Protection

I have just had a cancerous lump removed from my ear and Audrey had one removed from her nose 3 years ago. Now we are told that the reason we have had these problems is that we didn’t protect our fair skin from the Ultra Violet Rays of the sun when we were younger, but you see, no one warned us about the dangers of U.V. rays when we were younger. Just the opposite; the beaches were crowded with people sunbaking to get a tan and they used no Sunscreen as they do to-day. Some people say “ignorance is bliss” or “what you don’t know won’t hurt you”, which is a load of rubbish, and is the equivalent of the proverbial Ostrich with its head in the sand so it won’t see danger approaching and get hurt.

Lots of things are detrimental to our health or wellbeing, like these rays, and are very subtle in their approach. Take rabbits as an example: the early settlers who came to Australia brought 2 rabbits with them (what harm could that possibly do?) what harm indeed; when I was a boy, every property that I knew was inundated with thousands of them and they ate all the vegetation sending farmers bankrupt. Consequently, the Government made farmers and graziers fence their land with rabbit proof netting fences so they could be controlled. (What harm could a netting fence possibly do?) Well, for starters, they cause the death of many Emu Chicks.

Audrey and I had a pet Emu chicken we named “Dobby”, and the rabbits, and their netting fence, were the reason we had him. You see Dobby’s mother had several babies and her husband was taking them out for a walk (the male looks after the chicks), and he came to a “rabbit-proof” fence that had a hole in the netting made by a Kangaroo, Mr Emu jumped over the fence and all the babies found the hole and joined him on the other side, except Dobby who didn’t see the hole and was left behind, when we found him he was about to be killed by a crow so Audrey took him home and he became part of our family. After all, he had 2 legs like we did, so fitted in very well. One day, when he was about the size of a large chook, he walked down to the cow yard with me and as I was repairing a fence he was about a 100 meters away eating grass or herbage, when to my horror I heard him “screaming” Peeeep, Peeeep, as loud as he could and I saw him racing toward me as fast as his legs could carry him because a large Wedge-tailed Eagle was diving at him. Fortunately, it saw me and decided to abort its decision to kill Dobby and flew up into the wide blue yonder leaving Dobby hiding between my legs.

Like Dobby, whose life was endangered because of a long line of circumstances that in themselves seemed quite innocent, we often find that over the years we can also become trapped by things that seemed innocent enough in the first place but we really need help to overcome the problems they caused. I’m thinking of things like alcohol, gambling, resentment, selfishness, greed, immoral behaviour and such that can gradually control our life. However just as Dobby was rescued by us from the circumstances in which he found himself and over which he had no control, so it is that God is offering to release us from any bondage we now have that is keeping us from fellowship with Him. He has no charge whatever for this, and absolutely no criticism either, with loving statements like: “Come unto me all you who labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest”. “I will be with you in trouble; I will deliver you and honour you, with long life I will satisfy you, and show you my salvation” (Matthew 11:28 & Psalm 91:15), and He assures us in John 6: 37 that “he that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out” and the story He told of the Prodigal son bears witness to that in no uncertain manner: (Luke chapter15, verses 11 to 31). Realise that in doing this it is not that God overlooks the sin in our lives that would normally keep us separated from Him, but when we repent and turn to Him, that action automatically activates the forgiveness, that was bought for us by Jesus death and resurrection: “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isaiah 1:18).

Of course there are lots of other verses that also confirm God’s unlimited love for us, His Children, He just wants us to repent and come to Him so that as a loving Father he can bless us and guide us now, and on into Eternity.

Kind regards, Tom.

 

Queen’s Birthday Weekend

As soon as I hear someone mention the Queen’s Birthday I always see this picture in my mind because this is how I saw her and the Duke of Edinburgh in 1954 as they drove past me: I was fortunate to be in the army then and part of a Guard of Honour for them as they visited Sydney. The Queen is elderly now as is my wife, although Audrey is a few years’ younger. Strangely, my mind has this image of both of them as youthful and refuses to

see either of them as old. In some ways
there is truth in this as I do not believe that the real person, (that we describe as the Soul), ever ages beyond about 30. Audrey, for her part, always had a youthful approach to whatever she did (look at her here at the Kelso Border Leicester sale in Victoria in 1968), and the Queen has set a very good example in her marriage and in whatever she has been involved in.

Oh I know you can criticise royalty, but who can’t you criticise? I guarantee that if we become a Republic and replace her with a President, then that President will cop a lot more “flack” than the Queen ever did (and will probably deserve it too).

The Queen has always been aware of the fact that God is to be revered: at her Majesty’s coronation, the Archbishop of Canterbury (as he placed the crown on her head) recited words saying that she had the right to wear it until Jesus, to whom it rightfully belongs, comes back to rule. Her majesty is also head of the Anglican (Christian) Church. Therefore, as a Christian nation established by England, Australia was delighted to accept Elizabeth as the figurehead of our Democracy and whenever our National Anthem was required we willingly sang “God Save the Queen”, just as we sang “God Save the King” when her father King George the 6 th, was alive. That National Anthem was sung very frequently in Australia, (at school Assemblies and all sporting events) in doing so we acknowledged that God was in charge, which was a very worthwhile reminder. However, ostensibly, to save confusion at the Olympic Games and so on, some years ago the Government adopted a different Anthem so we now sing “Advance Australia Fair”, which is quite a nice “Jingoistic” song but the word “God” is conspicuous by its absence. During the same decade, the mention of God in our public school curriculum was prohibited and it supports the idea that there is no sign of intelligent design in the Universe.  Flowers like this Gerbera and Orchid apparently designed themselves even though they have no minds or brains.

