John N Clayton Archives

January 4, 2021January 1, 2021

Life Chemicals in Space

On September 28, 1969, a meteorite fell near Murchison, Victoria, Australia. When scientists studied the meteorite, they found amino acids, which are the basic building blocks of proteins. In 1971, researchers reported that the Murchison meteorite’s amino acids were primarily glycine. Recent studies of the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko have also detected glycine. Other studies of space materials have revealed that nucleobases and sugars exist in outer space. These studies indicate that there are life chemicals in space, but it is essential to understand that these compounds are not life.

The media has used headlines to suggest that science has found life in outer space. That is not the case. We have learned that there are life chemicals in space, but not life. These compounds are the key components of DNA and RNA, and that means that if there is life elsewhere, it will be made of the same stuff that we are made of. Claims of exotic forms of life existing all over the cosmos are exaggerations and not supported by the evidence. However, it is possible that God has not limited life to planet Earth. To travel throughout the cosmos, we may need to use the life chemicals available in space.

When Jesus gave the Great Commission, He said to take the gospel to the “kosmos.” From that Greek word, we get the English word “cosmos.” Carl Sagan said, “The Cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be.” You can find “kosmos” used in Matthew 24:21 and 25:34 and Mark 14:9 and 16:15. The Greek word “aion” is used elsewhere in Matthew, Mark, and Luke when referring to a habitable planet.

Jesus said to preach the gospel to every creature wherever they can be found. If I were to meet a sentient alien life form that could understand my speech, I would want to tell them about Jesus Christ. Hearing Christ’s teaching and the wisdom and power of God would improve the existence of any being who heard it.

Reference: Science News December 5, 2020.

January 3, 2021January 5, 2021

“Truth In Nature” by Don Betts

One of our readers wrote the following poem and sent it to us. We share it with you to show one person’s evaluation of this ministry. The title is “Truth in Nature” by Don Betts.

Does God Exist? Of course, He does!
My brother John says so.
He digs deep for evidence,
So you and I may know
That God in all His glory lives.
His sign is everywhere
Extant in oh, so many things,
Wonders made for us to share.

John’s compiled a Dandy List,
Designs in nature meant to be
Proof in things that now exist
In which God’s face we see.
The truth of His existence
Is everywhere we look,
And our hope lies in persistence
Worded in His Holy Book!

Yes, we can find truth in nature as we see God’s design.

January 2, 2021January 2, 2021

New Year Pagan Beliefs and Superstitions

As we begin a new year, we realize that many of our 21st-century traditions are rooted in new year pagan beliefs and superstitions about animals.

January gets its name from the Roman god Janus – the protector of gates and doorways. A tradition arose to drive away the forces of darkness by making noise. In Thailand, people fire guns. In China, they set off fireworks. In Switzerland, people beat drums, and in Italy, they ring church bells. In the early American colonies, people fired guns to drive away evil spirits. Today, people use party horns and sirens.

February comes from the Latin word “februa,” meaning to cleanse. The name originated in the Roman celebration Februalia, a month-long festival of purification and atonement. February’s most interesting tradition is on February 2, Groundhog Day, which falls on the midpoint between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. For centuries, farmers in France and England looked to a bear to indicate if there would be more winter weather. In Germany, a badger told farmers if winter was ending, so they knew when to plant and hire laborers.

When German immigrants came to Pennsylvania in the 1800s, they brought this tradition with them. There were no badgers in Pennsylvania, so they substituted a groundhog. In 1887, the people of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, invented Punxatawney Phil to predict the seasonal change. Other towns have adopted their own groundhog traditions, such as Wiarton Willie in Wiarton, Ontario. Studies have shown no consistent correlation between the predictions of the groundhogs and the arrival of spring weather.

I have a farmer friend who swears he can tell how bad winter will be by looking at the caterpillars in his garden. I have seen energy-charged debates about whether animal behavior can predict the weather. So many variables control climate that humans will always have problems trying to predict when spring will arrive and when to plant crops.

New year pagan beliefs and superstitions involving animals are not dependable. One thing that is always right and never misleading is the teaching of Jesus Christ. When you read Matthew 5 – 7, you will find principles that are true and unchanging. Trust God’s Word to guide your life, and realize that the physical world in which we live will always be unpredictable. Any human attempts to predict the future will always be prone to error.

Some of this data came from The Old Farmers Almanac at Almanac.com/Store.

