AUTOTHYSIS—SUICIDE AS A DEFENCE STRATEGY

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Article by Grant Williams, B.A., M.Ed in Creation Magazine Vol 48, Issue 1. 2026

Imagine a creature so committed to protecting its colony that it quite literally explodes to save others. This is not science fiction. It is a real biological phenomenon known as autothysis. Derived from the Classical Greek avtós/autos (self) and Ovoía/thysia (sacrifice or offering), autothysis is the astonishing process where an organism ruptures its own body, often fatally. It does this to release a sticky, toxic, or corrosive substance that repels or kills predators. This act of apparent biological martyrdom is not only dramatic, it is also uniquely purposeful.

Autothysis is a remarkable act of self-sacrifice seen in some social insects like ants and termites, where individuals explode to defend their colony. These creatures trigger a bodily rupture, often causing special glands to release defensive chemicals that entangle, repel, or kill attackers. These behaviours are not random. They generally involve specialized glands, such as enlarged mandibular glands (associated with the lower jaw) in some species, or modified salivary glands in others. They also involve precise muscular contractions and behaviours triggered by specific threats.

Creatures that commit autothysis

There are several species in both the termite and ant orders that use this defensive mechanism. These include:

Globitermes sulphureus: The soldiers of this Southeast Asian termite (also known as the yellow-glanded termite) can store gummy yellow secretions in their enlarged mandibular glands. When these soldiers explode via autothysis, the released material coats intruders and often effectively seals any breach in the nest wall. 

Colobopsis saundersi: This Southeast Asian carpenter ant species, commonly known as the Malaysian exploding ant, is the one in which the phenomenon of autothysis was first discovered (when it was still genus Camponotus). The secretions released by the exploding workers (ants have no soldier caste) not only trap and deter intruders, they can also help seal breaches in the nest.

Neocapritermes taracua: This termite species, found in French Guiana (South America), utilizes older workers for defence. These workers develop copper rich blue crystals in specialized dorsal pouches resembling ‘backpacks’. Upon autothysis, the crystals mix with secretions from their labial (another type of salivary) glands. This produces a highly toxic chemical reaction, effectively turning the termite into a ‘2-pack’ chemical weapon that kills or incapacitates invaders.

Grigiotermes and Ruptitermes: These two termite genera are primarily found in South America. The workers (there is no soldier caste) perform autothysis. Their toxic, sticky defensive secretions, which dry quickly, rapidly entangle and immobilize attackers. These secretions are stored in frontal glands, which are glands near the head specialized for this purpose.

What does this reveal about our Creator who was prepared to sacrifice Himself for the creatures He made in His own image.

CHRISTIANS TARGETED IN AFRICA

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Media and global elites ‘allow new Islamist CALIPHATE’ in Africa as Christians wiped out. The media and the Nigerian government are engaged in a ‘fake news cover up’ over denials there is a systematic slaughter of Christians in the country, according to Dave Miers. As the death toll mounts and displacement reaches 16 million people, the Pastor has contacts on the ground who are routinely victim to Islamist attacks he believes are part of a determined effort to form an Africa-wide Islamic caliphate.

The Islamists are aiming for Africa to be the next Islamic Caliphate.

THE AUTHORITY AND INERRANCY OF SCRIPTURE

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The Christian church has historically supported ‘young-earth creation’, however, around ad 1800, long age theories crept into secular geology. They denied the global Flood of Genesis a priori by restricting causes to processes happening now. That meant it would take millions of years to form the rocks and fossils. In response, many churches essentially replaced the authority of Scripture with the authority of secular geology.

As a result, God raised up ministries like Creation Ministries International (CMI), http://www.creation.com. The ‘young earth’ position is not their axiom, or starting assumption. Rather, it is a theorem, i.e., something logically deduced from their real axiom: the authority of Scripture. Throughout most of its history, the Church accepted that Scripture was the last word on origins. Thus no Church Father or Reformer taught that Earth was older than a few thousand years.

