Image credit:
Leonid Korchenko/Getty Images
I didn’t know
that opossums were resistant to snake venom. Did you? [1]
I also learned
that opossums can now be added to the list of living fossils as fossils of
creatures not so different from the modern opossum have been found as deep down
in the earth as the Cretaceous layers which, according to the evolutionary time
scale, ended roughly 65 million years ago, placing the earliest possible traces
of the opossum’s existence to the that of dinosaurs according to Live
Science:
With their beady
eyes, big ears, hairless tails and short, stocky legs, opossums are distinctive
marsupials. Despite their odd appearance, these animals have a rich
evolutionary history and have remained largely unchanged for millions of years.
Their remarkable ability to adapt to different environments, food sources and
predators has helped them survive from the time of the dinosaurs to today…
The earliest
known relatives of modern opossums lived over 65 million years ago, around the
time dinosaurs went extinct. A 2009 study published in PLOS ONE found that
peradectids, a family of marsupials known from fossils mostly in North America
and Eurasia, are the closest extinct relatives of living opossums. Like modern
opossums, peradectids had opposable thumbs on their hind feet and a similarly
shaped skull — features that have remained nearly unchanged for millions of
years. [2]
Live Science,
however, maintains that fossils of presently existing opossums are traced back
to the early Miocene Epoch which evolutionists claim to have been 20 million
years ago as being an evolutionist publication themselves, they are not ready
to admit that opossums once lived alongside dinosaurs. They believe that the closest thing to an
opossum that had lived at the time of dinosaurs was a creature called Peradectes
which they admit is not much different from presently existing opossums.
PLOS ONE, a
publication cited by Live Science wrote a paper regarding the origins of
marsupials whose evolutionary origins they admitted to being “poorly understood
in part because the early offshoots of this group are known almost exclusively
from jaws and teeth” [3] but do trace their origins as far back as the
Cretaceous, citing creatures such as Alphadon, which they cite as being an
early Marsupial. [4]
To them, the “origin
of opossums, the Didelphidae, is of particular significance because this group
resulted from the first cladogenetic event of Marsupialia” citing Peradectes as
being closely related to the moder opossum and to the point of possibly being
considered a member of the genus or family of Didelphidae [5] of
which some species of opossum such as the Virginia opossum are a part.
The PLOS ONE
publication went on to admit that the origins of Peradectes and the genus of
Didelphidae can be traced as far back in time as the Cretaceous stating, “the
fossil record of living marsupials starts with Puercan Peradectes (at least
about 65.18 million years old, Early Paleocene of North America) which implies
that the basal splitting of Marsupialia into Didelphimorphia and all other
marsupials had already happened by that time” [6]
But
evolutionists had been resistant to admitting that opossums could have ever
coexisted with dinosaurs with either little or no evolutionary change by even
going so far as to excluded creatures such as Alphadon which was confirmed as
having lived alongside dinosaurs from the order and genus of Didelphidae based
upon “current hypotheses based on dental features” [7] and
not necessarily due to any extreme dissimilarities.
For those of you
out there who don’t know what Alphadon is, it is an animal that once lived
alongside dinosaurs and is believed by paleontologists to have not been so
different from an opossum but is only known from a few teeth believed to be
similar to those of an opossum [8]
And for those of
you who don’t know what a living fossil is, it is a plant or animal that,
according evolutionists, once thought long extinct but discovered alive and
virtually unchanged or a presently living plant or animal whose existence is
traced back to the same time as plants and animals it was not thought to live
alongside.
Well known
living fossils today include the Tuatara (a lizard that existed alongside
dinosaurs), the bristlecone pine tree, the coelacanth (a fish thought to have
been a transitional form between fish and amphibians until living specimens had
been discovered) the cycad plant, and now quite possibly, the opossum.
Here are some
other presently existing plants and animals deemed living fossils, according to
Live Science, and most of which you might never have heard of and some
of which might surprise you:
1. Horseshoe crab fossils found in Carboniferous
layers (before dinosaurs according to evolutionary theory) and they are not
much different from trilobites. One
species is currently found surviving off the Atlantic coasts of North and
Central America while three other species are found off the coasts of Asia in
the Pacific.
