Four (4) Winged Fruit Fly

Go Vikes! Wouldn't it be great if the Vikings were able to make it (and win?!) the Super Bowl? I am still in the afterglow of last week's Vikings victory, and a wonderful evening at Alpha. But today's topic has nothing to do with football, but instead is the ubiquitous fruit fly. I am once again responding to my oft-commenting friend Edward Oleander's request for me to provide evidence of what Darwinism can do in an organism. Although it is very clear from scientific studies that organisms like E-coli, malaria and HIV/Aids can mutate to develop very helpful resistance to medications, although its' ability to mutate appears very small. And so, perhaps the mutation rate for living creatures (like the fruit fly) is much higher than for malaria. I started (see January 3, 2010 post) by showing that although evolution is helpful in providing something like malaria with resistance to Chloroquine, the mutation rate is far too small to accomplish anything more significant. In this post, I will take a look at the fruit fly to see if Darwinism can more easily modify something more significant like body shape (called a morphological change) in a living creature.

The fruit fly is a two (2) winged insect that is one of the most intensively studied organisms in biology and genetics. It is widely studied because of its short lifespan, and the fact that the heredity of a fruit fly can easily be studied because it has a short generation time of about 10 days. The female lays about 100 eggs each batch, and up to 2,000 during its lifetime. It also only has four (4) pairs of chromosomes, which makes it an ideal study for studying genetic changes from generation to generation. With 10 day generations and 100 offspring the application of these genetic studies is obvious – they can replicate changes / mutations with an eye toward longer lived animals (like mammals), to see what Darwinism can really do, especially for changes to an organism's body.

So can Darwinism make the sort of large scale changes to an organism's body (called morphological changes) as Darwinism predicts? My conclusion is that the fruit fly experiments show that through the scientific study and expertise of genetic study, we can manipulate a two (2) winged fruit fly to have four (4) non-functioning wings, but otherwise Darwinism once again fails to show the possibility that large scale genetic changes can take place. Again, as I asked after reviewing the malaria studies, is that it? I was hoping for something that would help me to believe that we can go from a squirrel in one generation to a kitten in the next. Or at least a significant step in that direction. But as I will show, the four (4) winged fruit fly studies show that random mutation + natural selection (this is the core of Darwinian belief) is NOT the mechanism for the claimed changes of Darwinism, and even with intelligently designed manipulation of the fruit fly's DNA, a body shape can be changed over several generations, but only in a harmful way. The question is straightforward, what changes do we see in living creatures in the world around us?

The bodies of fruit flies are divided into segments. What is cool about the genes of a fruit fly is that they divide into segments just as is shown in the fruit fly's body. The anterior (forward) section has the wings. In 1978, California Institute of Technology geneticist Ed Lewis reported his findings from an extensive study of the genes of a fruit fly that he conducted: he was able to manipulate the fruit fly's genes over three generations, where he was able to grow a second set of wings, but this time on the fruit fly's posterior (rearward) compartment. A single mutation cannot cause the second set of wing's mutation. Instead, only a fly with three mutations (called anterobithorax, bithorax, and postbithorax mutations – these mutations affect a single large gene called Ultrabithorax) will have the second set of wings. Dr. Lewis was able to manipulate the Ultrabithorax genes regulatory sequences so that the rearward compartments wings rather than halters (minute appendages that appears on the normal fruit fly) would appear.

This picture or sketch of a fruit fly with four wings is a common example in textbooks of an example of what Evolution can do in a living organism. But is this really something that Darwinists can show as proof of what Darwinism does? No, what Dr. Lewis has shown is that even with intensive, intelligent manipulation of the fruit fly's genes, through successive generations, that four wings can be added to a creature with two wings. But this is a horrible example of Darwinism because the second set of wings don't work. The genetic manipulation by Dr. Lewis is impressive, but apparently is possible through intelligent engineering. And even with this genetic manipulation, the changes that were done did not include muscles for the fruit fly to use with this second set of wings. Dr. Lewis' four-winged fruit fly could not use the second set of wings because it did not have the muscles to use these extra wings. Instead of showing that body changes are possible through Evolution, the four-winged fruit fly shows that major changes to a living creature are much more complicated, involving more than just adding extra wings. It also takes changes to the muscles, the circulatory system (if needed), and the additional instructions for the creatures brain, etc. In Dr. Lewis's study he has only added the second set of unusable wings, an evolutionary disadvantage. There is no survival of the fittest advantage here.