Sadly, the liberal wing of the church rejected the authority of Scripture outright. They agreed that Scripture really does teach a young earth, but it was wrong. Many conservatives wanted to keep biblical authority but were intimidated by the secular long-age claims. So they invented various schemes to pretzelize the Bible to accommodate long-age thinking. For example, concepts like the gap and day-age theories appeared in the 19th century. The ‘framework hypothesis’ was a 20th-century novelty. (See creation.com/history-interpretation.)

But it was clear that they had really made secular ‘science’ their final authority. If these views were really taught in the text, then why did the Church Fathers, Reformers, and other Christian scholars miss them before about 1800? And if we abandon biblical authority on history, then why not on morality and doctrine as well (creation.com/useful-dupes)?

Other pushbacks are claims that the Bible is not clear on the topic. But this goes to another important issue: whether the main teachings of the Bible are understandable or perspicuous.  After all, Jesus often said, “it is written”. Paul said, “All Scripture is breathed out by God” and makes us “complete” and “equipped” (2 Timothy 3:15–17). This could not be, if the Bible were as difficult as some claim.

Some make hyper-pious claims that ‘God’s days are not man’s days’. But God wrote Scripture to teach us. Therefore, God’s meanings must be the same as ours; otherwise, communication is broken. And for us to apply His teachings, God’s logic must be the same as ours. The difference is that God knows all true premises and commits no logical fallacies (see creation.com/logic).

This is the 48th year of Creation magazine, affirming both the authority and understandability of Scripture, plus ample supporting evidence. The latest issue contains much more of the same. For instance, hard blue-gray rocks forming in decades show there is no need for millions of years.

Biblical authority and understandability have historically been a fruitful foundation for science. On p. 24, CMI interview a molecular biologist who firmly defends biblical creation, while challenges the supposed evolution of the whale. The biblical Creation/Fall/ Flood/dispersion framework explains the wide variety of animals around the world, including the bowerbird. Plus, the Bible’s design implication explains why some animals will sacrifice themselves for their groups. And their p. 40 article explains how and why Scripture clearly teaches the foundational doctrine of creation out of nothing.

This article is taken from the latest issue of Creation Magazine Vol 48, Issue 1 2026. I have been a subscriber for 48 years.

SCOTTISH THEOLOGIAN PETER JAMES FORSYTH ON HOPE AND VICTORY

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How good is it to find gems in books by authors you have never heard of. I owned and distributed Christian books for over 30 years. I purchased Christian Press in 1983 but had never heard of Scottish theologian, Peter James Forsyth or his books, The Cruciality of the Cross (1899), The Work of Christ (1910) and The Justification of God (1917) just three gems of over 100 books published.

I give you two quotes from The Justification of God:

“No reason of man can justify God for His treatment of His Son; but whatever does justify it justifies God’s whole providence with the universe, and solves its problem. He so spared not His Son as with Him to give us all things. The true theology of the Cross and its atonement is the solution of the world. There is no other. It is that or none. And that theology is that the Cross is not simply the nadir of Incarnation, but that it is God’s self-offering (under the worst conditions that love could feel for evil man) to His own holy name. The just God is the chief sufferer, and sole Doer. The holy love there is in action everywhere. The most universal thing in the universal Christ is His cross. Everywhere, according to God’s ubiquity, imminence, or what you will, His holy love is invincibly at issue with death, sin, and sorrow. Everywhere is redemption. And that is the only theodicy. The purpose of salvation is the principle of creation; and the ruling power of the world is the purpose of God.“

