Daily Devotional – December 21

Microbiology

Stanley Miller’s famous experiment in 1953 attempted to show that life began when lightning passed through a particular atmosphere and made chemicals called amino acids. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins, and proteins are required by all living cells. Miller did show that some amino acids could be made in this way, but it’s quite another thing to get them to build a living cell! Just as a few concrete blocks in a parking lot will never turn themselves into a complex building, the existence of a few amino acids can never explain the origin of a living cell.

These amino acids supposedly linked together to form proteins (like beads on a necklace). These proteins then somehow would have to form the first DNA that went on to form the first living cell. Generations of schoolchildren have been taught this fairytale as if it were a fact of history. Now even many atheists are bailing out and admitting life could not have possibly formed in this way. Why?

1. Amino acids in water do not concentrate themselves; they disperse.
2. Amino acids need to be in the pure form in order to make proteins. Contaminants in ocean water would have stopped protein formation.
3. Under natural conditions, pure amino acids will not form proteins.
4. Living things use only left-handed amino acids, yet Miller-type experiments always result in a useless 50:50 mixture of right and left-hand amino acids.

What Miller’s experiment actually showed was that life could not possibly have formed in this way. The complex organization of life requires an intelligent Creator! It is by observing creation that God makes His awesome power and creativity apparent to everyone.

Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.

~ Romans 1:19

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

Daily Devotional – December 1
Microbiology


During Darwin’s time, only the cell wall, cytoplasm, and nucleus could be seen. It was not until the advent of advanced microscopes that we could peer deeply into a cell. What scientists found amazed them! They found a micro-city.


The nucleus is like the city hall, directing the cell’s activities. The mitochondria is the cell’s power plant, giving the cell its energy to work. Every city needs grocery stores, and that is the job of the Golgi bodies. Golgi bodies store supplies of chemicals that the cell makes. Whenever proteins or fats are needed in another part of the cell, the Golgi body wraps them up and sends them to where they are needed. The endoplasmic reticulum transports things within the cell like a mailman. It also acts like a garbage collector, picking up waste, so the cell does not become polluted. The lysomes are the cell’s police force, protecting it by destroying invaders (like bacteria). They also send trash out through the city wall (the cell membrane).


Darwin never knew all the activity that was going on within a microscopic cell. It really is like a miniature city abuzz with activity. Does a city build itself by accident and chance? Just like a city takes planning and organizing, so too, our not-so-simple cells needed a planner and organizer. That planner and organizer was God who ensured that each part was present and working from the beginning.


Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.

~ Ephesians 3:20

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

Daily Devotional – November 26

Microbiology

DNA found in dinosaur bones! The DNA molecule is one of the most fragile and easily fragmented of all organic structures, yet that is what has been found in dinosaur bones. Since Dr. Mary Schweitzer first reported finding soft tissue in dinosaur bones in 20001, so many fossils have been documented to contain soft protein and other undecayed biological material that it has become routine. Recently undecayed DNA sequences were found within soft dinosaur tissue!1 This is the “final nail” in the coffin of the belief that these fossils laid in the ground for millions of years.

Studies have been done to see how long DNA would exist if held at certain temperatures. For example, if the DNA were held at 77oF, it could survive for 22,000 years; after that, no measurable genetic sequence would be left. Here are the results of the study:

77 degrees Fahrenheit – 22,000 years

59 degrees Fahrenheit – 131,000 years

41 degrees Fahrenheit – 882,000 years

23 degrees Fahrenheit – 6.8 million years

Notice for DNA to survive for millions of years, the temperature had to be below freezing. Fossils trapped in rock layers do not experience subfreezing temperatures for millions of years! Also notice, the millions of years mentioned are only 1/10th of the time as compared to the evolutionary idea of dinosaurs dying out 65 million years ago. Dinosaur fossils and the rock layers they are trapped in are not that old. These dinosaurs were caught in the Flood of Noah’s day some 4400 years ago. It is no surprise then that small amounts of the DNA structure could occasionally be found in these dinosaur fossils. DNA in dinosaur bones shouts, “It’s a young Earth!”

Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook?… Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out. Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, as out of a seething pot or caldron. His breath kindleth coals, and a flame goeth out of his mouth.

~Job 41: 1, 19-21

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

References for this devotional.

Daily Devotional – November 16

Microbiology

The third largest land animal today is the rhinoceros – often weighing over 6000 pounds (as much as three compact cars)! Pound per pound, it is also the fastest land animal – capable of running almost 30 mph and knocking over a SUV loaded with gawking tourists! Yet, this mighty beast is dependent on the smallest of creatures for its survival.

