Preparing for Harvest

Jesus said “The harvest is ready...” What did He mean by that? Well if we assume that He was talking about Wheat fields then the field in the above photo certainly looks ready, and if the grain has no more than 12% moisture it should be harvested immediately. “What is the hurry” someone might say. The answer is simple: It must be harvested before something causes it to deteriorate. Even a reasonable fall of rain would cause the protein level to drop and thus the grain would lose value. Prolonged rain would cause the grain to begin to sprout in the heads, which could bring its value down from top quality grain (for flour milling) to grain that is only fit for stock fodder. Further rain and wind could flatten it and make it a total loss. A lightning strike or bush-fire could have the same affect. So the matter is urgent.

No doubt Jesus had all the above possibilities in mind but He wasn’t really concerned about a field of grain when He spoke; rather He was thinking about the crowds of people he could see, because He knew they were in a similarly vulnerable situation, and as history repeats itself in each generation of people, the same applies to us to-day; Indeed the average person’s life is so busy just working to make enough money to live and raise a family that they don’t set aside time to consider their Spiritual

wellbeing which is really what life is all about. Of course Jesus realised this and made the observation that “Narrow is the way that leads to life and few there be that find it, whilst broad is the way that leads to destruction and many go that  way”. What a disaster that is, you see, those wheat plants are similar to us in that their whole life was centred upon producing heads of grain and if they don’t get harvested then the life of the plant was a waste of time. With us it is the same: our life here is a training ground for our Soul so we can relate to God and go on into Eternity and if we don’t realise that then we have missed the point of life. That is why Jesus said “You must be born again” which is like harvest time for our Souls.

You see, material gain has no lasting value. Great wealth or recognition, is temporary; no one can take it with them (after all, we came into this world with nothing, and even if we work for 100 years, we don’t even take our pyjamas with us when we leave). So if that is all we have achieved then it was a waste of time. Having reached that point of truth we are ready to be ‘harvested’ and blessed when someone explains to us the Gospel of Salvation and how Jesus “came that we might have life and have it more abundantly”. I was very fortunate as I was only 17 when I was shown that Jesus crucifixion assured my salvation if I repented and “believed on Him”. Everybody reaches a point of decision at some time in their life and because that is a critical “turning point” in a person’s life Jesus said “Pray that God will send harvesters into the field”. We are like that field that is ready for harvest and are just as vulnerable because “Satan roams around the whole earth seeking whom he may devour” and because disillusioned people are at a “loose end” they are often tempted to get involved with things that will undermine them, just as the rain can damage the ripe crop.  Realising this urgency, Jesus told Christians to “go into all the world and preach the Gospel”. And many have done just that, but it is a big world and there are a lot of people to reach out there; I write these articles in obedience to that statement of Jesus in the hope that someone who has not understood the Gospel will be helped, so please pass it on. People who realise that there is something missing in their lives owe it to themselves to look in the right places for the answer, and you couldn’t get a better place than The New Testament which is available “on line” or as hard copy; and then seek fellowship with like minded people. Best wishes, Tom.

The Lamb of God

When Audrey and I were first married Aud was given a little lamb as a pet. She called him Boy, and he lived with us for 15 years which is a very old age for a sheep as their life is usually about 7 years. To tell the age of a sheep you have to look at their front teeth which are on the bottom jaw (they have no teeth on the top jaw at the front). A lamb is only classed as a lamb when it still has its “milk teeth,” and it can lose one of them sometime between 12 to 15 months of age. When that happens it gets 2 permanent teeth in the front and is called a “two tooth” or a Hogget (not a

lamb anymore). From then on it acquires 2 more teeth at about 6 monthly intervals, until it has 8 permanent front teeth, after which time you cannot tell how old it is.

Well-grown healthy, fat lambs are highly sought after in the sale yards, whereas Hoggets are not nearly as valuable. What I have just told you is relevant to what I’m about to comment on.

