John N Clayton Archives

August 11, 2025August 10, 2025

Non-Native Species and the Natural Balance

People often disturb the delicate balance of the natural world by transporting plants, animals, or insects from one region to another, either accidentally or intentionally. When non-native species have no predators to keep them in check, or they outcompete local species for food or space, the natural balance is disrupted. The consequences are often negative.

The list of known cases of destruction caused by non-native species is extensive. Researchers say that introducing outsiders has led to 60% of local bird, mammal, and reptile extinctions. Over the past decade, Florida has spent an estimated six million dollars to control Burmese pythons. These large snakes were brought into the U.S. and sold as pets. When they grew too big to handle, people released them into the Florida Everglades. Without natural enemies in America, these snakes have been preying on local wildlife, including alligators, domestic dogs, cats, and even cattle.

A single Japanese knotweed plant brought into the U.S. can grow rapidly, has no natural predators here, and can crowd out other species, damaging buildings and drainage systems. This plant has appeared in 43 states, including Alaska. Even viruses and bacteria have been introduced from other parts of the world. COVID-19 is one example, but there are lesser-known cases too. For instance, the West Nile virus came into the U.S. from Uganda.

The number of invasive non-native species is huge. It includes Asian carp, parachuting Joro spiders, kudzu, giant hornets, sea lampreys, zebra mussels, South African red weevils, red swamp crayfish, and starlings, among others.

The U.S. government spends over three billion dollars annually on managing invasive species, and more than $150 billion yearly on agricultural damages. Globally, the bill reaches $423 billion. All of this stems from humans acting as poor stewards of the natural resources God has given us.

Reference: The American Legion Magazine for August 2025, pages 20 -26.

August 7, 2025August 6, 2025

Itching and Scratching Design

Summer brings insect bites and chemical irritation from certain plants. Insect bites or touching poison ivy or another irritating plant activate a series of itching and scratching. Why do we scratch? Why does it feel good? And why does scratching sometimes make the problem worse?

When we scratch, we cause an increase in blood flow to the area, which temporarily eases the itching. Scratching causes a mild soreness that distracts us from the itch. It also activates the brain’s reward system—the same system involved in addiction. The brain releases the happiness hormone serotonin, which increases the desire to scratch even more. This can lead to skin damage and inflammation, turning a minor itch into a bigger problem.

Scientists are exploring the complex system of itching and scratching. Although itching is closely related to pain, researchers have discovered cells in the spinal cord that transmit itch signals separately from pain signals. Both pain and itching have beneficial and harmful effects.

The complexity of our bodies shows evidence of design, not accident. Itching and scratching are designed to cause us to react to external attacks on our bodies, removing the effect of irritants and producing new epidermal cells. This is another demonstration of the truth of Psalms 139:14: “I will praise you, God, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful…”

References: Discover magazine for May/June 2025, pages 20 & 21, and the National Institutes of Health.

August 1, 2025July 31, 2025

Toad Churches Are Not the Answer

Americans have come up with some strange ways to replace Christian faith. About 10 years ago, a news story reported that smoking dried secretions from the skin of “trippy toads” (better known as Sonoran Desert toads or Colorado River toads) could produce an intense psychedelic high. To avoid legal issues, people claimed that smoking these dried secretions was an Indigenous religious practice. The truth is that no tribe ever did this, but a market for toad slime grew, putting Sonoran Desert toads on the brink of extinction. Toad churches continue to emerge.

In 2021, a new toad church appeared in Texas, calling itself the Church of Psilomethoxin. They reach out to veterans suffering from PTSD. Like all alternatives for those who reject Christianity, this movement offers no real purpose, only temporary pleasure, and it can cause great harm to both people and toads.

The long-term effects of all drugs are significant. In the 1960s, Timothy Leary promoted LSD and started the Harvard Psilocybin project to support his claims. Forty years later, the disastrous consequences of LSD use are well known. We’re beginning to see the long-term impacts of marijuana, and alcohol remains the most destructive drug mankind has developed.

Rejecting the teachings of Jesus Christ and turning to temporary highs always leads to negative outcomes. Toad churches are just one example among many attempts by skeptics of Christianity to find an alternative.

References: vice.com and wikipedia.org

July 31, 2025July 30, 2025

Cowbird Mystery Solved

Cowbirds are quite unique among birds. A female cowbird lays her eggs in another bird’s nest. The parent birds there raise the cowbird chicks as their own, even if they are smaller than the cowbird. The cowbird mystery is how the bird, raised among a different species, finds a mate.

Recent studies have offered an answer. About a month after hatching, the young cowbird leaves the foster parent’s territory. It then encounters adult cowbirds and instinctively follows them. The foster parent does not help with this process, but their behavior allows cowbirds to reproduce.

