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CSA News
The Creation Science Association for Mid-America
Volume 31: (12)
December 2014
"It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man."
Psalm 118:8

 

In This Issue

“Ebola virus: Evolution or Mutation?”


January - June 2015 Monthly Meeting Topics


“SIGNS AND SEASONS:
Biblical References to Heavenly Bodies”

 


Ebola virus: Evolution or Mutation?

by Douglas Roger Dexheimer

 

Have some of the recent ebola epidemic accounts sounded just a bit suspicious to you?  Consider:

  • A recent article in the New York Times states: "Ebola is an ingenious virus. To fight it, we need to be just as ingenious."1 The article goes on to describe a high-tech method of checking the blood of potential travelers prior to their departure from ebola-ravaged locations. Their blood samples are being incubated and tested for telltale signs of the ebola virus infection. Although possibly beneficial, the practice is extremely costly and will add immensely to the price of international travel. The notion that it will prevent spread of the disease is vastly overblown, since medical detection of the virus cannot occur until long after the flight has completed. Meanwhile, the passengers and crew will experience full exposure to anyone infected.
  • Any notion whatsoever that a virus can think is quite clearly the idea of a pea-brained individual. A virus is a string of nucleotides comprising a structure which is much simpler than any bacterium or single-celled amoeba. Describing a virus as "ingenious" quite simply betrays an author’s dishonesty or abject ignorance.
  • The ridiculous notion that a virus can alter its very character is being "supported" by citing varied outbreaks of the ebola virus. Over time, the virus has been said to "evolve" from one outbreak to the next. This diagram shows how some epidemiologists have traced the virus:
Proposed ebola virus origins.2
  • Interestingly, a very secular Berkley University strongly objects to any notion that the ebola virus has evolved:

First, it's important to be clear about the difference between mutation and long term evolution. Mutation is a normal process that occurs every generation whenever an organism reproduces. Ebola incurs mutations whenever it is copied, just as humans, plants, and other organisms introduce new mutations to their genomes each time they reproduce. Evolution occurs when these mutations are passed down from generation to generation and spread through a population, often via natural selection. The idea here is that if an Ebola virus particle were to wind up with mutations that allowed it to be transmitted through the air, that viral lineage (i.e., the original particle's descendants) might be favored and spread because those viruses could infect new hosts more rapidly than other Ebola viruses could. However, mutations are random, that is, they are not biased to produce "good" or "bad" effects. In the case of Ebola, this means that the virus is not mutating "in order to" spread faster and that mutations allowing this occur are not more likely than mutations with any other effect.3

Continuing:

Nevertheless, we do know that Ebola is experiencing plenty of mutations. Ebola has RNA, not DNA, as its genetic material. When RNA is copied, many more mistakes are made than when DNA is copied. This gives viruses like Ebola a particularly high mutation rate when compared to DNA-based viruses like smallpox or chickenpox — though not as high as the rates at which HIV and the flu accumulate new mutations.4

Note that the rate of genetic change of ebola virus is comparable to the rate of change of Hepatitis B.  However, it is 100 times slower than influenza A.

  • Classification of viruses has changed in the scientific community to the extent that the new terminology is different from what it was.
  • Perhaps it's possible that a recent mutation transformed Ebola into something more contagious:

First, to get this out of the way: though it's theoretically possible that the virus could mutate to become airborne, we don't even know if it's physically possible. In the more than 100 years that we've studied viruses, we've never seen a human virus change its mode of transmission.

Furthermore:

That's a genetic leap in the realm of science fiction," Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow Laurie Garrett explains in the Washington Post.

And...

An airborne mutation would require more than a few random changes coming together. Even when researchers have tried to genetically engineer an already deadly virus to go airborne, making those changes also made the virus unable to kill [read more at the footnoted cited].5

Dr. John Sanford, a leading scientific expert on mutations, and author of the best-selling book, Genetic Entropy, and the Human Genome, has hypothesized that the human genome has three mutations added each time a cell divides.6 He informs us of the following startling facts:7

  1. The average cell in a 15-year-old has up to 6,000 mutations.
  2. Skin cells in a 60-year-old have up to 40,000 mutations.
  3. Mutation is the primary cause of aging and death.

Mutations are deleterious; that is, they are defective copies of a part of our DNA.  Occasionally a mutation will have the opposite effect.