Sunday was a day of rest and worship so no shops, apart from corner stores, were allowed to open. Now all that has changed and Sunday is a day for organised sport and shopping.

To a large extent, the Old Testament in the Bible is an historical record of how God endeavoured to guide the Israeli people and if we care to look at the books of Kings and Chronicles we will find that God blessed that nation when they honoured Him but “pulled the plug” on them when they strayed away and ignored Him; even to the extent that He “encouraged” the Babylonians to defeat them and take them into captivity for many years. I fear that is now happening to our nation too. Also “Wisdom comes from God” and if we don’t seek His wisdom but “go it alone” we will make dreadful mistakes like our Governments have been making by selling our land, our dairies, our coal mines, our gas, our ports, our electricity generating, etc., etc.to foreigners. When I was a young man I had never heard of Security Alarms, Surveillance cameras, police carrying pistols, people locking their houses, children not being safe walking home late at night on their own, or terrorism. This has all changed in five decades and it must be stopped. (2 Chronicles Chapter 7 Verse 14).

To reverse this decline, we must repent for having insulted God by ignoring Him. We can’t force our Governments to change but it will make a difference if we, as individuals, ask His forgiveness in Jesus name, pray, read the New Testament and relevant parts of the Old Testaments, observe His directions and attend a Christian Church for support and encouragement. This is urgent and God will bless us if we do it.          Kind regards, Tom.

Wheels …. By Tom Volkofsky 354

I took this photo in the carpark at the Mall recently, there were hundreds of cars there, most of them very modern with luxurious interiors, however, with all their different shapes and sizes they all had one obvious thing in common; they were all built on wheels.

Of all the inventions that humans have made the wheel would have to be the one that has had the greatest effect on our lives. Wheels have been around a long time of course, horses and bullocks pulled various types of sulkies, drays and carts long before engines were invented. Yet, for all their importance, they are probably the thing we think about least when buying a car, our interest is in the seating, the air conditioning, the fuel economy, is it automatic or manual? And

so on, but if some “Genie” waved a wand and all the wheels in the world suddenly disappeared the owners of cars would suddenly lose interest in the internal fittings and realise that the wheels were the basic necessities without which the cars were “dead,” irrespective of how well fitted out they were, and we wouldn’t be going anywhere, even by aeroplane because most of them are also built on wheels.

This matter of building on a reliable foundation is critical in every part of our life;

when building a house for example it is much more sensible to build on a rock base that is secure, than on sand that may be washed away, (like the one in the photo). Irrespective of how nice the building and the view might be, it is the foundation that should be the first consideration. Indeed, in Matthew 7:26, Jesus advised us to observe this, by building our lives on his words as they are the equivalent of a rock foundation and if we “believe” in him and walk in the direction he requires, we will have eternal life. Which is, I believe, really the outcome we would all like to end up with.  However, our eternal life also depends on whether we believe the first ten words of the bible, which are: “In the beginning God Created the Heavens and the Earth”. (Genesis 1). And the Gospel of John, Chapter1 and Verse 1, confirm these words and also explain Jesus involvement in Creation.

You see, when we accept that God is the Creator of everything, then that belief becomes the equivalent of the wheels on our car and therefore the foundation upon which all our beliefs rely, including Jesus divinity. the rest of the bible builds upon that so is really the equivalent of a vehicle’s seating and the internal comforts and fittings which, as we said before, have little relevance in any vehicle if there are no wheels. Therefore, to deny God in Creation, removes the “foundation” upon which our faith is based. So in the finality that makes our Spiritual Life like that car with no wheels; full of kind deeds perhaps, but having no forgiveness of sin, in effect we have denied the authority of God and are not “believing” in Jesus because we have denied the truth of John chapter one which says that Jesus was “the word of God” at Creation. This denial means no Salvation or Eternal Life either, (Matthew 7: 21- 23).

When we were born our mind had no beliefs one way or the other so if we have no faith in a Creating God it is because we have been taught that everything just evolved by chance (which is just Science fiction). Think about your brain, it is an incredible computer, connected to every part of your body and was responsible for designing all the computers we have. Well then, was our brain designed by an intelligent mind or did it just happen? How about your ears with thousands of tiny hair cells in the cochlea with each cell tuned to a particular frequency and connected to your brain that converts those frequencies into the sounds we hear? was this designed by an intelligent mind like your radio was, or did it just happen by accident? What about your eyes? They are the most remarkable Cameras, constantly taking three dimensional colour photos and then storing those photos in a memory bank in your brain, did they just happen by accident or were they designed by our Creator God? Have you ever seen a camera that just happened without a clever brain to invent it? No you haven’t, nor will you ever find one. What about your heart? It pumps enough blood in one week through your body’s 100,000 kilometres of blood vessels to fill a B-Double tanker, (50,000 litres) and works night and day without stopping for 80 or so years. With all the engineers we have in the world you won’t find one who can make a pump like that. Don’t tell me it made itself. Investigate deeper; analyse your blood at a Laboratory, and you will find that it isn’t just tomato sauce either.   ‘must go now. Best wishes, Tom.