The scientific term for the cowbird’s behavior is “brood parasitism.” Although the cowbird mystery may seem like an unusual way to reproduce, it helps maintain balance in the bird world. God’s creation has many mysteries we don’t yet understand, but as we learn more, we see the wisdom behind it. This reminds us of Romans 1:20, which states that we can know there is a God through the things He has made.

Reference: The Week for July 25, 2025, page 21.

July 28, 2025July 27, 2025

Intelligence and Wisdom Are Different

Some of the smartest people in history were not wise. Albert Einstein was very intelligent, but he struggled with simple tasks, such as tying his shoes. He would get lost on his way to his office and couldn’t remember birthdays. In 1952, the prime minister of Israel wanted him to become the country’s new president, but Einstein said he lacked the aptitude or experience to “deal properly with people and to exercise official function.” There is a clear distinction between intelligence and wisdom.

There are many kinds of intelligence, and my son Tim exemplifies this. Tim was mentally challenged based on tests involving normal daily functions. His school placed him in classes for the mentally impaired, but on a verbal test, he scored within the normal range. His ability to hold an intelligent conversation was fairly standard, but his capacity to care for himself was nonexistent.

Being wise is a gift from God and is described in James 3:17: “But the wisdom that comes from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.” James 1:5 says, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all men liberally and does not put conditions on what He gives, and it shall be given to him.”

Proverbs 14:32-35 tells us, “When calamity comes, the wicked are brought down, but even in death the righteous have a refuge. Wisdom reposes in the heart of the discerning, but in the heart of fools she is not known. Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.”

We can’t deny the difference between intelligence and wisdom. Will America survive the leadership of intelligent people who lack biblical wisdom? As our nation drifts away from belief in God, we can find the answer in the lessons of history that we seem to forget.

July 25, 2025July 23, 2025

An Attack on Love

The famous Italian poet Dante Alighieri, writing around the year 1300, wrote that “all of the seven deadly sins are an attack on love. Pride, envy, and anger result from perverted love, sloth from insufficient love, and greed, gluttony, and lust from an excessive love of earthly goods.”

The Bible teaches us that God is love (1 John 4:8), and Jesus instructed that Christians should have a special kind of love, expressed in the Greek word “agape.” Christians should see every human being as worthy of love because they are created in the image of God. Dante’s observation that the things God hates are an attack on love resonates with the current state of the world, as many turn away from God.

The Bible uses various Greek words to describe how God wants us to love. The one Greek word that is NOT used is “eros,” from which our English word “erotic” is derived. Those who reject God often turn to a distorted form of love that is more than destructive. It results in frustration and prevents those involved from experiencing the true joy that God created in physical love.

Other religious systems promote what amounts to an attack on love. Practices such as polygamy, polyandry, incestuous relationships, and pedophilia all lead to abuse and frustration for everyone involved. In Matthew 19:8-9 and Mark 10:5-9, Jesus speaks of the hardness of men’s hearts, which results in women being treated as pawns and obstructs God’s plan for the nuclear family.

Hard-heartedness fosters greed, war, violence, and abuse. Ultimately, political systems that endorse such behavior will collapse. You either learn from history or repeat it. The question is, what will happen to America as atheism, naturalism, and secularism replace the teachings of Christ, and as the sins God hates bear their bitter fruit? Only time will tell.

Reference: Power for Today for September 12, 2025, by Andy Wall and Wikipedia.

July 21, 2025July 20, 2025

Trial of the Century?

In July 1925, what is known as the “Scopes Monkey Trial” was held in Dayton, Tennessee. Now, 100 years later, the battle over evolution continues. USA TODAY ran a 12-page special edition on July 13, 2025, giving an excellent historical exposé and claiming that what was at stake was “modern science versus religion.” The article also addresses current issues, including the representation of LGBTQ+ books in schools today. The paper claims that the so-called “trial of the century” was America’s first major culture war battle.

In an era when American education is undergoing massive change, there are many questions: Do schools have the right to ban certain books? Who should write the curriculum? Can the Bible be displayed in public schools? Should school prayer be allowed? Are vouchers the answer for school choice? Should schools be involved in sex education? Should the 10 commandments be displayed? Should schools have chaplains? These issues are being battled in courts, school board meetings, PTA presentations, and churches.

Many churches have established their own schools, and private schools are increasingly replacing public schools in various locations. One side effect is that money and teachers are being pulled away from the public schools. How do you teach a lab course when you have no funds to purchase equipment for students to use?

