Why We Believe in Creation not in Evolution

by Fred John Meldau

            A MILLION VOICES - From the Universe, the earth, the atom, from numberless specialized organs and odd creatures on land, in the air and in the sea, and from the body and mind of man - bear witness for God and Creation!

FORWARD

            READING THE MANUSCRIPT of this book was a pleasant chore, involving a surprise. It was soon apparent that here was a "must" book for this troubled, confused hour - a volume seemingly specifically "come to the kingdom for such an hour as this."

            This volume is of strategic importance to millions who seek sound knowledge, and evidence honestly interpreted. Evolution is given a head-on challenge, and should indeed be challenged ere millions of students and laymen accept the fraudulent speculation. The dangerously antichrist hypothesis should be most searchingly evaluated before it is accepted. It is being accepted by many as a basis for scientific socialism, secularism, atheism, communism, moral relativism, collectivism, materialism, scientific humanism, and related "isms." For evolution and naturalism to supplant supernaturalism and creative Omniscience will be at a bitter cost.

            Thinkers who would like to locate quickly, ammunition against what they feel is a totally untenable theory, will find this book a comprehensive, well-stocked arsenal. (And, incidentally, one strikingly free of such errors as are sometimes found in writings by superficial students of so profound and vast a subject).

            The widespread discovery of TRUTH in the area in which this book deals has a vital bearing on the number one problem of our century: What is man, and whence came he? And the even more important question, Is the Nazarene a "made-over ape" or is He the Son of God as He said - the Saviour of the world, God manifest in the flesh - the One who can lead us into God's kingdom of immortality?

            References to supernaturalism (to creationism or "creatology") now approach the state of being one hundred percent blacked out in our schools, while most science teachers and writers jet-whoosh ahead on all fronts with a teaching directly opposite to the teaching of Scripture. It is no more than fair - basically right - that "the other side" of so vital an issue also should be given to our young people!

            Do algae, amebas, worms, and so on up to apes and men "evolve higher" or do they not? Could it be true, as we sincerely believe, that each living thing stays in its kind - or dies? This book gives a convincing answer; and we may well believe that its position and material will be up-to-date for years to come. The reader will judge which "side" uses the best reason. Let us decide with truth - and so avoid possible treason before God!

Signed,

Leroy Victor Cleveland, Th.B., Ed.M., Ed.D., (Hon)

Secretary, USA Division, Evolution Protest Movement,

Canterbury, Conn.

INTRODUCTION

            The famous Rufus Choate once engaged in a legal battle with the more famous Daniel Webster. The case depended on whether or not two wagon wheels belonged to the same axle on the same wagon. Choate advanced a brilliant argument, based on the theory of the "fixation of points," that the wheels came from the same axle. He had the jury almost convinced. Then Daniel Webster took the stand. He asked that the wheels and the axle be brought forward. It was evident they did not come from the same axle, for they were not the same size. To the honest and sensible jury Mr. Webster simply said, "Look at those wheels, gentlemen, just look at them, and see for yourself that they did not, they could not, come from the same axle and wagon." That was all the argument he advanced. The fact was evident; and the jurymen were moved by the facts - and he won the case. If judged by the FACTS in the case, evolution hasn't a chance!

            Our American jury system is based on the premise that the average man or woman, though not himself an expert, can decide an issue when evidence is presented to him. We will report facts in this book, knowing that the average person can come to the right decision when facts are presented.

            Many professionals are easily fooled. Consider the case of the practical jokers in Paris who tied a brush to a donkey's tail and made him swish it on a canvas within reach. A clever and ambiguous title was given it - and the "picture" was duly accepted by an art committee for exhibition!

            For forty years the world of scientists was fooled by the so-called "Piltdown Man," "discovered" by Charles Dawson in the south of England and long called "Eoanthropus" (dawn man), and reputed to be from 100,000 to 500,000 years old! The Smithsonian Institution of Washington gives details of the deception in "The Great Piltdown Hoax."

            Careful "detective" work done by Dr. J. S. Weiner, and others, revealed that "the lower jaw and the canine tooth are actually those of a modern anthropoid ape, deliberately altered (filed down) so as to resemble fossil specimens." The faker had cunningly "fossilized" the jaw and teeth by staining them a mahogany color with an iron salt and bichromate!

            If "experts" and "scientists" can be fooled so easily by a faked surrealistic painting, or a fraudulent fossil, will they not do as badly in trying to interpret the whole history of creation from bones, fossils and unproven theories?

            Many of us prefer to believe the record of the divinely inspired Scriptures that assures us that "God created" the heavens and the earth, man, and all living things. All the evidence supports the Bible record; so we are intellectually compelled to stand on the Scriptural position.

Evolution or Creation

            Evolutionists and Creationists both realize that the theory of Evolution and the teaching that God created all things are mutually exclusive. Years ago Sir Arthur Keith said,

            "Evolution is unproved and unprovable. We believe it because the only alternative is special creation, and that is unthinkable." Others have voiced the same opinion.

            Huxley declared, "It is clear that the doctrine of evolution is directly antagonistic to that of Creation. . . . Evolution, if consistently accepted, makes it impossible to believe the Bible."

If Evolution Is True the Bible is False

If evolution is true, not only is the Bible mistaken in its teachings that GOD CREATED all things, but also the doctrines of the Bible rest on a foundation of sand and must collapse. H. G. Wells sums up the situation in these pointed words:

            "If all animals and man evolved. . . . then there were no first parents, no Eden, no Fall. And if there had been no Fall, then the entire historic fabric of Christianity - the story of the first sin and the reason for an atonement - collapsed like a house of cards." ("Outline of History")

            But if the Bible is true - and we are absolutely certain it is - then evolution is merely the vain imaginings of biased men, men determined they will not believe in a Supreme Being, but ready to believe any kind of theory that might be a possible substitute for the evident fact of creation.

Evolutionists Are Now Gloating

            With characteristic cocksureness, the authors (Linville, Kelly and Cleave) of the textbook "General Zoology," write, "All scientists at the present time agree that evolution is a fact."

            Julian Huxley (grandson of Thomas Huxley, famous naturalist), an English biologist, boasts in his new book, Religion Without Revelation, that God has nothing left to do - all belief in His intervention in nature or human history having been debunked. Huxley infers that since sin and forgiveness are no longer real, God, he declares, has been forced to abdicate, "evacuating section after section of His kingdom." Huxley's actual words are: "Operationally, God is beginning to resemble, not a Ruler, but the last fading smile of a cosmic Cheshire cat. *

            * A reference to the grinning cat in Dodgson's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," in which a grinning cat, in withdrawing from Alice's view, disappears so gradually that last of all to vanish is its grin.

            Huxley, and more recent advocates of the "God is Dead" nonsense, and all other unbelievers who seek to drive God out of His own universe, will pay dearly for their folly.

What Evolutionists Are Aiming For

            Thousands of American scientists are confirmed "scientific socialists," bent on bringing to eventual fruition their ideal of "scientific socialism." Communists know they do not have a chance to make America communist by means of a frontal attack on our ideology. But they also know they have a very good chance of bringing in communism through the back door of state socialism, and that is what they are trying to do. **

            **Khrushchev made a prediction sometime ago that "the U. S. will go socialistic." Many students of political trends think he is right. The only thing that can save America from such a national calamity is the presence of millions of BIBLE-BELIEVING CHRISTIANS in our good land, who believe God and believe His Word.

            Believing they have won the battle of the mind in intellectual circles, because so many have accepted the philosophy of evolution, evolutionists are looking forward to "the next step in the evolution of man," the introduction of "societal organism." In this book, "Evolution and Human Destiny," Fred Kohler says evolution is leading us on to a "scientific" world state.

            "The individual. . . . must always suffer death. For the species as a whole (the race). . . . it would appear probable that a new integration step will take place, leading to the formation of an entirely new organic entity - namely the societal organism." "This," he adds, "is proceeding at a surprisingly fast pace."

            Then he injects this horrifying thought: "The further evolution of human society would be greatly affected by the development of a reproductive system operating on a societal level. . . . An entirely different situation would prevail were it possible to sire future humanity from the best fraction of a percent of the human race" (pp. 107-109).

            So, many of the intellectual leaders of our nation are seeking to browbeat and brainwash "the common herd" into the acceptance of the theories of evolution, jelled into the political formula of state socialism. And they are willing to prostitute our "rugged individualism," rape the human mind, banish marriage, and force the public into a goose-step mentality that can be led into the totalitarian setup of their predicted "societal organism." This eventually will demolish the home and set up a materialistic state based on "scientific breeding" that will produce a loveless, godless, Christless race, each individual being a mere cog in the state machine and Huxley's "scientific humanism" will replace God and Christ.