The one thing that we all have in common and are very good at is breaking the Commandments God gave us to live by, and that is known as Sin. Thousands of years ago, (because sin separates us from God), Moses (under God’s guidance) instituted various forms of sacrifice in order that people could show they were sorry and wanted forgiveness. A lamb (“without spot or blemish”), which was a very valuable item, became a recognised and popular sacrifice, so people brought them to the temple where they were sacrificed to take away their sin. That may sound like a reasonable solution, if a little messy, but people, being people, they developed the idea that they could sin, then sacrifice a lamb, or similar, and sin again as often as they wished but that defeated the whole idea because they were supposed to repent and endeavour to stop sinning. Besides that, there were so many animals being sacrificed that it became ridiculous and offensive to God.

Being our Heavenly Father and loving us very much, God decided to pay the price of our sin Himself so that we would all have the option of going to reside in Heaven with Him when our allotted days on Earth were ended.  He did this in a most unusual way by sending Jesus (also called Christ) to undertake this “assignment”. Jesus was the perfect man as he was “tempted on all points like as we are and was yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15) but He had to be even more than that if He was going to pay the price of the sins of all of us. He had to be, and was, Divine as well, to achieve this God had arranged that He would be “in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself” (2 Corinthians 5:19). To understand this, consider that a radio broadcast coming from a city station can be heard all over the country at the same time, Likewise God is a Spirit and can be in Heaven and everywhere at once. Thus John the Baptist realising who Jesus was said “Behold the Lamb of God that takest away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

So when Jesus was sacrificed on the cross at Calvary He was the final “lamb”. After that there was no need to sacrifice any more ordinary lambs as He said himself “It is finished” and the apostle John confirmed this when he said: “whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but inherit Eternal Life”(John3:16)

I know that this is a difficult concept for people of some religions to accept, so let me make it quite clear, that Christians believe there is only one God and Jesus was the “image of that invisible God” (Colossians 1:15). “God was manifest in the flesh” (1 Timothy 4:16) and that is why Jesus told Phillip: “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30).

Because of this remarkable “reconciliation” God has arranged for us, we have the great privilege of repenting, (making a decision to change our ways) and accepting His forgiveness, with a view to living the way He has directed us which includes loving our neighbour as we love ourselves, and that will lead us from here into Heaven for Eternity.  Wow! That is worth claiming. You see, it is a “done deal” so it is up to you to claim it.      Best wishes,  Tom.  

Scientific Evidence

I met a man today who said he wasn’t interested in religious things as he was more of a scientific mind.

Well I put it to you that God is the Supreme Scientific Mind in the Universe; For the purpose of discussion let us keep it simple and look at something as uncomplicated as this Nectarine flower which I photographed on a tree in my daughter’s back yard, and one of the Nectarine fruit. Simple it may be,

(compared to things like the Human body), but for all that, there is not a Scientist in the entire world who can replicate any item illustrated here even with all the equipment in their laboratories.

For starters we have to have a Nectarine tree (and where it came from I would like to know, if it wasn’t created by God as Genesis 1 tells us it was). Now that tree only has a life span of a few years (say 20 years) so in that time the first Nectarine tree had to design and manufacture a

seed like you see here so it could replace itself, and that is a neat trick for a brainless tree to perform if it wasn’t “programmed” by God to “Produce after its kind”.  Because if it didn’t come up with a perfect seed in that time that would have been the end of the species. Let us look at what really happens to produce a seed like that:  Firstly the tree has to suck out of the dirt the necessary ingredients to make the flower (and this can’t be “hit and miss” either) it must know exactly what it intends to produce, which is simple if God programmed it, but impossible if it isn’t programmed. It has then to form a tiny unfertilised seed, surround it with lovely petals, nectar, and pollen, to attract the bees. This of course begs the question “how does a brainless tree know there are bees and that it needs to attract them?” (Goodness we get into trouble if we leave God out of the picture, don’t we?)  

When ripe (which means when the fertilised seed is completely formed and encased in a solid wooden container to protect it) the skin of the fruit becomes very attractive to people, animals, and birds and as it covers a tasty flesh they eat it, and then drop the seed on the ground as the tree “wants” them to do in order that another tree can grow. So either the “brainless” tree is very clever (which it isn’t) or the designer certainly knew what He was doing! (which is obvious)  He also made the nectarine skin smooth so there would be no mix up with the peach which looks similar but is hairy.