The rhino is a herbivore designed to eat plants that many animals cannot. Rhinos survive in harsh environments filled with low nutrient (even poisonous) plants that deer and other herbivores cannot digest. What is the rhino’s secret to survival? It has an integrated system of bacteria and specialized organs that allow it to thrive.

The microbes that process a rhino’s food live in the caecum (a special section of the intestine downstream of the small intestine), and they break down the cellulose materials that the rhino eats – turning them into sugars, vitamin B, and amino acids that the rhino cannot directly obtain from plants. But this symbiotic relationship between the biggest and smallest of organisms is even more amazing. The transformation of nutrients takes place downstream of the rhino’s small intestine, but nutrients the rhino needs must be absorbed upstream (in the small intestine). So how does the rhino survive? Powerful muscular contractions in the rhino’s digestive tract move things in both directions in the rhino, either driving nutrients upstream for absorption by his body or driving waste downstream for elimination. The unique design of such a complex system testifies to the genius of its Creator.

Let my mouth be filled with thy praise and with thy honour all the day.

~ Psalm 7 1:8

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

References for this devotional.

Daily Devotional – November 9

Microbiology

Scientists have been able to transcribe the human DNA code and lay it out like the letters in a book. With every passing year, they are decoding more of the language in order to gain a better understanding of how our bodies work. Yet, the DNA code is so complex that we may never completely understand the intricacies of its meanings and functions. We have even discovered that the sequence of information can be read forwards and backwards, overlapped to have different functions and meanings, and letters can be turned “on & off” depending on conditions within a cell. This is analogous to a book that can be simultaneously read in English, French, German, and Spanish - and be understandable when read forwards or backwards! Yet, in each different language, the same sequence of letters will have a different understandable meaning. The author of such a book would be celebrated as an incomprehensible, brilliant genius. This is exactly what our limited understanding of the DNA code reveals.

Could this code come about by accident and chance? To believe this code wrote itself by random, one-small-change-at-a-time mutations is to believe in the impossible. We really have no excuse for not believing in and worshipping the Author of Life – Jesus Christ. The very DNA language that God invented is written within every one of our estimated 10 to 35 trillion cells. This DNA language testifies to His existence, genius, and majesty.

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

~ Hebrews 12:2

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

References for this devotional.

Daily Devotional – October 19

Microbiology

In the salty marshes off the East Coast of the USA, “farmer” snails live. They cut long gashes down the blades of the cord-grass. As they slice, they leave their droppings along the cut, and the gash soon has fungus growing on it. This fungus is then eaten by the snails – allowing them to thrive on the special nutrition supplied by the fungus. In experiments by biologists, without eating this fungus, the snails hardly grew, and twice as many of their young died. These snails need the fungus in order to flourish. How does evolution explain these snails’ farming technique? How did snails know they needed this fungus for better health? How did snails exist prior to farming it? If those snails did exist without the fungus, why grow it? The Creator knew what these snails needed in order to flourish and provided them with the knowledge to farm in such a manner.

Praise ye the Lord: for it is good to sing praises unto our God;

~ Psalm 147:1a

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

References for this devotional.

Daily Devotional – October 3

Microbiology

Off the coast of Hawaii lives a little squid about two inches long. During the day, the bobtail squid sleeps, huddled down in the sand. At night, it hunts. It swims near the surface, revealing a silhouette as viewed from below. To avoid detection, he wears an “invisibility cloak” made of glowing bacteria on his underbelly that mimics moonlight. This bioluminescent bacteria (Vibro Fischeri) is harbored in a special organ in the squid’s mantle, where the squid provides food for them. The bobtail squid then uses filters to adjust how much of the bacteria’s brightness shows so that it matches the moonlight. If it’s a full moon; it mimics the light of a full moon, with a crescent moon, it mimics the lower light level of a crescent, and if a cloud suddenly covers the Moon, no problem!

Each morning as the squid buries itself in the sand, it releases most of the glowing bacteria. During the day, the remaining bacteria multiply so they are ready to go by nightfall. How does the squid know which bacteria to “capture”? How did it know that it needed an “invisibility cloak” to hide its silhouette? How did it know that it needed a filter to dim or brighten the bioluminescent bacteria? All these features shout design! When we see a design, we know there must be a Designer, and that Designer is God!