It is no light problem that faces the Creator in His world. There was never such a fateful experiment as when God trusted man with freedom. But our Christian faith is that He well knew what He was about. He did not do that as a mere adventure, not without knowing that He had the power to remedy any abuse of it that might occur, and to do this by a new creation more mighty, marvellous, and mysterious than the first. He had means to emancipate even freedom, to convert moral freedom, even in its ruin, into spiritual. After the first creation drew on His might, the second taxed his all-might. It revealed His power as moral majesty, as holy omnipotence, most chiefly shown in the mercy that redeems and reconciles. To redeem creation is a more creative act than it was to create it. It is the last thing omnipotence could do. What is omnipotence but the costly and inevitable action of holiness in establishing itself everywhere for ever. The supreme power in the world is not simply the power of a God but of a holy God, upon whose rule all things wait, and may wait long. It is no slack knot that the Saviour has to undo. All the energy of a perverse world in its created freedom pulled on the tangle to tighten it. And its undoing has given the supreme form to all God’s dealing with the world. But at the same time the snarl is not beyond being untied. Man is born to be redeemed. The final key to the first creation is the second; and the first was done with the second in view. If moral freedom is the crown of the first creation, spiritual, holy freedom is the goal of moral; and it is the gift in the second creation. The first creation was the prophecy of the second; the second was the first tragically ‘arrived.’ There was moral resource in the Creator equal to anything that might happen to the creature or by him. And that resource is put forth in Christ — in His overcoming of the world on the Cross, and His new creation of it in the Spirit. All God’s omnipotence is finally there. The great goal is not the mere fruitage of the first creation, but another creation more creative still. The first does not glide into the second; there is a crisis of entirely new departure. (pp. 122-124)

And the book’s final paragraph must also be shared here:

Faith is more than an individual calm; it is the Church’s collective confidence on the scale of the world for the destiny of the world. The evil world will not win at last, because it failed to win at the only time it ever could. It is a vanquished world where men play with devilries. Christ has overcome it. It can make tribulation, but desolation it can never make. (p. 223)

Jesus return to earth to restore righteousness is not too far distant. The many Biblical end times prophecies are playing out in our day. Hallelujah!

“Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and He has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron.” Revelation 19:11-13

Jesus Millennial Kingdom is next on God’s agenda for planet earth. To prepare yourself to rule with Jesus go to http://www.millennialkingdom.net

GOD IS ABOUT TO HUMBLE AND JUDGE THE WORLD

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Bodo Hoenen is a relative new Christian coming from a high level scientific and engineering background. Listen to how he wrestles with the question as to “why there are no clear answers” to many Biblical questions. Moreover, I believe he is right to conclude that God is about to humble and judge the world.

God is using this new Christian to show how much the traditional, institutional churches have departed from the truth of God’s Word, thereby helping many Christians in these churches.

The second video is a great presentation of the gospel message which I will send on to people I know who are open and even searching for truth about the big questions of life. I suggest you do the same.

Bodo shares a deeply personal message, recounting a vivid vision of eternity and a consequential choice. The video explores this vision through introspective reflection and scientific analysis. Prepare for a thought provoking journey into existential question, as well as hear a great presentation of the Gospel message.

SIGNS OF THE COMING END TIMES APOCALYPSE

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Generations of believers have wondered about the Book of Revelation, but are we now in our generation actually seeing the signs of the approaching Apocalypse even now? Don’t miss as Jonathan Cahn opens up of The Book of Revelation. Jonathan reveals that all the Biblical end times signs (16) are evident NOW.

What are the main signs that Jesus in the Olivet Discourse and John in Revelation revealed about the time of Jesus second coming: 1. Israel had to be reborn as a nation in its homeland as all the end times prophecies are Israel and Jerusalem centric. Prior to 1948 none made sense as Israel as a nation did not exist. 2. Daniel was told to close up the book of Daniel as it revealed what would unfold in the future when God would regather the Jews from where He had scattered them and their Messiah would rule and reign the nations of the world from a magnificent new Jerusalem. The end times prophecies in Daniel and Revelation are now in play. 3. In the end times the Bible reveals that the Muslim nations surrounding Israel will do their utmost to destroy it: In the six day war Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon were the main protagonists but Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Sudan , Morocco, Tunisia, Kuwait and Yemen provided troops, aircraft, or logistical aid to the coalition, but their forces did not see significant frontline action against Israel. Since then Iran with its proxies Hamas. Hezbollah and Houthi rebels are the main protagonists. The Bible has Turkey leading the way in a war against Israel and recent events support this prophecy playing out in the new future. 4, end times signs such as church apostasy, persecution of Christians, lawlessness, antisemitism are all evident in our day.