So in summary, living organisms face the same mutation problems shown in my previous post on malaria. Morphological changes are much more complex, and involve more than even what Dr. Lewis' genetic manipulations adding a second set of wings to a fruit fly over three generations. The second set of wings were unusable, because there was no muscles, and so no way for these wings to be used. And the observed natural mutations of a fruit fly again reveals that Darwinism cannot accomplish the large scale changes needed. If large scale changes cannot take place in the fruit fly which has 10 day generations, what hope is there for Darwinism to show large scale changes in mammals, where there are years of generations? Again, the fruit fly shows that Darwinism cannot turn a squirrel into a kitty, or even a significant step in that direction, and so something else is needed. My hope is that the reader of this blog will start looking at the evidence and see that Darwinism isn't the reason why you are here today. There are big questions in life. Why are we here is a one of the biggest. Where are you looking for these answers?

I hope I've given you something to think about. In Christ, /s/Tom

Odds n’ Ends, #17

1).    God's Grace. From the website 'Of First Importance': "For there is no calm haven where our minds can rest until we come to God's free love."- (John Calvin, NT Commentary on John p75)

2).    End of the World Coming May 21, 2011. It seems as though these are times of great urgency, no matter one's viewpoint. The challenging times of our world include issues such as Global Warming, the economy in crises, famines, wars, natural disasters, the possibility of the Packers going to the Super Bowl, etc. This sense of urgency is now appearing more frequently. Here is a Harold Camping, a Christian radio talk show host's prediction that the world will end May 21, 2011. And note that despite there being clear Scripture that no one knows when the end will come (here), Mr. Camping uses a very strained interpretation of the Bible, mathematics, and numerology to come up with the May 21, 2011 date:

The number 5, Camping concluded, equals "atonement." Ten is "completeness." Seventeen means "heaven." Camping patiently explained how he reached his conclusion for May 21, 2011.

"Christ hung on the cross April 1, 33 A.D.," he began. "Now go to April 1 of 2011 A.D., and that's 1,978 years."

Camping then multiplied 1,978 by 365.2422 days - the number of days in each solar year, not to be confused with a calendar year.

Next, Camping noted that April 1 to May 21 encompasses 51 days. Add 51 to the sum of previous multiplication total, and it equals 722,500.

Camping realized that (5 x 10 x 17) x (5 x 10 x 17) = 722,500. Or put into words: (Atonement x Completeness x Heaven), squared.

"Five times 10 times 17 is telling you a story," Camping said. "It's the story from the time Christ made payment for your sins until you're completely saved. "I tell ya, I just about fell off my chair when I realized that," Camping said.

3).    Child Sacrifices on Rise in Uganda. Witch doctors in Uganda have admitted their part in human sacrifice amid concerns that the practice is spreading in the African country. Story is here. One man said he had clients who had captured children and taken their blood and body parts to his shrine, while another confessed to killing at least 70 people including his own son.

The latter has now given up the ritual and is campaigning to stamp it out, according to BBC News.

The African country's government claimed human sacrifice was on the increase.

According to officials trying to tackle it, the crime is directly linked to rising levels of development and prosperity - and an increasing belief that witchcraft can help people get rich quickly…

    Tom's Thought – There is nothing more precious than children. And so, when people are willing to sacrifice children, a universally evil act, in order to obtain financial gain, it is a sign that some switch has gone on that is causing people to lose their senses. And a question to ask ourselves during the financial crises that our country is facing, is what are you willing to do in order to keep a roof over your family's head, or food on the table?

