Daily Devotional – July 1

Christian Truth

Peter’s sermon on the day after Pentecost resulted in three thousand souls being saved (Acts 2). The people who heard his message were familiar with the Old Testament; they believed in the Creator God and understood sin and its penalty of death. As Peter preached to the Jews, he was able to build on their existing foundation of truth and reality.

Compare this with Paul speaking to the Greeks in Acts 17:22-34. The Greeks did not believe in a separate Creator God who held them personally accountable for their lives and actions. To them the “gods” were really just part of the universe and world around them. They did not have the same background as the Jews. So what was Paul’s approach? He began by explaining that God was not part of the universe, but the Creator of Heaven and Earth. He began with creation.

Today, our culture does not know the Bible, and people increasingly think of evolution, i.e. creation itself, as their creator. We need to begin reaching the lost in our culture by explaining that there is a God, who is the literal supernatural Creator of everything. Unlike the Acts 2 crowd, our culture does not know the Bible. Americans have become like an Acts 17 culture. Just like Paul, we need to start with the evidence for creation in order to explain the God of the Bible to them.

Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, To The Unknown God. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, ….”

~ Acts 17: 22-24

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

Daily Devotional – June 30

Cosmology

A planet that orbits around a star that is not our Sun is called an “exoplanet.” Since the 1990s, NASA has reported the existence of more than 1000 exoplanets. These planets come in a variety of sizes and distances from their suns. None have been found to be the perfect size and distance from its sun to allow life. Should Bible-believing Christians be afraid that finding other planets revolving around stars will prove life could pop up anywhere and God is irrelevant? One should not become confused with finding an earth-sized planet with an earth-like planet. Earth is unique in that it is the perfect distance from the Sun; and has the perfect gravitational pull, the perfect atmospheric gases, and copious amounts of liquid water resulting in the perfect “habitable zone” for life. Just because other planets exist outside our solar system does not mean life is there. Examine our own solar system with its Earth-like planets Venus and Mars. They are the right size and approximately the right distance from the Sun, yet they contain absolutely no life. Our Earth is special! It was designed to be a stable, safe place for people to inhabit. Isaiah 45:18 acknowledges this, “He formed it to be inhabited.” Exoplanets just show God’s power and creativity!

For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.

~ Isaiah 45:18

“The Bible is worth all the other books which have ever been printed.” – Patrick Henry (1739-1799), Virginia Governor, Declaration of Independence signer, American Founding Father

“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”

~ 2 Timothy 3:16, 17

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

References for this devotional.

Daily Devotional – June 29

Paleontology

Much publicity has been given to feather-like structures found in amber (assumed to be 70 million years old).1 Why is this significant? If someone does not want to believe that birds were created fully-formed and fully-functional, the only other possibility is that some other animal must have evolved into a bird. Thus, it is widely taught that dinosaurs changed into birds. Since this feather-containing-amber is from the “age of dinosaurs”… it is assumed that these feathers came from feather-covered dinosaurs. But let’s look at what was actually found – some fuzzy structures and some modern-looking feathers.

According to the researchers, “We’ve got feathers that look to be little filamentous hair-like feathers, we’ve got the same filaments bound together in clumps, and then we’ve got a series that are for all intents and purposes identical to modern feathers,” McKellar said. “We’re finding some that look to be dinosaur feathers and another set that are pretty much dead ringers for modern birds.”

No bones, no skin, no pictures. In other words, bird feathers and frayed fragments of who-knows-what were preserved in amber. Ignored are fully-formed birds found in lower rock layers. Ignored are all the other creatures found in amber: well preserved insects, flowers, moss, lizards, and mammal hair. Of course, that is exactly what we would find if there was a world-wide flood as trees were ripped up and knocked against each other, releasing resin. During the raging Flood of Noah’s day, huge floating log mats would have had trees oozing resin in which feathers, insects, fuzz and other critters would have been captured. Then sediments would cover them and amber would be formed.

Dinosaurs and birds were created together during that first week of creation. Both were wiped out in vast numbers and buried during the Flood of Noah - which is when the world’s amber deposits formed. The feathers found in this amber are simply from a bird, not a dinosaur.

And God created… every winged fowl after his kind:  and God saw that it was good.

~ Genesis 1:21

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

References for this devotional.