While preparing this article, I found a very interesting account on the CMI website describing a mutation of a common human gene, Cysteine-cysteine chemokine receptor 5 (CCR5), and how this mutation benefits its carrier by providing him with immunity to the HIV virus.8

Sickle cell anemia is yet another mutation occurring in human genome.

Sickle cell anemia is a blood disease in which red blood cells reveal an abnormal crescent (or sickle) shape when observed under a conventional microscope. It is an inherited disorder -- the first ever to be attributed to a specific genetic modification (mutation), in 1949 by Linus Pauling (two-times Nobel laureate, for Chemistry in 1954, and Peace, in 1962). The cause of sickle cell anemia was attributed unequivocally to a single base substitution in the DNA sequence of the gene encoding the beta chain of hemoglobin, the protein that carries oxygen in red blood cells [emphasis in original]. Only those individual that inherit two copies of the sickle mutation (one from their mother and the other from their father) develop sickle cell anemia. If untreated, these individuals have a shorter than normal life expectancy and as such it would be expected that this mutation would be rare in human populations. This is however, far from being the case. Observations made during the mid-20th century and building on Pauling's findings, revealed that the sickle mutation is, in fact, highly, selected in populations from areas of the world were malaria is very frequent, with sometimes 10-40% of the population carrying this mutation.  Individuals carrying just one copy of the sickle mutation (inherited from either the father or mother) were known not to develop sickle cell anemia, leading rather normal lives. However, it was found that these same individuals, said to carry the sickle cell trait, were in fact highly protected against malaria, thus explaining the high prevalence of this mutation in geographical areas where malaria is endemic.9

From this string of facts, ask yourself … What if a certain mutant gene could be identified in individuals who have been exposed to, but are not susceptible to, ebola?  If that gene could be duplicated and somehow incorporated into a vaccine, might it provide immunity to ebola, just as it is believed that polio vaccine provides immunity to poliomyelitis?

Thus far, such a gene has yet to be discovered.  The closest medical approach to this idea is Dr. Kent Brantly’s generous sharing of his blood plasma with others who have shown symptoms of the disease.  His plasma is swimming with antibodies that the good doctor's body produced in his own fight with ebola.10

We extend our admiration and respect to Dr. Brantly for his volunteer service in the ebola-infested area of Africa, and for his generosity in sharing his blood plasma with others.  May God bless him in his efforts!

Since I began this article, the news media have provided numerous accounts of medical personnel who have been serving in the infected areas of West Africa.  Some have, themselves, become infected with the ebola virus, despite their awareness of how to protect themselves from it.  A number of them have returned to the US for "high-tech" medical intervention unavailable in West Africa.  At least two doctors have succumbed to the disease, while a number of  other medical professionals have contracted it, have been treated with the best that medical science can provide, and have survived.

Obviously this is not the final word on ebola.  We should mention that this latest strain is believed to be a mutation of the fast-acting strain that killed its victims before they had a chance to spread the infection.  This new strain is now being carried into heavily-populated cities, where its carriers may be exposing increasing numbers of their friends, neighbors, and family members to it. The virus appears, however, to be losing its strength....

I hope you will join with me in praying for the victims and the medical authorities in their ongoing fight against this deadly parasite.

 


1 http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/13/opinion/how-to-quarantine-against-ebola.html?emc=edit_ty_20141013&nl=opinion&nlid=39794989

2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebola_virus

3 http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/news/141003_ebola

4 Ibid.

5 http://www.businessinsider.com/ebola-mutations-change-virus-2014-10#ixzz3Ku53b3tu

6 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EojbG8st0E4

7 Ibid.

8 http://creation.com/ccr5delta32-a-very-beneficial-mutation

9 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/04/110428123931.htm

10 http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/science/2014/10/14/how-donated-plasma-can-help-ebola-patients-fight-disease/HHkbEWoqgBirZRMGfuTJGL/story.html?hootPostID=a1d1b4b0d6df873ec60d30bbce967e71

Ω

January Monthly Meeting

January 6th, 2015

“Formed to Fly” DVD

by Dr. David Menton

moderated by Kevin Anderson

 

Evolutionists have long argued that birds evolved by chance from reptiles. However, in this lecture you will see that no two classes of vertebrates differ more dramatically than do reptiles and birds. Unlike the dinosaurs, from which birds are said to have evolved, birds are truly “formed to fly.” With the aid of a scanning electron microscope, Dr. Menton examines the feathers of birds and compares them to reptile scales. Contrary to the claims of evolutionists, feathers are profoundly different from scales in every respect. It is biological nonsense to claim that one evolved from the other by chance.