The sad part of all of this is that most of the conflict is unnecessary. The “Does God Exist?” ministry is based on the simple fact that science and faith are friends, not enemies. Modern science may disagree with some denominational teachings, but it does not contradict the Bible. If you read the Bible carefully, you will see that it consistently deals with evidence. Science is knowledge, and if God is the source of knowledge, the two MUST BE SYMBIOTIC – mutually supportive of each other.

The Scopes “trial of the century” centered on the topic of evolution. It is foolish to think that change does not occur in living things. How many different breeds of dogs, cats, chickens, cattle, and corn exist today? How did they come into being? The answer is “evolution,” but this was guided evolution. This is not to be confused with naturalism, which holds that blind chance can explain all that we observe in the natural world. Evolution is simply unfolding change, and it is undeniable, as evidenced by adaptive changes within species.

We urge our readers to go to our website doesgodexist.org or watch our video series on doesgodexist.tv for more information. Enroll in our correspondence course or read our free books. None of this requires any money – it is all free. It is essential to understand why you believe what you believe and be able to support it with evidence. We are here to help as you wade through the “trial of the century” media presentations.

July 15, 2025July 14, 2025

Radical Sea Level Changes

Scientific American magazine reported that if the entire Greenland ice sheet melted, global sea levels would rise by 24 feet. The article clarified by saying, “The sheet won’t melt all at once, of course…” What articles like this fail to convey is that Earth has experienced radical sea level changes throughout both geologic and human history.

Geologic history shows marine deposits in places you wouldn’t expect. When I taught earth science, I took my classes to Thornton Reef on the south edge of Chicago, Illinois. I am told that the gravel pit now occupying the reef is the largest in the United States. On one trip there, a student found the tube of a cephalopod, an ancient giant octopus-like creature. Clam shells, snail shells, and brachiopods filled buckets that my students took home. This reef is similar to modern ocean reefs, except it winds through the south side of Chicago with a major interstate highway running right through it.

Other examples of historic radical sea level changes are abundant. Oolitic limestone in southern Indiana consists of tiny ocean creatures called oolites. The limestone in the Grand Canyon contains marine deposits. On the other end of the scale, canyons are cut into continental shelves along the U.S. East Coast of the United States. Those canyons were cut when the shelf was out of water. Scuba divers have reported signs of ancient human-made structures and fire pits in those canyons.

Was the Red Sea at the same level when Moses led the Israelites across? Are people searching for Egyptian armor and chariot remains in the wrong spots? The “Sea of Reeds” was likely dry land at that time, so efforts there are probably doomed to fail. We still have much to learn about climate history, radical sea level changes, and ancient peoples. As our technology improves, discoveries will increase, and we look forward to uncovering more evidence of Earth’s history.

Reference: “Greenland’s Frozen Secret” in the July/August 2025 issue of Scientific American, pages 26-36.

John Cooper explores dry land evidence for the credibility of the biblical account in a series of videos produced by Does God Exist?

July 11, 2025July 8, 2025

The Evolution of the Bobtail Squid

Since the Scopes trial took place 100 years ago, numerous books and articles have been written in scientific journals, popular media, and other outlets regarding evolution and the biblical concept of God’s creation. We have attempted to clarify that the word “evolution” refers to an unfolding change and that it is a design feature of life on Earth. We have also pointed out that many features of living things are so complex that evolution cannot provide a reasonable explanation for their emergence through unguided gradualism. Today, we consider the evolution of the bobtail squid.

We are familiar with large animals, but often remain unaware of the intricate designs of smaller creatures that are essential for the natural world to exist. An example of this is the bobtail squid, a small creature in the coastal waters of most of the world’s oceans. They rarely reach three inches long but have eight sucker arms and two tentacles. They swim by using fins or by jet propulsion.

Bobtail Squid have a symbiotic relationship with bioluminescent bacteria. The squid supplies a sugar and amino acid solution to the bacteria, which emit light that hides the squid from predators below. Are the bobtail squid a special creation of God, or are they a product of evolution? The answer is that they are a product of unfolding change from cuttlefish.

Bobtail squid are classified in the class of cephalopods, sharing a subclass with squid and cuttlefish. Unlike modern taxonomic rankings, the groupings of animals in the Bible are very broad. Birds, for example, are just identified as fowl that fly, not robins, crows, sparrows, hawks, etc. Flightless birds such as penguins and ostriches have evolved through unfolding change over time. The waters bringing forth “every living thing with which the water teems” is another broad example from the Bible.

Humans benefit by learning about the interactions of living things on Earth. The evolution of the bobtail squid is an excellent example of what we can learn from God’s creatures and their history. God saw that His creation was “good” (Genesis 1:10, 12, 18, 21, and 25), but after He created the first humans, He declared it “very good” (Genesis 1:31). We can rejoice that we are the product of that goodness.

Reference: Wikipedia