Creation Moments

Jonathan Cotton: In the beginning, God created. Welcome to Creation Moments. I'm Jonathan Cotton. Today, we'll look at five thought-provoking topics on science and the reliability of God's word. Today's topics include the amazing woodpecker, clean the blushing fish, the bat's special radar design, the most improbable honeybee, and ants who garden. Listen and discover the evidence for our creator that is all around us. Then, after our program, visit creationmoments.com for articles, videos, FAQs, Bible studies, and so much more. First up, the amazing woodpecker. The woodpecker's tongue can stretch from three to five times its normal length in order to fish bugs out of trees.

You would think that his tongue would have to be rooted in his tail to do that neat trick. This beautiful creation in which we live is not only filled with testimonies to the wisdom of God, it's also filled with special designs that deny the possibility that life in all its complexity developed entirely by chance. Consider the woodpecker. Incredibly, the woodpecker's tongue is rooted in his right nostril. Exiting the back of the nostril, his tongue splits into two parts, wrapping around his head between his skull and the skin, passing on either side of the neck bones, and then coming up through his lower jaw or beak.

This gives the woodpecker a long enough tongue to stretch it out far enough to do an effective job of pest control on bug-infested trees. Now, how can this happen by blind evolutionary chance? Even evolutionists admit that it's silly to suggest that the woodpecker's tongue gradually got longer over thousands of years and began to grow under his skin. As one evolutionary scientist said about the woodpecker's tongue, there are certain anatomical features which just cannot be explained by gradual mutations over millions of years. Just between you and me, I have to get God into the act too sometimes.

Why wait to call on God as a last resort? Let's begin with our wonderful creator. Deuteronomy chapter 4 verse 28 says, and there you will serve gods, the work of men's hand, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. Would you pray with me? Dear heavenly Father, through the instruction of your word and the guidance of your spirit, help me to be different from those around me who think that the creation itself made them. In Jesus' name, amen. Our next topic is clean the blushing fish. Many types of animals help each other, an activity called altruism.

Even though some of these animals would normally eat each other, different kinds of animals that help each other pose a serious problem for those who deny an all-wise creator. Evolution has lots of reasons why natural enemies would not cooperate to help each other. But consider the example of the yellow-tailed goatfish. The yellow-tailed goatfish is a mostly white fish that swims in small schools. They often cruise around reefs where the yellow French angelfish live. The angelfish hide from the goatfish who might eat them. However, the goatfish are often bothered by parasites that lodge in their scales and gills.

When this happens, the goatfish swim to the reef in which the angelfish live and blush a bright rust-red color. When this happens, the angelfish knows that the goatfish has not come for lunch, but to be cleaned. So the angelfish swims out and cleans the goatfish of his uncomfortable and unhealthy parasites. When the goatfish is clean, he stops blushing and swims off to leave the angelfish in peace. Is it possible that our wise creator has provided for the needs of his creatures in a way that could provide these unexplained mysteries for those who want to explain things without him?

We think so. We think this is one of the ways in which his glory, power, and wisdom are made evident who don't want to admit an intelligent creator. Job chapter 36 verse 22 says, behold, God is exalted by his power. Who teaches like him? Let's pray together. Lord, I thank you that you leave those who are proud in the imaginations of their own hearts unsatisfied, so that they may continue to seek you while satisfying those who look only to you. Help me always to seek you first in all things. Amen. And now, the bat's special radar design.

If you wake up when it's still dark, you know how overwhelming it can be to turn on the light. Your eyes may even hurt at first. If you've had this experience, you can understand one of the problems that had to be solved when radar was developed. Basically, radar is made up of two parts. The transmitter sends out a powerful beam of radar waves, but the other part of the radar system is a very sensitive receiver that cannot stand the powerful outgoing signal. One of the major technical problems to be overcome in developing modern radar involved sending out this powerful signal without overwhelming the sensitive receiver.

What scientists finally developed was a fast switch that turns the sensitive receiver off every time a radar pulse is sent out. Bats, who have their own sonic radar, had this problem solved from the beginning. They have muscles in their ears that are the receivers for the echoes. These muscles close the ears for split seconds when the bats are sending out their high-pitched signals. Without this feature, the bat's navigational system would be useless. How could a bat figure out that it needed this ability and then decide to grow the muscles and related tissue to do the job?

When one decides to say that creatures instead of the creator have made themselves, one can end up with some very silly conclusions. Matthew chapter 6 verses 27 through 29 says, which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin, and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Please join me in prayer. Dear Father, you've made all things well, and with the good of the creation in mind, help me to remember this when I tend to think of your word as separated from the realities of everyday life, thereby missing out on so many of the blessings you've prepared for me.