 

Ω


Monthly Meetings

2015

(1st Tuesday of each month; content subject to change; no sign up or registration necessary.)

  • January 6th: “Formed to Fly DVD, by Dr. David Menton,
    moderated by Kevin Anderson.
  • February 3rd: “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed” (the 2008 motion picture) DVD,
    moderated by Bob Farwell.
  • March 3rd: "Lunar Eclipses,"
    by Douglas Roger Dexheimer.
  • April 7th: “Canopy Theory,”
    by Dave Penny.
  • May 5th: “Living Fossils Evolution: The Grand Experiment” Episode 2 DVD,
    moderated by Bob Farwell.
  • June 2nd: “Evolution’s Achilles’ Heels” DVD, by Creation Ministries International,
    moderated by Kevin Anderson.
 

 

CSA Monthly Meeting Location

Westbrooke Church
9777 Antioch
Overland Park, KS 66121
10 blocks east of 69 Highway (or Switzer) on 95th St. to Antioch, south two blocks on Antioch, on east side of street.
Fellowship & book table: 6:15PM. Meeting: 7:00PM.


For detailed Monthly Meeting information:

www.csama.org

 

2015 January - June

Monthly Meeting Details

(1st Tuesday of each month; content subject to change; no sign up or registration necessary.)

 

January 6th, 2015

“Formed to Fly” DVD

by Dr. David Menton

moderated by Kevin Anderson

 

Evolutionists have long argued that birds evolved by chance from reptiles. However, in this lecture you will see that no two classes of vertebrates differ more dramatically than do reptiles and birds. Unlike the dinosaurs, from which birds are said to have evolved, birds are truly “formed to fly.” With the aid of a scanning electron microscope, Dr. Menton examines the feathers of birds and compares them to reptile scales. Contrary to the claims of evolutionists, feathers are profoundly different from scales in every respect. It is biological nonsense to claim that one evolved from the other by chance.

 


 

February 3rd, 2015

“Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed” DVD

(the 2008 motion picture)

moderated by Bob Farwell

 

American writer, lawyer, actor and commentator Ben Stein conducts onscreen interviews with professors who have been fired for expressing views favoring the concepts of intelligent design in nature, as well as academics who support the mainline evolutionary viewpoint. Stein finds striking similarities between the views of the latter group and those of the supporters, past and present, of Nazism, Communism, eugenics, and abortion.

 


 

March 3rd, 2015

"Lunar Eclipses"

by Douglas Roger Dexheimer

 

The subject of blood moons, or lunar tetrads will be examined from different points of view:

  1. Scriptural passages referring to signs in the heavens.
  2. Description of the Hebrew calendar, and calendar conversions.
  3. Scriptural references to the dates for Passover and Sukkot.
  4. Historical concurrences of blood moons with the above feast days.
  5. NASA catalogs of solar and lunar eclipses.
  6. Diagrams showing the intersections of orbital planes.
  7. Symmetry of eclipses during tetrads, past and present.
  8. Commentary by creationist astronomer, Dr. Danny Faulkner.

 

April 7th, 2015

“Canopy Theory”

by Dave Penny

 

The canopy theory, defined as “the waters above the firmament" in the second day of the Genesis 1 creation account, was popularized by Henry Morris and John Whitcomb in their book, The Genesis Flood. In the last thirty years this theory has fallen into disfavor among the majority of young-earth creationists. However, more recent thought and scientific observation have given rise to a renewed support for Morris' water canopy theory as being an integral part of the pre-Flood world, as well as of the Flood itself.

 


 

May 5th, 2015

“Living Fossils Evolution: The Grand Experiment” DVD

Episode 2

moderated by Bob Farwell

 

Dr. Carl Werner traveled 160,000 miles, visiting 10 dinosaur dig sites and 60 natural history museums over a period of 13 years to gather the information presented in this video. To his surprise, he found examples of all of the major plant divisions and all of the major animal phyla groups living today, fossilized alongside the dinosaurs.

The biggest discovery Dr. Werner made was that some of the most important fossils were not displayed in any of the museums he visited. Have natural history museums withheld these critical fossils from their public displays, because such fossils would place the theory of evolution in jeopardy?