            Could it be that the disciples of evolution, living in a Gospel-enlightened land, have closed their minds to the truth to the point where God has sent them strong delusion "that they should believe a lie" because "they received not the love of the truth, that they may be saved"? (see 2 Thess. 2:11, 10). One thing we know: tens of thousands of scientists and intellectuals in our country have turned from the Living God to faith in the preposterous theory of evolution.

On the other hand, scores of noted scientists have witnessed against evolution.

            Prof. Fleischman, modern zoologist of Erlangen after repudiating Darwinism, said, "The Darwinian theory of descent has not a single fact to confirm it in the realm of nature. It is not the result of scientific research, but purely the product of imagination."

            The late Sir William Dawson, Canada's great geologist, said of evolution, "It is one of the strangest phenomena of humanity; it is utterly destitute of proof."

            Such a great thinker as Dr. Robert A. Millikan, famous physicist and Nobel prize winner, said, "The pathetic thing is that we have scientists who are trying to prove evolution which no scientist can ever prove." (Dr. Millikan is an evolutionist; but he is honest enough to admit it is a theory that can NOT be proved).

Our Method of Presenting Proof

            We plan to prove in this book that (1) the evidence shows that nature - inorganic and organic: the world around us - must be the work of an Almighty, All-Wise Creator; and (2) "Evolution" is an utterly inadequate answer to the facts of nature. By disproving "evolution" we help to establish the fact of creation; by establishing the fact of the creative work of God, we disprove evolution. 

Acknowledgements and Dedication.

            In a work of this kind, touching on scores of highly specialized fields of science, the author has had to seek the advice, criticism and suggestions of biologists and other scientists. He wishes to acknowledge his special indebtedness to Prof. Leroy Victor Cleveland, Canterbury, Conn., and Willard L. Henning, Dep't of Biology, Bryan College, Dayton, Tenn. Others gave unstintingly of their time and resources of knowledge to assist in the preparation of this work. The author, however, must take full responsibility for the final form of all statements in the book.

Dedication

            We dedicate this book to two Christian business men - the late Lawrence Luce, Sr., of Fort Valley, Ga, and the late W.L. Hardin. Sr., of Atlanta. Ga. - whose financial assistance made possible its original publication.

CHAPTER 1.

THE CASE PRESENTED

            "Development" and normal "growth" are not evolution. "Evolution" is often used to include the development and progress in inventions and industry, in such phrases as "the evolution of the telephone" or "the evolution of the automobile." The proper word to express such thoughts is "development."

Evolution Defined

            Darwin defines organic evolution (p. 523, Origin of Species) as "the belief that all animals and plants are descended from some one . . . primordial form."

            Commenting on the views of Lamarck, Darwin approvingly said, "He upholds the doctrine that all species, including man, are descended from other species . . . all change in the organic world being the result of (natural) law and not of miraculous interposition."

            The LINE OF DESCENT from the lower to the higher forms of life is often given (with some variations) as follows: Protozoa - primitive metazoa - worms - fish - amphibians - reptiles - birds - mammals - man. Some recent Zoology textbooks (as Storer and Usinger) no longer refer to "a line of descent" but they speak of "specialized forms" that descended from some supposed ancestral lines (now non-existent) from which all present forms of animal life arose. This is a meaningless evasion - an alternate approach that solves no problems. But always, the transmutation from the lower form of life to the higher pre-supposes the gradual change by natural, resident forces, unaided by any external, supernatural intervention.*

            *Many today hold to a modified theory of evolution - "Theistic evolution." It is based on the assumption that the higher plants and animals developed from lower forms of life, and that this was God's way of creating all higher forms of life, including man. This we are convinced is not in accord with either the facts of nature or Scripture, hence must be rejected.

The Bible Teaching Set Forth

            The Bible clearly teaches that God created the heavens and the earth, and all forms of life on earth, including man. He created plants and animals in various "kinds" (families and genera) and gave each "kind" the power to reproduce, but only "after its kind."* (See Genesis 1:11, 12, 21, 25, 26-27).

            * The Hebrew word used in Genesis 1 for "create" is bara and infers Divine power. The Hebrew word for "kind" is min and obviously refers to a related group capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. It corresponds more to our word "genera" than "species" for some "species" according to recent classifications, do interbreed, with fertile offspring.

            The statement that life as created by God should "bring forth after its kind" does not preclude the bringing forth of a great variety of that kind. For example, we have the canine "kind" in which are the related dogs (of many varieties), foxes, wolves, and hyenas.

            Unfortunately, much confusion has resulted from the use of the word "evolution" to denote mere improvement of a species, or the development of new "varieties" within the species. Obviously, there are many "varieties" within each species - but to develop new varieties is definitely NOT evolution. Evolution teaches the change, or transmutation, via a generally slow, gradual process of mutation, of one genus into another, the lower into the higher. It does NOT refer merely to the "improvement" of a species. The controversy then is NOT over the "improvement" of a species by interbreeding, nor the development of different "varieties" within the species, but over the evolution of a NEW genus or "kind," the new developing from the old, the higher from the lower.

"Species" Defined

            Although there are some exceptions to the rule, the usual definition for "species" is that it is a population (a closely related group of animals or plants) which interbreed and produce fertile offspring." **

            ** See p. 4, "Evolution in the Genus Drosophila," Patterson and Stone; p. 120, "Systematics and the Origin of Species," Mayr; p.122, "Readings in Evolution, Genetics and Eugenics," Prof. H. H. Newman, University of Chicago Press.

            According to this definition of "species" given by many scientists, the fertility of the offspring is proof that the parents were of the same species. Without change of species there can be no evolution - and without fertility there can be no descendants! Populations of different "kinds" (using the Bible word) will NOT interbreed - hence there are no offspring; and sometimes there are offspring of distinctly related "species" in which the offspring, like the mule, are sterile. The Creator has so made life that it interbreeds only in closely related species or genera; and as soon as interbreeding is attempted between more distantly related species or genera, the offspring is sterile and an impassable roadblock is put up so that it becomes impossible for one genus to transmute into another!

            We now are ready to give a brief statement which is a key phrase that explains the operations and limitations of the divinely-given law of life, first revealed in Genesis 1. In nature we find endless variety within the species or genera; but absolutely NO CHANGE from one genus to another. Summed up, the laws governing all life prove there are:

"MUTATIONS" BUT NO "TRANSMUTATIONS" *

* Geneticists usually call this "macromutations."

by which we mean that there are many varieties within any group, but there can never be one "kind" of life (genus) mutating (changing) into another.

            We now call attention to three fundamentally important facts:

(1) Practically all species exist in great variety. (2) The generally recognized phyla (major groups) of life are static; there is no evidence whatever of change from one phylum to another by evolutionary processes. (3) Practically all so-called "proofs" of evolution offered by evolutionists are merely "mutants," variants, minor changes within the same species.

            Let us now examine evidence for these three facts:

            (1) Practically all Species exist in great variety. Variety is the law of the Creator. In trees, no two leaves are exactly alike; in humans, no two fingerprints are identical; not even two snowflakes, out of the trillions that have fallen, are alike.

            As we know, species are divided into sub-species, varieties, strains, races, breeds. In the dog species well over 100 distinct breeds of dogs are recognized - but who ever heard of a dog changing into another "kind" of animal? We see then many "horizontal" differences, but no "vertical" changes from one genus into another.

            In fact "all animals and plants mutate," so scientific breeders can produce cattle without horns, white turkeys, seedless grapefruit, and many other varieties seemingly superior to the original stock, but all within the limits of the original "kind." *

            *In nature too we find the development of "varieties," though the process is usually much slower than when man does it. Flies in this country have wings; but the only flies to be found on the storm-swept island of Kerguelen, in the southern Indian Ocean, creep around without wings, or little stubby vestiges of wings - but they are still flies. Scores of similar phenomena can be recounted - but such variants induced by environment always stay within the confines of their own "kind."

            We should note also that man has been able to hasten, in some instances, the process of breeding new varieties of animals and developing new varieties of plants by artificially producing mutants through the use of radiation, heat or chemicals. Mutations in barley and corn have been produced by X-raying seeds. But all such mutations remain in the same genus as the seeds that were treated. Mutations are almost always harmful.

            In every realm of life the story is the same. More than 20,000 new species of protozoa have been discovered with the aid of the compound optical microscope.

            There are "80,000 species of snails" - and they are all snails!

            Even in such obvious forms as the tiger, many variations occur in nature. It is large and long-haired in some sections; smaller and shorter-haired in India; and very small in Sumatra.

