still be accepted as valid?
- Every significant change in a human male reproductive system as he evolved from a less-than-human ancestor had to have been matched at exactly the same time with a reciprocal change in the female reproductive system (or vice versa).
- The egg has to know when it’s time to ovulate, how to pop out of the ovary, how to travel through the fallopian tube, how to receive a single sperm and immediately shut out other sperm, and how to eventually implant itself into the uterus.
- A cell resembles a miniature industrial complex more complicated than a General Motors or Boeing manufacturing plant.
- The brain can store between 100 trillion and 280 quintillion bits (1 followed by 20 zeros) of information in a mere three pounds of matter. By comparison, the largest computer array designed to date by IBM3 can store 120 million gigabytes of information (1 followed by 15 zeros) in a building the size of a large house. Thus, the human brain is capable of storing 100,000 times more bits of information than mankind’s largest computer in a much smaller space.
- Eyes are to the brain like an antenna is to a television. Millions of cells lining the interior of each eye function as photochemical receivers, converting light waves into a myriad of electrical impulses that are forwarded at 200 miles per hour to the brain. There the impulses are sorted, organized, and analyzed in a process more complex than the creation and viewing of a three dimensional holograph image. All of this is accomplished in milliseconds.
- Our hormones work in both parallel and tandem. Some require multiple hormones to perform their function and others only work in sequential order within a cell. Many have double and triple functions.
- Every movement of our bodies involves a complex array of interacting nerves, muscles, ligaments, tendons, joints, soft tissues, blood vessels, and bones. Millions to billions of cells work in unison to accomplish this.
Incredible complexity shows up in every part of the body, and then it has to be integrated with the other parts in order to work together. Happen by accident and chance? Hardly! We are fearfully and wonderfully made by God.
For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.
~ Psalm 139:13-14
“I have found nature to be a conserver. Nothing is wasted or permanently lost in nature. Things change their form but never cease to exist. After I leave this world I do not believe I am through. God would be a bigger fool than even a man if He did not conserve the most important thing He has yet done in the universe.”
~ George Washington Carver, scientist and inventor
“If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain…Christ [is] risen from the dead…the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For he has put all things under his feet.”
~ 1 Corinthians 15:17, 20, 26,27a
Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett
References for this devotional.
Creation Devotional February 28 - Paleontology
Daily Devotional – February 28
Paleontology
All over the world, we find dinosaur prints captured in mud or shale, which subsequently turned to rock. These footprints are commonly found on top of coal seams, as seen in the College of Eastern Utah’s Prehistoric Museum at Price, Utah. In fact such dinosaur footprint fossils are so common that people in this area use them as door stops! But how did all of these footprints survive the worldwide Flood? Here is one possible scenario.
The worldwide Flood literally pulverized the world that existed before the Flood. The coal seams of the world (which formed during Noah’s Flood) required almost ten times more vegetation on the planet before the Flood than we find alive today. This pre-Flood vegetation must have floated around for months, as wave after wave sorted and dropped sediment in underwater valleys thousands of feet deep below.
During the Flood, many land animals would have sought to survive by clinging onto these huge floating islands of vegetation. Much of this vegetation would have been beached at some point during the yearlong Flood as water levels fluctuated from place to place. Between the beaching of these mats and subsequent covering with more layers of water and sediment, dinosaurs could have made their footprints, followed by a subsequent drowning and burial of their bones. The “age of the dinosaurs” is taught to have extended from 250 million years ago to 65 million years ago, but in reality we are just seeing bones buried at different levels during an extremely complex worldwide Flood about 4400 years ago.
Dinosaurs buried early in the Flood are misinterpreted as having existed over 200 million years ago whereas those destroyed and buried later in the Flood (after leaving their footprints on the newly laid and exposed sediment layers) are misinterpreted as having lived less than 100 million years ago. Because evolutionists leave the world-restructuring Flood out of their thinking, they draw incorrect conclusions about the rocks, fossils, and the age of the dinosaurs. The existence of dinosaur footprints on the top of coal seams points to a catastrophic event such as the Flood.
Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished.
~ 2 Peter 3:6
Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett
Creation Devotional February 27 - Cosmology
Daily Devotional – February 27
Cosmology
Every time NASA sends a probe to a new location within our solar system, it sends back images that astonish scientists. Why the surprise? Because probe after probe sends back images that would not be expected if our solar system were billions of years old. Evidence for the recent creation of our solar system abounds - from the moon of Jupiter (Io) which is inexplicably volcanically active (it should be a cold moon, if millions of years old) to the raging storms and heat radiating from Neptune (it should be a cold planet if millions of years old); from the magnetic field of Mercury (which should not exist if this solid planet was billions of years old) to stable rings of dust orbiting the sun within the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter (which should have long ago been pulled apart by the gravitational attraction of the sun). The latest discovery supporting the recent creation of our solar system is the smooth surface of Pluto.
In July of 2015, NASA released photographs taken during the New Horizons space probe’s fly-by of Pluto. Again evolutionary scientists were stunned by the evidence. Pluto’s surface showed very few craters. If Pluto had been in existence for billions of years, there should have been millions of craters on the surface from impacts of objects hitting it, and any gas in the atmosphere around the planetoid should be long gone. Yet, Pluto was inexplicably found to have very few craters and a nitrogen atmosphere. Both are best understood as perfectly logical because our solar system is a recent creation by God only about 6000 years ago – rather than a chance formation billions of years ago. Pluto’s smooth surface, along with the existence of an atmosphere, cries out, “Pluto is young!”
God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God.
~ Psalm 53:2
Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett
Creation Devotional February 26 - Biblical Accuracy
Daily Devotional – February 26
Biblical Accuracy
The Bible is full of prophecy – which simply is advance knowledge of the future. Since time is part of the physical universe, and God is the one who created the universe, God is “outside of time.” The fact that the Bible is filled with specific prophecies, that have come true, is one of the ways we can know the Bible is inspired by the One who is outside of time – God, the Eternal One.
One such prophecy concerns Edom. Edom was an ancient nation located near the Dead Sea. In Ezekiel 35:3-4, 9, God pronounced a curse on Edom, stating that this large nation would become desolate, all its cities would disappear, it would never be inhabited by humans, and it would be overrun by animals and beasts.
Today, we find nothing but traces of uninhabited towns in this area. Even the capital of Edom, Petra, considered one of the wonders of the ancient world with its buildings hewn out of beautiful rose-red solid rock, now stands in ruins. The only inhabitants are birds, reptiles, and assorted other animals. Imagine if a prophet of today came to New Jersey, which is about the size of Edom, and prophesied that New Jersey would become desolate, never to be reinhabited by humans and would be home only to wild animals and beasts. We would say that is ridiculous. Yet that is what has happened to Edom. The Edomites only existed for 1,700 years; their cities and even their language have utterly disappeared. The desolation of this land is a testimony to fulfilled prophecy.
I am against thee, and I will stretch out mine hand against thee, and I will make three most desolate. I will lay thy cities waste, and thou shalt be desolate, and thou shalt know that I am the LORD….I will make thee perpetual desolations, and thy cities shall not return: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
~ Ezekiel 35:3-4, 9
Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett
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