December 31, 2020December 30, 2020

Resolutions and Priorities for 2021

If you are reading this or having it read to you, it appears that you have survived the year 2020. As we come to a New Year, we all need to make some resolutions and priorities for 2021. The Bible makes some statements about life and priorities that we need to think about at the start of this new year. Here are some suggestions:

#1) BE CAREFUL WITH WHOM YOU SPEND YOUR TIME. Psalms 84:10 says it well: “I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of the wicked.” How much time do we spend with people who have nothing to offer us but profanity, dirty jokes and stories, and an obsession with pleasure? We are sometimes forced to endure these folks at work, but it is our choice elsewhere. Make this part of your resolutions and priorities for 2021.

#2) SPEND SOME TIME WORKING ON CONTENTMENT. The Apostle Paul has much to say about contentment in 1 Timothy 6:6-12. Remember that in Philippians 4:11-13, Paul tells us how he LEARNED to be content in life no matter the situation. Being content is something you learn to do, and not learning to be content can result in sorrows of all kinds.

Paul tells us in 1 Timothy 6 to remember that we brought nothing into this world, and we will take nothing out. He says WANTING to be rich is a snare, and he follows that by saying, “the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.” He doesn’t say that money is evil or that being rich is wrong. There are people in the Bible who were rich and who used their riches in a way that brought them contentment. (See Luke 8:1-3, 23:50-54, John 19:38, and Acts 16:14, 15.) Longing to be rich and the love of money can destroy us. It is no mystery why the suicide rate of famous rich people is so high.

What will make you content? How much do you aim your energy at being rich? Resolve to be satisfied with what you have and work at it through your faith.

#3) PRIORITIZE YOUR LIST OF RESOLUTIONS. Not everything you need to get done in 2021 is of equal importance. The Bible makes it clear that putting God first in your life should be your first priority. If you don’t believe in God or have huge doubts, resolve to change that through our video series (available free on doesgodexist.tv). Please send any questions to me at jncdge@aol.com. After God, put your family next on your list.

I have found it helpful to have two resolution lists – one physical and one spiritual. On the physical list, I place things like jobs I need to do around the house and health and recreational goals. On the spiritual list are things like improving quiet time with God and His Word both in amount and in quality. Doing the things that Jesus lists in Matthew 25:34-40 should be on your spiritual resolution list. Spending more time with those who are a part of God’s kingdom and finding positive entertainment also should be high on the list.

Your resolutions and priorities for 2021 can make it a year in which you find contentment. Follow God’s advice, and you will see that it works.

December 30, 2020December 29, 2020

World’s Only Poisonous Rodent

An exciting area of study is the way various animals protect themselves against would-be predators. We find one of the most unusual methods in the African crested rat (Lophiomys imhausi), also known as the maned rat. It’s the world’s only poisonous rodent.

Crested rats have a white-bordered mane that extends from the top of the head to the base of the tail. Their body can be up to 14 inches (360 mm) long, or 21 inches (530 mm) if you include the tail. They would make a very nice meal for a wild dog or hyena if they didn’t have a poison defense system.

Crested rats chew the bark of the poison arrow tree (Acokanthera schimperi). They spit out the chewed matter and rub it on the coarse fur of their mane. When threatened, the rat’s mane stands erect, so the poison is the first thing a predator will contact. The toxin is strong enough to kill a wild dog or hyena.

Researchers studying crested rats report that their behavior demonstrates that they are aware of their poisonous nature. It seems to be built into the DNA of these animals to know how to secure the toxin. Animals such as skunks produce their own noxious chemicals for defense, but they are not poisonous. Scientists have not found any other mammal that collects poison from a plant species and stores it for protection. Crested rats depend on the poison arrow tree and don’t seem to be harmed by the poison.

How does the world’s only poisonous rodent develop such a tool for survival? We see God’s design over and over in animal behavior and the tools that they know how to use.

December 29, 2020January 3, 2021

Understanding Proteins and How They Are Made

How does insulin control blood sugar levels? How do antibodies fight coronaviruses? Questions like these have been at the frontier of biochemical research for as long as we have known there were such things as proteins. Understanding proteins and how they are made is a challenge that continues to be the focal point of a great deal of work.

The human body contains at least 20,000 different proteins, and their shapes are controlled by how their component amino acids are twisted and folded. In the medical field, the importance of understanding proteins is enormous. Not understanding proteins and how they are made would be like trying to fix a car engine when you don’t know how it works or how it was put together.

The Week for December 18, 2020, quotes Janet Thornton of the European Bioinformatics Institute, saying, “This is a problem that I was beginning to think would not be solved in my lifetime.” What has changed is that computers can do in hours what would take a human years to solve. Scientists have analyzed protein structures for malaria, sleeping sickness, and leishmaniasis (a disease caused by parasites) to find new methods of treating those diseases.