Image credit:
Daniela Duncan/Getty Images
2. Goblin Shark fossils found in Jurassic layers
(lived at the same time as dinosaurs according to evolutionary theory). Currently living throughout all of our major
oceans.
Image credit:
George Melin/Getty Images
3. Duck-billed platypus fossils found in early
Cretaceous layers (lived at the same time as dinosaurs according to the
evolutionary timescale); apparently rodents were not the only mammals
coexisting with dinosaurs; now who would have thought that the duck-billed
platypus would ever be called a living fossil?
Currently living in Australia.
Image credit: John
Carnemolla/Getty Images
4. Anami rabbit fossils found in Quaternary
layers and were believed to have preceded modern rabbits and hares but
apparently have been coexisting alongside them which would disqualify them from
being an evolutionary ancestor to other rabbit and hare species. Currently living on two small Islands off of
Japan.
Image credit:
Tokio Marine Life/Getty Images
5. The nautilus whose remains have been found in
Cambrian layers (existed before dinosaurs according to the evolutionary time
scale); currently living today.
Image credit:
Aleksei Permiakov/Getty Images
6. Evolutionists believe the Komodo dragon to
have existed long before man, but their remains have been found in layers
belonging to the early Cretaceous (coexisted with dinosaurs according to the
evolutionary timescale). Currently
survives on some Islands off of Indonesia including the Island of Komodo from
where the animal gets its name.
Image credit:
Jamie Lamb/Getty Images
7. The remains of purple or pig-nosed frogs have
also been found in layers dating back to the early Cretaceous period (once
coexisted with dinosaurs according to the evolutionary timescale)
Discovered and
found living in the western Ghats of India in 2003.
Image credit:
Nature Picture Library/Alamy
8. The
remains of the Laotian rock rat have been found in Tertiary rock layers before
living specimens were discovered Laos in 2005.
They are considered to be species of the Diatomyidae genus which was
believed to have been all but extinct.
9. The remains of cockroaches have been found as
far down the geologic column as the Carboniferous layers (before dinosaurs
according to the evolutionary timescale) and those currently living are not so
different from their respective ancestors.
Image credit:
Oxford Scientific/Getty Images
10. Now who would have guessed the Aardvark would
have ever been a living fossil? Fossilized remains of them have been found in
layers not too far above Cretaceous layers.
They currently exist today on the African continent.
Image credit:
Martin Harvey/Getty Images
11. Fossilized remains of the presently living
gingko tree have been found in either Permian or late Carboniferous layers
(before dinosaurs according to the evolutionary timescale) but are still
presently living in Japan. [9]
Image credit:
Istvan Balogh/Getty Images
“Living” fossils
have been reproducing after their own kinds ever since day one of their
existence which is what we would expect to find if the Genesis account of
creation is true and if Opossums, Tuataras, and certain plants have been
reproducing after their own kinds since day one of their existence, then how
many other plants and animals have been reproducing after their own kinds since
day one of their existence, just as the Bible says God created them to? (Gen.
1:12, 21, 25)
How dramatically
might it change the way the world looks at origins and natural history if more
fossils belonging to presently living creatures were to be found alongside
those that they were not supposed to be living alongside.
There is nothing
that an evolutionist hates more than the discovery of plants and animals once
thought extinct to be alive and well and virtually unchanged since day one of
their existence because such discoveries are always a challenge to the
evolutionary narrative and what a greater challenge it would be to their
narrative if the remains of representatives of every living plant and animal
were to be found alongside those of creatures that they were not supposed to
have lived alongside?
And if the
remains of men and primates or even man-made artifacts were to found in layers
that dinosaur fossils are found in or even in layers below those in which
dinosaur fossils are found, what explanation will the evolutionists have for
that then? What will they say when every
presently living organism turns out to be a living fossil?
