THE UNCLE DRAGON COUNTRY;
Isaiah 52:10
"The LORD hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God."
Historians have dismissed many allegedly ancient maps as modern forgeries because the maps show features that the ancients supposedly knew nothing about. Among the more credible ancient maps are 20 variations of ancient Chinese maps that may be as much as 4,000 years old. Some of these maps are held in museums around the world. What's more, the maps accurately record features all over the world!
One of the more well-known maps is the circular Harris map. China is depicted in the center of the map, surrounded by the rest of the world. The map does contain labels for many features around the world. Early Chinese mapmakers were fond of naming a land after a distinctive creature found there. For example, Australia - which is accurately depicted as being south of China - is called "Land of the Fire Rat people." This is thought to be a reference to the red kangaroo, which is common there. North America is described fairly accurately as being about 3,300 miles east to west and north to south. Ancient Chinese mapmakers were fascinated with the Columbia River system of the American Northwest because on a map it looks like the Chinese characters for the word "dragon." Because of this feature, the map calls North America "Uncle Dragon Country."
The claims that 4,000 years ago man could not have known this much about the world are based on evolution. As more becomes known, the facts of history are combining with the facts of science to disprove evolution.
Use me, dear Father, to help spread the Gospel to all lands. Amen.
Across Before Columbus?, pp. 279 282. Photo: A Chinese topographic map dated to the early Western Han period (183-168 BC). (PD)
Isaiah 52:10
"The LORD hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God."
Historians have dismissed many allegedly ancient maps as modern forgeries because the maps show features that the ancients supposedly knew nothing about. Among the more credible ancient maps are 20 variations of ancient Chinese maps that may be as much as 4,000 years old. Some of these maps are held in museums around the world. What's more, the maps accurately record features all over the world!
One of the more well-known maps is the circular Harris map. China is depicted in the center of the map, surrounded by the rest of the world. The map does contain labels for many features around the world. Early Chinese mapmakers were fond of naming a land after a distinctive creature found there. For example, Australia - which is accurately depicted as being south of China - is called "Land of the Fire Rat people." This is thought to be a reference to the red kangaroo, which is common there. North America is described fairly accurately as being about 3,300 miles east to west and north to south. Ancient Chinese mapmakers were fascinated with the Columbia River system of the American Northwest because on a map it looks like the Chinese characters for the word "dragon." Because of this feature, the map calls North America "Uncle Dragon Country."
The claims that 4,000 years ago man could not have known this much about the world are based on evolution. As more becomes known, the facts of history are combining with the facts of science to disprove evolution.
Use me, dear Father, to help spread the Gospel to all lands. Amen.
Across Before Columbus?, pp. 279 282. Photo: A Chinese topographic map dated to the early Western Han period (183-168 BC). (PD)
IGUANAS THAT GROW LARGER AND SMALLER
Jeremiah 31:2
"Thus saith the LORD, The people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest."
What do you do when food resources are scarcer than normal for an extended period of time? People not getting enough nutrition lose weight and eventually muscle mass. It would really make more sense to proportionately shrink your body size. After all, children require fewer calories than adults. It appears that this is just what marine iguanas and perhaps some other reptiles actually do.
Researchers studying the marine iguanas of the Galapagos Islands found that sometimes individuals appeared to get smaller. For 18 years they simply blamed measurement error. Then one of the scientists studied the 18 year record of measurements and realized that something was really happening. During an El Niño weather pattern, when the algal beds offered less food for the iguanas, individuals shrank in size. In addition, the largest males showed the greatest amount of shrinking. If connective tissue alone was shrinking, the iguanas would only shrink by ten percent. But large males were shrinking by as much as 20 percent during a two year long El Niño. This means that even their bones must shrink! More research showed that the more an individual shrank, the better its chance of survival.
Iguanas need only concern themselves with survival in this life. As human beings, we need to be concerned about the next life as well. We can thank God that He has provided eternal life for us through Jesus Christ.
Lord, I will thank You forever for forgiveness and salvation. Amen.
"Famine reveals incredible shrinking iguanas," Science News, 1/8/00, pp. 20 21. Photo: Green iguana. Courtesy of Bjørn Christian Tørrissen. (CC-BY-SA 4.0)
Jeremiah 31:2
"Thus saith the LORD, The people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest."
What do you do when food resources are scarcer than normal for an extended period of time? People not getting enough nutrition lose weight and eventually muscle mass. It would really make more sense to proportionately shrink your body size. After all, children require fewer calories than adults. It appears that this is just what marine iguanas and perhaps some other reptiles actually do.
Researchers studying the marine iguanas of the Galapagos Islands found that sometimes individuals appeared to get smaller. For 18 years they simply blamed measurement error. Then one of the scientists studied the 18 year record of measurements and realized that something was really happening. During an El Niño weather pattern, when the algal beds offered less food for the iguanas, individuals shrank in size. In addition, the largest males showed the greatest amount of shrinking. If connective tissue alone was shrinking, the iguanas would only shrink by ten percent. But large males were shrinking by as much as 20 percent during a two year long El Niño. This means that even their bones must shrink! More research showed that the more an individual shrank, the better its chance of survival.