            In mankind we see the same phenomena: one species, Homo sapiens, with many races: and with no two individuals - not even identical twins - exactly alike! One writer points out there are usually '46 chromosomes in each adult cell, and these (not counting the variations possible through the interchange of the many genes in each chromosome) make possible 17 million combinations of human characteristics!"

            (2) There has never - there can never - be any change by evolutionary processes, from one "kind" (genus) to another.

In the countless billions of living organisms and dead fossils there has never been seen the slightest tendency to advance out of the confines of the original "kind" to which each organism belongs. On the contrary, there is found in every living creature the most stubborn determination not to evolve. This has been called "fixity of species" and is a commonly observed phenomenon. Here are a few of the many hundreds of competent scientists who bear witness to this fact.

Prof. Coultre, University of Chicago, said,

            "The most fundamental objection to the theory of natural selection is that it cannot originate characters; it only selects among characters already existing." *

            * This dictum is a truth of vast importance. "Natural selection" and "mutations" may slightly alter "characters" (organs; qualities) already existing, but they never introduce NEW "characters" - hence there are innumerable "mutations" and minor changes within the species, but there is no such thing as transformism from one genus to another.

            Sir William Bateson, F. R. S., British naturalist who died in 1925, said, "We cannot see how the differentiation into species came about. 'Variations' of many kinds, often considerable, we witness, but no origin of species."

            Georges Cuvier (1769-1832), French "dictator of biology" in Napoleonic times, firmly maintained the doctrine of the fixity of species. Since his death, no facts have been discovered that in any wise militate against the fundamental principle he stood for. Incidentally, France, to this day, has NOT accepted the theory of evolution with the zest this country has.

            In recent times, Dr. Austin H. Clark, F. R. G. S., said: "The greatest groups of animals in life do not merge into another. They are and have been fixed from the beginning. . . . No animals are known even from the earliest rocks, which cannot at once be assigned to their proper phylum or major group. . . . A backboned animal is always unmistakably a backboned animal, a star-fish is always a star-fish, and an insect is always an insect, no matter whether we find it as a fossil or catch it alive at the present day. . . . If we are willing to accept the facts, we must believe that there were never such intermediates, . . . that these major groups, from the very first, bore the same relation to each other that they do at the present."

            At a later date, when Dr. Clark (recognized as one of the world's greatest biologists) was biologist of the United States National Museum, he stated bluntly that Darwin, Lamarck and all their followers were wrong "on almost all vital points." "So far as concerns the major groups of animals, the creationists seem to have the better of the argument. There is not the slightest evidence that any of the major groups, arose from any other. Each is a special animal-complex. . . .Appearing as a distinct creation."

            Richard Goldschmidt, Ph.D., erstwhile Professor of Zoology, University of California, says, "Geographic variation as a model of species formation" will not stand under thorough scientific investigation. "Darwin's theory of natural selection has never had any proof. . . .yet it has been universally accepted" (p. 211). "There may be wide diversification within the species. . . . but the gaps (between species) cannot be bridged. . . . Subspecies do not merge into the species either actually or ideally" (see pp. 138, 183, The Material Basis of Evolution; Yale University Press, 1940). He says, further, "Nowhere have the limits of (any) species been transgressed, and these limits are separated from the limits of the next good species by the unbridged gap, which also includes sterility" (p. 168, Ibid).

            Prof. T. H. Morgan said, "Within the period of human history we do not know of a single instance of the transformation of one species into another." (p. 43. "Evolution and Adaptation;" McMillan, 1903).

            Yves Delage, renowned biologist, said, "If one takes his stand on the exclusive ground of facts. . . . the formation of one species from another has not been demonstrated at all."

            Darwin himself confessed, "Not one change of species into another is on record." "We cannot prove that a single species has been changed (into another)." (Vol. 1, p. 210; "My Life and Letters."

            Without "transmutation" the theory of evolution is as devoid of proof as any other fairy tale.

            (3) Practically all so-called "proofs" of "transmutation" (macromutations) offered by evolutionists are merely mutants, variants, minor changes within the sample species.

            We have before us a half dozen articles in recent magazines that seek to offer "proof" of evolution; every one of them merely cites mutations made within the species. All such mutations are as commonplace as varieties of chickens and as meaningless. We quote from a few of them:

            In the May, 1957 "Scientific American" is "A Study in the Evolution of Birds" by H. N. Southern. He calls attention to the fact that some guillemots have heads that are all black, and others, having white rings around their eyes, are called "bridled." He takes several pages to describe this phenomenon: "The frequency of the bridled character varied consistently with the latitude: at the southern end of the range, in Portugal, not a single speckled (bridled) guillemot was seen, but northward the proportion of bridled birds increased fairly regularly until it reached more than 50% in Iceland. . . . It was obvious that in some way the bridled trait, or something associated with it, conferred a considerable advantage in the northern part of the range" (p. 130).

            We all know that "variations" in birds are as commonplace as the different breeds of pigeons.

            In another article in the "Scientific American" on "Evolution Observed," by Francis J. Ryan, he states that though "almost nowhere in nature can we see evolution in action . . . we are now beginning to realize that objective in the laboratory. . . . With bacteria as subjects we have actually been able to observe evolution in progress." *

            * He explains that though a human generation is 20 years, for bacteria a generation is only 20 minutes, so in two years bacteria can grow through "more generations than man has in a million years."

            After admitting that "although bacteria will mutate, they are really remarkably stable," he said that they "obtained successively fitter and fitter types through 7,000 generations." They developed strains resistant to penicillin when the environment contained penicillin and strains resistant to streptomycin when the environment contained streptomycin! Every doctor in the land knows that bacteria soon become penicillin resistant, when penicillin is used repeatedly, but they still remain the same genus of bacteria as they were before!

            Actually, all they demonstrated is the well-known fact that bacteria as well as other forms of plant life will mutate under different environments. But after their experiments these scientists still had BACTERIA! Such mutations, produced in bacteria, whether by man, or by nature, are no more proof of evolution than to assume that because one can breed yellow dogs and black dogs he can from them eventually breed tigers.

            Darwin himself was deceived by a similar phenomenon: variations in 14 species of finches, and other animals, on the Galapagos Islands. "He reached the conclusion that since variation in individual characteristics existed among the members of any species, selection of some individuals and elimination of others must be the key to organic change." (See "Charles Darwin," Scientific American; also "Darwin's Finches," Scientific American). Since Darwin's time it has been abundantly proven that mutations and variants are confined to their "kind" and do NOT lead to transmutation.

            A few years ago Life magazine had a series of articles on "Evolution." They too sought to demonstrate "evolution" by examples of what they termed "evolution through isolation" and "evolution through adaptation," which were nothing more than natural mutations. They gave the example of "five species of birds of Paradise" found in different locations in New Guinea. These five species had minor variations of color - but all were birds of Paradise! In seeking to prove "evolution through adaptation" they gave as an illustration the gray and brown lizards that live in the White Sands Desert. They were different colors - but both were still lizards. Let us remember that the law of life is: MUTATIONS (varieties in the species), but no transmutation from one "kind" (genus) to another - hence, there is no evolution!

            The evidence proves the Bible teaching to be correct: though there are many varieties in each species yet each genus persists in breeding "after its kind," stubbornly refusing to do otherwise.

            Both "natural selection," and "chance mutation" have been ruled out as possible explanations of the so-called "evolutionary process." Charles H. Hapgood presents these facts:

            "It is still widely supposed that the principle of NATURAL SELECTION explains the origin of new forms of life. The truth is, on the contrary, that the impossibility of explaining evolution through natural selection, without the assistance of some other factor, became obvious to geneticists about the year 1900. Statistical studies by J. B. S. Haldane and others showed that the amount of time that would be required for new traits to become established in a series by natural selection alone was so immense that even whole geological periods would not suffice to produce new species. As a way out of the difficulty it was suggested that mutations might account for more rapid changes in life forms. It soon became evident, however, that the very great majority of all mutations, since they are random, must be harmful and will be eliminated, in due course, by the process of natural selection itself. The net result of mutations, therefore, must be to SLOW DOWN, rather than to accelerate, the process of evolution. The time element is by no means the only problem left unsolved by evolutionary theory. . . . " (The Earth's Shifting Crust, by Charles H. Hapgood, Saturday Evening Post, 1-10-'59).

            So modern science has eliminated both Charles Darwin's theory of evolutionary changes through "natural selection," and the more recent theory of comparatively rapid evolutionary advances through "mutations."

