Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Were we Created or evolved?

You may look at this message, blog, comments or whatever you may call it, and say “this is too long, I don’t have time to read it, or I am not interested in all this technical and scientific information so why bother.”  Whatever you reasons for not reading it are, I encourage you to take a little time to read it anyway. If you read it with an open mind and hear what is stated with your heart and your mind, I think you will understand the point of why I inundated you with a multitude of facts and why they are important.   

The information listed below is from reliable sources on the Internet such as the Smithsonian Institute, Audubon Society, Georgetown University, the FactMonster web site, and the University of Oxford. Scripture references are from the Bible and archeological findings.   

It is my hope and prayer that unbelievers will begin to acknowledge that there must be a Creator and that they will start looking at Jesus after reading this article.

Page 1………..SECTION 1……….MY BACKGROUND
Page 3…….….SECTION 2………. SECULAR AND SCIENTIFIC FACTS
Page 16….…...SECTION 3……… PROBLEMS WITH EVOLUTION
Page 17….….. SECTION 4……… THE SPIRITUAL ASPECTS OF CREATION AND SECULAR PROOF THAT SHOWS THERE IS A CREATOR
Page 25…….....SECTION 5 WHAT DO YOU DO WITH ALL THIS INFORMATION
Page 26……….SECTION 6………NOW WHAT?

SECTION 1       MY BACKGROUND AND WHY I BELIEVE

It is my hope and prayer that they will begin to acknowledge that there must be a Creator and that they will start looking at Jesus.

As a child I was not exposed to God, Jesus, religion or any spiritual deity or way of life. As a teenager I was taken to church but was not really given solid teaching of the God we were worshiping or supposedly loved. What I did learn was that in church there was blatant hypocrisy and no one talked about it (except to infer hypocrisy is wrong when others do it).

I was also baptized as a teenager but don’t really recall that I knew what I was doing or that I knew what was expected of me. After service one Wednesday night I was talking to the preacher’s daughter (my age) and stated I would like to be baptized some day. The next thing I knew I was taken to the baptismal and dunked by her father! I continued to go to church (but the only recollection I have is of the girls in my Sunday school class) until I got my driver’s license and then it was “good- bye” to that stage of my life.

I did not need God for the next five years and don’t remember talking to Him or having any type of relationship with Him. Then at 21 years of age (I had been married for three years) while I was training to be a Police Officer my wife decided she wanted to be single and left me and gave me custody of our 2-year-old son. That was devastating! I wanted to be married and have a happy home life (something I did not have growing up  in my very dysfunctional family) and children! Without notice or warning she was gone! Then, because I needed something from Him, I remembered God . I prayed and prayed. God, “I want my wife back, I want to have a happy family, I want, I want...”

Well, God did not answer my prayers the way I wanted and anger toward God crept into my heart. I wanted good things (for myself) and that meant He should answer my prayers and give me what I ask for. Then, to make matters worse between God and me, working as a Police Officer I saw kids (my own son’s age) being tortured, raped and murdered. I spoke to God. “Why are you allowing things like this to happen to these little ones?  You are allowing terrible, vicious and unthinkable things to happen to helpless children. Well if this is who you are I want to have no part of You. You are not a God I want to follow!” I made these assumptions even though I had never taken the time to get to know God, why Jesus really came to earth or what being the Creator/Savior really meant. I judged and judged harshly with out any of the facts surrounding who He was and the explanation of why He does what He does.

The next 15 years were dark for me (although in my own mind I thought they were great.) I made many mistakes, poor selfish decisions and bad judgments without thinking anything about the repercussions of my actions and who they were hurting. I really did not care. God did not care about me, did not answer my prayers when I needed Him and allowed many bad things to happen to good people and children. He is definitely not my kind of God.

As I look back, even though I had given up on God, He had not given up on me. He saved me many times, both physically and mentally but I did not realize where the rescue came from. I even some times made good decisions and choices as a Police Officer that I normally would not have made. (I realize now it was the Holy Spirit working with me even though I did not know it.)

However, as scripture tells us we are responsible for our actions and the consequences, both good and bad, that come with our decisions. Many of my consequences were bad. I did not raise my son properly. I was mainly interested in my life and doing what made me happy. The consequences were a division between us. He rebelled and got into trouble with the law. And for me, there was loneliness because of the shallow relationships I created and the distance I kept between myself and the women I dated. I would not allow commitment on my part even when I thought I wanted to commit. These things haunted me for many years and kept me from forgiving myself and eventually thinking God would not forgive me either. I messed up my life and God only knows how many other lives were affected by my selfish actions. If only I had taken the time to know the true God!

In my mid to late thirties someone introduced me to the real God, not by preaching to me or telling me how much I messed up. I was introduced to Jesus by means of loving kindness, compassion, honesty, unconditional support in times of need and by that person being the kind of Christ follower He wanted them to be. That began my journey to accepting the true living God.

My personal belief in Jesus is not based on statistics, historical facts (which there are many), blind faith or weakness on my part that searches for a crutch that I can lean on when I am feeling sorry for myself. It is based on my belief (after thorough examination) that scripture is true; eye witnesses to His presence and all He did; total faith that God will keep (and has kept) His promises; and that this beautiful and wonderful world I am blessed to live in was created by God and no one or nothing else.  As far as statistics, history, logic, etc. go, they just add more proof to the fact that God is real. Jesus did come to earth as Man and God, and all the prophecies that were pronounced did come true.  

Aside from my personal experiences with Jesus and His life-changing power, I am going to list some practical, logical, statistical facts that may help the unbelievers in Jesus take notice that this world and all its living things and creation on the whole may not have happened via evolution. It’s seems logical to think evolution could not have created the following living things and the way they operate. Adaptation to one’s surroundings is possible but to create from scratch these living things and instill in them their extremely technical attributes is impossible. It follows that there must be a creator.  

SECTION 2                SECULAR AND SCIENTIFIC FACTS

Consider...
That there are 950,000 insects today.
Interesting facts about insects:
There are more than 12,000 species of ants all over the world. An ant can lift 20 times its own body weight. If a second grader was as strong as an ant, she would be able to pick up a car! Some queen ants can live for many years and have millions of babies!  Next to humans, leafcutter ants form the largest and most complex animal society on Earth!

There are 1,200 different types of beetles in Panama alone.

There are actually 4,500 species of cockroaches in the world.

Were 950,000 insects and their complexities formed by chance or were they CREATED?

6,199 amphibians; Interesting facts about amphibians:
A group of salamanders known as the plethodontids have no lungs.  The plethodontids, also called "lungless salamanders" must absorb oxygen through their skin and mouth to breath since they lack lungs. Of all salamanders, the plethodontids are the most diverse group, with about 376 species. They inhabit regions of North America, Central America, South America, southern Europe, Sardinia, and Korea.

There are between 5,000 and 6,000 species of known amphibians alive today. There are estimates that there are about 6,000 known species of frogs, toads, salamanders, and caecilians. Other sources place the estimated number of amphibian species at about 5,000. Of the three groups of amphibians, frogs and toads are the most diverse, with about 29 families and 4,380 species. Newts and salamanders are the second most diverse group of amphibians, with about 10 families and 470 species. There are only 3 families of caecilians and 170 species.

Are these formed by chance or CREATED?