Iguanas need only concern themselves with survival in this life. As human beings, we need to be concerned about the next life as well. We can thank God that He has provided eternal life for us through Jesus Christ.
Lord, I will thank You forever for forgiveness and salvation. Amen.
"Famine reveals incredible shrinking iguanas," Science News, 1/8/00, pp. 20 21. Photo: Green iguana. Courtesy of Bjørn Christian Tørrissen. (CC-BY-SA 4.0)
THE STINKING POISON BIRD
Acts 14:2
"But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles, and made their minds evil affected against the brethren."
The hooded pitohuis is an evil-smelling, blue jay sized bird that is native to New Guinea. The bird has been known to science since 1827, but they held a secret that only began to be uncovered in 1989.
An American graduate student made the discovery while studying another local bird - the bird of paradise. Unfortunately, hooded pitohuis kept getting caught in his nets. As he released the unwanted pitohuis, they would claw and peck at him. After he released the birds, he licked the wounds they had caused. As a result, his mouth began to burn and finally became numb for several hours. This led the graduate student to send dead hooded pitohuis to the National Institutes of Health for further study. The poison they produce was finally identified as one of the most poisonous substances known. It is hundreds of times more poisonous than strychnine. The amount of poison in one bird can kill 500 mice. Most amazing is that only one other creature produces the same poison, the poison dart frog of Central America.
Those who believe in evolution maintain that the ability to produce the poison must have evolved twice. But it's not that simple. Not only do both bird and frog, half a world apart, have to evolve this unlikely ability twice, but they both had to evolve immunity to their own poison. Ultimately, evolution is a faith. It is a faith that is poisonous to Christianity because it makes death natural rather than a result of the first Adam's sin. And without the fact of the first Adam, there is no need for the Second Adam, Jesus Christ.
Lord, I thank You for Your victory over sin, death and the devil. Amen.
Natural History, 2/94, pp. 4 8. Photo: Hooded pitohuis. Courtesy of Berichard. (CC-BY-SA 2.0)
Acts 14:2
"But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles, and made their minds evil affected against the brethren."
The hooded pitohuis is an evil-smelling, blue jay sized bird that is native to New Guinea. The bird has been known to science since 1827, but they held a secret that only began to be uncovered in 1989.
An American graduate student made the discovery while studying another local bird - the bird of paradise. Unfortunately, hooded pitohuis kept getting caught in his nets. As he released the unwanted pitohuis, they would claw and peck at him. After he released the birds, he licked the wounds they had caused. As a result, his mouth began to burn and finally became numb for several hours. This led the graduate student to send dead hooded pitohuis to the National Institutes of Health for further study. The poison they produce was finally identified as one of the most poisonous substances known. It is hundreds of times more poisonous than strychnine. The amount of poison in one bird can kill 500 mice. Most amazing is that only one other creature produces the same poison, the poison dart frog of Central America.
Those who believe in evolution maintain that the ability to produce the poison must have evolved twice. But it's not that simple. Not only do both bird and frog, half a world apart, have to evolve this unlikely ability twice, but they both had to evolve immunity to their own poison. Ultimately, evolution is a faith. It is a faith that is poisonous to Christianity because it makes death natural rather than a result of the first Adam's sin. And without the fact of the first Adam, there is no need for the Second Adam, Jesus Christ.
Lord, I thank You for Your victory over sin, death and the devil. Amen.
Natural History, 2/94, pp. 4 8. Photo: Hooded pitohuis. Courtesy of Berichard. (CC-BY-SA 2.0)
POISON EATING INSECTS
Psalm 71:17
"O God, thou hast taught me from my youth: and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works."
St. John's wort or Klamath weed is not native to North America. Until it was brought from Europe in colonial times, North American insects had never seen the plant. St. John's wort quickly spread because it was poisonous and thus not eaten by most insects. The plant manufactures a poison called hypericin that is activated by light. This poison is powerful enough to kill even livestock that might be foolish enough to eat it.
But there are several types of insects that not only eat St. John's wort, but thrive on it. Some beetles, larvae of moths and butterflies and leaf miners munch happily away on the plant. No, they're not immune to the poison. Instead, they have figured out how to prevent light from activating the poison. The leaf miners chew tunnels inside the leaves, staying out of direct sunlight. The moth and butterfly larvae use a similar approach. Some even tunnel inside the stem. A European beetle and its larvae also eat the plant. Adult European Beetles have a thick shell that shelters their bodies from the light. Their larvae eat St. John's wort only at night, and then, before the sun comes up, they burrow into the ground.
If evolution were true, these insects would have had only a few centuries to identify how the poison works and evolve a counter to it. It clearly makes more scientific sense to conclude that God taught these creatures what they needed to know to eat St. John's wort without harm.