SURVIVAL OF THE UNFIT

            John R. Howitt, M. D., London, England says: "I would like to point out that the theory of Evolution is accepted by faith alone, for three-quarters of the record is missing and the gaps in the remaining portion are unbridgeable. The modern concept of Neo-Darwinism is based upon the occurrence of mutations plus natural selection. But as mutations are almost invariably inferior to the original stock this would constitute the Survival of the Unfit, whether in the usual habitat of the species or in an unusual one. And selection could only select, and never initiate any new characteristics. Neo-Darwinism illustrated the almost unbelievable extent to which scientists have been forced to retire in order to maintain the hopeless, materialistic theory of Evolution. As Arthur N. Field has pointed out, evolution is based 'upon belief in the reality of the unseen: belief in the fossils that cannot be produced, belief in the embryological evidence that does not exist, belief in the breeding experiments that refuse to come off.' " (Quoted in, Karl Marx as an Evolutionist).

Chapter 2

STRANGE CREATURES

That Witness Against Evolution

            THIS IS A STRANGE WORLD, with many creatures in it that seem to come out of some unreal, imaginary land; in fact, some are so incredible that one would not accept them as real did he not know they exist. It reminds one of the man who, seeing an elephant for the first time, said, "Why, there ain't no such animal!"

            These strange creatures, who live on land and in the sea, are a most powerful witness for the Creator. Let us call up some of these "witnesses" and hear their intriguing story.

            (1) The Portuguese "Man-of-war" (Physalis). We quote from a recent magazine article.

            "The ruthless Physalia employs a lethal combination of ingenius tackle, murderous chemical warfare and a remarkable working partnership with a small fish, the Nomeus.

            "The deadly sequence starts as this innocent-looking little Nomeus swims about, apparently aimlessly, in the vicinity of the man-of-war. A bigger fish, seeing this tempting and seemingly defenseless morsel, makes a grab for it. The Nomeus darts away with an unexpected burst of speed, straight toward a tangle of seaweed-like tentacles that hang down from the man-of-war. The larger fish plunges recklessly after it, into these harmless-looking streamers. In a fraction of a second he is paralyzed and the fiendish tentacles are drawing him in to be consumed by the hungry man-of-war.

            "What happened to him as he plunged into the streamers is a process that astounds and mystifies scientists who consider it one of nature's deadliest mechanisms. The tentacles are studded with tiny pear-shaped capsules. Sheathed in each capsule is a compressed hair. The instant any creature touches one of the capsules, this hair shoots out like a harpoon, its sharp point penetrating the body of the victim. Through the hair flows a powerful acid which has the power to paralyze the creature into which it is thus injected. . . . So great is the force of the driven threads that they can easily puncture human skin. When they do, the victim may be doubled up in violent spasms and enter a state of shock.

            "But why do these deadly hairs, which respond so instantly and savagely to the slightest touch by other creatures, let Nomeus go unscathed? Actually, the Nomeus can be harmed by the Physalia's sting. . . . But the Nomeus seems to be especially adapted for dogging the tentacles of the Physalia.

            "When the man-of-war captures and eats a fish which the Nomeus has lured into his trap, the little decoy fish gets the scraps from the man-of-war's meal." (Coronet). *

            * In the March, 1960 "Scientific American" is an article by Charles E. Lane on "The Portuguese Man-Of-War," giving these and other facts about this "Colorful jellyfish . . .whose stinging cells on the tentacles with which it fishes secrete a substance that is almost as toxic as Cobra venom."

            Such highly technical equipment that is so involved, can not be duplicated by man, and such an ingenious stratagem of luring other fish to kill them for food could NOT be developed by mere chance. It is the work of a Master Mind who apparently delights to create numberless, insoluble mysteries in nature and distribute strange abilities to equally strange creatures - all the work of His Mind and Hand.

            (2) Sea Cucumbers. Sea cucumbers are fleshly "echinoderms" that creep about on ocean floors. They have odd rows of "tube feet" by which they attach themselves to rocks.

            Two most unusual means of self preservation granted to these humble creatures by the Creator are given here (reproduced from a scientific article).

            "When attacked, some sea cucumbers throw out their viscera, leaving them for the enemy, meanwhile escaping and regenerating a new set. Others throw out slime threads which entangle the enemy. The animals creep about on the ocean floor by muscular movements of the body wall. The tube feet are little used. The animals swallow sand or mud and digest the organic material. . . . They are used in making a soup."

            Not evolution, but God gifted the lowly sea cucumber with the ability to disgorge its insides - and then manufacture new ones at its leisure.

            We would like to know, if evolution made this startling feat possible for the sea cucumber, why do not all other animals in the same category, and higher, have the same ability? Obviously, such miracles in nature are the work of a Supreme intelligent Creator.

            (3) The Case of the Moving Left Eye

            There are so many marvels in sea life that we will have to give a separate chapter to "Fish Wonders." However, we want now to tell of the miracle of the "moving eye." Let us take the "plaice" as an example - though any flat fish will do. We refer to the Pleuronectidae, i.e., fishes that swim on their sides.

            "On emerging from the egg the young plaice, almost microscopic and quite transparent except for its black pinpoint of eyes, is an ordinary round fish with eyes in the position of those of other round fishes, swimming around like a round fish. But after a month a strange thing happens; the left eye begins to move. Meanwhile, the body slowly flattens sideways and the baby fish, a surface swimmer so far, begins to sink slowly towards the bottom. The left eye is still gradually moving, and by six weeks has reached the top of the head. A week later it has gone right around and has almost reached the right eye. By now the young plaice has sunk to the bottom and is lying on what was its left side, but which from now on will be its underpart - the white side - and the two eyes are close together on what is now the top of the head" (The Living Sea, pp. 153, 154).

            With plaice, soles, dabs, flounders and halibuts it is always the left side that goes down and the left eye that moves; these are called "dextral fishes." But with other species (like the turbot and brill), called "sinistral fishes," the reverse flattening process takes place, and in these fishes it is the right eye that travels toward the left eye and away from the right side on which they lie.

            No one knows WHY, but it is always the same eye in the same genus that does the travelling.

            Moreover, many of these fish possess "homochromic mimicry" - the ability to change their color to suit their surroundings, as a protective measure - to an amazing degree.

            They become the same color as their surroundings; and if the color of their surroundings is changed, the fish soon takes on that new color!

            Evolution has no adequate explanation of this phenomenon. The truth is, this is one of those many cases in nature in which the new-born of the species has an entirely different environment from the adult form, and so God performed a miracle when He made these fish so that they could live both as round fish in infancy, near the surface, and as flat fish, in adult life, at the bottom of the sea. Common sense tells us, the only answer to such an unusual arrangement in nature is, God made it so.

             Actually, there are myriads of STRANGE PLANTS and ANIMALS having characteristics that to the superficial observer seem to be "without rhyme or reason," that can not be accounted for by blind evolution, but show the handiwork of an intelligent Designer and Creator. We mention a few more of the innumerable oddities:

            The "RAILROAD WORM" of South America has a red light on it's head and 11 pairs of greenish yellow lights on its sides, which make it look like a train. WHY this strange arrangement? The only possible answer is, God made it so!

            The CHINA-MARK MOTH, exquisitely decorated, spends its entire caterpillar stage under water. This is so drastically contrary to usual experience that there can be no possible "evolutionary chain" leading up to it or departing therefrom. WHY does this creature have this strange life cycle? No one knows; but the answer is, God made it so!

            An ALGERIAN LOCUST is able to use its own blood as a weapon. It can shoot, like an accomplished Texas gunman, literally "from the hip." There is a pore between the first and second joints at the base of the leg. This pore can be opened when danger threatens, and a blistering stream of locust blood ejected to a distance of 20 inches! Why do other locusts not have this strange power - if evolution did the job? Obviously, the creature was designed, made that way.

            Not to be outdone, the BOMBARDIER BEETLE * squirts from its hind end a reddish acid fluid which explodes with a pop. As the 'shot' comes into contact with the air it dissolves into a cloud of bluish smoke which, hovering like a gas barrage, covers the beetle's retreat. The gas has irritant properties and generally succeeds in putting the enemy to "flight" (Nature Parade, p. 122). This is ingenuity so involved, using knowledge of engineering and chemistry so advanced, that man can not duplicate this miracle! It demands creation.

* There is another article on "The Bombardier Beetle" by Dr. Kofahi later in the book.

            There is a species of BLIND TERMITES that shoot to kill. They have a bi-lobed gland on the head which contains a fluid that solidifies on being exposed to the air. Although this termite is blind, it possesses a mysterious sense of direction which enables it to fire its lethal syringe as accurately as if it could see. "This termite discharges his 'jet' right in the face of an invading ant - and the ants that receive the fatal douche run about as if demented, . . . and they usually die" (Sir J. Arthur Thompson). Certainly such uncanny ability can not be attributed to mere chance.

Let us give credit to whom credit is due: God designed and created all life in nature!

