March 2015
Irreducible Complexity and the Amazing Wonders of God’s Creative Handiwork
You may never have read Michael Behe’s now famous book, “Darwin’s Black Box – The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution”, but you have probably heard the key phrase from the book – “irreducible complexity”. Scientist and author David Berlinski commented: “No one can propose to defend Darwin without meeting the challenges set out in this superbly written and compelling book.”
So, what is “irreducible complexity”, and why is it such a challenge to evolutionism? Irreducible complexity is the description of something with several (or many) functioning parts that have to all be in proper order and working simultaneously for that entity to operate. In “Darwin’s Black Box”, microbiologist Michael Behe uses the five essential parts of a mouse trap to illustrate the irreducible complexity of the bacterial flagellum. If any one of the parts of the mouse trap is missing or defective, the mouse trap will not function – it is useless. The same is true of the microscopic bacterial flagellum, which is an amazingly complex little “machine”. Did the relatively simple man-made mouse trap have an inventor, but the much more complex bacterial flagellum with its intricate complexities just happen by random chance processes over eons of time with no inventor, no plan, no purpose, and no meaning? How did it function while it was “evolving” its various components? That is a very good question to ask an evolutionist. Ask him if he knows of any invention without an inventor – then ask him to give you a logical explanation for the transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly without a Creator (inventor, programmer).
It has often occurred to me since reading Michael Behe’s book and seeing the DVD documentary about the flagellum that you don’t need a microscope or a degree in microbiology to observe irreducible complexity in God’s creation all around us.
Why is irreducible complexity such a huge challenge to the evolutionist? Here’s why: Charles Darwin himself wrote these words: “If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed, which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down.” (from “The Origin of Species” and the “Descent of Man”). Darwin valiantly (desperately) tried to explain how evolution could account for the complexity of the human eye, but he miserably failed in his attempt. Darwin penned the death knoll for his theory (fantasy) when he wrote those words. No wonder he became a recluse, had a churning stomach, and suffered psychiatric problems. It is sad that he never openly repented and denounced his pet “theory”.
Now I want to share with you the first two paragraphs of Ravi Zacharias’ winter report:
“I am writing this the day after an emotional roller coaster for us as a family. Our daughter Naomi was expecting her third child, and she was due early February. But for some reason, early in the pregnancy some of the tests revealed causes for concern for the baby. I will not bore you with all the details but safe to say, their advice painted a grim picture. It was not just one test but several parameters that indicated trouble. Naomi and Drew faced it boldly, and with their complete trust in God, resisted any tests that would put the child at risk or even cause the baby pain. They were determined that whatever the indications, she was going to carry this baby through.
“Yesterday the moment of truth arrived and three weeks ahead of schedule, Nico Tate Zacharias McNeil – carried all along in the safe arms of our Lord – was delivered into the welcoming arms of his family at a delicate five pounds and fourteen ounces and in excellent and beautiful shape. What a journey it has been and what a series of swirling emotions! But by God’s grace all went beautifully and we as a family are rejoicing. Holding a tiny little one in your arms and seeing a fresh unspoiled face leaves you speechless and in awe of the marvel of God’s handiwork. To hold a child and still be a skeptic is to stare evidence in the face, discount it, and still believe a lie.”
Ravi’s words remind me of a statement by the late Adrian Rogers. He said that the reason the skeptic (atheist, agnostic, etc.) cannot find God in His creation is the same reason a thief can’t find a policeman!
David wrote: “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none who does good.” Psalm 14:1 (NKJV).
You don’t need a microscope to observe irreducible complexity. Open your eyes and your heart to the wonders of God’s creation all around you – especially as we see the budding signs of spring. You can’t see a flagellum without special equipment, but you can see fine features and functioning fingers on a newborn infant – or in your own mirror. No wonder the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse….” Romans 1:18-20 (NKJV).
Prayer Requests
• Please pray that I will be able to make a mission trip to Ukraine this fall. Below is a copy of the letter I sent to ministry partners in Ukraine.
Dear Co-workers in Ukraine,
You may have noticed in our February Prayer Letter my prayer request about deciding whether or not I was to make a spring mission trip based on God answering “yes” to provide a financial miracle to do so. God’s answer to me is “no” – because He chose not send those funds this month. I hope to go in the fall; I will be praying about that. My Father knows best!
I hope you understand. I pray for God’s protection and guidance for all of you – and I hope to correspond with you individually before fall. Please pray for funds and God’s clear direction for me.
Here is my wish for you: “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13. May Almighty God continue to expand your godly influence for His glory!
In the grace of Jesus, Rick
• Please pray for funds for both Overseas Outreach and Northwest Science Museum, and for new co-workers skilled in technology to get both of these ministries represented on social media. Victor Knowles recently wrote: “Sharing God’s Word with mobile phone apps is the fastest and cheapest way to evangelize the world.”