Fuel and Filters

This Willy’s Whippet is a 1928 model but is almost identical to the one my dad had that was made in 1927 (although it was a different colour) and I got my driver’s licence in it at 16 with a police man as my examiner. They were great vehicles and anyone could repair them provided they had a screwdriver and a shifting spanner. These army Jeeps were also designed by the Willys company in the U.S.A. they were a legend during the 2^nd World War at the conclusion of which I bought one

that had been manufactured in 1942. It has a side valve motor, very similar to the Willys “Whippet”. Their engines showed signs of wear (like blowing blue smoke out their exhaust) sooner than the modern cars because the Whippet had no air or oil filters at all. Whilst the army Jeep only had an oil bath air cleaner that allowed some dust through

and had a partial flow oil filter that didn’t clean the oil thoroughly either, (like all cars of that era). Whereas this 2017 model Jeep Wrangler (pictured) has an excellent air filter and a full-flow oil filter, as all modern cars now have, and that prevents all foreign matter from harming the engine.

In order for an engine to start (for those who don’t know), the piston on its downward stroke sucks a mixture of air and petrol through the carburettor into its combustion chamber, the valves then close, and the piston on its upward stroke, compresses the mixture and when it is about to go down again the sparkplug makes a spark which ignites the petrol vapour causing an explosion that pushes the piston down, and that movement turns the crankshaft and the engine is started.  Under dusty conditions, and on unsealed roads dust entered these old engines with the air that was sucked in through the carburettor and caused wear, and that dust, together with carbon from the combustion chamber, contaminated the oil in the sump too and it became abrasive, so it was no wonder these engines showed signs of wear sooner than the modern ones that filter out all those contaminants. The modern ones don’t have carburettors either but use fuel injection instead, however they still have to take air into their combustion chambers just as the old ones did. This also applies to diesel engines that have no sparkplugs but ignite their fuel by extreme heat caused by very high compression.

 In a recent article I wrote about how God expects us to filter out of our lives those things that contaminate our minds and bodies (2 Corinthians Chapter 6 Verses 17 & 18 & Chapter 7 Verse 1), or they will degrade us in a similar manner to the way a lack of filtering can damage a car engine, like the Whippet. Even “Partial” filtering (as in the Army Jeep) isn’t good enough, and “partial cleaning” when applied to our lives will not satisfy God’s requirements either, as laid out in the New Testament. A good definition of “clean” would be “a complete absence of dirt” which is something to aim at because anything less is just not clean, and that applies as much to a human mind as to an engine.

Those early cars used petrol containing lead, which helped to “lubricate” the valve stems, However, lead is also a poison that is detrimental to brain development and the exhaust fumes from cars also contain other harmful gases.  Therefore, Governments legislated to ban leaded petrol and make the car manufacturers comply, by fitting catalectic converters and other forms of exhaust filtering, to protect the public and the environment. There is a parallel here to what God expects of us: sure it is great if we clean up our lives by not watching immoral T.V. and D.V.Ds etc. but we are also expected to be pro-active in endeavouring to help others. After all, if we “Love our neighbours as we love ourselves” (Jesus second commandment), then we should spread the good news that Jesus died for us and therefore God offers forgiveness for sin to all those who turn to Him. The more people who hear that message the better, as they may then see the necessity of filtering out the hindrances in their lifestyles, so that they too can inherit eternal life.

Happy “filtering,” good “witnessing”, and safe “motoring”, Best wishes, Tom.     

 

One Day at a Time

For many decades Australians had the assurance, from the Government, that when they reached retirement age, and didn’t have enough money saved to live on, that an Age Pension would be available to them. That was a wonderful arrangement and took a lot of the stress and concern out of the lives of retirees because people felt confident knowing that they would have an amount of money paid into their bank account each fortnight that would be sufficient for them to live on for the next 14 days if they manage it carefully. You needed to have faith in “Centerlink” to the extent that you believed they would provide the cash on a continuing basis, of course. Because, without faith, people could worry themselves sick towards the end of each fortnight wondering where the next money to live on was going to come from, which would be stupid. FAITH: how very important that is.

I was thinking about this when I was repeating the “Lord’s Prayer” that Jesus taught his disciples, where He says “Give us this day our daily bread”: Why did he mention Just one day’s bread? Why not “Give us all the bread that we will need for the next 12 months”? Well, we can be assured that Jesus didn’t make statements that weren’t well thought out, He had a very good reason. As far as the Government is concerned, they wouldn’t give a lump sum because they know that some people cannot handle money properly and would waste it on something unnecessary and then starve. In Jesus case it is different, He wants us to live one day at a time in His company involving him in our work and trusting him to see that all our needs will be supplied. In Philippians 4:6 we are told to not worry about anything, but let God know our problems and be assured that he will fix them. (check Philippians 4:6 for yourself, it is in the New Testament). It is like the situation a farmer finds himself in each year when he would like to sow a crop of wheat, but he knows that there is only enough moisture in the soil to germinate the seed and maintain it for a few weeks, however it will take 6 or 7 months, and a certain amount of rain each month, to grow the crop and then some nice fine hot weather to harvest it. Well then, is he gambling if he sows without that certainty?  It certainly looks like it. However, Solomon, (or some other wise king) who had “been there, done that” wrote the book of Ecclesiastes thousands of years ago and made the observation in chapter 11 verse 4 that “anyone who looks at the wind shall not sow and anyone looking at the clouds will not reap”. Which is exactly right. Nevertheless, my observation from being personally involved as a farmer, and also studying the bible, is that we need a personal relationship with our Heavenly Father. If we do have that relationship and are prepared to have faith, we can relax in the promise that “My God shall supply all your need” (Philippians 4:19), so then there is no gamble associated with it. Just as Centerlink doesn’t supply a lump sum and people trust them to make regular payments, so we need to trust God. Now this is not “Kismet” or fatalism (“whatever will be will be” type of thinking). Certainly not! It is faith born of “hearing and hearing from the word of God”. “Faith, without which no person will please God.” And realising that God alone knows what is best for us we can rest assured as Romans 8:28 says that “All things work together for good for those who love God, the called