I glorify You, Lord, for Your wondrous works and perfect teaching. Amen.
Bombardier Beetles and Fever Trees, William Agosta, pp. 12 15. Photo: St. John's-wort. Courtesy of fir0002 | flagstaffotos.com.au. (CC-Noncommercial Unported 3.0)
Psalm 71:17
"O God, thou hast taught me from my youth: and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works."
St. John's wort or Klamath weed is not native to North America. Until it was brought from Europe in colonial times, North American insects had never seen the plant. St. John's wort quickly spread because it was poisonous and thus not eaten by most insects. The plant manufactures a poison called hypericin that is activated by light. This poison is powerful enough to kill even livestock that might be foolish enough to eat it.
But there are several types of insects that not only eat St. John's wort, but thrive on it. Some beetles, larvae of moths and butterflies and leaf miners munch happily away on the plant. No, they're not immune to the poison. Instead, they have figured out how to prevent light from activating the poison. The leaf miners chew tunnels inside the leaves, staying out of direct sunlight. The moth and butterfly larvae use a similar approach. Some even tunnel inside the stem. A European beetle and its larvae also eat the plant. Adult European Beetles have a thick shell that shelters their bodies from the light. Their larvae eat St. John's wort only at night, and then, before the sun comes up, they burrow into the ground.
If evolution were true, these insects would have had only a few centuries to identify how the poison works and evolve a counter to it. It clearly makes more scientific sense to conclude that God taught these creatures what they needed to know to eat St. John's wort without harm.
I glorify You, Lord, for Your wondrous works and perfect teaching. Amen.
Bombardier Beetles and Fever Trees, William Agosta, pp. 12 15. Photo: St. John's-wort. Courtesy of fir0002 | flagstaffotos.com.au. (CC-Noncommercial Unported 3.0)
HAZORS BIBLICAL HISTORY CONFIRMED
1 Kings 9:15
"And this is the reason of the levy which king Solomon raised; for to build the house of the LORD, and his own house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer."
Secular archaeologists usually assume that the historical statements found in Scripture are overstatements or simply incorrect. It was with this attitude that archaeologists approached the ruins of Hazor to see if they could tell whether Solomon actually did add to the wall of Hazor and build other structures there, as the Bible says. Hazor was an important city on the primary military and trade routes between Israel and Phoenicia, Syria, Mesopotamia and Egypt.
Hazor had been destroyed by Joshua when Israel took possession of the Promised Land. Over the following centuries, the site began to be inhabited by Israelites. By Solomon's time, the city reached a size of about 10 acres and was home to between 800 and 1,000 people. Archaeologists found that sometime during the reign of Solomon, the city wall was expanded, doubling the size. Other buildings also were added at this time. Excavations show that at Solomon's time the city was prosperous. The city's six chambered gate is typical of the gates Israel built at this time. Gates of the same design also exist at Megiddo and Gezer, two other cities named as being fortified by Solomon, according to the same verse that mentions the fortification of Hazor!
Again, the Bible has been vindicated as presenting accurate history. We can be equally sure that the Bible's account of creation is accurate because the Bible is God's Word.
Dear Father, I thank You that Your Word is trustworthy in all things, for it tells me of my salvation in Jesus Christ. Amen.
"Solomon's City Rises from the Ashes," Biblical Archaeology Review, 3 4/99. Aerial view of Tel Hazor. (PD)
1 Kings 9:15
"And this is the reason of the levy which king Solomon raised; for to build the house of the LORD, and his own house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer."
Secular archaeologists usually assume that the historical statements found in Scripture are overstatements or simply incorrect. It was with this attitude that archaeologists approached the ruins of Hazor to see if they could tell whether Solomon actually did add to the wall of Hazor and build other structures there, as the Bible says. Hazor was an important city on the primary military and trade routes between Israel and Phoenicia, Syria, Mesopotamia and Egypt.
Hazor had been destroyed by Joshua when Israel took possession of the Promised Land. Over the following centuries, the site began to be inhabited by Israelites. By Solomon's time, the city reached a size of about 10 acres and was home to between 800 and 1,000 people. Archaeologists found that sometime during the reign of Solomon, the city wall was expanded, doubling the size. Other buildings also were added at this time. Excavations show that at Solomon's time the city was prosperous. The city's six chambered gate is typical of the gates Israel built at this time. Gates of the same design also exist at Megiddo and Gezer, two other cities named as being fortified by Solomon, according to the same verse that mentions the fortification of Hazor!
Again, the Bible has been vindicated as presenting accurate history. We can be equally sure that the Bible's account of creation is accurate because the Bible is God's Word.
Dear Father, I thank You that Your Word is trustworthy in all things, for it tells me of my salvation in Jesus Christ. Amen.
"Solomon's City Rises from the Ashes," Biblical Archaeology Review, 3 4/99. Aerial view of Tel Hazor. (PD)
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