• Please pray for “A Matter of Faith” to once again bless multitudes of people in the Boise area, lead souls to commitment to Christ, lead backsliders to recommitment, and for the movie to be an effective fundraiser for both Northwest Science Museum and Christiano Film Group (to bring more excellent Christian films to the big screen.)
• Praise: Rich Christiano is now marketing “Millions of Miracles” in his newsletter and on his website. He is also considering using it or “More Than Conquerors in Cultural Clashes” in the men’s group at his home church. (These books are still available to you for an offering of any amount to Overseas Outreach.)
From Our Mailbox
“…..I pray for the Board nightly (as I told Doug I would) and this includes the health and safety of all of you in addition to receiving His wisdom so we may always move in His will and the needs of the NWSM be abundantly met. I also prayed nightly that the evangelistic outreach of your project be realized in full measure. Be assured yet another jewel in your crown gleams brightly in service to our Lord.
I am SO thrilled to hear of the wonderful response to the showing of the movie, “A Matter of Faith”. I prayed earnestly that the seeds you were sowing reaped a hundred-fold return. God in His graciousness answered our prayers! You have such a sweet and gentle love for the lost, Rick.
Be blessed in His Goodness always, Carol” (Peart)
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“I got your book and am reading it. Thank you! Very nicely done. I pray it will find its way into many hands all around the world.”
Al Cinnamon
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“Your thoughtful gift of the book, ‘Millions of Miracles’, arrived today and is much appreciated. Obviously you spent big chunks of time and money putting together this strong testimony to the truth about God and His creation miracle. I’ve just begun to scan it and see you were successful in finding many photos of nature demonstrating design by the Creator rather than the impossible chance hypothesis. More power to you as you spread the contents of this book to the many in our world who have yet to find God as the ultimate source of life.
All the best to you and yours, and again my thanks—
Warren” (Johns)
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Excerpts from Sergei’s February Newsletter:
“Despite the limitations in communication and travel the political situation raises, we continue to expand the impact of God’s Word. We spent a week at the city of Poltava to the East from Kiev teaching Apologetics to a group of church leaders from various corners of the country, as well as addressing the local body of believers. Dramatic events in our part of the world make many people ask about God and society, suffering, violence etc. That opens many opportunities to tell about the creation when ‘it was very good’, about the fall and about the salvation in Jesus. Please pray with us for the seeds planted…..
By the end of the month we had another extremely joyful trip toward city of Korosten. On the way there we had a day stop at a seminary not far from Kiev to contribute to the first in the country chaplains intensive training program. That was really historical event, a sign of changes in the society. By these very days, even 20+ years after Soviet Union collapse there was no legal ground for pastoral ministry at places like jails, military bases, clinics, etc. Though some brothers were doing this ministry anyway as volunteers, they did not have proper rights and could be stopped at any moment or even persecuted for it. But now, while Ukraine is getting out of the Kremlin control, an official law on the chaplain service is issued, and the school arranged the training program immediately. During the following program the students (who do serve already as volunteers) were getting intensive training on many various aspects of the ministry like first medical aid, psychology, etc. But the first day was devoted to moral theology and apologetics – seminars in the morning with extended questions and answers session afternoon. That was very mutually inspiring and edifying! These people face actual challenges every day. They were asking extremely meaningful questions that allowed us to dig into the Scripture looking for the sound Biblical answers together! Please pray with us for these guys who are going to bring the hope and comfort in Jesus to the hardest and hottest places!
That was the very first time for us to visit Korosten, a city with rich history related to Princess Olga, the first Christian ruler of Russia. Those days Christianity was a matter of following Jesus, not politics… Well, I understand this is confusing, but Kiev was the Russia/Russ back then – dozens of years before Olga’s grandson Vladimir made Christianity an official Russian religion (following Byzantium model) and some hundreds years before Moscow even came to existence. So, it was a special pleasure for us to train Christian leaders of the area to follow the steps of first national missionaries in spreading the truth of the God’s Word in the midst of troubled world of pluralism. We were teaching at two schools – a seminar on grounding children in a worldview based on Biblical account of our origin, and the very new course on Practical Christian Ethics. Please pray also with us for these workers of Jesus who are going to spread the message as a ripple according to 2 Timothy 2:2!
Please keep praying for our ministry, for our team, for our families, for God’s guidance and protection in everything we do. You are in our prayers as well.
Yours in the love and grace of Christ Jesus
Sergei”
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Review of “More Than Conquerors in Cultural Clashes” by Jack Cottrell
Last year I got permission to quote from Jack Cottrell in “More Than Conquerors in Cultural Clashes”, and I asked him to write a review of it for placing it on Amazon. Here is what he sent and asked if it was sufficient. Wow! It’s above my highest expectation! – R.D.