Chapter 3.

OUR PLANET:

A Witness to Creative Design

            "The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth" (Proverbs 3:19)

            "The earth was fitted for man, and man was fitted for the earth." This is so evident, when one considers the facts, as to be axiomatic. The question arises, could a world that shows such marvelous evidence of design "just happen" - or does the fact of "design for an intended purpose" prove Divine creation? We say unhesitatingly, "it would be easier for a blind monkey in a dark room to pick up individual letters from a jumbled mass of type" and assemble Shakespeare's "Hamlet" than for the innumerable miracles in creation just to happen.

            If one footprint on the sand convinced Robinson Crusoe that a person was on his island, then by the same logic we know that a Creator made the world, because He left, as it were, the countless footprints of His activities.

            When Moses wrote the Pentateuch, the Hindus held this view about the earth in relationship to the Universe: "the earth is borne by four elephants standing on a tortoise's back" (quoted from Flammarion's Astronomical Myths). How different from such childish nonsense is the declaration of Scripture:

            "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth" (Genesis 1:1). The same Bible tells us in simple, non-technical language, that "He (God) . . . . hangeth the earth upon nothing" (Job 26:7). We all know this is exactly the truth!

            How can one explain the simple yet profound teachings of Moses and Job, save on the ground that they spoke "by inspiration of God?"

            Scientists have advanced many theories about the origin of the earth - and not one of them is accepted as a logical explanation today! Against every theory advanced by man, some scientist has advanced facts to prove that theory wrong. So, they conclude, "We must honestly admit that we do not know how the earth and the other planets came into being." For example, the two best known theories of the origin of our solar system are: (1) Immanuel Kant's and Laplace's Nebular Hypothesis, and (2) The Planetesimal Theory, advanced by Buffon, Sir James Jeans and others. Scientists say concerning the first of these theories,

            "We now know that a rotating mass of nebulous gas would not throw off rings" (Popular Science). "Since the days of Laplace, we have found out that if a ring of gas were thrown off from a spinning nebula, it would break up into many small pieces and these would never come together and join into making a planet - as the Nebular Hypothesis teaches. If the planets had been born that way, then the sun would be the fastest spinning object in the whole solar system. Actually, it is the slowest" (Adapted from E. V. McLoughlin).

Concerning the second theory, the same authority says,

            "Unfortunately, astronomers and physicists have had to discard this Planetesimal Theory (that ages ago a large star came near our son and pulled off from the sun 'tidal waves of hot gases' that followed the whirling motions of the sun and became the planets. The second star later went off at a tangent, leaving our sun with its planets). First of all, we find it impossible to explain by the Planetesimal Theory how the planets got so far away from the sun. They would all be much closer to the sun than the earth is, if the theory were true. But there is a more serious difficulty: We cannot figure out how those 'tidal waves' of hot gases ever could have liquefied and later become solid rock. These original gases would have been so hot they would almost immediately have run off into space, and would never have had a chance to turn into drops of liquid or solid rock." (Adapted from the Book of Knowledge. See Vol. 1, pp. 133-136).

The Strange Phenomena of "Phoebe" and the Rings of Saturn

            To remind the reader of the many difficulties involved creating an acceptable theory as to the origin of the earth, we call attention to the "Rings" of Saturn and to Saturn's moon "Phoebe."

            One of the most spectacular sights in the heavens is Saturn and its three broad, flat "rings," as seen through a large telescope. These "rings" are not flaming and fiery, as was formerly supposed, but it has been discovered with the aid of the spectroscope that they are composed of "countless millions of tiny cold, dark bodies," tiny moonlets if you please, each shining by the reflected light of the sun.

            Saturn has nine moons. Phoebe (8,000,000 miles from Saturn, and almost a billion miles from the sun), most remote of the nine, revolves around Saturn in retrograde motion, in the opposite direction to that of the other eight. *

            * All of the five moons of Uranus revolve around their planet with retrograde motion. Neptune has two moons, one of which is retrograde in motion. Strangest of all: Jupiter has twelve moons, and FOUR OF THEM (those numbered 8, 9, 11 and 12) TRAVEL BACKWARD, or with retrograde motion, in their orbits, contrary to the usual direction of rotation and revolution of the planets and their moons. Why eight of Jupiter's moons should revolve one way and four in the opposite direction is "one of the unsolved mysteries of astronomy."

            Who but a versatile and Almighty and Sovereign Creator could make a system like our solar system that works perfectly despite the fact that part of its "machinery" is apparently going the wrong direction?

            Here is another question that theorists find hard to answer: Why has not Saturn drawn these trillions of tiny pieces of matter to its surface? In three tiers the rings surround Saturn with a tiara of glory - but WHY they are there and how they got there, no man on earth knows. And they are there despite the fact that some theorists say they shouldn't be there! And they most certainly would NOT be there if the Nebular Hypothesis or the Planetesimal Theory were correct.

Is There Life on the Other Planets?

            All of the planets, except Mars, are immediately ruled out as possibilities because they are either too far away - hence too cold - or too close to the sun - hence too hot. Then too, they are either too small or too large, and so have either too little or no atmosphere, or have a poisonous atmosphere of the heavier gases.

            Some believe that life on Mars, however, is a distinct possibility. But note these facts: Mars is 142,000,000 miles from the sun. Astronomers took a close-up look at Mars in 1954, when it approached to within 63,000,000 miles of our earth. They were convinced no human life exists there. Dr. Gerard P. Kuiper, director of McDonald Observatory (Mt. Locke Texas), said:

            "Human life on Mars is entirely out of the question because of the severe night temperature and because there is not enough oxygen in the air." Editor's note: The amount of oxygen on Mars is infinitesimally small - only about one-fourth of one per cent per unit of volume as is in the air on our earth.

            "The temperature on Mars ranges from a little above freezing at the equator during the day to about -90 degrees F. at night. Hence there is no liquid water on Mars; hence, no oceans or lakes."

            Dean B. McLaughlin, University of Michigan astronomy professor, says "the dark markings on Mars' red surface are drifts of volcanic ash, and not vegetation," as has been long conjectured by many. He says this volcanic ash "in the dry, oxygen-poor atmosphere of Mars, is green rather than brown as on earth." *

            * The facts about Mars are so well established, the question is no longer subject to controversy. Patrick Moore, in his book, A Guide to the Planets, says, "The earth is unique because it is the only world in the solar system upon which we could survive."

            The Bible says, "God created the heaven and the EARTH." As we have seen, the earth is unique in our solar system - and as far as we know from science, it is unique in the entire universe. This can be accounted for on no other ground than that it was CREATED by an Intelligent, all-powerful God. And it was created for a specific purpose: that it might be a suitable dwelling place for mankind.

"Extraordinary Combinations" on Earth

            When one considers "the extraordinary combinations of important characteristics that made the earth exactly what it is," one marvels at the ingenuity and the carefulness of the Architect.

            The MASS and SIZE of the earth are just right. If the earth were 9,500 miles in diameter instead of the 8,000 that it is, it would double the weight of the air. With twice as much oxygen, the amount of water would be greatly increased; so much so that the entire surface would be covered with an ocean.

            If the earth were much lighter than it is, its gravatational pull would be less, so that it would not be able to hold as much air as we now have. The lighter gases would escape first and heavier gases, like carbon dioxide, would remain, so the combination of gases in the air would be affected as well as its volume and density - and life as we know it would no longer be possible on earth. Conditions on earth would approximate those on the moon.

            Dr. Wallace estimated that if the mass of our earth were only one-fourth less then it is (i.e. if its diameter were 7,200 miles instead of 8,000), almost the whole earth, due to a lessening of its atmospheric mantle, would be reduced to "a snow and ice-clad waste." As a matter of fact, Dr. Wallace more than half a century ago concluded "there is evidence of design" in the size of our earth. He proved that if there were a variation of only 10 per cent, either in the increase or decrease of the size of our world, no life on earth would be possible!

            The earth is just THE RIGHT DISTANCE from the sun, relative to the amount of heat and light the sun pours into space. If the earth were much closer, it would be too hot; If it were much farther away, it would be too cold.

            Dr. William J. Humphreys, formerly with the United States weather bureau told the American Meteorological Society that if the average temperature of the earth were raised but two or three degrees "you could bid goodbye to all the big cities of the earth," for the glaciers would melt and that in turn would raise the mean level of the oceans 150 feet. This would also inundate thousands of square miles of our most fertile lands.

            If the average mean annual temperature were only a few degrees colder, vast amounts of moisture would be put in cold storage in the arctic regions, so robbing the oceans of much of their water. The result would be greatly increased desert areas of the world.