Daily Devotional – June 28

Biology

One of the most remarkable builders in the animal kingdom is the beaver. The sound of trickling water stimulates the beaver to plug the flow by building a dam. If it is a sluggish stream, the dam will be built straight across. If it is a fast-flowing stream, the beaver will construct a dam with a convex curve in the upstream direction. First, they push strong sticks down into the stream bed. Next, they fill the gaps with branches. Finally, they place heavier rocks or pieces of wood on top. Beavers know how to compensate for the stresses and strains of water pushing against the dam. On the upstream side of the dam, the wall is vertical and on the downstream side, the wall slopes at a 45 degree angle. Beavers also build outlet sluices for removal of overflow water.

Dams can be built short or long, high or low. One beaver dam was 1800 feet long, 9 feet high and 18 feet wide, strong enough for a horse and rider to use as a natural bridge! When we build dams, great engineering is needed to stop the flow and resist water pressure. Do we say that the engineering of our dams happen by accident and chance? It takes years of schooling to be a good dam builder, but beavers know instinctively how to build a dam. Even if a beaver is born in a zoo and let go in the wild, it still knows how to build a dam. Beavers do not need to learn how to build a dam, they just know; it’s called instinct. If there is instinct, there must be an instinct maker and that instinct maker is God.

Give thanks unto the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people.

~1 Chronicles 16:8

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

References for this devotional.

Daily Devotional – June 27

Paleontology

Recently (2012) in Lianonig, China, the fossil of a dinosaur (Sinocalliopteryx gigas) was uncovered that was so well-preserved that even its stomach contents were identifiable. Its last meal must have been a Thanksgiving feast because researchers found not one, but three partially digested birds in its stomach. The birds were intact enough to identify them as pigeon-sized birds (Confuciusornis sancutus) with fully-formed characteristics of modern birds. The fact that this dinosaur had not one, but three partially digested birds in its stomach, indicates it was an active hunter. The report noted that the birds found in the dinosaur’s stomach were “capable of powered flight” with fullyformed feathers and beaks rather than teeth. But wait, haven’t we all been told that dinosaurs slowly turned into birds? The evolutionary story that dinosaurs evolved into birds has never been observed in the fossil record. We find either fully functional birds--complete with wings and feathers—or fully functional dinosaurs without wings or feathers. Dinosaurs evolving into birds? Not in this fossil find; the dinosaur was eating the birds! From a biblical perspective, this dinosaur was simply caught in a worldwide Flood, rapidly buried, fossilized, and dug up some 4400 years later to reveal its last meal - birds.

And God created… every winged fowl after his kind :  and God saw that it was good.

~ Genesis 1:21 (emphasis added)

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

References for this devotional.

Daily Devotional – June 26

Paleontology

Scientists recently uncovered five remarkably well preserved octopus fossils. Octopuses are soft-bodied animals with no internal skeleton, yet each of the octopus’ eight arms was fossilized with traces of muscles and rows of suckers intact. Several even had their internal gills and ink fossilized! Today, when an octopus dies, its body rapidly decomposes into a slimy blob. Within days, scavengers and bacteria reduce a dead octopus to nothing. To fossilize an octopus would require extremely unique conditions - fast coverage in sediment so thick that no oxygen could exist to support the growth of microorganisms. These special conditions would have been met in the Flood of Noah’s day.

Furthermore, these five octopuses were enclosed in limestone. Limestone is always assumed by evolutionists to take long periods of time to form. But the Flood of Noah’s time would have provided the perfect conditions for rapid limestone formation. The very nature of many fossils testifies to the Flood ofNoah’s day.

And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air;

~ Genesis 6:7a

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

References for this devotional.

Daily Devotional – June 25

Cosmology

Those familiar with astronomy and cosmology have likely heard of “dark matter.” Many astronomy books state as fact that 85% of all matter in the universe is dark matter – something which cannot be directly measured or observed. If it cannot be directly observed, why believe it exists?

The belief in dark matter stems from the fact that the laws of science directly contradict the belief in cosmic evolution and the Big Bang. The universal gas law (PV=nRT) shows that gas ALWAYS moves from high pressure to low pressure if left to itself. This means stars, galaxies, and galaxy clusters could never form themselves in the vacuum of outer space. Yet, they exist, so how do scientists explain the discrepancy?

Dark matter to the rescue! By inventing a massive, invisible substance to condense and compress the “regular matter” of the universe, believers in naturalism can mathematically rescue the Big Bang explanation of how the universe could have created itself.

Dark matter is also invoked to supposedly:

1. Explain irregularities in Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation.
2. Explain how outer stars in galaxies can orbit faster than inner ones.
3. Explain how some of the most common elements in the universe - helium and deuterium (a hydrogen isotope) could have come into existence.
4. Support the Big Bang theory. Without dark matter, the Big Bang model for our universe collapses - thus there is enormous pressure to find proof of the existence of this unobservable, undetectable stuff.