according to His purpose.” How about the Shearers or the Shop Assistants and such, do they have to be concerned about the continuity of their jobs and their wages? Well, here again the answer is “yes”, unless they develop a Father/Child relationship with God and thus become “joint heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17). Having made that commitment Philippians 4:19 says “my God shall supply all your need” so they will always be looked after, of course they may not remain serving behind a counter or shearing a sheep or whatever, but the world is full of satisfying occupations that would be ideal for their natural gifting. It really amounts to this: Do we want our lives to be under the guidance of Jesus and God’s Holy Spirit or do we want to be independent and “Paddle our own canoe” without any guidance?    More “food for thought”, Best wishes, Tom.

Easter and Engines

Back in the 1960s I bought a nice A554 International tractor, it was made in Australia. That was back in the good old days when we made Chamberlain tractors here too, as well as Holden cars. Unfortunately, one day the A554 Engine just stopped and I found that the Crankshaft had snapped in the middle so would no longer rotate. Now that meant that the tractor could no longer operate at all, and unless I could repair that engine and give it new life I would no longer be able to farm the country that I was hoping to farm.

 Let us consider a hypothetical case: suppose that I had no money to repair that motor and a friend came along and said that he had been talking to my father and mentioned my difficulty, and my father had then contacted the Tractor repair garage in Tottenham (our nearest town) and paid the proprietor for the repair in advance so all I had to do now was take the tractor to him and he would “rebirth” the engine making it as new. The friend who told me this, would be expecting me to be thrilled by an offer like that, and would be amazed if I said: “I haven’t been speaking to my father for years and I am therefore not interested”. He would also be amazed If I said that my pride wouldn’t let me accept the offer anyway because if I cannot do it myself then I’m not prepared to accept charity, even from my father. Either of these actions by me would have been very foolish, to say the least, and I am pleased to say they never happened. Yet they are quite common in our society, and unfortunately, in the Spiritual realm of our lives they are even much more common.

You see, the “engine” that drives us is our Soul and the scriptures tell us that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) and “all” includes you and me, but worse still we have been told that “the Soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4) because “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23), how dreadful is that? However, just like in the scenario above, our Heavenly Father has paid the price for the rebirth of our Souls, through Jesus sacrifice, so “the gift of God is Eternal life through Jesus Christ our lord” (Romans 6:23), what a relief,  does this mean then that all people have Eternal Life? No it doesn’t unfortunately: Jesus himself clarified this point by saying that “as many as received him to them he gave the power to become children of God” (John 1:12). And John 3:15&16 confirms this where Jesus said that “whosoever believeth  in him shall not perish but have eternal life”. So how many people will make it to Heaven? I don’t know, but it won’t be as many as it should be because even though “It is not His will that any person shall perish” (2Peter 3:9), many of us behave like I did in the above hypothetical scenario and either don’t speak to our Heavenly Father or are too proud to accept His offer of help. Of course there are some who haven’t even heard of His offer and it is up to us to tell them.

You see, unless our “Engine” (Soul) is rebirthed (Born again) we are like that tractor that would end up on the scrap heap if its engine is not rebirthed. Whether or not the tractor looks nice, has new tyres, and a newly upholstered seat etc. is irrelevant. Likewise, it makes no difference how nice we seem to be or what good things we do either, because our Soul has sinned and it must be rebirthed before those things are of any value. This was clarified by Jesus when a very sincere religious leader of the Jews named Nicademus came to visit him, this man would have obeyed every law written in the Old Testament to the letter. He started to compliment Jesus on the miracles he had done and so on, but Jesus made no comment on that but came straight to the point by saying: Nicademus, “you must be “born Again” or you cannot

enter the Kingdom of God”, (John 3: 3&5) and went on to explain that he wasn’t talking about a physical rebirth but a Spiritual rebirth, and this comes about when we believe in Jesus, repent, and follow His ways. Then, and then alone, are we qualified to enter Heaven. This, of course is what Easter is all about. We can have God’s forgiveness because Jesus “gave his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28). You and I are part of those “ransomed” “many” when we accept that gift of God by prayer.

May God richly bless you and yours this Easter and forever more,

From Tom and Audrey.

Strengthened by Difficulties

Nine months ago I took this photo of a Palm Tree beside the walk way at the Mall, and I mentioned in an article I wrote at the time, that the gardeners had just cut its top off and said they were going to destroy it as it was in the wrong place. My interest at that stage was to observe how beautifully folded the leaves were (like a Chinese fan), and how tightly packed the unopened leaves were. To me that was evidence of God’s designing and programming.  For some reason they didn’t destroy the tree but it looked very unhappy for a while and I thought it would die. However, it has now revived and looks more robust than ever as you can see in this next photo. I am sure the tree didn’t enjoy the rough handling it had but its roots were
firmly established in good soil so it was able to cope with the problems it was faced with and overcame them.