The Earth's Tilt and Rotation Are Just Right

            The earth's axis, which now points toward the North Star, is tilted just right - at the strange angle of 23 degrees from the perpendicular, that is, in relation to the plane of its orbit. Because of this tilt the sun appears to go north in the summer and south in the winter, giving us four seasons in the temperate zone. For the same reason, there is "twice as much of the land area of the earth that can be cultivated and inhabited as there would be if the sun were always over the equator, with no change of seasons." Think what would happen if the earth were tilted any other way than it is.

            If the earth had been tilted as much as 45 degrees instead of what it is, temperate zones would have torrid zone heat in the summer and frigid zone cold in the winter. On the other hand, if the axis of the earth were vertical to the plane of its orbit, January and July would have the same climate and ice would accumulate until much of the continents would be ice-covered six months and flooded the other six months. If the axis of the earth were horizontal to the plane of its orbit there would result "a crazy jumble of fierce heat and deadly cold," with prolonged nights on half the earth and prolonged days on the other.

            The earth ROTATES at just the right speed, making a complete revolution every twenty-four hours in its trip around the sun. The result is, the earth's crust is evenly heated like a chicken on a turning spit. Were our day a year long, as it is on Mercury, * there would be scorching heat on one side, and bitter cold on the other.

            * Mercury's period of rotation on its axis is about the same as its period of revolution around the sun, eighty-eight days, making the day the same length as the year! Consequently, the same side of Mercury is always turned toward the sun. That side is extremely hot, with a calculated temperature of about 770 degrees F. The side which is always turned away from the sun is forever dark and cold, with a temperature approaching absolute zero. If SUCH a condition prevailed on earth, there could of course be no life on this planet.

            If our day of 24 hours were longer or shorter, all present balanced adjustments would be upset, and life on earth would become intolerable, if not utterly impossible,

            The speed of rotation of the earth and its inclination on its axis of 23 degrees do NOT come under any law of the universe - they are just made that way, because it was best for God's intended purpose for the earth. The other planets and satellites do not have the same speed, nor do any of them have the same inclination as the earth.

The Sun in Relation to the Earth

            The SUN, 93,000,000 miles away, is a MIRACLE of the first magnitude. It is exactly the right distance from us to do as God intended for it to do; provide us with light, heat, power, and many other blessings. It is the power of the sun that lifts the water from the oceans in the form of vapor, and so makes possible the rainfall over the continents. It is the power and heat of the sun that drives the winds of the world that in turn carry the rain clouds over the lands. It is the mysterious power of photosynthesis - a process not fully understood to this day - that enables plants to manufacture organic food from carbon dioxide, water, mineral slats and SUNSHINE. Animals live on this organic food, manufactured by the plants.

            Herschel told us what would happen if the sun were suddenly extinguished.

            "In three days from the extinction of the sun there would, in all probability, not be a vestige of animal or vegetable life on the globe. . . . The first forty-eight hours would suffice to precipitate every atom of moisture from the air in deluges of rain and piles of snow, and from that moment would set in a universal frost such as Siberia or the highest peak of the Himalayas never felt - a temperature of between two and three hundred degrees below zero."

The mystery of the sun's unfailing stability. Despite the fact that the sun gives forth such vast amounts of power, of which we on earth get but a comparatively infinitesmal amount, the sun does NOT burn out or lessen or change its output. Who feeds the sun? What mysterious power keeps it going? The recent explanation is, "nuclear transmutation," but even nuclear fission or nuclear fusion, or a combination of both, consume POWER, and matter - and so the sun should run down. Fred Hoyle in his book "The Nature of the Universe" discusses this problem. He says,

            "But is nuclear transmutation taking place in the Sun nevertheless? . . . Energy generation must indeed be taking place inside the Sun, and at such a rate as to compensate for what is being radiated into surrounding space. . . . How then can the astrophysicist explain why the Sun does not collapse and why it has remained pretty much its present size, as the geologists have shown, over at least the last 5000,000,000 years?" (pp. 37, 34).

            Hoyle suggests (following Eddington) that the sun keeps its same approximate size and a uniform temperature by "nuclear transmutation," despite the fact it is slowly running down - a sort of self-balancing system that keeps the heat and light and power radiating from the sun at a more or less uniform level. He suggests that in a long time - possibly ten billion years - the sun will burn itself out and explode.

            This is extremely interesting. It confronts us with this marvelous fact: the Sun IS a self-regulating furnace that consumes unbelievable amounts of ENERGY - and yet it stays stable year in and year out. It is like the burning bush that was not consumed that attracted Moses. It is both mystifying and marvelous.

            The Christian finds his answer to this problem in the Bible. God created all things in, by and through Christ. It is Christ who sustains the Sun! *

            * This answer will not, of course, satisfy the scientist who leaves God out and accepts only a natural explanation for the facts of a physical universe. We have no controversy with honest researchers who seek to discover the physical laws and reasons behind all natural phenomena; nevertheless, the universe is so full of MYSTERIES and unsolved problems that through sheer force of FACTS we are driven to the conclusion that a Supreme Being, whom the Bible reveals, not only created the Universe, but also keeps it going. True faith is not inconsistent with the facts of science. On the other hand, the sheer logic of FACTS forces us to acknowledge the Creator.

            "Who (i.e. Christ) is the image of the invisible God. . . . For by Him were all things created. . . . all things were created by Him and for Him: and He is before all things, and by Him ALL THINGS CONSIST (are held together)" (Colossians 1:15-17).

More Intricate Analysis of the Sun's Rays

            The sun's rays are MIRACLES that science seeks to explain. When we ask what light is, we face a problem that has baffled the wisest, most learned scientists for generations - and still does. The ancient Greeks thought that light consisted of minute particles radiating from the sun. The physicists of fifty years ago theorized that light was "a series of waves in an all-pervasive material called ether." Today, the "electro-magnetic theory" is advocated, and light is regarded as "waves, or bunches of particles." So the current theory combines "particles" and "waves." "Photons (the energy released when an electron jumps from one orbit into another) get together in bunches and form 'electro-magnetic waves,' which are light." (Article in "Science Illustrated," on "What is Light?"). Understand the theory? Don't worry; no one else does either. That light from the sun could travel 93,000,000 miles at 186,280 miles per second, and reach us in a perfect state, as true light, is a miracle that none less than an infinite Creator can achieve!

            But light is but one of many MYSTERIOUS FORCES coming from the sun! In recent years the theory that light, heat and radio waves are all "electromagnetic radiations" has won acceptance. We know that there are also other kinds of "electromagnetic radiations."

            "The sum total of these radiations forms what is called a complete electromagnetic spectrum. Arranged in the order of increasing wave lengths, the radiations in this spectrum include gamma rays, X-rays, ultra-violet rays, visible light (from violet to red), infrared (heat) rays and radio waves. They all have the velocity of light - 186,280 miles per second; they differ only in wave length, and accordingly, in frequency."

            Another authority says, "Ether wave vibrations of a frequency of 3,000 billion to 800,000 billion per second cause us to experience the sensation of radiant heat. Vibrations ranging from 400,000 billion to 800,000 billion per second, falling on our retina, cause us to experience light and color. Certain electric waves below 3,000 billion vibrations per second are not sensed, nor are the ultraviolet and X-rays, which are caused by the inconceivably rapid vibrations in ether, amounting to 800,000 billion to 6,000,000 billion per second!"

            Confirmation of the "electromagnetic radiations" theory has come in the last few years.

            "Between us and the sun there is a daily traffic of radiation as familiar and predictable as tomorrow's sunrise. Less familiar, and much harder to explain, is the fact that across that vast distance the sun bombards us not only with light and heat, but also with streams of electrified particles of its own substance. Although we cannot see or feel them, they have astonishing effects upon the atmosphere of the earth." (Condensed from "Corpuscles from the Sun," by Walter Orr Roberts, Scientific American).

            To try to explain SUCH UNBELIEVABLE PHENOMENA as coming to pass as the result of "fortuitous circumstances" or "mere chance" is the height of absurdity; such wonders are the work of a supreme Creator.

            Because of these "electromagnetic waves" coming from the sun, we not only have Light, and Heat, and Power, but all the modern miracles of radio, television, radar, X-ray, and a hundred other achievements of modern science that have revolutionized our lives since the turn of the century.

The Moon and the Tides Are Just Right

            If the moon were half as far away, or twice its present diameter, great tides would wreck most of our harbors, periodically submerge low-laying islands and coastal plains, and drive inland a hundred miles on some rivers. If the moon were smaller and farther away, it would not have sufficient pull on our tides to cleanse our harbours or adequately rejuvenate (with oxygen) the waters of our oceans.

            Obviously, Divine wisdom is shown in the creation of the Moon as a servant of the earth.