Included in the video is spectacular underwater footage of Dr. Werner diving at the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and the coral reefs in the Caribbean Sea, plus footage from dinosaur dig sites in Europe and North America.

 


 

June 2nd, 2015

“Evolution’s Achilles’ Heels” DVD

by Creation Ministries International

moderated by Kevin Anderson

 

The purpose of this ground-breaking book and video project by CMI is to simply and concisely expose evolution’s fatal weaknesses. CMI believes evolution theory has no answer to these stated weaknesses, once properly explained and understood. The book this video is based upon is like no other work that CMI is aware of, in that it is authored exclusively by nine Ph.D. scientists. CMI's hope is that this fact alone will cause evolutionists to sit up and listen. All of these authors received their doctorates from secular universities very similar to those of their evolutionary counterparts. Each one of the authors is a specialist in his particular field of study. They include Drs. Don Batten, Jonathan Sarfati, Tas Walker, Rob Carter, Jim Mason, Emil Silvestru, John Hartnett, David Catchpoole, and Mark Harwood.

Ω

Creation Ministries International

Tour1

“Exposing Evolution’s Fatal Flaws”

Dr. Robert Carter2

(in person)

January 25, 2015

 

Get Answers!

Does God exist? How can anyone believe in religion when science has neither a need nor a place for God? Is evolution happening today? If God is a God of love, why do we suffer and die?

Creation Ministries International is coming to your area soon with answers to these important questions. Come and hear Dr. Jonathan Sarfati expose the bankruptcy of the evolutionary myth. You'll be amazed to see how weak the scientific evidence for evolution is.

This is an issue that affects everyone. Evolution teaches us there is no need for God, there is no spiritual realm, and there is no afterlife. According to the theory, spirituality is just an evolutionary trick of the mind!

The Bible gives a very different picture about the nature of these things. At this presentation, you will learn how the scientific evidence, when properly understood, confirms the details of the biblical account. At the same time, we will answer many of the Big Questions.

 

The Alternative: Creation’s Competitive Edge

The Most asked Questions Answered! 

Dr. Robert Carter

January 25th, 2015, 6:30 PM

Christ Community Church

1100 Kasold Drive

Lawrence, Kansas 66049

 


1 http://creation.com/calendar

2 http://creation.com/dr-robert-carter

SIGNS AND SEASONS:
Biblical References to Heavenly Bodies

by Douglas Roger Dexheimer

 

So far this year, two lunar eclipses have occurred: one was on the Feast of Passover, and the other was on the Feast of Tabernacles.  Two more lunar eclipses will fall on the same two Jewish feast days during the year 2015.  Let’s take a look at the special signs and seasons in the heavenlies

 

We’ll begin by examining the creation account of Genesis 1:14-16.

God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them be signs to indicate seasons and days and years, and let them serve as lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.” It was so. God made two great lights—the greater light to rule over the day and the lesser light to rule over the night. He made the stars also.1

The first occurrence of mo˒ed is Genesis 1:14, where the stars and heavenly bodies are created to serve for “seasons” (mo˒adim) and as “signs.”

 

APPOINTED TIME

 

Numbers 9:1-3:

The LORD spoke to Moses in the Desert of Sinai in the first month of the second year after they came out of Egypt. He said, “Have the Israelites celebrate the Passover at the appointed time. Celebrate it at the appointed time, at twilight on the fourteenth day of this month, in accordance with all its rules and regulations.”2

According to Strong’s #4150, “mo˒ed (mo-ed): a fixed time, appointment, appointed season, festival, feast, solemn assembly, appointed place. The root of mo˒ed is the verb ya˒ad, which means to ‘set’ or ‘fix,’ as in setting a time, or fixing a date, or appointing a place for meeting.  The first occurrence of mo˒ed is Genesis 1:14, where the stars and heavenly bodies are created to serve for ’seasons’ (mo˒adim) and as ‘signs’3 (emphasis added).  The entire plan of redemption is revealed in the progression of the seven mileposts, which unfold yearly in the Hebrew (or Jewish) calendar. Furthermore, every major event in the life of Jesus occurred during one of Israel’s seven feasts.4

The seven feasts were instituted to teach the children of Israel important lessons.  The Lord met with His chosen people at appointed times in the past.  Many Christian believers are convinced that God will continue to do amazing things on those special days that His people have customarily rehearsed and celebrated the feasts and festivals of their God.

Let's take a closer look at the institution of two of those seven feasts, Passover and Tabernacles.