Throughout life we are also confronted with difficult problems that often seem as if they will defeat us and it is then that we appreciate the prayerful hope that Paul expresses in his letter to the Ephesian Christians: “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye being  rooted and grounded in love, (just as that tree is well rooted in good soil), may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye may be filled with all the fullness of God”.(Ephesians 3:17), What a colossal “backup” is available to us if we choose to avail ourselves of it.  Indeed, without that “backup” and supply of strength to draw upon we can be easily defeated, just as that Palm tree wouldn’t have survived if it hadn’t been for the good soil and adequate moisture that was there for it to draw upon. I am afraid that we often don’t ask for help in time of need but face it alone because we either don’t know that our Heavenly Father is the King of the universe or we are too proud to ask Him for help: Victorious living comes from faith and “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God”, (Romans 10:17), and that really means repeatedly hearing. Somehow I feel that the comma after the first word “hearing” is in the wrong place and should be after the second “hearing,” because we need to hear and hear.

When John Wesley (the famous evangelist who “turned England upside down”) first heard of “Salvation by faith” he had a problem believing it so one of his friends said: “Preach it until you believe it, and then preach it because you believe it.” And he did, with fantastic results.

People say to me: “I don’t understand why God allows sickness, or the death of babies”. Well God doesn’t want either, and Jesus proved this by healing every sick person He met and even raised the dead who had died prematurely and then handed the responsibility over to us when He was leaving by saying: “The works that I do shall you do also, and greater works than these shall you do because I go to the Father,” (John 14: 12) to those who accept Jesus forgiveness there is a long list of Spiritual gifts that are available. So those who want to, can live victoriously and help others. All we need is FAITH and Romans 10:17 tells us how to get that. (You don’t get it by reading books about the New Testament, you must read and re-read the actual words). Audrey and I were living in town and went out to our property for a visit and found lots of large “Cat-head” burr plants in our orchard (the seed must have come in hay we bought). Audrey was very upset and recalling what Jesus said we could do, when He killed the fig tree, she turned to these burr plants and said, in a loud voice, “I curse you Catheads, in the name of Jesus die” (secretly I thought to myself “she has overdone it this time”) but when we returned to the orchard a few days later I was astounded to see that every plant had died. On another occasion, whilst handling cattle, I got a dreadful chest pain that I recognised as a heart attack so I went and lay on the bed. Audrey came and prayed for me constantly for 2 days, quoting God’s promises in the scriptures (I wasn’t game to move), other friends she phoned prayed too and the pain gradually departed, leaving me weak. After many days though, I returned to normal and felt quite well. Years later I had more pain so went to St Vincent’s Hospital where they gave me a Coronary Angiogram and the Specialist said I needed some by-passes, but added “you had a severe heart attack some years ago”. I said “yes, how did you know?” He replied “I can see where your heart made its own by-pass”.   Best wishes for more faith, Tom.

Are You Ready

 

“Are you ready”? is a question that we get asked constantly from childhood: “Are you ready to get up?” “are you ready for your shower”? “are you ready for Breakfast”? “Are you ready for school”? and so it continues through our life; we always have to be ready for something. But what a dreadful feeling it is if someone reminds us, at the last minute, about something important we forget to get ready for. At such a time we understand the meaning of the word “Panic”, but unfortunately panicking does not always solve the problem, does it?

When I was a little boy back in the 1930s we had no electricity on our farm so at night

mum always kept a “Hurricane Lantern” lit (like the one in the photo), so we had a light “always ready” in case we had to go and close the chook yard gate after dark, or tie the dog or even go from the kitchen to the bedroom, it helped us find our way easily and as I was scared of the dark, it was also very comforting to see that there was nothing to be frightened of lurking in the shadows. Well there could have been a snake. Our neighbour, Jack, at “Wilgareena” got bitten by a snake near the dog kennel. My sister found one in the bedroom, aimed the 12-gauge Shotgun at it, pulled the trigger and drove the snakes head through the floor, and received a bruised shoulder, all at once.

 For anyone who may not be familiar with this type of light, you filled the bottom section with Kerosene or as some call it “Paraffin” which is a fuel oil made from a mixture of liquid hydrocarbons. A wick of absorbent material, controlled by a winder, sucked up the Kerosene by capillary action and you lit the wick with a match.  The light which was inside that glass was protected from the wind and lasted for hours before you had to add more Kerosene, providing that you turned the wick down low with the winder. Therefore, it was always “ready”. The other lamps used in the house worked on a similar principle.  In Biblical times they had a lamp that looked like a teapot except that the spout was shorter and turned upwards and a wick went down inside the spout and into the oil that was in the body of the lamp, it worked well but it had a “naked” flame with no winder to adjust the wick so it used a considerable amount of “oil” and needed frequent refilling.

Jesus told a story about “ten bridesmaids” in Matthew 25, (New Living Translation), who had to attend an evening wedding so they each took a lamp with them (probably like the last one I just described). Now I don’t understand the customs of their day, but apparently they had to wait outside the place where the wedding was to take place until the Groom arrived and then they could go in with him. In this particular case the Groom was delayed for some reason and didn’t arrive until midnight. Meanwhile the girls had dosed off and woke with a start when it was announced that he had arrived. Five of them had neglected to bring spare oil with them so were not ready and had to run and get some because their lamps had gone out, but unfortunately for them when they returned they found that the other five who had brought extra oil and were ready, had gone in with the Bridegroom and the doors were now shut.