Birds. Interesting fact about birds;

10,000 to 16,000, birds;
In a British education special Dr. Alex Taylor set up an eight-step puzzle to try to stump one of the smartest crows he's seen in captivity. They describe the puzzle as "one of the most complex tests of the animal mind ever."

This isn't the first time the crow’s intelligence has been tested, either. Along with being problem solvers, these animals have an eerie tendency towards complex human-like memory skills. Through several different studies, we've learned that crows can recognize faces, communicate details of an event to each other and even avoid places they recognize as dangerous.

Crows are crafty critters. They fashion tools from twigs, feathers and other bits of debris to snare food from hard-to-reach places. A crow named Betty uses a straight wire she bent into a hook to retrieve food from a tube. The birds are born with a tool-making ethic, but they hone their craft by watching their elders, a sign of higher intelligence. Ravens, a type of crow, have even been shown to manipulate the outcomes of their social interactions for added protection and more food.

Woodpeckers: Woodpeckers tap an estimated 8,000-12,000 times per day.  Woodpeckers have bristle-like feathers over their nostrils help to keep wood particles from being inhaled.

Variety and intelligence formed by chance or CREATED?

30,000 fish. Interesting facts about fish:
Are octopi, squids and cuttlefish smart? That's a matter of scientific intrigue, but such cephalopods are certainly among the brainiest invertebrates in the sea. The cephalopod brain surrounds the esophagus, but shares with the human brain features of complexity such as folded lobes and distinct regions for processing visual and tactile information. The ‘how-smart’ debate swirls around deciphering observations that the creatures have a seemingly irrepressible curiosity, a disdain for boredom, an ability to learn and the capacity to use tools.

Sea creatures get bored: chance or CREATED?

5,416 mammals. Interesting facts about mammals:
Chimps make and use tools, hunt in organized groups and engage in acts of violence. Wild troops have distinct behaviors and customs. Field observations and lab experiments show chimps are capable of empathy, altruism and self-awareness. In memory experiments chimps performed better than humans on a number memory test.

A dolphin in Australia uses a sponge to protect her snout when foraging on the seafloor, a tool-use behavior that is passed on from mother to daughter. Scientists say that's just one sign of dolphin smarts. Other signs include distinct whistles and clicks that may serve as dolphin names, perhaps used in a type of language. A famous 1960s experiment found that a pair of dolphins entered a tizzy of creativity once they figured out their novel behaviors were rewarded with fish. Frustrated human test subjects just let out a sigh of relief when they caught on to the idea.

Elephants: The sheer size of their brains suggests that elephants must know a thing or two about the ways of the world. They have been seen consoling family members, helping other species in times of need, playing in water and communicating with one another via vibrations sensed in their feet. A crowning achievement, some researchers say, was when a female Asian elephant named Happy recognized herself in the mirror.

Can a squirrel plot deception? Perhaps. Researchers recently reported that the rodents put on elaborate shows of deceptive caching to thwart would-be thieves. The behavior increased in a lab experiment after squirrels observed humans stealing their peanuts. The researchers called the finding a sign that squirrels can interpret intentions of others, though it could just be a case of learned behavior. Other studies have shown the critters make three-dimensional maps to recall where they cache their nuts. And squirrels in California will cover their fur in the scent of rattlesnakes to mask their own scent from predators.

This from the University of Vienna: Are dogs intelligent or just really good at basic obedience? They can learn to sit, lie down and fetch, for example, but can they read their owner's intentions? Research suggests they can at least find food in response to non-verbal cues, a type of understanding that scientists think may be akin to the human ability to understand someone else's point of view. The dog in a experiment accurately discriminated between photos of dogs and photos of landscapes — an indication the dog was able to form the concept of "dog."

Here's the dirt on pigs: They are perhaps the smartest, cleanest domestic animals known - more so than cats and dogs, according to some experts. But pigs don't have sweat glands, so they roll around in the mud to stay cool. A sign of their cleverness came from experiments in the 1990s. Pigs were trained to move a cursor on a video screen with their snouts and used the cursor to distinguish between scribbles they knew and those they were seeing for the first time. They learned the task as quickly as chimpanzees.

There is a jelly fish with 16 foot tentacles that could be killed by a parasite the size of a flea. Fortunately it is saved by a three inch crab that attaches itself to the jelly fish and digs out the parasite!

Then there is the Rocky Mountain Big Horn Sheep. When the males are fighting they crash their horns together with such a force that it would kill a human instantly. They can do this without getting hurt because they have a double walled skull protecting their brain.

Intelligence, rationalization, solving problems, being deceptive, and adaptation of survival skills without training are things possessed by mammals. Are these wonders that boggle the human mind created by chance or CREATED?

8,240 reptiles. Interesting facts:
Frogs can breathe not only with their lungs, but also through their skin. A frog's skin is thin and contains many mucous glands that keep it moist. Oxygen can be absorbed through this thin, damp skin.

A crocodile's digestive juices are so strong that it can digest a steel nail.

The tuatara lizard's metabolism is so slow they only have to breathe once an hour.

The gastric frog is known to give birth to its young one through their mouth.

A chameleon can move its eyes in any two separate directions at the same time.

Reptiles that breathe through their skin, crocodiles that can digest nails, giving birth through your mouth, and eyes that move in different directions at the same time. All created by chance or CREATED?

81,000 mollusks. Interesting facts:
Mollusks include all animals with or without soft shells, such as various types of snails, shellfish, and squid and their relatives. Mollusks are the second largest phylum in the animal kingdom after the phylum Arthropoda. Currently there are an estimated 75 thousand species, plus 35 thousand species in the fossil record. Mollusks live in marine, freshwater, brackish, and terrestrial waters.

There are 80,000 species of mollusks alive. There are more than 35,000 known fossil species.

Extreme variety and complexity numbers of species. Created by chance or CREATED?


40,000 crustaceans. Interesting facts:
All crustaceans have hard skin, gills, and two pairs of antennae.
Crustaceans don’t have a skeleton; their hard exoskeleton protects their body and supports them.

A lobsters teeth are in its stomach, an area called the ‘gastric mill’

Skeletons on the outside of a body, teeth in a stomach, chance or CREATED?

2,175 types of coral.
Coral reefs are some of the most diverse ecosystems in the world, housing tens of thousands of marine species. About one-third of all marine fish species live part of their lives on coral reefs.

Housing developments for sea life. Evolution knew to create it by chance or was it CREATED?  

130,000 others (invertebrates).
Not going to discuss this one, too much for my little brain to comprehend but again; were they formed by chance or CREATED?

INTERESTING FACTS ON THE EYE

According to scientist, eyes evolved around four hundred and fifty million years ago (so scientists say) as simple light detecting organs. Today, vision is the most important sense for many animals, humans included, and they have became incredibly varied and complex. Take a look at some of the strangest and most incredible eyes in the animal kingdom. This complexity evolved?


Image result for tarsierTarsier
The tarsier is a small (about squirrel sized) nocturnal primate, found in the rainforests of South Eastern Asia. It’s most remarkable feature; however, are its enormous eyes, the largest of any mammal, relative to body size. If your eyes were proportionally as big as those of the tarsier, they would be the size of grapefruits. These enormous eyes are fixed in the skull, and can’t be turn in their sockets. To compensate for this, the tarsier has a very flexible neck, and can rotate its head 180 degrees, just like an owl, to scan for potential prey or predators.

