Many years ago the fossil of a strange fish was found on a shore of the Indian Ocean. It was an unusual fossil with a hollow spine and, unlike other fish, had paddle-shaped fins attached to its body by “stubs.” It was given the name coelacanth (pronounced see-la-kanth). After much study scientists decided that this type of fish had been extinct for 30 million years and was the great-grandfather of present-day fish. They thought that the way its fins stuck out so far showed it was about to change to a land animal with legs and arms. Some scientists even said that man was one of its descendants! Other identical fossils were found, but no one ever thought anything resembling this could be alive today. They all thought that it had evolved into other creatures long ago.
Imagine the embarrassment of these “experts” when, in 1938, off the South African coast a live coelacanth was caught. All theories about this “extinct” fish were shown to be wrong, as others were caught and exhibited all over the world. Furthermore, the living ones were exact duplicates of the fossils, with identical fins, tails, etc. They had not evolved, but had continued just as God had made them since the day He created them.
The coelacanth is indeed an unusual fish. The largest one caught weighed 209 pounds and was five feet long, steel-blue in color with heavy scales. Seven paddle-shaped fins stick out like limbs, and it has an extra rudder at the tail. Living in depths of 650-2000 feet, it has been supplied with big, glowing eyes. This fish is just another example of the interesting variety of creatures that God has put on the earth and in the seas.
We can always trust and believe the Bible, the Word of God, in everything that it tells us, and we should reject the incorrect teaching of evolution which denies God’s hand in creation. Those who teach it usually omit the fact that evolution is a theory based on ideas and not on facts. Since they cannot prove those ideas scientifically or in any other way, it is evident that Satan is using evolution to try to take away the truth of the Bible and the knowledge that God is the Creator. The Bible tells us, “By Him were all things created” (Colossians 1:1616For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: (Colossians 1:16)). It also says, with respect to where our hearts should be, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:910).
This is the promise of God for everlasting life. Do you truly believe and accept His Word in your heart? Have you confessed this to others?
MARCH 24, 1996
ML-03/24/1996