Thou art my hiding place and my shield...

~ Psalm 119:114a

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

References for this devotional.

Daily Devotional – September 25

Microbiology

From the time of the ancient Greeks, up through the middle of the 19th century, it was widely taught that life formed all by itself via the “spontaneous generation of life.” Scientists throughout this period insisted that observation confirmed this “fact of science” as they watched mold appearing on food and maggots crawling out of raw dead meat. Louis Pasteur (1822-1895), the father of microbiology, proved spontaneous generation was wrong- dead things do not make living things.

Pasteur showed that it was invisible microorganisms that explained things like the formation of alcohol within beer, the spoilage of milk, and the spread of disease. As a result, he developed pasteurization of milk, vaccinations for the prevention of diseases, and sterilization procedures. Literally millions of lives have been saved because of his work. Louis Pasteur performed experiments that proved that microorganisms can never create themselves. From his experiments with boiled broth in flasks, he discovered the Law of Biogenesis, that life comes from life. Nothing developed in sterilized, sealed flasks while open flasks developed microorganisms. Dead, sterile broth is dead; it can not make a living microorganism. You can still see one of his sealed flasks of broth on display at the Pasteur Foundation in Paris; nothing has grown in it since the 1860s.

But what was the inspiration behind his developments? Pasteur realized that life could not have made itself but only exists as a result of the creation by God. It is ironic that Pasteur proved the spontaneous generation of life wrong in the same year that Charles Darwin published Origin of the Species, 1859, that said spontaneous generation was right. Darwin spent the last decades of his life campaigning to convince others that life developed and advanced all by itself without God. Pasteur used reproducible experimentation to develop a law of science, the Law of Biogenesis - that life comes from life, just as God said in Scripture. Darwin used unobserved speculation to convince a world, anxious to get rid of accountability to their Creator, that life made itself and bacteria turned into people while Pasteur used the scientific method. Be very careful which side of this controversy you find yourself supporting.

[Solomon] spoke of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spoke also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes. And there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, which had heard of his wisdom.

~ I Kings 4:33, 34

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

References for this devotional.

Daily Devotional – September 9

Microbiology

There are billion-dollar hotels in Las Vegas because the owners know that they are going to make money from the majority of people coming through their doors. Statistics is science and assures us that certain things are either going to happen or not.

Statistics can also be used to prove that life could never have made itself. There are an estimated 1080 atoms in the entire universe. Even if our universe were 15 billion years old (1018 seconds) and each of these atoms are interacting with each other every trillionth of a second, this would only allow 10112 possible chemical interactions since the beginning of time. Let’s compare that number (10112) to the odds of the correct proteins and enzymes, needed for life, coming into existence by chance processes.

It is believed that the very simplest form of life would require at least 20 proteins and 387 enzymes – all with very specific sequences of amino acids.1 If the average sequence of these chemicals is 10 amino acids, the odds of these amino acid arrangements forming by random chance would be 20 raised to the 10th power raised to the 387th power. In other words, once in 105035 tries. This is absurdly less likely than the 10112 possible interactions of every atom in the history of the universe. Once in a trillion odds would be like flipping a coin and randomly getting heads 40 times in a row. No-one would ever believe this could happen. Once in 105035 is an inconceivable impossibility.

God has made it absolutely obvious; the molecules of life were designed by intelligence, not chance.

[I will do mighty wonders ] that they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the Lord hath done this, that the Holy One of Israel hath created it.

~ Isaiah 41:20

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

References for this devotional.

Daily Devotional – August 8

Microbiology

The molecules of life are never random arrangements of parts. If we think of a protein molecule (the most common molecule of life) as a strand of beads made up of 20 different colors, each color must be placed in exactly the correct location. There are 300 such specifically arranged strands in even a minimally complex cell. The odds of even one of these 300 “necklaces” happening by chance is once in 10125 tries.1 This is more than every electron, proton, and neutron in the entire universe. This is clearly impossible.

Michael Denton, an Australian scientist, has written that even the simplest cell would require at least 100 functional protein “necklaces” to appear simultaneously and start interacting with each other in perfect coordination.2 Since just one protein is as unlikely as 1/10125, the odds of 100 such proteins is 1/102000. That is a one followed by 2000 zeros! It is abundantly clear that life has a designer of unimaginable intelligence and ability!

Oh, give thanks to the Lord of lords! For His mercy endures forever: To Him who alone does great wonders.

~ Psalm 136:3,4

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

References for this devotional.