AS PROPHESIED GOD IS DRAWING JEWS BACK TO ISRAEL PRIOR TO JESUS RETURN

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“Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and bring them to their own land. And I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. And one king shall be king over them all, and they shall be no longer two nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms. They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. But I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned and will cleanse them, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.” Ezekiel 37:21-23

In an upscale Tel Aviv neighbourhood – the kind filled with joggers, beach bars and hotels that attract wealthy holidaymakers – Tahli Engel, formerly of Melbourne, tells a story you hear a lot in Israel, and it captures one of the most ­important, but least understood, perspectives emerging from the wars triggered by October 7. “Life in Melbourne, absolutely, was very good,” she says from her living room. But after October 7, 2023, she and her family began to notice “the changes”, as she calls them. The subtle hostility. The growing discomfort with displaying one’s Jewish identity.

They loved Australia and thought about staying for good. And yet – and this is the part we need to understand – they felt a compulsion to return to Israel, to a country in the midst of a catastrophic war. There were many reasons, of course – lifestyle and work opportunities chief among them – but the essence of it all is that her family, somehow, felt safer and stronger here. Let’s be as clear as possible: a quiet but profound shift in the global Jewish consciousness appears to be taking place, one that appears to be reshaping Israel, its diaspora, and which is driven by numerous converging forces that define this moment. The first is paradoxical. 

Australians are driving the cohort that is: their numbers are up 23 per cent, according to the Israel Aliyah Centre, and 87 per cent of the ­emigres are young adults aged ­between 18 and 34.

These aren’t refugees. They’re millennials and Gen Z professionals making a bet about where they can live as fully expressed Jews in the 21st century. Americans are doing the same. So are the British, the Canadians, the French. In other words, citizens from countries where government policy or civil discourse has been hostile enough to Israel or the local Jewish community. Hillel Weinstein, a former university student in Melbourne who moved to Israel last year, puts it bluntly: “I’d see encampments and huge signs saying ‘Free Palestine’ all over university property. I’m like, if this is where I’m studying, this is not a place that I want to be at.” Here, he walks the streets feeling “as safe as I’ve ever been. A lot of people have moved from around the globe to Israel, especially because they just don’t feel safe where they are”. Consider the irony for a moment. Young Jews are fleeing ostensibly peaceful Western ­democracies for a country that just fought a multi-front war and endured the sight of buildings being toppled by Iranian hypersonic missiles, because they feel more secure walking the streets of Tel Aviv than Brunswick or Newtown.

This is just another proof that Biblical end times prophecies can be trusted and that God is control of history. If you want to know about what is next on God’s agenda for planet Earth go to http://www.millennialkingdom.net, click on Resources and go first to PURPOSE of Jesus Millennial Kingdom and then click on ISRAEL for more on how Jesus and the glorified Saints will rule the nations with a rod of iron for one thousand years.

EXTREMIST ISLAMIC IDEOLOGY TARGETED JEWS AT BONDI ATTACK

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Antisemitism and terrorism are both moral and national security crises that demand clear conviction and courageous leadership. On this issue, I believe our leaders have lost their moral compass. When leaders lack moral clarity, conviction falters, courage diminishes, and wisdom is absent. The result is blurred priorities, inconsistent justice, and a failure to confront the threats that truly endanger our society. I would say there’s hypocrisy at play.

Grieving for Our Nation After the Bondi Terrorist Attack

It is extremely hypocritical to voice your concern about antisemitism while allowing weekly demonstrations featuring hate-filled chants and terrorist flags, often carried by masked activists.