The Groom in this story represents Jesus himself, and the Bridesmaids represent people like us and the hall where the wedding was to be held represents the Kingdom of Heaven. You see Jesus was talking about the time when he will “come again” to receive those of us who are prepared and ready. Of course if we die before he comes again, then the same thing still applies: those who are prepared and ready will be accepted into Heaven but sadly, those who are not prepared and ready will be “cast out into outer darkness: where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” for eternity. (Matthew 22:13 & 25:30). (What a dreadful and unnecessary alternative that would be).

Exactly then what do we have to do in order to be prepared and ready? Well, briefly it amounts to this: We prepare by “repenting”, which means asking God’s forgiveness for sin, and deciding to follow Jesus directions in future (as outlined in the New Testament). The 10 Bridesmaids would have fulfilled the equivalent of that preparation, but 5 of them were like some of us who fail to “update that commitment” which is something we need to do on a daily basis. 

Take my case for example: On the 10^th of January in 1950, I made that commitment and if I had died on the 11^th (the next day) I would have gone to Heaven because I was ready. However, I didn’t die so I must continue to live the way Jesus directed, asking God’s forgiveness for sinful thoughts and concentrate on “Loving my neighbour as I love myself” and so on, because these things keep me ready as they confirm my original commitment and are the equivalent of “topping up” my lamp with oil so I have light for my path and am ready.  Best wishes as you think about that, if you haven’t already done so.   Tom.

Faith or Stress

“You are not a candidate for a Heart Attack, you are not over weight, as a farmer you spend your time in the open air, and get plenty of exercise: For you to have had a heart attack you must have had a lot of stress”. This was the Cardiologist at St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney talking to me. How ashamed he made me feel, a professing Christian, having a heart attack through stress, of all things: how faithless

and ridiculous.

 Said the robin to the sparrow, I should really like to know, why these anxious human beings rush about and worry so. Said the sparrow to the robin, friend, I think it must be, that they have no Heavenly Father, such as cares for you and me.

But we do have a Heavenly Father who cares about us, only, we have our priorities wrong: In Matthew 6: 24 to 34, Jesus said: “You cannot serve both God and Money…. That is why I tell you not to worry about every-day life…. Look at the birds…your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life.... Look at the lilies of the field

how they grow…. Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are…. Your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. (New Living Translation).

Does this mean then, that we don’t have to work but just trust God and all our needs will be supplied? No! it certainly doesn’t, if he did that for us it wouldn’t be long before we would be bored out of our minds. If he had meant that, he wouldn’t have designed the world with all the wonderful supply of commodities for us to use to build things and so on. Nor would he have given us the natural abilities like carpentry, mechanics, engineering etc. Certainly he gave us a world supplied with fruit and vegetables and foods of many types and in the Garden of Eden we had all these without the weeds and thistles. If people had not sinned it could have been Heaven on earth. However, in a sense we pawned our birthright of fellowship with God by yielding to the temptations of Satan, who is “the god of this world”, (2 Corinthians 4:4), and we are under his influence. If you visit a Pawn Broker and pawn some jewellery or the like, that item is his until you return with the money, plus interest, and “Redeem” it, at which time it is legally yours again. This is exactly what God did for us: he sent Jesus to pay the price of our “Redemption”: We were “Redeemed by the blood of the lamb” of God, or as Ephesians 1:7 and Colossians 1:14 put it: “in whom we have Redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace”. 1 Peter chapter five verses six and seven says: “Humble yourselves therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time: casting all your care upon him; for He careth for you.” If God has offered to take all my care upon Him, why was I foolish enough to carry it myself?  To do that was very stupid of me, (of course you wouldn’t do that, would you?)

 The fact of the matter is that when we accept God’s forgiveness through that “Redemptive” act we are automatically reinstated as “children of God” and citizens of His Kingdom with “Passport and Visa” ready so that when we finish our time here we can return home to God where our names are in “the Book of Life” (Revelation 20:12). Meanwhile, like any citizen of another Kingdom, we can work here and enjoy ourselves and if we put God’s directions first in everything we plan, think, and do we can then expect that “He will give His Angels charge over us to keep us in all our way” (Psalm 91).  We can then go forward in quiet confidence that no matter what happens “All things work together for good for those that love God, the called

according to His purpose”. We need to take a lesson from the eagles: they hardly ever flap their wings, instead they make use of the thermal up-drafts of air provided by God’s design, whilst some other birds flap constantly and wear themselves out. So we must not ‘flap’ too much, instead we must do as Proverbs 3:5 says and “Trust in the Lord with all our heart and lean not to our own understanding; in all our ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct our paths”.(Proverbs 3:5). Best wishes with that, Tom.

The alternative: “He rushed through life, people said ‘he’s a wizzard’ but he died at 40 with a burned out gizzard”. (Now that’s not really a good way to live or die, is it?)