 

4).    Dolphins Should Be Treated as Non-human Persons?. Story here. Dolphins have been declared the world's second most intelligent creatures after humans, with scientists suggesting they are so bright that they should be treated as "non-human persons".

Studies into dolphin behavior have highlighted how similar their communications are to those of humans and that they are brighter than chimpanzees. These have been backed up by anatomical research showing that dolphin brains have many key features associated with high intelligence…

    Tom's Thought – The legal implications of this are mind-boggling. Does this mean dolphins are entitled to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness"? Should a boat captain be arrested for hitting a dolphin? Should the ACLU be able to represent them? Should it be a criminal act to defeat the Miami Dolphins in an NFL game?

 

5).    Top 10 Religious Blogs. According to the Technorati website (here), the top 10 religious websites are:

I haven't checked out, or heard about these blogs, except for the last two, and so who knows what these sites might contain. But I thought it was interesting to see that someone came up with a list like this.

1.

What Does The Prayer Really … http://wdtprs.com/blog/ Recent: The Feeder Feed There was a lot of snow and a lot of cold and a lot of wind. The birds are doing their best. Post from: …

Religion Auth: 971 Change +1 Top 100 living

2. moved up 3 places

Tall Skinny Kiwi http://tallskinnykiwi.typepad.com/ Recent: Winkie Pratney's Communication Secret Winkie Pratney just suffered an aneurysm last week and " apparently is not doing very well ." His speech …

Religion Auth: 900     Top 100 living

3.

Jesus Creed http://blog.beliefnet.com/jesuscreed Recent: Weekly Meanderings It's been a cold week in Chicago, our home town.  But that doesn't mean Chicagoans can't have some fun …

Religion Auth: 893     Top 100 living

4.

Justin Taylor http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/ Recent: Thomas Sowell's New Book: Intellectuals and Society If Thomas Sowell writes a book, I get it. I find his writings invariably insightful and helpful. Paul …

Religion Auth: 891     Top 100 living

5. moved down -3 places

TheResurgence http://theresurgence.com Recent: Featured Media: Leadership Lessons from Nehemiah In this series from the Acts 29 2007 regional conference in Seattle, Mark Driscoll answers twenty leadership …

Religion Auth: 888     Top 100 living

6.

Apprising Ministries http://apprising.org Recent: TONY JONES TRACES THE CORRUPTION OF YOUTH SPECIALTIES In his post An Open Letter to YouthWorks  Tony Jones, heretical "theologian in residence" at the emerging …

Religion Auth: 884     Top 100 living

7. moved up 2 places

Beyond Babylon http://beyondbabylon.blogspot.com Recent: God is reproducing Himself! Re: Hebrew midwives #13. To: BobCeleste (#6 ) Or perhaps a follower of Armstrong. But whatever, as one who …

Religion Auth: 880     Top 100 living Top 100 world

8. moved down -1 places

Creative Minority Report http://www.creativeminorityreport.com Recent: Something Happened on the Way to Damascus Why do I despise the Republican Party? Charlie Crist is as good an answer as I can come up with right now. …

Religion Auth: 864     Top 100 living

9. moved down -2 places

Parchment and Pen http://www.reclaimingthemind.org/blog Recent: A Grief Letter to My Sister Angie (1969-2004) Dear Angie, We just passed the 6 year anniversary of your death. I guess it was the evening of January 4, …

Religion Auth: 861     Top 100 living

10. moved down -1 places

AlbertMohler.com – Blog http://www.albertmohler.com Recent: NewsNote: The Death of a Feminist Radical theologian Mary Daly died Sunday at age 81, ending one of the most interesting and tragic careers

Malaria – The Evolution of a Killer

In my post on 'Apologetics', Edward Oleander commented that he would like further details on what Darwinism shows about evolutionary changes in a cell. Let me start our discussion by re-posting a previous post (with a few additions) on Malaria:

 

What Does Malaria Teach Us About What Evolution Can Do?