As I said, the
existence of such anomalies makes perfect sense to those who accept the Genesis
account of history but prove challenging to adherents of the philosophy of
evolution because from an evolutionist perspective, it would seem rather odd
for some things to be subject to the evolutionary process while others are not;
for some forms of life to undergo significant changes over time while others
remain virtually the same since day one of their existence, but from the
perspective of the creationists, living fossils testify to the fact that all
life forms have remained the same since day one of their existence and will
continue to remain that way. They will
never be other than what they are or ever have been because God created them to
reproduce after their own respective kinds.
Evolutionists
might tolerate the acknowledgement of a few living fossils here and there such
as a lizard, fish, or a plant, but the more presently living plants and animals
are found to be living fossils, the greater of a challenge it poses to their
theory and for some evolutionists, the thought of an opossum having once
coexisted with dinosaurs is just a prospect that they could not stand to the
point that they thought to reclassify an animal not much different from an
opossum so as to convince the public that opossums and dinosaurs never once
coexisted because the more presently living animals are discovered to be
“living fossils” the greater the ramifications become for how natural history
is viewed and it compels the evolutionists to have to reassess everything about
natural history they thought to be true which might force them towards a
conclusion that they would rather not have to face and that is that we are not
products of time and random processes but creations of God to whom all things
owe their existences, who is the source of truth and not we ourselves, who
alone defines our reality, and who alone is the source of morality and the sole
decider of what is good and evil, right and wrong and not any man and before
whom all will have to give an account one day for all that has been said and
done in this life and that is something the evolutionists cannot stand because
they would rather live their lives as they please without any accountability or
consequence.
In the end, the
reason for why people to choose to believe in what they believe doesn’t always
have to do with evidence for or against.
What it comes down to is a matter of the heart and attitude towards
their Creator and if they are resolved in their hearts to reject the love and
mercy offered to them by their Creator and to rebel against His authority, then
it is highly unlikely that any amount of evidence in support of the authority
of His divinely inspired Word (2 Tim. 3:16) will ever persuade them to repentance.
There have been
people given signs from God demonstrating His existence, power, mercy, love,
and authority far more clear than what most people may have the privilege of
experiencing and witnessing today and yet in spite of all that they had
experienced and witnessed, they still refused to turn from their wicked ways
for this simple reason:
men loved
darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
For everyone
that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds
should be reproved. (Jn 3:19-20)
But because most
will not admit this, they will hide behind every theological, philosophical,
and intellectual front that they can and every excuse that they can to justify
their unbelief and refusal to turn away from the sins that they enjoy so much
and by which they will be eternally damned to an unimaginable and unrelenting
torment because they refused the redemption that was offered to them out of
love and mercy.
There is not one
person who is not in need of redemption for we are all inherently sinful and
corrupt and it is due this inherent corruption within us that we all sin and
fall short of the glory of our Creator (Rom. 3:23) and why our own goodness
will always fall short of the goodness of God for we will be judged not only by
our actions and the things that we say but also by our very inward motives and
intentions behind what we say and do; even every thought of ours will be
subject to judgment because sin demands a penalty and that penalty is death and
it is sin that brings death to all of us who are born into this world and
because we all sin, we all die as a consequence, for as it is written, the
wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23) and it is sin that keeps us out of the
Kingdom of God in which there is no sin and where no sin is, there is no death,
for if God were to allow that which is in sin into His Kingdom, then death
would come into the Kingdom, just as it has come to earth because it is in sin
that death has its power and it is due to that which sin produces that sin must
be done away with which also includes the elimination of they who persist in
remaining in their sin because this present world in which death reigns and in
which every form, kind, and degree of pain, suffering, grief, devastation,
evil, and cataclysm abound is not the kind of world that God had created in the
first place.