It is hypocritical to say you oppose terrorism while capitulating to it so completely through the recognition of a Palestinian state after the October 7 genocide. This reflects neither strength of character nor national resilience.

Misguided Policies

It is misguided to suggest that further gun control alone will prevent acts of terrorism, particularly when those intent on violence do not respect the law. A stronger focus must be placed on building a nation grounded in shared values.

Australia is a multiracial nation, and that diversity has long been a strength. Social cohesion, however, depends on shared values rather than parallel cultures.

Immigration policy should therefore prioritise integration and a common commitment to the principles that hold our society together. Clearly, this has been absent from immigration policy.

Words such as diversity, multiculturalism, tolerance, and respect ring hollow when they result in passive acceptance of a murderous ideology. Equating antisemitism with Islamophobia, and distancing terrorist organisations from religion, is naïvely at best and cowardly at worst. Not all Muslims are terrorists, but the terrorist ideology is clearly rooted in religion.

Priority of the Gospel

In saying all of this, the failure in public policy must not lead to a compromise of our Christian disciplines.

We are called to love our neighbours and bless our enemies. We must continue to shine the light of Christ to all Australians, including Muslim communities, some of whom have come to Australia as refugees escaping violence. We must share the gospel of Jesus Christ and the all-sufficiency of his grace. But we must also pray that Australia’s laws and policies will be built from a position of moral clarity. They must address antisemitism by condemning and penalising real hatred and threats of violence.

The future of a free, just, and compassionate Australia depends on those willing to defend truth and act wisely in public life, with antisemitism recognised and addressed as the urgent threat it truly is.

Now that we are fast approaching the return of Jesus Christ we need to warn our family and friends and whoever God brings into our circle of influence of the coming judgement on the unrepentant prior to Jesus return to rescue Israel and usher in His Millennial Kingdom (http://www.millennialkingdom.net).

Biblical end times prophecy is cantered upon Israel. Prior to 1948 when Israel was re-established as a nation these prophecies made no sense but once it became a nation again in all respects, including the Hebrew language, all the many Biblical end times prophecies started to play out. They are proof the Bible is God’s word, it reveals the true history of God’s world. Use it for evangelism.

THE BOOK OF JOEL AND “THE DAY OF THE LORD”

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Joel was God’s spokes person during the reign of Joash (835-796 BC) over the southern kingdom of Judah. Joel stresses the sovereign power of God over nature and shows how God uses nature to get the attention of the people. When an ominous black cloud descended upon the land of Judah – dreaded locusts, Joel understood that it was God’s terrible judgement on the House of Judah for sin. In a matter of hours , every living green thing had been stripped bare. Likewise we should understand that when terrible floods and fires descend upon our land that it may well be the judgement of the Lord for sin, e.g. transgenderism, LGBTQ issues, gay marriage and godless laws.

For us Joel is an important book, because God showed him that as terrible as His judgement was with the locust plague it was by comparison nothing compared with God’s future judgements during “The Day of the Lord“. It will be a time when God not only destroys His enemies but He also brings unparalleled blessings to those who faithfully obey Him.

Biblical prophecy reveals that “The Day of the Lord” is fast approaching as persecution of Christians and Jews escalates and apostasy in the church is rampant with acceptance of homosexual pastors and gay marriage widespread.

The Hebrew name Yo’el means “Yahweh Is God” The name is appropriate to the theme of the book, which emphasizes God’s sovereign work in history. The courses of nature and nations are in His hand.

WHAT IS MARTYN ISLES UP TO?

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Martyn Iles joins Neil Johnson on 20Twenty to share about his brand-new ministry ventures shaping faith, culture, and the next generation. Martyn has officially launched At The Crux – a bold new platform dedicated to bringing the gospel into today’s cultural conversations and discipling young people in biblical truth. He also reveals Proto, an innovative Christian education project designed to equip families, teachers, and home-educators with high-quality, technologically advanced biblical learning tools. This is a powerful conversation about faith, culture, and raising up the next generation to know and follow Jesus.