Malaria is the million person Murderer; it kills 1 million people each year, and makes 100 million other people sick. In some regions, it kills half of all children before the reach the age of 5. It is like Dracula, feeding on blood. It is carried by mosquitoes, and transmitted when they bite. Once inside a person they keep feeding until they reach the liver, where they stop to multiply. It attaches to a red blood cell, goes inside puts a protective covering on and feeds on the hemoglobin. The infected blood cell gets stuck in our veins and stops circulating. Malaria reproduces until about 20 copies are made, they then break out of the now trashed red blood cell and re-enter the bloodstream to go into more red blood cells. They multiply exponentially, so that within a few days there are a trillion new malarial parasites, which consume a large portion of the victim's blood. Because they are so numerous, and it has been studied so much, it is the best example of what evolution can do.

The modern fight against malaria began in South America with the discovery that bark from the cinchona tree was useful for treating the fever. Quinine is developed from the cinchona bark, and once it was discovered in the 17^th century that it could be used as a cure for malaria. But in the 1940's the active ingredient was isolated, and a compound developed called 'Chloroquine' that was even more effective against malaria. Because Chloroquine was effective, with few side effects and inexpensive to make it became the drug of choice for treatment of malaria for decades.

Malaria has 14 chromosomes, and the resistance part was recently discovered to be part of a 400,000 nucleotide region of one chromosome. It was further narrowed to 36,000 nucleotide region. The complexity of even a simple parasite like malaria is mind-blowing. The DNA for malaria encodes 5,300 proteins (proteins are essential to the operation of the cell, participating in every process of the cell. This includes being enzymes for metabolism, structural and mechanical functions – like forming the cell structure and building muscles, cell-signaling, immune responses and cell adhesion.) The PfCRT protein (for P. falciparum, a malaria species - Throughout my post when I use 'malaria', it is for P. falciparum) normally has 424 amino acids in a strict sequence. When there is a change in the amino acid sequence, the change commonly happens at position number 76 and 220 of the resistant proteins. These mutations are what have provided malaria's resistance to Chloroquine. This is what evolution can do in making an organism more resistant to an enemy like Chloroquine that is designed to destroy malaria.

So these two mutations at spot 76 and 220 of the amino acid sequence are what Darwinism can do – they provide resistance to the primary drug used to fight malaria; Chloroquine. Remember, that there are 1 trillion malaria cells in an infected person. And there are over 500 million people infected each year. Tom's Point: So with so many malaria cells (1 trillion in a sick person) and so many people infected with malaria (500 million each year), how often does a simple double protein "binding-site" mutation of the amino acid sequence happen to provide resistance to the top drug used to fight Chloroquine? One researcher has estimated that it has happened only 10 times over the past 50 years.

Resistance to Chloroquine has perhaps only appeared 10 times in the whole world in the past 50 years (!!!). And so, one writer estimates that if you count the number of malaria cells in a very sick person times the number of people who get malaria each year times the number of years since Chloroquine was introduced, we see that the odds of a parasite developing resistance to Chloroquine is roughly one in a hundred billion billion. Written in shorthand this is 1 in 10²⁰. This is why eminent geneticist Francois Jacob writes that Darwinian evolution is a "tinkerer" and not an engineer. I have made the claim that the evolution rates are many times too small to accomplish what Edward Oleander and other Darwinists claim. I make my argument based upon what we see in the studies of malaria, as well as other recent studies involving HIV/Aids and E-Coli.

 

If you would like the list of the studies relied upon by Prof. Michael Behe in The Edge of Evolution, I can send them to you. This is a topic I have a genuine interest in, and so, if you have information that is helpful in expanding the discussion, please post it.

Merry Christmas – Joy in the Good News

Merry Christmas to everyone. My family and I have already had an eventful Christmas Eve morning. We are blanketed by a new coat of snow here in Burnsville, Minnesota. And we are having our kitchen remodeled, and yesterday one of the workers was working on our gas line in the kitchen. I woke up this morning to our home having a temperature in the 50's. With no hot water. And even our gas fireplace wouldn't start. I had no idea of what to do. So I did what any youngest child would do – I called my big brother. He is a saint, and came right over. He found out all of the gas lines were turned off, and he was able to turn them on, and re-lit all of the pilot lights. Yikes! Where we would be today without heat, no hot water (we have four females in our family, mind you), and a bad snow storm around us. May God bless my brother for rescuing us today.