The Real Thing

I am always fascinated by trees. There are thousands of hectares of trees like these of various varieties in the Great Dividing Range along the East coast of Australia and also 
in Tasmania and Western Australia. They are part of the resources given to us as a gift for us to use, and of course, if managed properly would keep replacing themselves as they are a renewable resource. This particular type was designed to be used for telephone and electricity poles and bridges, or any construction that requires long straight planks. To save them wasting their time whilst they are growing or waiting to be used, the one who invented them, allotted them the task of purifying the air we breathe by absorbing carbon and respiring oxygen through their leaves. (He
didn’t overlook anything). I wrote about this once before mentioning the great variety of trees. Such as hard woods, soft woods, fodder trees for animals to eat, like Mulga, Rosewood and Kurrajong, and there are lots of decorative trees too, like the acacias, but as well as looking pretty they also filter the air for us. Terrific planning went into all this, and they were all made so that the bees can pollinate their flowers, and as a payment for that they were designed to supply the bees with the ingredients to make honey with varying flavours. The honey shop: “M.S. Honey”, in West Dubbo near I.G.A. have a colossal variety like those in the photo.

 When Audrey and I got married we had a
small house built for us to live in: it didn’t just accidentally evolve whilst we were on our Honeymoon either. On the contrary, we designed it before the builder commenced construction, consequently it was “purpose built” having the necessary rooms in the right places with such things as a stove, a stainless steel sink and the necessary cupboards in which to store things, and friends said it was “a nice little house and well thought out”.  

If we use our brains as we look about us, it becomes very obvious that this world is a “nice place, purpose built, and well thought out” too. We should then understand what the Bible means when it states that we have no excuse for not believing in God, as his handiwork is all around us and the closer we look the more amazed we become: It is not an inhospitable place like the Moon or Mars or Jupiter. Certainly not: it is obviously “purpose built” for us to inhabit, as it has everything we could possibly need, whether it be Iron Ore to manufacture steel, or Lavender flowers to make perfume. Walk into any Supermarket and the variety of fruit and vegetables is incredible, there are dozens of different types, each having a unique flavour and a recognisable shape and colour which we take for granted, but without those different shapes and colours selecting them would be a nightmare. They were all designed by our loving Heavenly Father so that our sojourn on Earth would be very pleasant and interesting, and if you have observed these fruits developing on the tree or vine you will have also noticed that until they are ripe they are the same colour as the leaves on the tree or vine that produces them which is very clever camouflage, (He thought of everything). We must not overlook the herbs He put there for our enjoyment either, and the berries, Strawberries, Blue berries, Raspberries etc. It is incredible to me that some people cannot see that God’s intelligent mind was necessary in order
for a brainless tree to be programmed to produce this luscious piece of fruit; to deny that God was involved, as some do, is ridiculous and implies that the brainless house we built could have invented its own stove. After all, if a tree without brains, could make fruit that is so very complex, without God’s intervention, then (using that logic) a similarly brainless house should be able to make a stove? However, it can’t. The fact is that the entire earth and everything in it was deliberately designed for our use and enjoyment by our God as recorded in the book of Genesis, and his intelligence staggers the imagination. Can you think of anything we need that He hasn’t catered for? If we had the common sense to just abide by Jesus second commandment to “Love our neighbour as we love ourselves” we would all enjoy this planet because it is only selfishness and lack of love that causes all the upset in the world. In so many countries people are too busy fighting to attend to their crops and gardens and wonder why they are hungry. This sort of stupidity can start in our family relationships too, and just spreads like an infection so we need to “nip it in the bud” and show forgiveness and love because if we don’t forgive those who trespass against us, God will not forgive us our trespasses.     Best wishes, Tom.

He Cares

When we look at babies we see the most beautiful little things, innocent, with brand

new brains that as yet contain very little knowledge. Aveline, this little Great Grand Daughter of mine (Ava, for short), lives in our English speaking Australia, and English is not a very easy language to learn, but by the time Ava is about six years old she will have a very good grasp of the language. However, Australia is a fairly isolated country and we hardly ever hear other languages spoken so if she hears another language she will not understand it, unless she studies it at school, of course.

Likewise, she was born into a devout Christian family so will visit a church to worship God every Sunday, will say grace at meal times, and pray for family and loved ones as well as lots of other people before going to bed at night or to school each day. Therefore, by the time she is about six years old she will not only understand English, but will also look on Christianity as a normal part of her life and if she hears someone say that Jesus was the “Son of God”, she will have no problem accepting that.

I know all this is true because I was brought up in a similar manner. However, in recent times there have been a lot of people from foreign countries coming to live in Australian and these people, in many cases, don’t speak or understand the English language very well, and to complicate the matter still further they often don’t understand the Christian way of thinking, so if they hear me talk of Jesus as “the Son of God” or talk about Him being “Divine” they may well think I am being sacrilegious, and even deserve to die for making such a statement about a person, after all, (when you think about it), it was the very religious Jews who arranged for Jesus to be Crucified because he made such a claim, and people don’t change: for example, the war in Syria at the moment is between two religious groups who just have two different interpretations of the same religion. Considering all the above and its importance to the future of peace and understanding within our land, I will attempt to explain, very briefly, why Christians believe the way they do and what backing they have for their beliefs, (obviously I will have to leave a lot out or this will become a book). Of one thing you can be certain though: I love my God and would never be sacrilegious.

Firstly, then, Jesus was born to a virgin and I am pleased that the Muslims believe this too. Virgin birth does occasionally occur.  It happens under a process which is called parthenogenesis. However, on her own a woman cannot produce a male baby, only a female. That is why when the Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary (as recorded in Luke 1 verse 26) He said in verse 35 “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the highest will overshadow you therefore also the Holy One who is to be born will be called The Son of God”. A deliberately arranged virgin berth would be miracle enough, but a male baby as well, requires God’s intervention.                                                                                                                           At 12 years of age Jesus showed that he knew who His Real Father was: on a visit to Jerusalem he became parted from his family and when they found him he was “in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, (religious leaders), both hearing them and asking them questions, and all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers”. When Mary said they had been looking for him everywhere, he replied, didn’t you realise “that I must be about my Father’s business”. (Luke 2: 49).