With each eye weighing more than its brain, the tarsier has extremely acute eyesight and superb night vision; it has even been suggested that they may be able to see ultraviolet light.

    Image result for dragonfly      Dragonfly
The dragonfly, possibly the most formidable aerial hunter among insects, also has some of the most amazing eyes in the animal world. They are so big that they cover almost the entire head, giving it a helmeted appearance, and a full 360 degree field of vision. These eyes are made up of 30,000 visual units called ommatidia, each one containing a lens and a series of light sensitive cells. Their eyesight is superb; they can detect colors and polarized light, and are particularly sensitive to movement, allowing them to quickly discover any potential prey or enemy.

Some dragonfly species that hunt at dusk can see perfectly in low light conditions, when we humans can barely see anything. Not only that, dragonflies also have three smaller eyes named ocelli which can detect movement faster than the huge compound eyes can. These ocelli quickly send visual information to the dragonfly’s motor centers, allowing it to react in a fraction of a second and perhaps explaining the insect’s formidable acrobatic skills. Although dragonflies are not the only insects with ocelli (some wasps and flies have them too), they do have the most developed ones.

Image result for leaf tailed geckoLeaf tailed gecko
Leaf tailed geckos have pretty surreal-looking eyes; their pupils are vertical and have a series of “pinholes” which widen at night, allowing these lizards to pick up as much light as possible. These eyes also have many more light sensitive cells than human eyes, giving the animal the ability to detect objects and even to see colors at night.
To give you an idea of the gecko’s amazing night vision, let us just say that, while cats and sharks can see six and ten times better than humans, respectively, the leaf tailed gecko and other nocturnal gecko species can see up to 350 times better than we can in dim light!
Leaf tailed geckos also have a series of strange, intricate eye patterns, which provide camouflage. These lizards lack eyelids; their eyes are protected by a transparent membrane, and geckos are often seen cleaning this membrane with their tongue.




Image result for colossal squid   Colossal squid
Not to be confused with the better known, but smaller Giant Squid, the Colossal Squid is the largest invertebrate known to science; it also has the largest eyes in the animal kingdom. Each one of the Colossal squid’s eyes can be up to 30 cms across, being bigger than a dinner plate and having a lense the size of an orange. These huge eyes allow the squid to see in dim light conditions, very useful for an animal that spends most of its time hunting at 2000 meters below the surface.

It must be mentioned that only sub adult colossal squid have been captured and studied thus far. Full grown Colossal squid may grow up to 15 meters long. These giants would have even bigger eyes. Unlike the Giant Squid, the Colossal squid has stereoscopic vision, having a greater ability to judge distances. Even more amazing, each eye has a built-in “headlight”, an organ known as a photophore which can produce light so that whenever the Colossal squid focuses its eyes to the front, the photophores produce enough light for the squid to see its prey in the dark.



Image result for four eyed fishFour eyed fish
Found in Mexico and Central America, as well as Northern South America, these are small fish measuring up to 32 cm and usually found in fresh or brackish water (although they have also been seen in marine coasts). They feed mostly on insects, so they spend most of their time swimming at the surface. Despite their name, four eyed fish have only two eyes. However, these eyes are divided by a band of tissue and each half of the eye has a pupil of its own. This bizarre adaptation allows the four eyed fish to see perfectly (and at the same time) both above and below the waterline, scanning for both prey and predators.

The upper half of the eyeball is adapted to vision in air, while the lower half is adapted to underwater vision. Although both halves of the eye use the same lens, the thickness and curve of the lens is different in the upper and lower eye halves, thus correcting for the different behavior of light in air and water. This means that when the four eyed fish is completely submerged, the upper halves of the eyes are out of focus. Fortunately, the fish spends almost its entire life in the surface, and it only has to dive completely once in a while to prevent the upper halves of the eyes from dehydrating.

Image result for stalk eyed flyStalk eyed fly
These small but spectacular creatures are mostly found in the jungles of South East Asia and Africa, with a few species also found in Europe and North America. Male flies usually have much longer stalks than females and it has been confirmed that females prefer males with long eyestalks. Males during mating season often stand face to face and measure their eyestalk’s length.The one with the greatest “eye span” is recognized as the winner.

Male stalk eyed flies also have the extraordinary ability to enlarge their eyestalks by ingesting air through their mouth and pumping it through ducts in the head to the eyestalks. They do this mostly during mating season.

Image result for spook fishSpookfish
The spookfish is a deep water, ghostly-looking fish that has some of the most bizarre eye structures known to science. Each eye has a lateral swelling called a diverticulum, separated from the main eye by a septum. While the main part of the eye has a lens and functions in a similar way to other animal eyes, the diverticulum has a curved, composite mirror composed of many layers of what seem to be guanine crystals. This “mirror” is superior at gathering light than the normal eye; the diverticulum reflects light and focuses it onto the retina allowing the fish to see both up and down at the same time.

The spookfish is the only vertebrate known to use a mirror eye structure to see, as well as using the usual lens. Spookfish are found worldwide but are rare to see, since they spend most of their lives at a depth of 1000-2000 meters. They feed on small crustaceans and plankton, and measure about 18 cm in length.

Image result for ogre spiderOgre faced spider
Spiders are popularly known for having many eyes (although this varies greatly among the different species, with some having two, four, six or eight eyes). The Ogre-faced spider has six eyes, but it looks as if it only has two because the middle pair is greatly enlarged. This is an adaptation for a nocturnal lifestyle.Ogre faced spiders have superb night vision not only because of their huge eyes, but because of an extremely light sensitive layer of cells covering them.

This membrane is so sensitive in fact, that it is destroyed at dawn and a new one is produced every night. Ogre faced spiders are unusual because they can see perfectly at night even though they lack tapetum lucidum, a reflective membrane that helps others spiders (and other predators such as cats) to see in low light conditions. As a matter of facts, scientists believe that ogre faced spiders have better night vision than cats, sharks, or even owls (which can see up to 100 times better than humans at night!).

Image result for mantis shrimpMantis shrimp
And finally, we get to the animal with the weirdest and most amazing eyes in the world. The mantis shrimp is not actually a shrimp, but a different kind of crustacean from the Stomatopoda order. Known for its aggressiveness and formidable weaponry (they have an extremely sharp and powerful claw and can split a human finger in two or even break a glass aquarium with one single strike), mantis shrimp are voracious predators found mostly in tropical waters.

Their eyes are compound, like those of the dragonfly, although they have a far smaller number of ommatidia (about 10,000 per eye). However, in the mantis shrimp each ommatidia row has a particular function. For example, some of them are used to detect light, others to detect color, etc.

Mantis shrimp have much better color vision than humans (their eyes having 12 types of color receptors, whereas humans have only three), as well as ultraviolet, infrared and polarized light vision, thus having the most complex eyesight of any animal known. The eyes are located at the end of stalks, and can be moved independently from each other, rotating up to 70 degrees. Interestingly, the visual information is processed by the eyes themselves, not the brain.

Even more bizarre, each of the mantis shrimp’s eyes is divided in three sections allowing the creature to see objects with three different parts of the same eye. In other words, each eye has “trinocular vision” and complete depth perception, meaning that if a mantis shrimp lost an eye, its remaining eye would still be able to judge depth and distance as well as a human with his two eyes. Scientists are only starting to understand the mysteries of Stomatopod vision. For the moment, we can only imagine what the world really looks like to a mantis shrimp.