Which brings me to Christmas. What do you think is humanity's biggest problem facing us today? What do we need to be rescued from? Could it be Global Warming? The Financial Crisis that we are in? Vikings Coach Childress and Brett Favre fighting? Well, God saw mankind's foremost problem – and it is Sin. Sin separates us from God, other people, and gives us the mindset of a sinner. Having the mind of a sinner is to think about things that your body craves – lustful thoughts, desires of wanting more things, and of course, the desire for power and fame and to be recognized as the special person that you are. A friend recently mentioned to me that all sin is centered on the human error of pride. I don't know if I agree with this, but that idea will have to hold for now, and perhaps be the subject of another post. The bottom line though is that sin is fun. It is desirable. And it ensnares us all.

And how did God go about solving humanity's problem of sin? Immanuel – God with us. He came to Earth, the Son of God born in a humble manger, and wrapped in swaddling clothes (what does swaddling mean? – sorry for my ADD moment). But it is an Angel that proclaimed so clearly this Good News/Gospel about the baby that was born:

The angel said to them, "Don't be afraid! I have good news for you, a message that will fill everyone with joy. Today your Savior, Christ the Lord, was born in David's city." (Luke 2:10-11).

And so, what was God's response to humanity's Sin-problem? He reached down and sent a Savior – His Son. This Savior lived the perfect life that we cannot. And He died on the Cross paying the debt that is owed for our sins. And by doing this, if we repent of our sinfulness and make Jesus our Lord, He also frees us from having to sin – sin no longer rules over the Christian. And the hope is that we start living our lives more and more like Jesus. What great news this is!

Merry Christmas - /s/Tom.

Apologetics – why we know Christianity is true.

My question for you this beautiful, lightly snowing day here in Burnsville is this – what are the reasons that you believe in God? God reveals Himself in many ways to us Earth dwellers, and some are easier to see than others. In this post, I thought I would touch on three (3) of the best reasons I believe in the 'truth' of Christianity. Now if you think there are better choices than the three (3) I list here, I say YES! I am providing this list based upon my observations and issues I have dwelt with through my life. Because each of us has different life experiences and viewpoints, the reasons we may believe in Christ will differ from person to person. And so I hope that by thinking about our reasons to believe, that we will be more willing to share with others these reasons. You know, we should always be prepared to share the hope that we have in Christ Jesus. So let's get started with a list of what I see as the most persuasive showing God's presence.

Why did I entitle this post as 'Apologetics'? Apologetics is the study of the defense of the Divine origin and authority of Christianity (Websters). And so, Apologetics is the proper way of discussing reasons to believe in the God of the Bible. I have three reasons for believing that Jesus is the only way for a person to receive a saving faith. Tomorrow, I might have three different reason, but for today, these are my top three (3):

1).    The Bible. Yes, it's the most widely read book in the world. Yes, it's the most widely published book in the world. And if you're an atheist or any other kind of unbeliever, if you have not read the Bible, any words you say about the Bible or anything about spiritual or philosophical topics can be dismissed summarily. And so, if you haven't read the Bible you are a culturally illiterate person. There is only one way to understand great authors like Shakespeare, the founding documents of our country, or not-infrequent comments by all of our nation's Presidents when invoking God, you must have read and understood the Bible. Why not start today?

But this isn't the reason why the Bible has made my Top 3 reasons for why we know Christianity is true. Instead, because there is common belief that there is an Intelligent God who is involved in this world, it is logical that God would reveal Himself in different ways. Yes, God reveals His character through nature. Yes, God reveals Himself to us in times of trouble, through providing peace, comfort, strength and answered prayers. But the way God most clearly reveals Himself is through Jesus the Messiah, and the Holy Bible. (See, Colossians 1:15-16; Hebrews 1:3). And ALL of the Bible testifies about our Lord Jesus. See, John 5:39. Am I saying that the Books of the Old Testament are about Jesus, even though they were written hundreds of years before He was born? Yes, I am as John 5:39 makes clear.