Recent papers claim to have proven the existence of dark matter because light from certain galaxies has been bent in a “gravitational lens” effect in the way that dark matter would supposedly bend light. Yet, this is speculation, not direct observation, and the same effect can be explained in multiple other ways. Russell Humphreys, John Hartnett, and Moshe Carmeli have all shown novel physics solutions that explain the formation of the universe without the need to invent an unobservable, mythical dark matter. All three brilliant physicists acknowledge that the only viable explanation for the origin of the matter and energy in the universe, including stars and galaxies, is a supernatural creation by God. It is the laws of science that lead to this conclusion.

Thus, modern man is faced with two choices as he struggles to explain the origin of the material universe. Either an enormous explosion (from nothing) created the universe of mostly unobservable matter and energy, or the universe exists because an infinitely intelligent and powerful Creator made it. Modern man, in his quest to escape accountability from that Creator, all too often chooses darkness as his god and creator.

If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

~ Matthew 6:23

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

References for this devotional.

Daily Devotional – June 24

Botany

How can a major oil spill on the ocean be cleaned up? We use floating booms to contain the spill and absorbants/pumps to remove the oil from the surface, but what about the submerged oil droplets?

Believe it or not, technology that copies cactus spines will clean this submerged mess. The tapered spines of the cactus Opuntia microdasys efficiently collect water droplets from fog in the harsh ecosystems of central and northern Mexico. When micron-sized, spherically-shaped fog droplets land on the cactus spines, the spine’s shape distorts the water droplet into a clam-like shape. The water droplet wants to stay spherical, so a battle between these two forces pushes the droplet to the base of the spine. The base of the spine is larger than the water droplet, and so the water droplet is immediately absorbed. Copying the cactus spine, researchers made a copper-silicon array with a cactus spine shape and submerged it into a mixture of oil and water. They blasted the mixture with ultrasonic sound waves to create micron-sized oil droplets. The underwater oil droplets collected on the man-made cactus spines in the same way fog droplets collected on real cactus spines. God has designed everything in nature for our wonder and benefit. It is our privilege to search out the Creator’s secrets and apply them to our daily lives. In Scripture, God calls us to “have dominion” over creation; searching out the Creator‘s secrets and applying them to our daily life.

O God, thou hast taught me from my youth:  and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works.

~ Psalm 7 1:17

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

References for this devotional.

Daily Devotional – June 23

Biology

One of the wonders of the Pacific Ocean is the Japanese puffer fish. During mating season this fish creates an underwater sculpture which would astound any artist and make a beautiful wall decoration in any home. Using only it fins, the tiny fish produces a perfectly circular, six-foot sculpture on the ocean bottom with uniquely placed ridges and channels. The fish cannot even see from one side of the sculpture to the other, yet it is a perfect circle and the channels it creates between the sand ridges are produced with mathematically perfection.

The fish literally has a map of the finished sculpture in its brain and works non-stop, 24 hours a day, for over a week to complete the plan. Where did this plan come from? How did it learn to move sand, shells and rocks around to create such beauty? Could such plans and ability have slowly “evolved” over time a small step at a time? Not a chance! God created such wonders to show us his creativity in the animals he has made.

For all those things hath mine hand made...

~ Isaiah 66:2a

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

References for this devotional.

Daily Devotional – June 22

Design

Golf balls made during the 1800s were made with a smooth surface. It seemed logical that the smoother the ball, the farther it flies. At some point, golfers noticed that older balls covered with nicks and grooves seemed to fly farther. By the 1930s, the standard golf ball was covered with dimples. Just as golf balls are designed with “dimples,” so is shark skin.

Shark’s skin is made of tough, enameled, tooth-like scales called denticles that point in the direction of the tail. When running your hand over a shark’s skin, toward the tail, the skin will feel smooth. When running your hand in the opposite direction, the shark’s skin feels like rough sandpaper. In the past, shark skin was even used as sandpaper.

To swim faster, a shark bristles with its denticles, causing tiny whirlpools to form within the cavities between the denticles. These tiny vortices reduce the drag. This same design can be observed with dimples on a golf ball. As the dimpled golf ball flies through the air, tiny whirlpools are created, reducing drag. Golf balls are made with dimples to create less drag in the same way the shark skin with its “dimples” was designed.

Would we say a golf ball happened by chance? Hardly! Neither can we assume the shark’s skin made itself. God created and designed the shark’s skin to maximize its speed.

So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts.

~ Psalm 104:25

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

References for this devotional.