When God had
first created the world, it was a world in which there was no sin and in which
there was no death, but in which only life dwelt and in which there had existed
a perfect and uninterrupted harmony between God, man, and nature. It was as carefree of a world as it could be
but that all changed when sin entered into the world and death with it when the
first man Adam and the first woman Eve, being Adam’s wife committed an act of
disobedience by which sin and death and entered into the world and this
consequential act of disobedience had to do with a fruit from a certain tree
which was called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that they were
forbidden to eat, having been warned of God that in the day that they ate
thereof, they would surely (Gen. 2:16-17, 3:3) but instead of heeding that
warning, they ate of that forbidden fruit because they had been told by a lying
voice that they would not suffer the judgment of which they were warned, but
instead would become more enlightened and even divine (Gen. 3:4-5) and that
lying voice to which they listened instead of listening to the warning of God
came to them in the form of a serpent who, before the creation of the world,
had once served as a covering cherub named Lucifer at the throne of God until
the day that he had become so lifted up in his pride that he thought to make
himself equal to God and as consequence, he and all who sided with him had been cast from their
places in Heaven (Is. 14:11-21, Ezek. 28:12-19) and it was in that day that
Lucifer had become known as Satan or the Devil and what he was not able to
accomplish in Heaven, he accomplished by tempting Adam and his wife Eve into
the eating of that forbidden fruit by which sin entered into them and it was
sin entered into them that Adam and Eve did become more enlightened than they
had been before, but it was not the enlightenment that they thought would give
them greater wisdom, but rather, it was an enlightenment that opened their eyes
to the shame that the sin which had entered into them had brought upon their
nakedness (Gen. 3:7) because the sin that had entered into them had changed
that in which there was no shame into a thing of shame and caused them to be
reduced to a status inferior to that in which they had first been made and
instead of avoiding the sentence of death as they had been falsely promised by
that lying spirit, the sentence of death came upon them as they had been warned
of God (Gen. 3:19) but the consequences of their disobedience did not stop with
them because the sin that had entered into them upon the eating of that
forbidden fruit was then passed down to the rest of mankind who descend from
Adam and Eve and it is due to having inherited this inwardly corrupt nature
that is called sin that we all sin and therefore we all die (Rom. 5:12) but the
consequences of that act of disobedience did not stop even with mankind, but it
is due to the sin of mankind that the all of creation itself groans and
travails in pain to this day. (Rom. 8:19-22)
But the
evolutionists will deny that there is a judgment and work tirelessly to assure
multitudes that there is no need to fear being held accountable before Almighty
God because they deny that He is the Creator of all things and instead would
have us believe that the universe and all that is in it came about by the
unthinking and unplanning processes of randomness and chance and insist that
the end of life is the end of all existence and thus lull as many as they can
into that false sense of security by claiming that death is just a natural part
of life and has always been a part of the natural cycle of nature and is not a
consequence of an act of disobedience against God, just as Satan lulled Adam
and Eve into that false sense of security that led them into the eating of that
forbidden fruit that brought the sentence of death upon them and caused sin and
death to enter into the world and just as Adam and Eve did not escape the
penalty and consequences of their disobedience so neither will those who deny
that we will face judgment for our own sins, for just as they deny the
existence of God and insist that we are just products of unthinking and
unplanning processes of time and randomness, so they deny the sin in which they
remain and by which they will stand condemned.
Evolution has
been a vessel by which Satan has deceived multitudes with the same lie with
which he deceived Adam and Eve into committing that consequential act of
disobedience that resulted in the sentence of death coming upon them to which
they eventually succumbed and through whom sin and death entered into the
world.
That very lie
may not be presented in the same form as he did with Adam and Eve, but the lie
of evolution is nonetheless the vehicle that he uses to deceive the masses into
thinking that they need not fear a coming judgment and that they need not fear
a Hell to which the condemned are sent; that there is nothing that they will do
that will cause them to face a judgment that they will never face or enter into
a Hell that they are made to believe does not exist because if there is no God
to whom we owe our existence, then there is no God before whom we must give an
account, and if there is no God before whom we will be held accountable for all
that we have said and done in this life and by whom our very thoughts, motives,
attitudes, and intents will also be judged, then there is no God by whom right
and wrong, good and evil are defined and it is by man himself who determines
what is good or evil, right or wrong, and it is man himself who determines what
truth is, what justice is, and even what reality is; everything is relative as
far as anyone is concerned and if there is no supreme moral agent by whom any
laws, rules, or regulations are set, then there is nothing forbidden and
everything becomes permissible and if everything is permissible, then there is
nothing for which there is to be held accountable.