When he reached manhood he had many followers, but the closest ones were the 12 disciples who were with him constantly: they saw him feed five thousand men plus women and children with 5 loaves and 2 small fish and collect 12 baskets full of leftovers, and later feed four thousand in a similar manner. They saw him walk on water, heal mentally and physically sick people. Raise the dead, one of which had been dead for 4 days and whose body was putrid. But when he said “Lazarus come forth” he came out of his tomb perfect. They heard him tell a raging storm “peace be still” and it stopped immediately. They heard him preach wonderful sermons, and when he asked these disciples who they thought he was, Peter replied immediately: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” and his reply was: “Flesh and blood has not revealed this unto you but My Father in heaven”. Then speaking to Phillip he said: “he who has seen me has seen the Father, for I and the Father are one”. For this sort of statement, the Jews had him crucified and he went along with that because it was the reason he came to earth (to die for the sins of all of us so God could forgive us and accept us into heaven, if we repent and believe on Jesus (John 3:16)). Of course that wasn’t the end of him. After 3 days he rose from the dead and mingled with the disciples and others for many weeks; just appearing in locked rooms but nevertheless having a body that was solid to the touch (not like a ghost).

I have run out of room, so I will continue next week, or you can read the New Testament. It is all there.  Best wishes, Tom.

He Continues to Care

Last week, under the heading “He Cares” I was writing about Jesus and ran out of room so here is a “Post Script” to help complete the picture.

Having been in Jesus company for a number of years, his disciples, were devastated when he was suddenly crucified, but he anticipated that and because he cared for people he spoke to John from the cross, even though he was in great pain, and asked him to look after his mother, Mary. Which John did from then on. You will also recall that Peter, who said that he would never forsake Jesus, did actually deny knowing him three times, at Jesus’ trial, and was very upset when the full realisation of what he had done dawned on him. However, Jesus showed his compassion as recorded in Mark 16: 7, where the angel sitting in the empty tomb told the ladies, who had come to anoint Jesus body with spices, that Jesus had risen and to go and tell the disciples and Peter, that he would meet them in Galilee. Jesus subsequently went to a lot of effort to tell Peter to “feed his sheep and feed his lambs”. It is very reassuring that when we let Jesus down without meaning to, we can ask his forgiveness and receive it.

In the last article, I was remarking on the fact that after his resurrection, Jesus appeared to his disciples, and many other people, over a period of 40 days, not as a Ghost, but in complete bodily form. John 20 verse 19 is a good example: the disciples were gathered in a locked room for fear of the Jews and Jesus just appeared and showed them his wounded hands, feet and pierced side, and in Chapter 21, seven of the disciples spent the night fishing and caught nothing. Jesus was standing on the shore as they returned, although they didn’t recognise him. He called out to them, asking if they had caught anything and when they replied “no” he told them to cast the net on the right side of the boat and immediately their net was full with 153 large fish.

It was then that John recognised Jesus and told Peter “It is the Lord” and when they came ashore, Jesus already had fish cooking on coals, and some bread ready. A very welcome sight, I’m sure, you see He showed how he cares in that case by providing fish for them to sell as well as a very much appreciated breakfast and they were also astounded that even with such a large catch they were able to pull it ashore without the net tearing.

After his resurrection he spent a lot of time with them; reassuring them and helping them to come to terms with what had happened and explaining what it all meant. Finally, though, he had to go back to the Father, but he didn’t just leave them (and us who have been born since), without help to cope with life and all the difficulties and trials that are a normal part of living. His actual words were “It is expedient for you that I go: because if I don’t go, He cannot come”. The “He” mentioned here is the Holy Spirit, and Jesus told his followers to virtually “do nothing” until they received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit in a few days’ time. (Luke 24:49 and Acts1:4&5). This confirms what Jesus said prior to his Crucifixion, as recorded in John 14:26, where he promised that the Father would send the Holy Spirit to be their Comforter and would remind them of the things he had said. We see then that God wants to help Jesus followers in a very special way.

Let me explain how this is to work out in practice: If you have ever been extremely cold and had a hot shower or a hot bath to “thaw out” you will recall that the warmth of the water finds its way into every portion of your body and you feel warm through and through and if you come out and place your hand on someone cold they will exclaim “Oh your hand is so lovely and warm” as you impart some of your warmth to them. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is somewhat similar to that, because the original meaning of “baptism” was to submerse something e.g. a sunken ship was said to be baptised in the sea. Likewise, a piece of cloth submersed in dye to change its colour was said to be baptised in the liquid. Similarly, then, God wants us to be saturated with the characteristics of the Holy Spirit, just as the person in the hot bath absorbed the waters warmth. And just as that absorbing of warmth was a quiet, comforting and exhilarating experience so is the Holy Spirits anointing. The difference being that He doesn’t just help us and then move on as Paul points out in 1 Corinthians 6:19 & 20, “What, know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you?” etc. Thus we can be assured of His continuing presence and guidance as we endeavour to live the Christian life. Therefore, the “fruit of the Spirit”: Love, Joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self- control, and faithfulness, should become evident in us., with the overall aim of blessing others with love and kindness so they too feel the “warmth” of His love.

Best wishes,  Tom.