            Those who visit our seashores are fascinated by the rhythmic pounding of the breakers against the rocky coast and the resulting splash and spray with each incoming breaker. This rhythmic "breathing" - for such it truly is - is very important to the life of the sea. All animal life in the oceans must have oxygen. The breakers, activated in part by the pull of the tides, aerate the water, giving it a new supply of oxygen.

            Both the sun and the moon affect the tides. As a matter of fact, both the sun and the moon create "tides" in the atmosphere as well as in the oceans! And this ebb and flow of gravitational pull helps circulate the air in our atmosphere.

            "Far over our heads daily moon tides heave and billow on the bosom of our ocean of air" (Sydney Chapman, in "Tides in the Atmosphere," Scientific American).

The Miracle of Our Atmosphere

            To make the world habitable for man, it needs (1) a regular and sufficient supply of light and heat (which we get from the sun); (2) an abundant and general distribution of water; (3) an atmosphere of proper density and composition.

            We have exactly the right kind of atmosphere - and the fact that we do have it is a MIRACLE! Our atmosphere is made up largely of nitrogen (78%) and oxygen (21%). In addition, our atmosphere contains an essential amount of argon, carbon dioxide and water vapor, beside traces of these gases: neon, helium, methane, krypton, xenon, hydrogen, ozone and a few others. Now here is the miracle:

            "The signal fact is," says Helmut E. Landsberg, writing in the August, 1953, Scientific American, "that the rare gases are present in our atmosphere in only small amounts, MUCH SMALLER THAN THOSE KNOWN ELSEWHERE IN THE UNIVERSE. At the same time, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide and water vapor are present on earth IN MUCH GREATER ABUNDANCE than elsewhere." Mr. Landsberg reminds us of the source of his information. "The relative distribution of the elements in the universe has been determined by spectroscopic analysis of solar and stellar matter and by chemical analysis of meteorites" (p. 83).

            If the ingredients of our atmosphere followed the proportions prevalent in the Universe life on earth would be impossible. It is clear, Divine Intelligence designed our atmosphere and Divine power executed the plan.

The Miracle of Self-Adjustment

            Mr. Landsberg further states,

            "During the past billion years this atmosphere has probably been essentially in a state of equilibrium. Production and consumption of the various gases balance. The major producer in the process is the volcanoes; the big flywheels are plants and the oceans" (Ibid).

            The omniscient God, knowing what conditions would prevail on the earth when man entered the industrial era, created the world so that its atmosphere would be self-regulating. Here is one problem and its solution:

            Although 180 billion tons of carbon dioxide gas have been released into the atmosphere by the burning of mined fuel during the last fifty years. . . .and during the next 100 years, the increasing use of fossil fuels in our world-wide industrial civilization should result in the production of about 1,700 billion more tons of carbon dioxide, yet the end result will not be injurious to man because "well over ninety per cent of any excess carbon dioxide introduced into the atmosphere eventually finds its way into the ocean, being readily dissolved by the ocean water" (Dr. Robert E. Wilson).

            There are other means in nature to keep the "balance" of the atmosphere as God created it. For example, plants use carbon dioxide gas in the process of photosynthesis - and that helps keep down an excess of carbon dioxide gas.

The Miraculous "Nitrogen Cycle"

            About 78% of the atmosphere is nitrogen and 21% oxygen. Nitrogen is an important constituent of plant and animal life - but they are unable to extract nitrogen directly from the atmosphere. Scientists call the bacteria that capture and fix nitrogen in the soil, so that plants can absorb it, "nitrogen fixers." These minute organisms then act as "middlemen" between free nitrogen in the air and the plants and animals who are unable to absorb directly from the air the nitrogen they need. It is good that the Creator made nitrogen an inactive (inert) gas. * Had it been otherwise, the world long ago would have ended in catastrophe.

            * "It is amazing to know that nitrogen SHOULD be much more active, chemically than it is. Nitrogen's thermodynamic relations indicate that it has the potentiality of being MUCH MORE ACTIVE than it ordinarily is" (Martin D. Kamen, Scientific American).

            "It is fortunate that nitrogen is chemically inert. If it were less reluctant to combine with other elements IT MIGHT READILY COMBINE WITH WATER TO FORM NITRIC ACID. . . .and then the oceans would turn into diluted nitric acid - a catastrophe certainly as horrible as any visualized in speculations about atomic warfare" (Martin D. Kamen, "Discoveries in Nitrogen Fixation," Scientific American).

            An error in making even one gas would have made the world uninhabitable! The Creator is the perfect Chemist; all His works are perfect. The evidences for Divine Design in the world are overwhelming.

            The vital place that nitrogen fixation holds in the world is seen in this striking quotation from Mr. Kamen:

            "Nature's nitrogen cycle is as important to us as the carbon cycle of photosynthesis, by which plants recapture carbon dioxide from the air and convert the carbon into organic compounds. The nitrogen fixers and the photosynthetic organisms, linked in a majestic partnership, keep the living economy of the world solvent."

            Lightning has a vital role in replacing nitrogen in the soul. "One hundred million tons of usable plant food a year are supplied to the soil by lightning. Nitrogen and oxygen are combined by lightning into plant food." (Farmers Digest).

            This is another testimony to this great fact: God not only created the world in wisdom, He made it self-supporting; nature is so adjusted that it keeps itself in BALANCE. The fact that the earth is "self-adjusting" is an awe-inspiring wonder.

The Miracle of Oxygen

            Oxygen, which constitutes 21% of the atmosphere is essential to all life. It is in the air in exactly the right proportion. *

            * Evidence that oxygen is in the air in exactly the right amount is seen in the tragic experiences of many hospitals a few years ago. In giving premature babies extra oxygen, they gave too much - and hundreds of babies were blinded. For several months doctors did not know the cause. Eventually they discovered the blindness was due to too much oxygen given the babies in the incubators.

            "We may almost say that the more chemistry and mineralogy we know, the more puzzled we are about the oxygen in the air. For, the more common rocks of the world contain so large a proportion of oxygen, that it makes up nearly half their weight. This is true of granite, sandstone, limestone. . . .and clay. The wonder is that any free oxygen is left over for the air" (Forethought in Creation, p. 14).

            Nitrogen is inert; oxygen is overly active: and yet the Creator designed the world in creation so that there was just the right amount of oxygen as well as nitrogen.

The Atmosphere Has Just the Right Density

            Obviously, the Creator, knowing all laws of His Universe, made the atmosphere at JUST THE RIGHT DENSITY at the surface of the earth. How do we know? It has been discovered recently that while

"the temperature eight miles up is a frigid 67 degrees below zero, it becomes a scorching 170 above at an altitude of 30 miles up" (Joseph Kaplan, in "The Air Above Us").

            It is clear that if the atmosphere were rarified, life on earth would be impossible because of the extreme cold; if it were very rarified, life would be impossible because of the extreme heat.

What the Atmosphere Does for Us

            In this brief treatise it would be manifestly impossible to list one one-thousandth of all things the atmosphere does for us, but we give a few to show Purpose in Creation. We are living at the bottom of a great ocean of air which not only provides us with life-giving oxygen, but also much more.

            (1) The atmosphere shields us from the constant barrage of meteors that reach us from outer space. Hitting our atmosphere, most of them are burned up before they reach the earth.

            (2) The atmosphere gives us a protective covering from the harmful effects of the ultra-violet rays from the sun. Dr. Florence E. Miller, scientist connected with the Smithsonian Institute, says that we live "miraculously" on this planet, protected from eight "killer rays" from the sun, by a thin layer of ozone high up in our atmosphere.

            "If that little belt of ozone, approximately forty miles up and only one-eighth of an inch thick (if compressed), should suddenly drift into space, all life on earth would perish."

            The whole subject of "ozone" in the air is so unusual, it seems almost incredible.

            "There are two kinds of ultra-violet rays - long and short. The long are deadly, and are absorbed and neutralized by that ozone belt. If permitted to come through, they would blind and blister the human race, and would soon destroy all life on earth. The short violet rays, on the other hand, are necessary to life. If that belt of protective ozone were too thick, so that the short rays could not come through, we would all die of rickets.

            "the most deadly of the 'eight killers' comes through in quantities just sufficient to render great service, without destroying us. It keeps down the growth of green algae, one-celled plants that grow in streams. Unrestricted, they would multiply so rapidly that they would clog all the streams of the world, and lead to endless flooding of the world. On the other hand, it is fortunate for the earth as we know it that the algae were allowed to develop in moderation."

            Ozone itself is poisonous to human beings; but it is present in such a small amount and is so high up in the atmosphere (20 to 40 miles up) that it acts as a protective shield. Who can read such wonders in creation and not give glory to the God who made all things?