 

PASSOVER

 

Exodus 12:1-7 (The timeframe of this passage is when the Children of Israel were enslaved in Egypt):

The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs.”5

Leviticus 4:4,5: “These are the LORD’s appointed festivals, the sacred assemblies you are to proclaim at their appointed times: The LORD’s Passover begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month.”6

 

Note that since each month in the Hebrew calendar begins with a new moon, the 14th and 15th days of each month will always have a full moon.

 

TABERNACLES

 

Leviticus 23:33-38:

The LORD said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites: ‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month the LORD’s Festival of Tabernacles begins, and it lasts for seven days. The first day is a sacred assembly; do no regular work. For seven days present food offerings to the LORD, and on the eighth day hold a sacred assembly and present a food offering to the LORD. It is the closing special assembly; do no regular work. These are the LORD’s appointed festivals, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies for bringing food offerings to the LORD—the burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings required for each day. These offerings are in addition to those for the LORD’s Sabbaths and in addition to your gifts and whatever you have vowed and all the freewill offerings you give to the LORD.’ ”7

Many of the significant biblical events are noted in terms of dates in the Jewish calendar, or so many days later, etc.  Because most people, Christians included, are not taught to think in terms of the Jewish calendar, we often misinterpret the intended correlations.  It would be very helpful if we were to understand more clearly the relationship and correlation between the two calendar systems.  That knowledge would help us to understand the signs and seasons that are part of scripture.

 

Stay tuned

Please stay with us, as in upcoming issues of our newsletter I hope to include articles dealing with the following topics:

  1. A complete explanation and comparison of the Jewish and Gregorian calendars. 
  2. The astronomical geometry that causes eclipses of the Sun and Moon.  We’ll reference NASA eclipse catalogs for the Gregorian calendar dates of the lunar tetrads (a “tetrad” being defined as four sequential blood moons).  We’ll also look at a diagram that shows a remarkable symmetry of the events on a timeline, or a calendar showing solar and lunar eclipses during our current eighteen-month period.
  3. Historical incidents coincident with lunar tetrads that have occurred in the past.
  4. Examination of an astronomer's article addressing the lunar tetrads of 2014 and 2015.

1 Biblical Studies Press. (2006). The NET Bible First Edition (Ge 1:14–16). Biblical Studies Press.

2 The Holy Bible: New International Version. (1984). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

3 Hayford, J. W., Thomas Nelson Publishers (1995); Hayford’s Bible handbook, Nashville, TN; Atlanta, GA; London; Vancouver: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

4 Ibid.

5 The Holy Bible: New International Version. (1984). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

6 Ibid.

7 Ibid.

Ω

 

Creation Safaris by CSA

2015 Creation Safaris

  • To Be Announced.

Ω

 

You must register for any safari.

For safari details, and to register please visit:

www.csama.org


Astronomy safaris only, call:

(913)-515-6421.

 


Too far away to attend CSA meetings?
Why not attend via audio or video tape?

Attend CSA Meetings by ordering the audio ($5) or video ($13) copy.
A full list of what is available can be found in a link at:
www.csama.org
To order, request by meeting date and topic. Copies of above items may also be borrowed from...

The CSA Lending Library
8904 Mastin
Overland Park, KS 66212
(913) 492-6545


Write or call: CSA
22509 State Line Road
Cleveland, MO 64734
Phone: (816) 618-3610
FAX: (816) 658-3253(FAX only - long distance from the KC metro area)

Help Wanted

CSAMA is seeking an editor for, and contributors to, our newsletter. If you are a born-again Christian, believe the Bible is the infallible word of God, subscribe to the literal 7-day creationist viewpoint, if you have researching and writing skills, and if you have suitable ideas for articles to contribute to our publication and can meet a monthly deadline schedule, please contact the newsletter webmaster via the link at www.csama.org.


You are invited to attend all of the monthly meetings, and as many of the safaris as you can fit into your schedule. Pass the word. Tell your friends and neighbors about CSAMA and our activities. Show them how to subscribe to the CSAMA Newsletter.

Never miss an opportunity to debunk the "millions-of-years" notion that evolutionists insist is necessary for life as we know it.

 

We’d love to hear from you!

 

If you have questions or comments, or if you have suggestions for making our newsletter better, please feel free to contact us. We’ll do our best to respond to every query. THANK YOU!

(Use the editor link on the contact page at www.csama.org.)

 

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