And yes, the Bible is filled with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 6:17), which comes to us as we read the Scriptures. We hear God's Voice through the Bible verses we read or when we hear it preached. And we become transformed through this "living" Book. It is an amazing Book that can reveal God's Mind to us puny humans. Yet, even the Bible which sometimes describes God's anger and wrath to us, is more clearly a Book of God's love. We receive salvation through the Gospel of Christ provided in its pages (Romans 1:16). And so, this is easily the first reason to believe in God – the power of His Word, the Bible.

 

2).    Israel, God's Chosen People. I am not an expert on the history of the nation of Israel. But I can see that it is the world's most hated ethnic group. And we see in the Holy Scriptures descriptions of other people and nations that have tried to eliminate God's Chosen People – from the nation of Persia, as shown in the Book of Esther (the only Book in the Bible that does not mention God), to the destruction of Israel the generation following Jesus' death by the Roman Empire (See, Luke 21:20-24 describing the upcoming destruction of Israel, and that Jerusalem would be "trampled by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles is fulfilled."

The continued existence of a distinct group of people, who have remained religiously and culturally distinct for over 4,000 years, is a great proof of God's having spoken to the world through the Bible. The Bible gives a prophecy in Genesis 15:18 that Abraham's descendants would have their own country, and that it would be between the river of Egypt and the river Euphrates. This is commonly called the 'Promised Land'. Are they really all that different? Let me give you one example to show that they are – circumcision. Only the Jewish people keep a 'covenant' with God through the ritual of circumcision. And this made them physically and nationally a distinct group. Add in their observance of the Sabbath, dietary restrictions, distinct head coverings, etc. and it is easy to see that the people of Israel are a distinct group that God has a future purpose for (See, Romans 11). The continued existence of Israel as a distinct cultural and ethnic nation is a powerful reason for believing in the existence of the Christian God.

 

3).    Cell's Do Not Change. Science provides us with clear evidence that Darwinist/natural means of cell reproduction cannot create a new species. Through the published scientific studies involving E-coli, HIV/Aids, and malaria, the scientific evidence shows that through many generations of reproduction, there is a limit of changes that can take place in an organism of only up to three (3) amino acids from a parent. Three (3) lousy amino acids?! And Darwinism is based on this measly performance? So remember Darwinism's claim – all animals descend from a single parent. And this all had to have taken place 530 million years ago, when the Cambrian Explosion took place. Wow, 530 million years sounds like a lot of time doesn't it. But Darwinists have the completely nonsense belief that Natural Selection and Variation is the mechanism that can cause all of the variation we see in our world today including bacteria, viruses/germs, birds, frogs, fish, whales, squirrels, bears, cows, and ultimately mankind through changes made in only the past 530 million years.

Think about all of the systems that have to be created brand new and working during this timeframe – male and females sexual organs, a spinal cord / central nervous system, blood, circulatory system, lungs, respiratory system, and of course, the human brain. And through the scientific studies involving malaria, e-coli, HIV/Aids cells, at the end of thousands of generations of mutations, natural selection/variation was only able to build up to three (3) amino acid changes. These changes were helpful for the bacteria because it helped them in fending off / provide resistance to its anti-biotic medicine enemies. But c'mon, no new species were created through these many generations – no new proteins were created. And nothing distinct was ever made through the many generations – an e-coli cell made other e-coli cells. As any animal breeder will tell you – a cat makes more cats, and not dogs. And the claim that invisible changes are being made over time is now demonstrably false – at best, three (3) amino acids is the most that can be changed even over thousands of generations. And so, we now know enough about mutation rates, error corrections within a cell, and the greater likelihood of deterioration / harmful errors, rather than helpful errors within a cell, to confidently say that Darwinism cannot be the tool by which all of the world's species were made. Unless you believe in aliens, this leaves you with one other choice: the God of the Bible is responsible for the Earth's vast diversity. Because Darwinist evolution cannot provide an explanation for life's diversity, it leaves us with one rational explanation: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1). And that by Jesus, all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible (Colossians 1:16). The world of the cell, and because it does not change much even over many generations is the reason why I have included it in my top three (3) reasons to believe in Christianity.