In Jesus' name, amen. Next up, the most improbable honeybee. One reason many scientists reject evolution is that it's impossible to explain even the simplest of the incredible designs we find in creation as the work of a mindless impersonal force. Imagine the challenge of explaining the many specialized features of the honeybee as the work of no one. The honeybee has compound eyes that enable it to navigate by the sun even on cloudy days because it has a built-in polarized light filter. The honeybee's antenna contain both their sense of smell and sense of touch. For this reason, they must be carefully cleaned.

So the honeybees have special grooves on their front legs that are perfectly designed to clean them. The honeybees also have hairs on their body to collect pollen and baskets on their rear legs to carry it. And they have special glands for producing, shaping, and cleaning off wax. When one returns home with news of a good pollen source, the honeybee has a language that it can use to tell the others about it. Not only is the honeybee a huge collection of special features united together, but they also live in a hive that unites thousands of individuals so that they all work together like a single organism.

It simply goes against everything we know from science to suppose that millions of years of unplanned accidents could design and build the honeybee. Psalm chapter 113 verses 5 and 6. Who is the Lord our God who dwells on high, who humbles himself to behold the things that are in the heavens and in the earth? Let's pray. I thank you, Lord, that some of those who are called by your name work in the sciences. I ask you to protect them, make them bold in their witness to the truth. I know that for you who so wondrously made the honeybee, this is an easy task.

If your people are willing to serve you above all things, amen. And last but not least, ants who garden. Farming and gardening are said by evolutionists to be very advanced activities. They say that primitive humans did not do these things and that gardening developed only recently in human history. But if there is a creator, we would expect that he would have taught many kinds of creatures to care for plants or even trees. Guess what? There are even ants who garden. There is a particular type of fierce ant that cares for the South American bull's horn acacia tree.

While the ants don't need the tree for their survival, they do eat portions of it, but they never eat enough to cause damage to the tree. In fact, the ants protect their tree. They snip off vines or other growth that comes too close to the tree, maintaining plenty of growing room for their tree. The ants are aggressive enough to keep other insects or even birds or larger animals away from their tree. In studying this amazing relationship, researchers have removed the ants from some of these trees. Within two to 15 months, the tree is dead. Without the ant's care, animals eat off all the leaves and surrounding plants overrun it.

Who taught these ants to be gardeners? How could two so very different kinds of life develop such a close relationship? This results in a great mystery for evolution. Without ants, you couldn't evolve the tree. And without the tree, the ants couldn't learn to care for it. You can't get around it. Both were created fully formed, and the creator taught the ants how to care for the tree. Genesis chapter 2 verse 15 says, then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. Would you pray with me again?

Father, I see for myself that your word is true. As I look around the world that you have made, I ask that you would show me what you want me to do as your creation in bearing witness to the truth of the forgiveness of sins which is ours through your son, Jesus Christ. Amen. Psalm 124 ends with a profound statement. Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth. We've all had moments when we needed help. You may be experiencing one right now. In life, there will be illness, grief, uncertainty, persecution, or a burden too heavy to bear.

The Bible never asks us to deny those realities. Instead, it reminds us that the Lord is our help. With God, you never have to face darkness alone. And there is nothing and no one more powerful than the maker of all things. Time after time in the Bible, when God's people are overwhelmed, they remind themselves not merely that God is loving or compassionate or that he is on their side, but that he is the creator. And this is not just an Old Testament practice. Acts 4 verse 24 says that when the early church gathered to pray under intense persecution, they began by saying, Lord, you are God who made heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them.

Nothing in your life can exceed his power or escape his notice. Though life can seem unbearably difficult to us at times, it is not too difficult for him. And it doesn't end there. Our creator also chose to experience our pain and humanity by becoming one of us. Hebrews chapter 4 verse 15 says, for we do not have a high priest who cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Not only is God all-powerful, but he is all-understanding as well. God in the person of Jesus Christ became a part of creation to redeem those who could never redeem themselves.

For those who believe, he is our refuge, our strength, and our very present help in time of need. Have you asked him for guidance lately? Whatever you may be facing right now, remember Psalm chapter 124. Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth. Thank you for listening. If you'd like to learn more about creation science and biblical worldview issues, visit creationmoments.com or download the Creation Moments app to access a library of great resources. We offer ebooks, curated broadcast tracks, and outreach materials completely free of charge. If you'd like to ask us a question or learn more about salvation through Jesus Christ, visit the contact us page on our website to send us a message.

We hope today's broadcast strengthened your faith in the literal truths of the Bible. I'm Jonathan Cotton. Be sure to join me next time for more Creation Moments, proclaiming evidence of God's truth.