The human eye.  It is just as complex (if not more so) as eyes in other species. The human eye changes light rays into electrical signals, then sends them to the brain, which interprets these electical signals as visual images. The eyeball is set in a protective cone-shaped cavity in the skull called the orbit or socket and measures approximately one inch in diameter. The orbit is surrounded by layers or soft, fatty tissue which protect the eye and enable it to turn easily. Six muscles regulate the motion of the eye. Among the more important parts of the human eye are the iris, cornea, lens, retina, conjunctiva, the macula, and the optic nerve. There is too much information (and it is too hard for me to fathom) on the human eye so let’s just stick with the information stated above. It is hard enough to understand as is!

This information on a few types of the eye has just scratched the surface of the amazing and incomprehensible understanding of what is involved with being able to see. While other parts of the body in all life forms are just as amazing, I will not go into them because my brain would melt down and neither you nor I have the time to investigate it all.

With that said (and reported) were all these complexities created by chance through evolution or were they created by a CREATOR?     

MISCELLANEOUS FACTS

A microscopic, see-through water flea is the most complex creature ever studied, genomically speaking. Daphnia pulex is the first crustacean to ever have its genome sequenced, and it turns out it has about 31,000 genes — 25 percent more than we humans. The water flea, a shrimp relative, makes for an interesting subject because it can transform in response to stresses — it can develop spines, helmets or neck-teeth (really – neck teeth?) in response to predator threats, according to scientists who participated in the sequencing project.

Dogs are superior to many animals in their olfactory ability, or their sense of smell.  Dogs can smell 100,000 times better than humans.  In tests, dogs have been able to detect a chemical in a solution diluted to 1 to 2 parts per trillion.  The average person has a million smell receptors.  The Bloodhound has an incredible 300 million smell receptors!  Dogs can smell things up to 40 feet underground.  Dogs can even smell human fingerprints that are a week old! Dogs can identify people with cancer by smelling the person’s breath or urine. The person’s breath was used to find lung and breast cancer; urine was used to detect bladder or prostate cancer.  The dogs were accurate 99% of the time for lung cancer, and 88% of the time for breast cancer!  This is equal or better than high tech techniques such as scans.  

Neurons. Your brain consists of about 100 billion neurons.  

Synapses. There are anywhere from 1,000 to 10,000 synapses for each neuron.

No pain. There are no pain receptors in the brain, so the brain can feel no pain.

There are 100,000 miles of blood vessels in the brain.

The first sense to develop while in utero is the sense of touch. The lips and cheeks can experience touch at about 8 weeks and the rest of the body around 12 weeks.

Wattage. While awake, your brain generates between 0 and 23 watts of power–or enough energy to power a light bulb.

You can’t tickle yourself because your brain distinguished between unexpected external touch and your own touch.

While you sleep, your body produces a hormone that may prevent you from acting out your dreams, leaving you virtually paralyzed.

What does all this information have to do with God and creation? To me, everything. If you read the information you will realize that there are (facts from scientist) 1,268,030.00 types of insects, mammals, fish, and sea creatures on the earth today (and that does not include the types that have become extinct and the variety that we have not discovered yet).  Then, if you read about some of the oddities, complexities and the extreme variations between the species that I have listed the question should come up in your mind, “could evolution have done all this or is there a CREATOR?        

TYPES OF PLANTS. (Note: I am not going to get into the specialization and complexities of plants. They are also mind boggling.)

Mosses: 15,000

Ferns and allies: 13,025

Gymnosperms: 980

Dicotyledons: 199,350

Monocotyledons: 59,300

Green algae: 3,175

Red algae: 5,956

I would like to post one interesting fact about a plant. There is a flower that only grows in the forest in Nicaragua and the only way it can be pollinated is by one specific bat. This bat is also only found in Nicaragua and it is the only thing that can guarantee the survival of that flower. The bat is only two and a half inches long but it has a tongue that is three and a half inches long that goes into the flower to retrieve the nectar. The pollen that is deposited on the top of the bat’s head is transferred to other flowers and thus carries out the pollination. The length of the bats tongue is the most unique ratio of body part to relative size of the body of all species. If a human had a tongue in relation to that of the bat, the tongue would be nine feet long. Could evolution have brought about that specific plan of one flower and one bat depending totally on each other for survival?  Or did a CREATOR plan it and put the process in effect?   

With the above information (from the scientific community) we know that there are 325,635 types of plants (and this again does not include the extinct plants, the ones we have not discovered yet, and the number of sub-species many of the plants have).  And without going into detail on the complexity, variation and intricacies of plants we know their existence is very complex.

WEIRD CREATURES: Created or evolved?
Image result for star nosed mole Star Nosed Mole
Despite being apparently blind these moles have a star shaped nose that actually helps them to sense things. The nose of these species act as a powerful sensory organ because they help them to “see”. The Guinness Book of World Record has stated that these species are in the list of one of the fastest hunters. It is said that this species hunt and have their victim so fast that it is almost impossible for even humans to follow it. The tentacles of these species are six times faster when compared to the human hand. The blackish brown fur of these species helps them to be warm during winter. This prevents freezing of their body.

Image result for dumbo octopusThe Dumbo Octopus
Little information is known about his adorable little octopus that lives deep in the ocean's water. The Dumbo octopus got its name from its ear-like fins on top of its head-like body which resemble the ears of Walt Disney's character Dumbo, the flying elephant. It is an octopod, meaning it has 8 arms. The arms connect with each other, close to the tips, by "webbing". It can grow up to 8 inches and has a soft body(semi-gelatinous), allowing it to live in deep water.

Image result for aye ayesAye Ayes

Aye-ayes can be found only on the island of Madagascar. Aye-ayes are dark brown or black and are distinguished by a bushy tail that is larger than their body. They also feature big eyes, slender fingers, and large, sensitive ears. Aye-ayes have pointed claws on all their fingers and toes except for their opposable big toes, which enable them to dangle from branches.

Aye-ayes spend their lives in rainforest trees and avoid coming down to earth. They are nocturnal, and spend the day curled up in a ball-like nest of leaves and branches. The nests appear as closed spheres with single entry holes, situated in the forks of large trees. While perched aloft, the aye-aye taps on trees with its long middle finger and listens for wood-boring insect larvae moving under the bark. It employs the same middle finger to fish them out. The digit is also useful for scooping the flesh out of coconuts and other fruits that supplement the animal's insect diet. Many people native to Madagascar consider the aye-aye an omen of ill luck. For this reason they often have been killed on sight. Such hunting, coupled with habitat destruction, have made the aye-aye critically endangered. Today they are protected by law.
These creatures are so unique, unusual and one of a kind, could they have been created by evolution? Or are they so unique they could only have been created by a CREATOR?

I don’t know if you read all the information I have listed concerning all the different types of plants, animals, reptiles, fishes, and so on and so on, and in a way I hope you did not! I hope you, like me, were overwhelmed at the extreme numbers of species of plants, animals, fish and others, the extreme complexity of their make up, the extreme differences that make them all unique and the complexity of how they are all different but in some way all relate and/or rely on each other.

I have heard, but can’t confirm but believe, that the people that study percentages and odds state that the percentages/odds of there being a Creator far out weigh the percentages/odds of life happening by chance or evolution. Just learning about what I have listed about life is far more than I can comprehend and I only scratched the surface. I have not even mentioned the complexities of fresh/salt water, earth (dirt), sand, minerals, poisons and the list could go on and on.  