But just as the
false assurances of the serpent to Adam and Eve did not stop them from facing
the sentence of death to which they eventually succumbed after the eating of
that forbidden fruit so neither will the denial of the existence of God to whom
we owe our existence and to whom we all must give an account one day stop us
from facing the judgment of which we are warned to flee from daily for just as God’s
warning of death to Adam and Eve was proven true and the false assurances of
the serpent a lie, so too will the truth of God be vindicated and the denial of
His existence be shown to be a lie but that vindication of His truth will come
all too late for the multitudes who die in their sin and in their unbelief, for
when they do see Him face to face, they will find themselves shut out of the
Kingdom of Heaven and cast into an eternity of unrelenting torment because they
chose not the redemption that God offers to all daily and it is in His love and
in His mercy for us that He offers this escape from the eternal damnation that
might otherwise come because He is not willing that any should perish but that
all would come to repentance (2 Pet. 3:9) and therefore has done for us what we
could never do for ourselves in that He, in His graciousness has purchased
redemption on our behalf in Christ Jesus, His only begotten Son, (Jn. 3:16) who
came to us in the flesh, (Jn. 1:14) and being without any sin (2 Cor. 5:21) was
made that perfect sacrifice (Heb. 7:26-27) that was needed to take away the
sins of the world and because of His perfect goodness, He was able to offer
Himself up on our behalf to satisfy the demanded penalty for all sin and
granting mercy and grace through the shedding of His blood on the cross and
after having died, rose again from the dead three days later that we might be
justified in Him (Rom. 4:25) if we will but call upon His name so that we might
be saved from what would otherwise be a terrifying everlasting punishment if we
will but call upon His name (Rom. 10:9, 13) and believe in our hearts that God
raised Him from the dead (Rom. 10:9) for it is by calling upon His name in
sincere repentance that salvation is granted and our souls made clean from sin
thereby liberating us from the threat of eternal damnation and with that
cleansing comes a new spiritual transformation (2 Cor. 5:17) that causes us to
no longer desire to follow after selfish and worldly pursuits but after those
things that pertain to the Kingdom of Heaven,
to no longer
take pleasure in those things that are evil and displeasing in the sight of the
Lord, but in that which is good, right, and pleasing in His sight,
to no longer
desire to walk in the lies of this present world, but only in the truth that
comes from Christ Almighty who is the source of all truth, (Jn. 14:6)
no longer
placing our hopes in the things of this present world, but looking forward to
that new and better world to come, (Rev. 21-22)
to no longer
rely on worldly resources, men, or even our own power, abilities, skills, and
wisdom for our needs and provision but upon God who is able to meet all of our
needs, recognizing that the resources of this world and even the people He
brings into our lives are but instruments and vessels through which God meets
our needs and that the skills, power, knowledge, and wisdom by which we might
acquire our provision are provided and instilled in us by God, (Mt. 6:25-33)
to no longer
fear what men can do to us, but rather fearing the God before whom we will have
to one day give an account for how we lived our lives, (Mt. 10:28)
to no longer
look to corruptible institutions within our society for direction and order in
our lives but to God who, by His written Word has given us laws and precepts to
be applied to our lives and which serve to produce and maintain an ordered
life, and who, by His Holy Spirit which comes to dwell within us upon
repentance, establishes in our lives a course and direction in our lives to
pursue for His glory,
to no longer
seek our own glory but the glory of God,
to no longer
rally behind corruptible men, but instead behind the incorruptible God in
Heaven bearing in mind that those men and women God raises up for our
edification are but instruments and servants of His for that respective purpose
to which He has called them,
to no longer
seek to align ourselves with the things of darkness but only with the things of
the light,
to no longer
trust in the wisdom of the world but only on the wisdom and knowledge that
comes from above, (Jas. 1:5) nor depend on corruptible earthly authorities to
swiftly administer justice, but only in the power of God to deliver us from
evil.
