Are Bats Birds?
EDITOR'S LETTER
As a preacher, one of the thoughts that sometimes goes through my mind after preaching a sermon is “Oh no, I didn’t get to say that!” There may have been something I planned to say and really wanted to say, but as I reflected on the sermon afterwards, I came to the realisation that I hadn’t spoken that thing. This happened even before I left the pulpit at the conclusion of the final hymn on the last occasion when I preached.
Here is something I wanted to share regarding faith in God.
The Heidelberg Catechism gives a very good definition of faith in question 21:
“True faith is a sure knowledge whereby I accept as true all that God has revealed to us in His word. At the same time it is a firm confidence that not only to others, but also to me, God has granted forgiveness of sins, everlasting righteousness, and salvation, out of mere grace, only for the sake of Christ’s merits. This faith the Holy Spirit works in my heart by the gospel.”
What a great definition of faith!
Firstly, you must believe that all that is written in the Bible is true because it is the word of the only God, who cannot lie. Don’t worry about what scientists or people of our modern world say. Their opinions constantly change and conflict with each other. God’s word is truth and does not change. This is what you must believe as truth.
“Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law”
Secondly, you must have a firm confidence and assurance in the promises of God. This includes the great promise that your sins are forgiven by the grace of God based on Christ’s death for you. The Bible constantly speaks about truths such as “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). It declares that sinners are redeemed by “the precious blood of Christ… who was foreordained before the foundation of the world” (1 Peter 1:19, 20).
Sinners are saved by faith in God, not their own good works. How clearly Paul said it throughout the book of Romans with words such as these: “The just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17), “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law” (Romans 3:28), and, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God though our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1).
Are Bats Birds?
“The official winner of Bird of the Year has been announced – and it’s not a bird. The long-tailed bat beat all the feathered front runners with a commanding lead.” These words were published in The New Zealand Herald on 1 November 2021.
Source: Trevor Gerzen, Unsplash
It was true that the long-tailed bat was voted New Zealand Bird of the Year in 2021, the first year that it was included among the options people could vote for. However, should you believe the statement that a bat is not a bird? Most people would agree with The New Zealand Herald, and most other media agencies were also reporting that the winner was a mammal, not a bird. Even Forest and Bird, which organises the voting competition, said that they included bats because “they face a lot of the same threats that our native birds do,” and to “get more people aware of bats and the threats they face.” It was not because they considered bats as birds.
For most of history, people believed that bats were birds. It was not until the 18th century, when Carolus Linnaeus came up with the classification “mammal” and stated that bats were mammals, not birds, that people started saying that bats were not birds. So who is right? People of the modern day living in an age of supposedly increasing knowledge, or most of the people who have lived on the face of the earth?
To find the answer, you must not do an internet search, but go to the Bible and see what God says. There are three divisions of animals in the creation account of Genesis 1; animals that live in the waters, winged birds, and beasts of the earth that creep on the earth (Genesis 1:20-25). Animals living in the waters and birds were created on day five, and land animals were created on day six. A distinguishing feature of birds is that they have wings. Bats have wings and were created on day five.
Source: Unsplash
It is dangerous to base a belief on just one Scripture passage alone. Thankfully, the Bible gives us further insight in other passages. Leviticus 11 is a chapter about animals. God divided animals into clean and unclean animals, and listed animals which the Israelites were permitted to eat and which they were not to eat. These were classified according to their kinds. Verse 13 begins, “And these you shall regard as an abomination among the birds: they shall not be eaten.” A list is given from verses 13-19, and you will find the bat at the end of the list. Flying insects are another division, from verses 21-23. You do not find bats in that list. Similarly, in Deuteronomy 14:11-20, bats are listed in the category of birds.
These passages make it clear that God considers bats as birds. Forest and Bird were right when they included bats in their Bird of the Year competition. What a pity that they didn’t do so based on the belief that bats are birds!
Yes, bats do fit into the man-made classification of mammals because they give birth to live young and have a jawbone with sharp teeth. They also do not fit into the man-made classification of birds because they do not lay eggs and do not have feathers or a beak. So what is the best way to classify bats? I would rather stick with belief in what God says in the Bible, where He states that bats are birds. After all, you must seek wisdom primarily from God and not conform to the standards of this world whenever they contradict what God has revealed in His word.
God Sees All Things
Source: Javier Esteban, Unsplash
Proverbs 15:3 tells us, “The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.” This means that God can see all things, and nothing can ever be hidden from Him. No one can hide from the all-seeing eye of God.
Some years ago, a missionary went to Africa to teach the people about the Lord. As he had to build houses and grow his own vegetables, he hired some local men to work for him. He soon found that they only worked while he was watching them, and as soon as he went away, they all sat down under a shady tree and had a sleep.
On one occasion, the missionary was going away for a while and he wanted the men to do some work. He planned how he could get them to work while he was not looking. The missionary had a glass eye. He took out the eye and placed it on the top of a post, and said to the natives, “I am going to leave my eye here to watch you all, to see if you work while I am away.” The missionary then went away.