And as the evolutionists state, “All that we are and our surroundings were created by chance and cause and effect which gives us evolution.”

The information I have presented (listed above) on different types life and their complexities is factual, scientific and mostly comes from secular people and organizations. The facts and realities of the complex nature of life are astounding and mind-blowing to me.

With all that said, I am with the odds-makers. I believe there is a CREATOR and that CREATOR is God.


SECTION 3                PROBLEMS WITH EVOLUTION

Now, if you remove religion from the equation and just study the above mention facts (from the non-creator scientific view point from which this information was obtained) you can see that life, both plant and living creatures, are extremely complex and rely on a specialized form of characteristics that must be in place for them to survive. And if you go back a step further most of these rules will apply to their ‘beginning’ from the evolution.

Now that we have talked about the physical make up and the oddities that  plants, animals and the like possess lets take a step further into what makes some of them very unique. Some are things such a intuition, emotions (fear – happiness – sadness – remorse – anger – shy – embarrassment etc.), will to survive, reason, logic and the list can go on regarding thoughts coming from our brain. These responses have no physical ties to our (and other living creatures) bodies and as such can’t be seen or touched and have no physical attributes, just thoughts and emotions. (Another question could be is that do they come from our brain or our heart?)    

For the sake of argument let’s say man did evolve from an amoeba coming out of a pond somewhere and evolved into a man. Adaptation to his environment would tell him to make coverings for his body if it was cold. That is a physical necessity for his survival and logical. However, how do we explain and where did his emotion process come from? It is not a necessity or a physical attribute for him to have compassion on another person that is also cold. Or if his neighbor steals his food and he becomes angry, or he sees something that makes him laugh, where did these emotions come from?

Another very important point to bring up is sexuality and the desire to reproduce. Sexual activity is a natural act and without it man would have die off. So how did evolution jump from a physical activity in creation of the species to create mental thought, reasoning and logic that would tell us to have a sexual act and that it would produce another human being? And we also can’t leave out the fact that we find the sexual act pleasurable. How did that one act split into two different emotional needs (to produce offspring and for pleasure)?

Questioning further into the human experience is to bring up questions such as how did the first mother know to pick up the first baby off the ground when it was delivered, clean it up, cover it for protection, take it to her breast to nurse it, and so on. I guess we could say that it was instinct, but then again, where did the emotion/thought of instinct come from?

Other aspects of our existence that have to be perfect and remain so or our existence would disappear (and evolution can’t explain how this order came to be for us to survive) are: if the earth was a little closer to the sun it would burn up, if a little further away it would be an ice ball. If we did not have ozone light, oxygen would not be available for us. If we did not have trees our air would not be purified (through leaves - photosynthesis). If the earth, moon, sun and planets did not revolve in order we could not exist and as usual the list of questions could go on and on. Was this perfect and orderly design created by chance or was it created by a CREATOR?  

The list of questions on the subject of our evolutionary creation is endless which to me, makes it even more reasonable to reject the notion that all things were developed by evolution. Even without the possibility of a personal creator the statistics concerning that we were developed by an evolutionary process is astronomical and incomprehensible to me. When I look at life (all types) in all its glory, uniqueness, complexity, and beauty and how all life works in harmony I don’t understand how evolution could work and I see a creator being involved - God.

One last thing, I wonder if evolution created us and all that is in this world then why did evolution stop? Why isn’t man, plants, animals and such still evolving? Where is the evolutionary proof (things that are in the midst of change and would be readily noticeable) in our world today?


SECTION 4     THE SPIRITUAL ASPECTS OF CREATION AND SECULAR PROOF THAT SHOWS THERE IS A CREATOR

Now, I will list another set of facts, some from the secular community and some from the religious community. They both have one thing in common. They are factual accounts of things that happened in our history. To me, these facts back up my premise that there is a creator and it was God. That Jesus was sent to earth to personally tell and show us His glory and to save us from eternal damnation, if we so desire.  

Let’s start with the Bible.

Unique among all books ever written, the Bible accurately foretells specific events (in detail) many years, sometimes centuries, before they occur. Approximately 2500 prophecies appear in the pages of the Bible, about 2000 of which already have been fulfilled to the letter—with no errors.

Since the probability for any one of these prophecies having been fulfilled by chance averages less than one in ten (figured very conservatively) and since the prophecies are for the most part independent of one another, the odds for all these prophecies having been fulfilled by chance without error is less than one in 102000 (that is 1 with 2000 zeros written after it)! (A mathematician put together these numbers. This is too far above my brain to figure it out!)

There are over 350 prophecies in scripture that tell of the coming of Jesus and the way He would die and they were all fulfilled. For example Isaiah 7:14 speaks of a virgin birth and a baby named Immanuel (translated “God with us”). And this was 700 years before the birth of Jesus.

There are 103 Old Testament prophecies concerning the life of Jesus and they were fulfilled. God is not the only one, however, who uses forecasts of future events to get people's attention. Satan does, too. Through clairvoyants (such as Jeanne Dixon and Edgar Cayce), mediums, spiritists, and others, come remarkable predictions, though rarely with more than about 60 percent accuracy, never with total accuracy. Messages from Satan, furthermore, fail to match the detail of Bible prophecies, nor do they include a call to repentance.

The acid test for identifying a prophet of God is recorded by Moses in Deuteronomy 18:21-22. According to this Bible passage (and others), God's prophets, as distinct from Satan's spokesmen, are 100 percent accurate in their predictions. There is no room for error.

Dead Sea Scrolls

The discovery of the first Dead Sea Scrolls in a remote Judean Desert cave in 1947 is widely considered the greatest archaeological event of the twentieth century. Bedouin treasure hunters and archaeologists ultimately found the remains of hundreds of ancient scrolls. (Technically a shepherd was the first to discover them but he did not know what he had and sold them.) These fragile pieces of parchment and papyrus, including the oldest existing copies of the Hebrew Bible, were preserved for two thousand years by the hot, dry desert climate and the darkness of the caves where they were placed. The scrolls provide an unprecedented picture of the diverse religious beliefs of ancient Judaism, and of daily life during the turbulent Second Temple period when Jesus lived and preached.
Biblical scroll fragments of every book of the Hebrew Bible (except the Book of Esther) were found in the Qumran caves, the most famous of the Dead Sea Scrolls sites. Remarkably, some of these ancient copies are identical to the traditional text of the Hebrew Bible that is used today. Other copies preserve differences in the text, which was in the process of standardization.

Why don’t we have more historical information concerning Jesus? It is also important to recognize that in A.D. 70, the Romans invaded and destroyed Jerusalem and most of Israel, slaughtering its inhabitants. Entire cities were literally burned to the ground. We should not be surprised, then, if much evidence of Jesus' existence was destroyed. Many of the eyewitnesses of Jesus would have been killed. These facts likely limited the amount of surviving eyewitness testimony of Jesus.
However, what we do have is a surprising amount of information about Jesus, considering that Jesus' ministry was largely confined to a relatively unimportant area in a small corner of the Roman Empire, from secular historical sources. Some of the more important historical evidences of Jesus include the following.