 

I hope you have found this post helpful in thinking about the reasons why you believe. And if you have different reasons, then think about those reasons, and be prepared to share the reasons why you believe with someone else this week. The week before we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus the Messiah. In Christ, /s/Tom Wolff.

Odds n’ Ends (16)

Hi anyone who still checks in on my Blog posting. It was nice having highs in the 50's today, and I was able to get a few more leaves up from our lawn. This Odds n' Ends should have a little something for everyone. So let's get started:

1).    Buy Your Burial Casket/Urn at Walmart. See Here. It seems like an industry to get into with inexpensive funeral caskets or urns. Is anyone else scared that Walmart is going to take over the world? I found the article from the Internet Monk website (see sidebar).

2).    Big Bang Machine Blows Itself Up. http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2009/11/16/shubert.big.bang.bust.cnn.

3).    Now a story to make the Pre-Tribbers out there craaaaazzzzzy! The European Union has created a new post, called the "President of Europe". No, it's not an elected position. No, former British Prime Minister was not given this post. No, the first person to hold this position (Belgium Prime Minister Herman van Rompuy) is a relative unknown. And yes, this is a historic move. The Pre-Tribbers see this as another fulfillment of end-times prophecy, because of what they see as the importance of Europe during the last days.. Here's the story: http://flashtrafficblog.wordpress.com/2009/11/21/eu-creates-historic-undemocratic-new-president-of-europe-post/.

4).    Ah, those romantic Darwinists. Now we know why people kiss – it's to spread our germs! Article is here.

5).    First time home buyers in Dakota County get loans at record low rates: The article is here.

6).    Do you want to get a job at Google? Then you would have to answer some really strange questions, like how many golf balls will fit in a bus. And how much would you charge to wash all of the windows in Seattle. If you want to see the other questions, here is the link: http://www.businessinsider.com/15-google-interview-questions-that-will-make-you-feel-stupid-2009-11#how-many-golf-balls-can-fit-in-a-school-bus-1. And they also provide at the end the answers and the reasons why this sort of question is being asked of Google job applicants.

Thy “Kingdom” Come

I have always been fascinated with the idea of what Jesus meant when he started out His ministry by saying "Repent for the Kingdom of God/Heaven is near" (Matthew 4:17). My initial thinking in looking at verses like this was that all of the world was God's Kingdom, and that Jesus was just explaining this idea – that the Earth belonged to God (or was God's Kingdom), and we should be mindful of this by repenting of our wrongdoing.

But as I've learned more of God's Word, I see now that my original understanding of 'God's Kingdom' was wrong. And now through a book I am reading ("More of the End Times Made Simple" by Samuel E. Waldron), I am understanding more clearly the concept of God's Kingdom, and the importance of one's end-time's view in applying an understanding of how God's Kingdom works in the real world.

OK, I know I said a mouthful there, so let me break it down this way. First, I will discuss the definition of the 'Kingdom of God'. Then I will take a look at one of Jesus' Parables (The Parable of the Wheat and Tares) that describes the Church in the Gospel Age, after Jesus' first advent. So let's get started:

1. Definition of the Kingdom of God. First, I believe it's widely understood that God's Kingdom is synonymous with God's reign, or a place where God reigns. Where God reigns, God's Kingdom is present. God reigns undisputedly in only one place today, in the unseen heavenly realm. But when God answers prayers, even miraculous prayers, His Kingdom breaks through into our world. A healing is God's Kingdom setting what is broken and putting it the way it is supposed to be – healthy and working properly. God's Kingdom breaking into our world is also shown through a believer's life being transformed from rebellion into obedience. Yet the greatest example of the Kingdom of God breaking into our world, this side of Jesus' return. is when a sinner repents and moves from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of Light, or into the Kingdom of God. Through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in this new life of a Christian, this person is now a living, breathing part of the Kingdom of God. A moving, serving and talking part of God's Kingdom!
   