For a while, the men worked well. They would look up and see the eye on the post and think it was watching them. Soon, however, one man thought of an idea to stop the eye watching them. He took a hat, and crept around behind the post, and quickly put the hat over the eye. The workers were all very pleased with what he had done and they all sat down under a tree and did not work. When the missionary returned home, he found all the men idle, and a hat covering his glass eye.
Some people think that they can do things which God does not see. They act in the dark or in secret. But God’s eyes can see as well in the night as in the brightest day. There never has been any deed done in all the history of the world that God did not see. He sees everything. “The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry” (Psalm 34:15).
(From “The Shark’s Secret and 50 other stories”
By R. Cameron-Smith)
What Happened in April?
Click the different dates to find out historical Christian events that happened in the month of April. These are listed in chronological order by year.
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John Calvin and William Farel were banished from Geneva in Switzerland because the citizens were not ready to live according to the strict moral code which they implemented. The day, before they had refused to let the people partake of the Lord’s Supper because they said the city was too full of wickedness. Three years later, John Calvin was recalled to Geneva.
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Philip Melanchthon died in Germany, aged 63. He assisted Martin Luther in the Reformation of the church in Germany, and continued it after Martin Luther’s death. He was also the principal author of the Augsburg Confession.
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Adoniram Judson died on board a ship in the Bay of Bengal, aged 60. He was one of the first missionaries to Burma, translated the Bible into the Burmese language and established many Baptist churches.
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John Paton and Joseph Copeland left Scotland to begin mission work in the New Hebrides, now called Vanuatu.
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Wilbur Wright was born in the United States of America. He and his brother Orville were Christians and the first people in the world to officially fly an aeroplane.
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Corrie ten Boom was born in the Netherlands. She was a Christian who was the first woman to be licensed as a watchmaker in the Netherlands. She helped many Jewish people escape from the Nazis during World War II until she was arrested and sent to a concentration camp. You can read about her life and her trust in God in her autobiography ‘The Hiding Place’.
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Michael Jones was born in Auckland, New Zealand. He played rugby for Auckland and the All Blacks, but refused to play on Sundays because of his Christian belief that the day must be kept holy for God.
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Corrie ten Boom died in the United States of America, exactly 91 years after she was born.
Hymn - Praise to the Lord, the Almighty
1. Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!
O my soul, praise Him for He is thy health and salvation!
All ye who hear,
Now to His temple draw near,
Join me in glad adoration.
2. Praise to the Lord, Who o’er all things so wondrously reigneth,
Shelters thee under His wings, yea, so gently sustaineth:
Hast thou not seen?
How thy desires e’er have been
Granted in what He ordaineth.
3. Praise to the Lord, Who doth prosper thy work and defend thee!
Surely His goodness and mercy here daily attend thee;
Ponder anew,
What the Almighty will do,
If with His love He befriend thee!
4. Praise thou the Lord, Who with marvellous wisdom hath made thee!
Decked thee with health, and with loving hand guided and stayed thee;
How oft in grief
Hath not He brought thee relief,
Spreading His wings to o’ershade thee!
5. Praise to the Lord! O let all that is in me adore Him!
All that hath life and breath, come now with praises before Him!
Let the Amen
Sound from His people again;
Gladly for aye we adore Him.
By Joachim Neander, 1650-1680
Translated by Catherine Winkworth 1829-1878
The Story Behind the Hymn
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Joachim Neander was born and lived in Germany. As you may have noticed from the years given after his name at the bottom of the hymn, he only lived for thirty years.
Both his father and his grandfather were ministers in the Lutheran church, which was strong in Germany at that time, just over one hundred years after it was founded by Martin Luther. Despite this, Joachim Neander did not live a godly life in his youth by following their example. He did not often go to church, and was more concerned about sinful, worldly living than living to glorify God.
When he was twenty years old, he went to hear a preacher, not with the intention of his life being changed, but to ridicule him. You may have heard the hymn that begins with the words, “God works in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform.” That is exactly what God did on this occasion, because Joachim Neander actually listened to the sermon, and God used it to turn his life around so that he was converted.
Four years later, he became the principal of a school, and continued there until he was removed from the position because the authorities did not approve of his strong Christian beliefs and practices.
While at the school, he wrote many hymns, and continued to write hymns after leaving the school as he spent time wandering through the valleys and even dwelling in a cave for a time. This reminds me of another great songwriter, the psalmist David.
This hymn is his most well-known in the English language. It is a hymn full of praise that calls us to give praise to the Lord. This hymn has many similarities with the psalms of the Bible. It begins with a call to praise the Lord, as so many do, and then calls others to join in this praise of God (Psalm 34:3). Key attributes of God are mentioned (He is the almighty, the King of creation) and then reasons given (He is thy health and salvation) in the opening verse.
The opening lines of verses 2-4 focus on the mighty works that God does. The second half of each verse calls you to think about the Lord’s work in your own life and reflect on His goodness toward you.
Verse 5 appropriately ends on a high note with a big call for all people to adore the Lord. He is worthy of your praise. Make sure you acknowledge His exceeding greatness and goodness in His works toward you, and join with all the saints in singing His praises from your heart.
We hope you enjoyed the excerpts from this month’s volume of The Christian Informer.
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