Amino acids are the basic building blocks of life, and we know that they exist in outer space and can be produced in the laboratory. Using these building blocks to make proteins that govern how life works is extremely complex. The amino acids bend and fold in origami-like structures to make proteins. To suggest that proteins can result from some chance process of organic evolution is stretching credibility to the breaking point.

Genesis gives us the simple statement, “And God said ‘It is good.’” As biochemistry begins understanding proteins and how they are made, we see how complex God’s creation is. Those simple words wonderfully describe what we are starting to understanding as a work of incredible intelligence and design.

December 28, 2020December 27, 2020

Behavior Has Consequences

There are many long-term consequences for the things we do in life. In the Old Testament, we see a constant principle at work, that when humans engaged in things contrary to God’s will, there were ultimate harmful consequences. Moses said it concisely in Numbers 32:23: “… you have sinned against the Lord: and be sure your sin will find you out.” Our behavior has consequences.

Many times, the Old Testament tells about long-lasting consequences because someone sinned. David’s family suffered for years because of His sin with Bathsheba. Unfortunately, innocent people can be afflicted because of the sins of someone who lived long before them. The COVID pandemic has taken place mainly because people failed to follow good health practices and the medical establishment’s advice. I have personally seen that play out in the life of my son, Timothy.

Tim lived in a group home with two other men who, like him, were afflicted with past medical problems. The organization running the home took care of the men, providing meals, laundry, bathing, and medical care. Tim suffered blindness, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, schizophrenia, and mental disability, but all of those conditions had been static for years.

In early November, one of the caregivers tested positive for the virus, and two weeks later, Tim became ill and tested positive. His condition deteriorated rapidly, and he was hospitalized. After a week of treatment, including being on a respirator, Tim was released from the hospital and sent back to his apartment. The COVID virus had weakened him to the point where he could not take care of himself. He had to be fed, and he couldn’t dress himself or go to the bathroom on his own. His speech had deteriorated to the point where it was almost impossible to understand him.

After two weeks of attempts to help him resume some of the normal self-care, it became clear that he was progressively weakening and had to go back to the hospital. This time he didn’t have the COVID virus, but it had catalyzed the muscular dystrophy and cerebral palsy, and he was in serious trouble. At this writing, Tim is in a nursing home where he spent Christmas, unable to sit up or eat any food that is not pureed. Tim is an innocent victim of the mistakes others have made and evidence that behavior has consequences.

It’s a mistake to believe that if I don’t see immediate negative consequences of my actions, they must be okay. That applies in all areas—not just COVID-19. We see it in decisions involving child-raising, marriage, sexual relationships, money management, and social relationships. James says it well when he reminds us that our lives are but a vapor lasting only for a very short time. (See James 4:13-17.) We need to be consistent in conduct, conforming to the lifestyle to which God calls us. Because behavior has consequences, failure to do so results in problems for ourselves and others.

December 27, 2020December 26, 2020

Help to Keep Us Humble

Occasionally our readers send us poems and articles. Larry Fischer sent me this one, which I feel can help to keep us humble. No matter how good we are at what we do, anything we do as humans is pretty insignificant compared to God. Being humble is an attribute that every Christian should have. Perhaps this poem can help:

Sometime when you’re feeling important
Sometime when your ego’s in bloom
Sometime when you take it for granted
You’re the best qualified in the room.
Sometime when you feel that your going
Would leave an unfillable hole
Just follow these simple instructions
And see how they humble your soul.
Take a bucket and fill it with water,
Put your hand in it up to the wrist,
Pull it out, and the hole that’s remaining
Is a measure of how you’ll be missed.
You can splash all you want when you enter,
You may stir up the water galore,
But stop, and you’ll find that in no time
It looks quite the same as before.
The moral of this quaint example
Is do just the best that you can,
Be proud of yourself but remember,
There’s no indispensable man.

First Peter 5:5-6 says it well: “All of you should be subject to each other and be clothed with humility, for God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you in due time.”

When we feel pride welling up, we should ask the Lord for help to keep us humble.

December 25, 2020December 24, 2020

Gifts of the Magi

There has been a great deal of confusion about the magi’s visit to the Christ child. Not only are there differences of opinion about who the magi were, but even their gifts have been misunderstood. Atheists have claimed that the whole story is nonsense because Mary and Joseph could make so much money from the gifts of the magi that Joseph wouldn’t have to work as a carpenter. We assume that whatever value the gifts had would have helped support the family during their sojourn in Egypt.