   
    

2. Parable of Wheat and Tares. So with this background let's take a look at Jesus' Parable of the Wheat and Tares. It is contained in Matthew 13:24-30, :36-43. And it's one of the few Parables that Jesus provides us with an explanation. So please allow me to draw out a few items from this Parable: This Parable is a description of the Kingdom of God (v. 24). There is sown good seed by Jesus (v.24 and v. 37), which causes grain bearing plants to grow (v. 26). The enemy who sows weeds alongside the plants is Satan (v. 39). And most importantly, the field is not the Church, but the entire world (v. 38). And the grain bearing plants are the elect of Jesus Christ, and the weeds are everyone else in the world (v.38).
   

   Jesus' next two parables in Matthew chapter 13 express the same concept. First the Parable of the Mustard Seed (Matt. 13:31-32) and then the Parable of Yeast (Matt. 13:33) come together to speak the same truth – during the Church Age, the Kingdom of God grows. Where the Good News of Jesus Christ is preached, the Kingdom of God grows until the end of the age (v. 41-42). Yet there is also the continuous presence of the "weeds" in the world growing alongside the grain bearing Plants.
   

   
    

   So how does one's end-times/eschatological view effect one's interpretation of these Parables? This is where it gets really interesting. I remember going through a Bible Study course and being taught that the simple Parable of the Mustard Seed, where the tiniest seed grows into a large tree where birds can rest in the branches, is really not so simple. The Pre-Trib view explains that the birds are really a picture of Satan and his false teachers. These birds would attack the work of the Church. Yet this view seems at odds with Ezekiel 17:23, which explains that all of the Gentile nations will be at rest in the branches of the Kingdom of God. Similarly, in the Parable of Yeast, it is not God's Kingdom like yeast that causes the growth of the bread. Instead, the Pre-Trib view holds that the yeast is Satan and his followers, including the false teachers who will one day cause the downfall of the Church.
   

   So how did we get from a fairly straightforward set of Parables that explain that during the Church age, the Kingdom of God will continue expanding, to the opposite view held by those of the Pre-Trib view who believe that the Church of Christ is not expanding and that only Satan's kingdom is expanding? The Pre-Trib explanation that these Parables are describing the Church instead of the entire world is in direct opposition to Jesus' explanation in v. 38, which says "the field is the world". The simple picture portrayed by Jesus in these three Parables is that the Kingdom of God is expanding, and providing blessing to the rest of the nations is too clear to allow such a twisted explanation as provided by those of the Pre-Trib persuasion.
   

   
    

3. What about Post-Millennialism? Yes, and these Parables are also important to the Post-Millennial viewpoint. They view God's Kingdom as continuously growing until it brings in the Millennial 1,000 year golden age. And while there is a clear description of the Kingdom of God expanding during the Church age, it seems that the Post-Millennialists ignore the weeds also growing alongside the grain-bearing Plants. The Plants do not choke out the weeds, as Post-Millennialists believe, with the spread of the Gospel one day consuming the peoples of the Earth.. Instead, the weeds grow just as vigorously as the Plants. It is only the removal of the weeds by Jesus and His angels to judge the non-believers (v.42), which allows the righteous Church of Christ to shine forth (v. 43). And so, the message of these Parables is equally clear in opposing the Post-Millennial view. The only end-times view that correctly describes the growth of both the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan until Judgment Day is the Amillennial view. Therefore, the Parables of the Wheat and Tares, as well as the other two related Parables, support the Amillennial view that the Gospel and the kingdom of darkness will continue growing until Jesus' return.
   

   So that's what is on my heart today. Let me know if I have missed something. May God continue to bless us all with continued growth in our faith and obedience to Jesus Christ, Amen.