“This book is bursting with enthusiasm for Biblical truth, and with a deep passion to see it applied as a corrective to perverted modern world culture. The author is well versed in the ‘isms’ that define our age and in their destructive consequences, beginning with relativism and proceeding to its various progeny, e.g., political correctness, evolutionism, secularism, immorality, and liberalism. The book is just as much exhortation as information; it reads like one get-busy sermon after another. It is filled with facts, illustrations, and quotations from a wide spectrum of sources. The material keeps bubbling out of the author’s pen like an unchecked spring of refreshing water. We can either heed its message and bring life back to our nation and our world, or we can ignore it and allow everything around us to die of spiritual thirst.”
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“I wanted to thank you – be it a little late – for bringing Roy’s name to my attention for this conference. We pulled a few strings to get him in, but it was well worth it. I think so much of Roy and his enthusiasm to learn God’s Word. Much thanks goes to your mentorship! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!”
David Davolt
Director of Development, Boise Bible College
(Note: I wrote to David asking him to consider recommending Roy Meyer as the BBC representative for the leadership conference in Idaho. We now have a picture of him and a few others with Governor Butch Otter, standing under the seal of the State of Idaho. Praise God! – R.D.)
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“Your letters are such a blessing. When I think of how we met at the Boise airport, must have been a divine appointment…..” (Amen! We agree-it was a divine appointment. Alma has been a true blessing to us. R.D.)
In His Service,
Alma Barry”
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“We arrived to US a day ago and have got a package with your books! I am looking forward with excitement for enjoying them as well as considering them for translation whenever our translation ministry get started over again.
Yours by the grace of Jesus, Sergei”
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Chicken in a Blizzard
Courageous & Compassionate Serving
(An Excellent Example of More Than Conquerors in Cultural Clashes)
This is a story that is very worth reading, as you will and have not heard any of this on radio or TV.
From a while back – Jan. 2014. Truth or Fiction says: Truth
“Two years ago Chick-fil-A made national headlines when company president Dan Cathy spoke out in support of traditional marriage. Liberals and gays came unglued and launched massive protests against the restaurant chain. Several mayors spoke out saying they would not allow any more Chick-fil-As to be built in their cities.
They tried boycotting the Christian owned company, but that backfired. Instead, Chick-fil-A had a world record day with many locations selling out of food to the hundreds of thousands of supporters. Is it any
surprise that the only news the liberal mainstream media has reported concerning Chick-fil-A has only been the negative?
Remember last week when the ice storm hit the south? The mainstream media showed footage of miles of cars stranded on the frozen interstates. Several national news broadcasts that I saw reported about school kids trapped on buses for almost 24 hours because of all of the ice and parents going frantic wondering where their kids were.
In all of the icy gloom and doom, I bet you didn’t hear about the heroic and generous actions of a
Chick-fil-A along Highway 280 in Birmingham, Alabama, did you? Mark Meadows, owner of the Chick-
fil-A closed early the day of the storm and sent all of his employees home. However, the employees and
Meadows soon discovered that they were not going to be able to get home with all of the stranded motorists stuck on the roads. Some of the cars near the restaurant had been stranded for up to 7 hours.
Audrey Pitt, manager of the Chick-fil-A described the conditions: ‘Our store is about a mile and a half from the interstate and it took me two hours to get there. It was a parking lot as far as I could see. At one point there were more people walking than driving.’
Meadows and his employees fired up the kitchen and began preparing chicken sandwiches as fast as they could. They prepared several hundred sandwiches and then Meadows and his staff headed out and began distributing the hot meals to the stranded motorists on both sides of Highway 280.
Some of the drivers tried to pay them for the sandwiches, but Meadows and his employees refused to take a single penny. Pitt explained why: “This company is based on taking care of people and loving people before you’re worried about money or profit. We were just trying to follow the model that we’ve all worked under for so long and the model that we’ve come to love. There was really nothing else we could have done but try to help people any way we could.”
However, Meadows and Pitt were not through with their Good Samaritan efforts. They helped push cars off the roads, up inclines and whatever else they could do to help. Then they kept the restaurant open overnight so that stranded motorists could have a warm place to be. A number of motorists slept in booths or on the benches.
Then in the morning, they again fired up the kitchen and prepared chicken biscuits for their overnight guests and once again they refused to accept any payment. During that 24-hour period, this Chick-fil-A restaurant opened their kitchen, their doors and their hearts to hundreds of stranded motorists and they did so refusing to accept any payment. As one source put it, Meadows and his staff lived up to the words Jesus spoke in Matthew 25:35 which states: ‘For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in…’
Their actions were truly generous and heroic as they also braved the frigid temperatures to hand out
hundreds of hot meals to complete strangers. And I bet you never heard anything about this from the mainstream media. Had it been a group of homosexuals or atheists, it would have been all over the news from coast to coast. It was too much against their liberal standards to report a Christian company doing something so positive for so many.
We need to support this and all Christian Companies.” Share this with someone you know!
Quote Worth Thinking About….
‘When GOD solves our problems,
we have faith in HIS abilities;
When GOD doesn’t solve our problems HE has faith in our abilities.”
In His service,
Rick & Della