And it is this
new inward transformation that reconciles us to our Creator (2 Cor. 5:18) from
whom we had once been estranged and just as our souls are cleansed from sin and
our spirits regenerated in Christ Jesus thereby liberating us from the eternal
tormenting punishment that must come upon all who remain in their sins, so one
day we look forward to the liberation of our bodies from death itself when our
mortal and corruptible forms are transformed into that which is immortal and
incorruptible and from that which is imperfect to that which is perfect (1 Cor.
15:51-55, 1 Thess. 4:13-18) and lastly, creation itself will be delivered from
the curse placed upon it because of sin when it is made into a new and better
world (Rev. 21-22) and in that new world which will be made, there will be no
sin, no death, no decay, nor any curse, nor any evil, or violence, suffering,
misery, grief, sorrow, mourning, pain, or hardship of any sort for all of these
will pass away with this present world.
Instead, there will only be light, life, happiness, joy, contentment,
peace, and rest before the Lord God Almighty.
I urge you
reader today, that if you have not already done so already and feel the call to
repentance, call upon the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ today for the
forgiveness of sins. Do not go into
eternity in your sins. It is just a
sincere prayer of repentance away:
"Lord Jesus
I need you.
I realize that I
am a sinner
who has fallen
short of the glory of God
and that my
goodness falls short
of your standard
of Moral perfection.
Please forgive
me of all of my sins.
Come into my
heart and into my life
to be the Savior
and Lord of my life.
Make me into the
servant and follower
that you want me
to be.
In your name
Lord Jesus, I pray.
Amen."
Know that God is
not concerned with the words that you use to call upon Him forgiveness, but
with the attitude of your heart and if you have, with all sincerity, have asked
Christ to forgive you of your sins, placing your trust in Him only for your
salvation and in nothing else, then your sins are forgiven and your place in
Heaven is certain.
End notes:
1. Lydia Smith, “Virginia opossums: The American
marsupials that have barely changed since the time of the dinosaurs,” Live
Science, July 26, 2025
https://www.livescience.com/animals/land-mammals/virginia-opossums-the-american-marsupials-that-have-barely-changed-since-the-time-of-the-dinosaurs
2.
Ibid.
3. Inés Horovitz ,Thomas Martin, Jonathan
Bloch, Sandrine Ladevèze, Cornelia Kurz, Marcelo R. Sánchez-Villagra, “Cranial
Anatomy of the Earliest Marsupials and the Origin of Opossums,” PLOS ONE,
December 16, 2009
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0008278
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid.
8. Benjamin Gutierrez, “Alphadon,” Prehistoric
Wildlife, June 11, 2012
https://www.prehistoric-wildlife.com/species/alphadon/
9. Carys Matthews, “Living fossils: 12 creatures
that look the same now as they did millions of years ago,” Live Science,
December 29, 2023
https://www.livescience.com/animals/living-fossils-creatures-that-look-the-same-now-as-they-did-millions-of-years-ago
Scripture
references:
1. Genesis 1:12, 21, 25
2. 2 Timothy 3:16
3. John 3:19-20
4. Genesis 2:16-17, 3:3
5. Isaiah 14;11-21, Ezekiel 28L12-19
6. Genesis 3:4-5
7. Genesis 3:7
8. Genesis 3:19
9. Romans 5:12
10. Romans 8:19-22
11. 2 Peter 3:9
12. John 3:16
13. John 1:14
14. 2 Corinthians 5:21
15. Hebrews 7:26-27
16. Romans 4:25
17. Romans 10:9, 13
18. 2 Corinthians 5:17
19. John 14:6
20. Revelation 21-22
21. Matthew 6:25-33
22. Matthew 10:28
23. James 1:5
24. 2 Corinthians 5:18
25. 1 Corinthians 15:51-55, 1 Thessalonians
4:13-18
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