Some of the historians that mention the person called Jesus or the Christ in their writings are Roman historians such as Cornelius; Secular Greek historians including Thallus, Phlegon, and Jewish historian Flavius Josephus. Also, the first-century Roman Tacitus, who is considered one of the more accurate historians of the ancient world, mentioned superstitious “Christians” (from Christus, which is Latin for Christ), who suffered under Pontius Pilate during the reign of Tiberius. Suetonius, chief secretary to Emperor Hadrian, wrote that there was a man named Chrestus (or Christ) who lived during the first century (Annals 15.44).

Flavius Josephus is the most famous Jewish historian. In his Antiquities he refers to James, “the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ.” There is a controversial version that says, “Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man. For he was one who wrought surprising feats....He was [the] Christ...he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him.” One version reads, “At this time there was a wise man named Jesus. His conduct was good and [he] was known to be virtuous. And many people from among the Jews and the other nations became his disciples. Pilate condemned him to be crucified and to die. But those who became his disciples did not abandon his discipleship. They reported that he had appeared to them three days after his crucifixion, and that he was alive; accordingly he was perhaps the Messiah, concerning whom the prophets have recounted wonders.”

Julius Africanus quotes the historian Thallus in a discussion of the darkness which followed the crucifixion of Christ (Extant Writings, 18).

Pliny the Younger, in Letters 10:96, recorded early Christian worship practices including the fact that Christians worshiped Jesus as God and were very ethical, and he includes a reference to the love feast and Lord’s Supper.

The Babylonian Talmud (Sanhedrin 43a) confirms Jesus' crucifixion on the eve of Passover and the accusations against Christ of practicing sorcery and encouraging Jewish apostasy.

Lucian of Samosata was a second-century Greek writer who admits that Jesus was worshiped by Christians, introduced new teachings, and was crucified for them. He said that Jesus' teachings included the brotherhood of believers, the importance of conversion, and the importance of denying other gods. Christians lived according to Jesus’ laws, believed themselves to be immortal, and were characterized by contempt for death, voluntary self-devotion, and renunciation of material goods.

Mara Bar-Serapion confirms that Jesus was thought to be a wise and virtuous man, was considered by many to be the king of Israel, was put to death by the Jews, and lived on in the teachings of His followers.

Then we have all the Gnostic writings (The Gospel of Truth, The Apocryphon of John, The Gospel of Thomas, The Treatise on Resurrection, etc.) that all mention Jesus.

In fact, we can almost reconstruct the gospel just from early non-Christian sources: Jesus was called the Christ (Josephus), did “magic,” led Israel into new teachings, and was hanged on Passover for them (Babylonian Talmud) in Judea (Tacitus), but claimed to be God and would return (Eliezar), which his followers believed, worshipping Him as God (Pliny the Younger).

There is overwhelming evidence for the existence of Jesus Christ, both in secular and biblical history. Perhaps the greatest evidence that Jesus did exist is the fact that hundreds saw Him after His resurrection and literally thousands of Christians in the first century A.D., including the twelve apostles, were willing to give their lives as martyrs for Jesus Christ. People will die for what they believe to be true, but no one will die for what they know to be a lie.

           Prophecies that came to pass (100% accurate). Interesting prophecies:

(1) Some time before 500 B.C. the prophet Daniel proclaimed that Israel's long-awaited Messiah would begin his public ministry 483 years after the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem (Daniel 9:25-26). He further predicted that the Messiah would be "cut off," killed, and that this event would take place prior to a second destruction of Jerusalem. Abundant documentation shows that these prophecies were perfectly fulfilled in the life (and crucifixion) of Jesus Christ. The decree regarding the restoration of Jerusalem was issued by Persia's King Artaxerxes to the Hebrew priest Ezra in 458 B.C., 483 years later the ministry of Jesus Christ began in Galilee. (Remember that due to calendar changes, the date for the start of Christ's ministry is set by most historians at about 26 A.D. Also note that from 1 B.C. to 1 A.D. is just one year.) Jesus' crucifixion occurred only a few years later, and about four decades later, in 70 A.D. came the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus.
(Probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 105.)*

(2) In approximately 700 B.C. the prophet Micah named the tiny village of Bethlehem as the birthplace of Israel's Messiah (Micah 5:2). The fulfillment of this prophecy in the birth of Christ is one of the most widely known and widely celebrated facts in history.
(Probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 105.)

(3) In the fifth century B.C. a prophet named Zechariah declared that the Messiah would be betrayed for the price of a slave—thirty pieces of silver, according to Jewish law-and also that this money would be used to buy a burial ground for Jerusalem's poor foreigners (Zechariah 11:12-13). Bible writers and secular historians both record thirty pieces of silver as the sum paid to Judas Iscariot for betraying Jesus, and they indicate that the money went to purchase a "potter's field," used—just as predicted—for the burial of poor aliens (Matthew 27:3-10).
(Probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 1011.)

(4) Some 400 years before crucifixion was invented, both Israel's King David and the prophet Zechariah described the Messiah's death in words that perfectly depict that mode of execution. Further, they said that the body would be pierced and that none of the bones would be broken, contrary to customary procedure in cases of crucifixion (Psalm 22 and 34:20; Zechariah 12:10). Again, historians and New Testament writers confirm the fulfillment: Jesus of Nazareth died on a Roman cross, and his extraordinarily quick death eliminated the need for the usual breaking of bones. A spear was thrust into his side to verify that he was, indeed, dead.
(Probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 1013.)

(5) The prophet Isaiah foretold that a conqueror named Cyrus would destroy seemingly impregnable Babylon and subdue Egypt along with most of the rest of the known world. This same man, wrote Isaiah, would decide to let the Jewish exiles in his territory go free without any payment of ransom (Isaiah 44:28; 45:1; and 45:13). Isaiah made this prophecy 150 years before Cyrus was born, 180 years before Cyrus performed any of these feats (and he did, eventually, perform them all), and 80 years before the Jews were taken into exile.
(Probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 1015.)

(6) Mighty Babylon, 196 miles square, was enclosed not only by a moat, but also by a double wall 330 feet high, each part 90 feet thick. It was said by unanimous popular opinion to be indestructible, yet two Bible prophets declared its doom. These prophets further claimed that the ruins would be avoided by travelers, that the city would never again be inhabited, and that its stones would not even be moved for use as building material (Isaiah 13:17-22 and Jeremiah 51:26, 43). Their description is, in fact, the well-documented history of the famous citadel.
(Probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 109.)

(7) The exact location and construction sequence of Jerusalem's nine suburbs was predicted by Jeremiah about 2600 years ago. He referred to the time of this building project as "the last days," that is, the time period of Israel's second rebirth as a nation in the land of Palestine (Jeremiah 31:38-40). This rebirth became history in 1948, and the construction of the nine suburbs has gone forward precisely in the locations and in the sequence predicted.
(Probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 1018.)

(8) The prophet Moses foretold (with some additions by Jeremiah and Jesus) that the ancient Jewish nation would be conquered twice and that the people would be carried off as slaves each time, first by the Babylonians (for a period of 70 years), and then by a fourth world kingdom (which we know as Rome). The second conqueror, Moses said, would take the Jews captive to Egypt in ships, selling them or giving them away as slaves to all parts of the world. Both of these predictions were fulfilled to the letter, the first in 607 B.C. and the second in 70 A.D. God's spokesmen said, further, that the Jews would remain scattered throughout the entire world for many generations, but without becoming assimilated by the peoples or of other nations, and that the Jews would one day return to the land of Palestine to re-establish for a second time their nation (Deuteronomy 29; Isaiah 11:11-13; Jeremiah 25:11; Hosea 3:4-5 and Luke 21:23-24).
This prophetic statement sweeps across 3500 years of history to its complete fulfillment—in our lifetime.
(Probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 120.)