At the time of Christ, these gifts were quite expensive. Today on Amazon, you can buy frankincense resin for $16 a pound and myrrh resin from $16 to 36 a pound. On the other hand, the price of gold is approaching $2,000 an ounce. But the value of the gifts of the magi was not primarily financial.

Frankincense and myrrh are resins extracted from wounds in the bark of trees that grow in northeast Africa and southern Arabia. Frankincense was used to soothe the gums and to treat respiratory problems, skin infections, and bruises. Modern researchers have found that frankincense has antiseptic, antifungal, and anti-inflammatory properties. It also contains flavonoids that cause the lungs’ bronchia to dilate, helping with breathing problems. But frankincense was, and still is, burned in the worship of deity. For that reason, it seems to be an appropriate gift for the Christ child.

People used myrrh as an anesthetic. Soldiers gave Jesus “wine mingled with myrrh” during His crucifixion to relieve His suffering. He rejected the offering. Modem research has shown that myrrh can lower cholesterol levels, and it has been used to treat heart disease. A side effect of myrrh is that it stimulates the thyroid resulting in accelerated metabolism. Myrrh was used to embalm royal mummies like King Tutankhamen. The Jews also used it for embalming bodies for burial. The gift of myrrh hints at the death of Christ.

Even gold was valued for medical uses and not just business transactions. Roman doctors prescribed gold dissolved in acid to cure appendicitis. Today the drug auranofin is a gold salt listed by the World Health Organization to treat rheumatoid arthritis. But gold was and is associated with kings and crowns. This gift from the magi indicates a kingly future for Jesus.

The point of all this is that the expensive gifts of the magi had symbolic meaning. They were foreshadowing the death of Jesus, but also his deity and kingship. We know very little about the magi except that they came to worship the Christ child. Their gifts honored the one who was God in the flesh and who would eventually die to redeem all who would accept Him as their King.

December 24, 2020December 24, 2020

Accounts of Jesus’ Birth and their Differences

One interesting area of study is the difference in the accounts of Jesus’ birth, as described by Matthew and Luke. The reason that the two versions are different is that they were written for different audiences. Matthew was a Jew, and he presents Jesus as the New Moses. Consider the parallels:

1) In Genesis 37:5-9, 28, Joseph was taken to Egypt because of his dreams, which ultimately led to deliverance by Moses. In Matthew 1:20-23, 2:13, and 2:19-20, Joseph takes his family to Egypt because of his dreams.

2) Joseph is the son of Jacob in Genesis 37:1-3. Jesus’ father, Joseph, is the son of Jacob Matthew 1:16.

3) The Pharaoh of Egypt orders the killing of male Hebrew babies before the exodus in Exodus 1:15-16. Herod the Great orders the killing of Hebrew boy babies in Bethlehem in Matthew 2:16.

4) Joseph sends for his family to come to the land of Goshen to survive a famine and set the stage for their deliverance. In Matthew 2:13-14, Joseph takes his family to Egypt to save the child, Jesus.

5) Moses led the Hebrew people out of bondage in Egypt to the land God promised Abraham in Exodus 14, Deuteronomy 34, and Genesis 17:6. Jesus returned from Egypt to live in Nazareth in Matthew 2:19-23.

Matthew is a Jew writing for a Jewish audience and showing that Jesus had significance for the Jews and the gentiles. Luke is a Greek and is writing for a Gentile audience. Luke begins by relating Jesus to John the Baptist, with John being the herald of Jesus in Luke 1:76-77. In 2:1-5, Luke tells us about the census under Quirinius to explain how Jesus came to be born in Bethlehem. Luke then presents a different emphasis than Matthew:

1) Angels take the news of the birth of Jesus to the shepherds in Luke 2:8-12.

2) Angels participate in heaven’s jubilation in Luke 2:13-14.

3) The shepherds visit the family and are the first evangelists in Luke 2:16-18.

4) Jesus is taken to Jerusalem and presented at the temple. There He is proclaimed “a light for the Gentiles and a glory for Israel” in Luke 2:28-32.

5) The childhood of Jesus at the age of 12 returning to Jerusalem in Luke 2:40-52. The re-connection with his cousin, John, in Luke 3.

The two accounts of Jesus’ birth remarkably complement each other. Those who try to find contradictions between Matthew and Luke are not considering who wrote the accounts, to whom they were directed, why they were written, and how the readers would understand them. The gospels of Mark and John were written for different purposes and do not tell about the birth of Jesus.

Much of the Christmas narrative we hear at this time of year is not even in the Bible, and it is speculation about what might have happened. Reread the accounts, thinking about the purpose of the narratives and to whom they were written. You grow when you stick to the accounts of Jesus’ birth in the Bible and ignore the later embellishments.