            (3) The atmosphere is, moreover, a perfect blanket, an unfailing insulation against both heat and cold. It prevents the rapid escape of heat. Were it not for our atmosphere "we should be frozen as hard as a board every night" (Fred Hoyle in, "The Nature of the Universe"). It also acts as "a great reservoir and distributor" of heat. Dr. Wallace said,

            "The atmosphere has the 'peculiar' property (most fortunate for us) of allowing the sun's rays to pass freely through to the earth which it warms, but acting like a blanket in preventing the rapid escape of the non-luminous heat so produced." Dr. Wallace points out the proof of this: When you get high enough in the tropics, you find snow lying on the ground all year round! (Quoted in "The Bible and Modern Science," p. 84).

            (4) The atmosphere also provides us with a wonderful "night air glow." This is the light reflected to the surface of the earth from the upper atmosphere. "It amounts to about five times the total starlight falling on the earth." (Science Digest, Jan., 1953). While the sun is the great source of light, it needs the co-operation of the atmosphere to properly diffuse the light, both by day and by night; this is essential for the proper illumination of the earth.

"Dust" - a Witness for the Creator

            The "witchery of the soft blue sky," to borrow a phrase from Wordsworth, has charmed people for ages past. Were it not for the DUST in the atmosphere the heavens would be black. "At 17 miles up the sky is always black, with only a luminous glow from below." To the presence of dust in the atmosphere we owe also our sunrise splendors, gorgeous sunsets and radiant afterglow.

            The dust also is necessary to help form the rain drops. "Scientific investigation has shown that if there were no dust in the air, not a drop of rain or a snowflake would fall on the earth, and no clouds or fog would form." In view of this, it is interesting to read in the Bible:

            "The clouds are the dust of His feet" (Nah. 1:3); and Proverbs 8:26 speaks of "the highest part of the dust of the world."

            Conservative estimates show that star dust to the amount of 100,000 tons is filtering onto the earth yearly; and each day billions of tiny meteoric bodies invade the earth's atmosphere and are destroyed by friction.

            So we see that every little part of creation is essential to the whole and has its necessary function in the Divine Plan.

Water: The Miracle of Nature

            We all know that a world without water would be lifeless; but a world in which water followed the customary laws of physics would also soon become lifeless! Water has been aptly called "the most uncommon of the common substances." What a marvelously versatile substance water is! Its "molecules lock together in flinty embrace as ICE" - and think of all the uses of ice in our economy. In another form water covers the earth with a dry, protective blanket of SNOW in the winter, and piles up ton after ton of stored water in the valleys of the mountains. It falls as RAIN to quench the thirst of the dry earth in the spring and summer; it feeds our rivers and fills our oceans and lakes. It shades us from the heat of the sun as vapor in the CLOUDS. As STEAM it drives powerful machinery. Truly, water is one of the greatest gifts of God to man. Without water there could be no inhabited earth.

            Water, unlike any other substance (except bismuth) is heaviest at 4 degrees centigrade - slightly above freezing. Above that and below that it is lighter. Because of this, ice floats and water freezes from the top down. If ice were heavier than water, instead of lighter, when a lake froze the ice would sink and the water would soon be solid ice from the bottom up. All rivers and lakes would freeze solid! This would kill all fish, prevent thawing in the spring and so upset the scheme of things as to make life on earth impossible. Who changed the law that cold contracts and heat expands, when it applies to water? The Creator designed it so.

            Water has many other virtues that make it indispensable for a habitable earth. Water is nature's best "air-conditioner." Water has an immense capacity for storing heat energy. Thus, the oceans can absorb enough heat during summer to cool the air; and during winter this heat is given off, thus moderating the cold weather.

            Then too, water is "the closest approach to a true universal solvent" that we know. It dissolves with ease a fantastic variety of materials; and yet it does NOT dissolve the rocks of the seashore, otherwise the continents would melt away and disappear in the oceans.

            Though sea water weighs 800 times more than air, when it is vaporized by the heat of the sun it is lighter than air and is lifted into the clouds! This remarkable miracle makes rain possible. Did all these strange and wonderful characteristics of water "just happen"? Hardly. Water with all its marvelous characteristics is one of God's creations.

            "And God said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters." And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. (Genesis 1:6, 7).

            Ages before the modern science of meteorology, the Bible revealed the "rain cycle."

            "The wind. . . .whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits. All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again" (Ecc. 1:6, 7).

Modern science describes this amazing rain cycle:

            "The energy of the sun received on a square mile of ocean will evaporate and raise about 5,435 tons of water vapor into the air in an hour. Water vapor rises to considerable heights and moves with the air currents (over the continents). When the air holding water vapor cools, the vapor condenses into billions of tiny droplets, so small it takes about 8,000,000 to make a fair sized drop of rain! . . . Each of these tiny droplets must have a tiny particle of dust on which it clings. As this condensation takes place in the atmosphere, clouds are formed; when the air has been chilled sufficiently to form clouds these tiny droplets coalesce and form larger drops, and when the air can no longer support them, it rains." (Condensed from Science Digest).

The Miracle of the "Lightning-Nitrogen" Cycle

            Few people realize it, but there is an almost constant discharge of electricity from the earth.

            This electrical discharge, almost exclusively in fair weather, is not very strong. Over the whole globe at any one moment the total is only about 1,500 amperes and represents a continuous expenditure of energy at the rate of around 50,000 kilowatts. This 1,500-ampere discharge was first discovered in 1917. . . . After three years of study of the atmosphere over separated points Dr. Vannevar Bush reported that the current comes from the still air lying above the clouds of thunderstorms. The current there is going downward, instead of upward. And the amount of it that reaches the earth, over all the world, is estimated to total - what do you think? - 1,500 amperes! This cycle goes on steadily. The discharge that rises from the earth HELPS PRODUCE LIGHTNING. There are about 16,000,000 thunderstorms over the world every year. These thunderstorms, with the accompanying lightning, produce about 100,000 tons of nitrogen compounds annually, dropped into the soil thereby helping greatly to fertilize it!

            And so the Creator uses the powers of lightning and the imperceptible discharge of electricity from both the earth and the clouds to create "Lighthing-Nitrogen" Cycle that does so much good to the soil!

We have Just the Right Number of Clouds

            By the way - speaking of clouds, rain, thunderstorms and lightning, brings to mind this interesting fact: Our world has clouds, but not too many. The planet Venus "is covered entirely with a deep blanket of clouds that touch each other and seldom if ever break apart. Our world, on the other hand, averages one-half open sky when no clouds interfere with our sun's work" (George Leo Patterson). Blind unguided chance? Evolution? Oh no, the Living God made this adjustment in nature as well as all others that together make our world a habitable planet.

The Place of Rivers in the Rain Cycle

            Every continent and all major islands are drained by rivers.

            Africa has the Nile, Niger and Congo; in North America we have the St. Lawrence, Columbia, Colorado * and the Mississippi; South America has the Amazon and the Orinoco; Europe has the Rhine, the Rhone, the Danube and the Volga; Asia has the Yellow River, the Ganges, the ancient Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and many more.

            * We can not help but mention how prone men are to suggest impossible theories and make preposterous statements. For example, in the article, "the Face of the Land" that appeared a few years ago in "Life" Magazine, the author said, "In the million years since man first evolved on the earth (?). . .

the Colorado River has carved out the Grand Canyon a mile deep, eight miles wide at the rim, in about the same period of time." This is utterly impossible. Engineers, in building the Boulder dam found a layer of large and small rocks - three to four feet thick in thickness - in the bottom of the Colorado River channel. This layer of loose rocks acts as a buffer and protects the actual hard, rock bottom of the river channel FROM ANY ABRASION WHATEVER! Century after century could pass WITHOUT THE COLORADO RIVER WEARING DOWN THE CHANNEL ONE INCH.

            All of these rivers, with their tributaries, drain vast areas of the continents - and add greatly to the beauty and productivity and commerce of the world. Almost all the great cities of the world are on the seashore or on a river.

            It is not hard for us to realize that these mighty rivers as they flow continuously toward the sea are "part of the cycle which goes on eternally and without which we could not exist. For this cycle assures us of an adequate supply of fresh water; and water is necessary for all living things - both animals and plants - as well as for the far-flung industries upon which our modern civilization is based."

The Place of Mountains in the "Rain Cycle"

            "It is hardly an exaggeration to say that rivers could not exist if there were no mountains. . . .For one thing, the chill sides of mountains offer vast condensing surfaces where the clouds give up their moisture in the form of rain or snow. . . .Mountains also provide slopes and necessary elevation down which the water runs in its journey to the sea."

            So the mountains become