(9) Jeremiah predicted that despite its fertility and despite the accessibility of its water supply, the land of Edom (today a part of Jordan) would become a barren, uninhabited wasteland (Jeremiah 49:15-20; Ezekiel 25:12-14). His description accurately tells the history of that now bleak region.
(Probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 105.)

(10) Joshua prophesied that Jericho would be rebuilt by one man. He also said that the man's eldest son would die when the reconstruction began and that his youngest son would die when the work reached completion (Joshua 6:26). About five centuries later this prophecy found its fulfillment in the life and family of a man named Hiel (1 Kings 16:33-34).
(Probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 107).

(11) The day of Elijah's supernatural departure from Earth was predicted unanimously—and accurately, according to the eye-witness account—by a group of fifty prophets (2 Kings 2:3-11).
(Probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 109).

(12) Jahaziel prophesied that King Jehoshaphat and a tiny band of men would defeat an enormous, well-equipped, well-trained army without even having to fight. Just as predicted, the King and his troops stood looking on as their foes were supernaturally destroyed to the last man (2 Chronicles 20).
(Probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 108).

(13) One prophet of God (unnamed, but probably Shemiah) said that a future king of Judah, named Josiah, would take the bones of all the occultic priests (priests of the "high places") of Israel's King Jeroboam and burn them on Jeroboam's altar (1 Kings 13:2 and 2 Kings 23:15-18). This event occurred approximately 300 years after it was foretold.
(Probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 1013).

Since these thirteen prophecies cover mostly separate and independent events, the probability of chance occurrence for all thirteen is about 1 in 10138 (138 equals the sum of all the exponents of 10 in the probability estimates above). For the sake of putting the figure into perspective, this probability can be compared to the statistical chance that the second law of thermodynamics will be reversed in a given situation (for example, that a gasoline engine will refrigerate itself during its combustion cycle or that heat will flow from a cold body to a hot body)—that chance = 1 in 1080. Stating it simply, based on these thirteen prophecies alone, the Bible record may be said to be vastly more reliable than the second law of thermodynamics. Each reader should feel free to make his own reasonable estimates of probability for the chance fulfillment of the prophecies cited here. In any case, the probabilities deduced still will be absurdly remote. Given that the Bible proves so reliable a document, there is every reason to expect that the remaining 500 prophecies, those slated for the "time of the end," also will be fulfilled to the last letter. Who can afford to ignore these coming events, much less miss out on the immeasurable blessings offered to anyone and everyone who submits to the control of the Bible's author, the Lord Jesus Christ? Would a reasonable person take lightly God's warning of judgment for those who reject what they know to be true about Jesus Christ and the Bible, or who reject Jesus' claim on their lives?

Specific prophecies;

Isaiah foreshadowed the virgin birth of Jesus, Bible prophecy: Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. Prophecy written: Between 701-681 BC, Prophecy fulfilled: About 5 BC

The Messiah would be born in Bethlehem; Bible prophecy: Micah 5:1-2 Prophecy written: Sometime between 750-686 BC, Prophecy fulfilled: About 5 BC.
The Messiah would come from the tribe of Judah, Bible prophecy: Genesis 49:10, Prophecy written: As early as 1400 BC, Prophecy fulfilled: About 5 BC.

The Messiah would be a descendant of King David, Bible prophecy: Jeremiah 23:5, Prophecy written: Sometime between 626-586 BC, Prophecy fulfilled: By the birth of Jesus about 2000 years ago, Jeremiah 23:5:

The Messiah would be preceded by a messenger, Bible prophecy: Isaiah 40:1-5,9, Prophecy written: Between 701-681 BC, Prophecy fulfilled: About 27 AD

The Messiah would perform miracles, Bible prophecy: Isaiah 35:4-6,Prophecy written: Between 701-681 BC, Prophecy fulfilled: About 27-31 AD.  

God promised another prophet like Moses, Bible prophecy: Deuteronomy 18:15-18, Prophecy written: As early as 1400 BC, Prophecy fulfilled: About 5 BC to 31 AD.

The Messiah would enter Jerusalem while riding on a donkey, Bible prophecy: Zechariah 9:9, Prophecy written: Between 520 and 518 BC, Prophecy fulfilled: About 31 AD.

Jesus proclaims that he is the Messiah, Bible prophecy: John 4:19-26, Prophecy written: During the first century, Prophecy fulfilled: Since the time of Jesus.

There would be a son called God, Bible prophecy: Isaiah 9:6-7,  Prophecy written: Between 701-681 BC, Prophecy fulfilled: About 5 BC

The Messiah would be rejected, Bible prophecy: Isaiah 53:1-3, Prophecy written: Between 701-681 BC, Prophecy fulfilled: About 31 AD
Daniel predicted when an anointed one would be rejected, Bible prophecy: Daniel 9:24-26, Prophecy written: About 530 BC, Prophecy fulfilled: About 31 AD
The prophet Daniel was Jewish exile who lived during the time of the Babylonian Captivity, about 500 years before the birth of Jesus. During Daniel's lifetime, the Babylonians had destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple and had taken many Jews as captives to Babylon. Daniel, while in Babylon, delivered a prophecy of what would happen during the centuries that followed. Here is our summary of Daniel 9:24-26:
1. There would be a decree to rebuild Jerusalem.
2. Jerusalem and the Temple would be rebuilt.
3. Then an anointed one (Messiah) would be "cut off" (an idiom for "rejected" or "killed").
4. Then Jerusalem and the Temple would be destroyed again.
All of these events later happened, in the same order in which they are described in Daniel 9:24-26:

Jesus was betrayed by a friend, Bible prophecy: Psalm 41:9, Prophecy written: About 1000 BC, Prophecy fulfilled: About 31 AD

Zechariah foreshadowed the betrayal of Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, Bible prophecy: Zechariah 11:12-13, Prophecy written: Between 520 and 518 BC, Prophecy fulfilled: About 31 AD

Jesus was spat upon and beaten, Bible prophecy: Isaiah 50:6, Prophecy written: Between 701-681 BC, Prophecy fulfilled: About 31 AD

God's servant would be silent before his accusers, Bible prophecy: Isaiah 53:7, Prophecy written: Between 701-681 BC, Prophecy fulfilled: About 31 AD

God's servant would die for our sins, Bible prophecy: Isaiah 53:4-6, Prophecy written: Between 701-681 BC, Prophecy fulfilled: About 31 AD

Zechariah foreshadowed the crucifixion of Jesus, Bible prophecy: Zechariah 12:10
Prophecy written: Between 520 and 518 BC, Prophecy fulfilled: About 31 AD

God's servant would be "numbered with the transgressors" Bible prophecy: Isaiah 53:12, Prophecy written: Between 701-681 BC, Prophecy fulfilled: About 31 AD

God's servant would be buried in a rich man's tomb, Bible prophecy: Isaiah 53:9, Prophecy written: Between 701-681 BC, Prophecy fulfilled: About 31 AD

          
Note: Biblical information was taken from the Bible, Biblical research sites, and personal information I have gleaned from various pastors I have listened to over the past 35 years (and verified).