Furthermore this Design Engineer, who is our incredible God, created thousands of other different fruits and vegetables in different shapes, for easy identification, and also “colour coded” them all to make it easy for the Grower, the Supermarket, and the Shopper to select what they want. Just imagine if they were all the same colour and size what a hopeless mess shopping would be! So now if you want a Carrot you pick up a Carrot not a Parsnip, if you want a Nectarine you pick up a Nectarine not a Peach. Simple for us, but imagine the planning that was necessary to arrange for all that to happen.

Whilst we are thinking about this incredible Design Engineer God of ours, spend some time, (I suggest the rest of your life) trying to understand how He designed a different finger print and “barcode”, which we call D.N.A, for each of the billions of people in the world and arranged for each one to look different and have a different voice for ease of recognition.  Can you imagine anything more Scientific than all that? And to complete the arrangement He has promised that if we “Trust in the Lord with all our heart...He shall direct our paths”!  (Proverbs 3: 5&6) How good is that?      Best wishes,  Tom.

Australia To-Day (Second Instalment)....

This building was constructed 60 or so years ago in South Dubbo as a Christian Church because that suburb was growing fast and needed an extra place of worship. Recently, however, even though that area has expanded greatly, the building had to be sold due to the apathy of the people and is now a Mosque for the Dubbo Muslim population.

Generally speaking Australia has become the ideal place to migrate to because you see Australia was established as a British Colony and Our Constitution and laws were all based on Christian ideals, so everybody is treated equally, paid fairly and supported by very good education, health, and welfare systems. Sunday was declared a Public Holiday to comply with the 10 Commandments and because of that anyone having to work on that day had to be paid penalty rate compensation for being deprived of the privilege of attending a church service on that day. Consequently for the first 200 years Sunday was a day of rest and worship except for essential service personnel. However in recent times, money hungry big businesses decided to ignore the 10 Commandments and open and trade on the Lord’s Day thus creating a seven day working week.

They say “Chickens come home to roost” which means that when we neglect things or do wrong things, we will pay the consequences later.

Let me tell you of one such incident that will have very far reaching consequences: A couple of months ago an organization, representing big business, started to promote the idea that Penalty Rates for Sunday employment be abolished; they argue that we now have a 7 day working week (they should know, they deliberately created it) and there is no need to pay compensation in the form of penalty rates to workers for missing out on church now because most Christians don’t attend church anyway. This is true of course so is difficult to refute. The Government and anyone employing people will be overjoyed at this suggestion because if penalty rates are withdrawn they stand to gain millions of dollars at the expense of the workers. The Government won’t do anything about this in an election year of course, but just wait until after the elections! Working people could lose millions of dollars and Sunday would be meaningless.

Last week I pointed out that our Law and Order System is having difficulty in coping with crime and violence because in the past 50 years people have become less and less Church Attenders and more and more watchers of cruel and violent D.V.Ds. and films. Now that is the Spiritual equivalent of working in a dirty job and not taking a shower to wash off accumulated dirt. Worse still is the fact that children brought up like that have a far less chance of learning about the Saving Grace of Jesus and a far greater chance of looking on cruelty and violence as normal.

61% of Australians claim to be Christians. If all these went to church for one hour on Sundays the “powers that be” wouldn’t dare oppose that much “people power”. Also, and in any case, we should all boycott shopping on Sundays, (except at the smaller shops for emergencies). That would stop the seven day week trading; thus Sunday would remain for us to enjoy and Penalty Rates would remain as the rightful compensation for those who do have to work on that day.

You see God’s Commandments were designed for our benefit and Jesus said He “came that we might have life, and have it more abundantly”. Ignoring God might look like “a good idea at the time”, but will always cost us dearly in the end.

If we don’t take a pro-active role by attending church and not shopping on Sunday then we will only have ourselves to blame when our Great Grandchildren say: “Tell me about the thing called Sunday, what was it like?”

Best wishes as you share this with as many as you can. Regards, Tom.