All the information and assorted facts I have presented are from the secular and religious arenas may seem to be an overload of information to many. If you feel that way, then I have accomplished one of the things I set out to do. What I have presented in way of information concerning the different types of life (plant and living creatures) and the complexity of the things around us is just a minute sampling of what is out there from an untrained eye (mine). Concerning the facts around the life of Jesus and the countless prophecies that have been predicted and come 100% true, they are also a sampling of the information and proof that Jesus did live and He was who He said He was as did the scriptures. That information was retrieved by a layperson without any professional training (me) and was discovered by reading, studying and searching documents.

I don’t know what else to add to this list of secular and religious information (that are   both considered facts) that would make it more clear that evolution is in itself impossible and that the earth and all matter around us was created by a force of some kind. Personally, I believe that force is God and I think that the evidence proves it beyond a shadow of a doubt to me. I believe that He offers eternal life to all those truly accept Him and that it is never too late (except after death) for us to ask for forgiveness and then be forgiven.

SECTION 5……... WHAT DO YOU DO WITH ALL THIS INFORMATION
My guess is that there are three things you can choose to do after reading, pondering and maybe even praying about all you have read and studied.  First, you could say, “I still am not convinced there is a God and that He created everything” and simply continue life as you always have. Second, you could still deny the historical facts concerning God, Jesus, who He was and what He did. You could still believe the complexities of life and all creation was developed by evolutionary chance and you will continue life as is. Or third, you could admit that the historical and scientific facts concerning life are not strong enough to support evolution and that the facts show that there is in fact a creator, God. I venture to say that even at this time you could still have a mind set to reject God and not want to accept Him as your savior. Because, as we know from scripture, God does not force anyone to accept Him but wants all to be saved (1 Timothy 2:3-4; "For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior; 4Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth"). He has explained the way to salvation, we just have to take that path.

SECTION 6                    NOW WHAT?
After reading all this information from a scientific, worldly, skeptical point of view and considering the overwhelming statistics and percentages that show the chances are better to believe there is a creator than in evolution, if you are a nonbeliever, what do you think? 
If you still do not believe there is a God, a creator, I don’t know what else to say except that I pray that you will continue to consider the facts that point to a creator and some day come to believe in God through faith and not facts.
If you have come to the belief that there is a creator and He is God and that you want to accept Him as your savior, congratulations! That is the first step you need to take. With that said, this is what you need to do. You must admit that you are a sinner, you must be willing to repent to Jesus for your sins, you must believe that Jesus died for you on the cross to cover those sins, and acknowledge that you want Jesus to enter your life (Romans 10:13) and that you desire to follow Him.  If these confessions are true in your heart (John 3:16) then Jesus says that you are now a child of God (John 1:12) and have become a new creation.      
You now have a new life and purpose. As a new creation there will be things that will happen in your life. Some may be immediate and dramatic while some may be low-keyed and subtle. What should be immediately evident is the feeling of having Jesus in your heart and wanting to start a change in your outward life.   
Accepting Jesus is a personal thing. Your confession and acceptance into the faith are between you and then you make a public confession of your transformation. There is no group to join, no fees, to pay or things you must do. You are saved by Jesus through grace by faith (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Again I will say that to receive salvation the only thing you must do is to believe in Jesus and accept Him as your savior. With that said, there is nothing you MUST do to have that salvation. But if you truly in your heart accept Him, then you WILL WANT to do the things He ask us to do. The key to the truthfulness of your conversion is that you will have the desire to change and live the life He tells us to. If you accept Christ, there are conditions you have to follow that will show the sincerity of your conversion and seal your place in Heaven.

I read in scripture that there are conditions we need to follow if we are true believers. However, some Christ followers will tell you that there are no conditions to following Jesus and having eternal salvation, all you have to do is accept Him. To that I say read the following scriptures and then decide if there are conditions or not. Matthew 19:24; Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” (This scripture is saying it is not bad to be rich – it is though when you love money more than you love Jesus.) Matthew 7:21; “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” (This scripture is saying there will be people that accept Jesus as their savior on the outside, but on the inside they do not truly believe and are not living the life as a Christ follower.)  2 Corinthians 5:17; “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (This scripture states that you will start putting away the old sinful self as you grow in your walk with Him.)
If Christ is really the center of your life you will also WANT to do good works. They are not a condition of salvation but proof you believe and follow what Jesus ask us to do. James 2:20-22; 20 “You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? 21 Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.”
For me, it is not difficult to know what sin according to scripture is, although to the new believer it may seem like a lot of rules to follow. What I have problems with is not sinning. I fall short and sin but I (we) am covered by the blood of Jesus and have a patient and forgiving God that allows us time to repent; as stated in 2 Peter 3:9; “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
There is a lot to learn about God and His will, Jesus and what He has done for us and The Holy Spirit guides and teaches us. It cannot be done by reading this or other messages written by people. However, you can, should and will learn about these things from reading and studying scripture (The Bible) and being guided by the Holy Spirit. Learning and growing in these things is what He ask us to do every day of our lives and to live our life in the will of God. 1 Peter 4:2 (Don’t live for the flesh) “As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God.”
Jesus has done His part in order for us to have salvation now it is up to us Christ- followers to do ours. Your journey should include; (1) PRAYER, talk to God and tell Him everything. (2) STUDY the Bible; studying includes reading scripture, listening to messages from Christ-following pastors and other wise people. When listening to other people’s teachings, make sure what they say about scripture/the Bible is true. You do this by knowing scripture and by going to scripture to test what is said with what is actually in scripture as we are told to do in Acts 17:11 “Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.”  (3) Have FELLOWSHIP with other believers; Acts 2:42, “The Fellowship of the Believers; they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. (4) REPENT, when we sin we are called to repent as stated in 2 Corinthians 7:10; “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.” And (5) WITNESS, as believers we are called to spread the good news; Mark 16:15; “He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”  In addition to verbally spreading His Word we will also spread the Good News by our actions and the way we live our life. Like it or not, we will be watched and judged by others.
As I stated before, you will not learn everything you need to know about being a Christ follower from this or any article because there is too much to list and in my humanness I caution my accuracy completeness. And it is not my job, it is up to you to read and learn scripture and when you do you will know what the will of the Lord is, you will be able to better resist temptations, you will know how to handle Satan when He attacks and all other things you need to know concerning being a Christ follower.
To the non believer I pray that this information was helpful to you on understanding a little more about the problems we Christ followers have with the notion of being created by evolution and that you have learned (from archeological and historical facts) about the true story of who Jesus is and what He has done for us and that He is the Creator and the only God.
In conclusion I will just ask that you will consider all that was written in this article with an open mind. Consider the facts from the evolution side of the debate and consider the facts from the spiritual side equally. I pray that not just the facts listed here bring you to accept Jesus, but the understanding of the overwhelming love, grace and desire for all to be saved; 1 Timothy 2:3-4"For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; 4Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the Truth." Understanding and accepting this truth is up to you, you have the power to reject it and control your eternal destiny. I pray that you will choose eternal life with Jesus but it is your call.
Dennis Smith
Feb.2, 2015
Born again believer, serving Jesus wherever He sends me.