Who made God?

A friend of mine who lives in England came to Australia last week and her baby had difficulty sleeping at first. Now that could be “Jet Lag” or could it be that she and her mother are now upside down, which for us who dwell “down under” is perfectly normal, (as you can see if you look at this Globe of the world). I know we are held on to this big ball by gravity but no matter how you look at it we are in a ridiculous position compared with Europeans up on top. Aren’t we? It’s a weird universe, Isn’t it?

Another thing, Scientists who explore space with all types of telescopes say that there is no end to space. Consequently, even if we could travel at colossal speed out there to examine the Galaxies, we would go on for ever and ever. Can your mind also absorb that? I hope it can because Jesus said that our lives are like that too. In 10,000,000,000 years (after we have left our human bodies behind), we will still be enjoying life in good healthy bodies and our future will be likewise limitless. You will note that I said “enjoying life”, well that is not necessarily so, as it only applies to us if we accepted the forgiveness that Jesus earned for us at the cross of Calvary, otherwise we will be spending all that time in a Hell of a place.   When we consider Eternity, our life here is just the equivalent of one tick of a clock (or even less), so we must make sure we have sorted that out. Because “the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23).

We have a free will, God won’t “gate crash” our lives, but the Holy Spirit is waiting to help and we have a guardian angel standing by too. Some “Smart Alec” might tell you that they are not there, simply because he can’t see them.

Well of course they can’t be seen, they are in a different dimension so are not visible to our eyes, unless they want to be. Really it is to our advantage that we can’t hear and see everything that is around us in those different dimensions. If we could, our lives would be unbearable because there are millions of phone calls, text messages, scores of television pictures, and information going and coming to i phones and tablets through the room where we are standing and if we suddenly became aware of it all, we wouldn’t be able to stand the “din,” and we couldn’t see through it to the wall opposite either. Life is fascinating, most of what we enjoy is invisible to our eyes: Air and electricity can’t be seen but we enjoy using them constantly, Love is invisible but we all appreciate it, as we also appreciate beauty and friendship, contentment and the lovely taste of things. We don’t even understand our remarkable bodies: For example, our heart pumps 70 Millilitres of blood per beat which means 7,200 Litres per day or 2,628,000 litres per year, and it is cleaned and re-oxygenised constantly. What sort of scientific mind organised all that?  Well the same incredible mind that arranged all that, also designed and programmed the Dinosaurs, Lizards, Platypus, and Fowls to be able to lay eggs that contain all the ingredients necessary to reproduce their kind. This same God made us. Why? Well it seems that it was so He would have a family to love and be loved by. Consequently, He made a world for us to enjoy with every imaginable item that we would require, including lovely things to eat and look at.

“But we are only here for a short time”. That is true, but it is beside the point: for example, my daughter grows these lilies which only flower for a couple of weeks each

year, but she feels that it is worthwhile to have their beauty even if it is short lived, and don’t forget, that If we love God in return for what He has done, and accept His forgiveness for wrong doing, He will take us to be in His family for ever in Heaven.  We don’t understand how most things work so don’t expect to understand God either, just trust Him, He loves you.

Now to answer the question that a man asked me recently: “Who made God?” My answer is that “nobody made God, He always was”. If your logic cannot handle that statement, then go back and look at all I have written here and explain it, (particularly about space being endless) and when your mind can grasp all that, you shouldn’t have any difficulty about believing God’s origin.  Best wishes with this tantalising and frightfully important subject.  Tom.

Commonwealth Games

 

The Commonwealth Games that recently concluded in Queensland, on the Gold

Coast, were quite spectacular. In these photos we see the end result of years of effort and determination with the athlete’s minds focused on the final goal to achieve first place in their particular discipline. Of course we rejoice with those Aussies who won 80 Gold, 59 Silver and 59 Bronze medals but our hearts also go out to those of all nations who

failed to achieve the top honours, and we recognise that in representing their countries they were part of what made the games a success as they kept their nations name before millions of people who watched the Television screens and other electronic media worldwide.

Indeed, in life, generally speaking, there are only a small proportion of the

population who actually achieve the top positions and this is how God meant it to be because if we are in an organisation that has “too many Chiefs and not enough Indians” (as the saying goes), we will soon find ourselves in a mess. For example, we could argue that the most important people at the Commonwealth Games were the Organisers, but I challenge that, as in the final analysis I believe that the cleaners and caterers are more important: they get no medals, but without them there would be no medals for anyone and no games either. Bear in mind though, that they only got those jobs by studying to be very efficient at what they do.

What am I driving at here? Well just this: never under-estimate your value to God and the community in which you live. Each one of us was designed especially by God with particular abilities, thus no two of us are identical having our own D.N.A and finger prints etc. (except for identical twins perhaps). Consequently, we all have different positions to fill. The Bible confirms this when it says “We all have gifts differing according to the grace given unto us” this applies to Spiritual gifting of course, which we are supposed to use, but it applies equally to natural gifting too, thus we each are like parts of a Jigsaw Puzzle and, as you know, if one of those parts is missing it spoils the whole picture.  

You will notice that the participants in every discipline carried no excessive weight, wearing only that uniform that was necessary to maintain decency and keep them comfortable whilst competing. For example, you didn’t see anyone competing in the High Jump wearing a coat or heavy boots. The obvious reason being that the extra weight would have prevented them from achieving their best result, so over the years the coaches and organisers have agreed that any form of un-necessary weight should be avoided.

The same principle applies to our Spiritual lives: God never designed the world to be the mess we have made it. Just look at the Syrian problem at the moment: bombings, fighting’s, chemical warfare, etc. and here at home: Jails full of people who have in some way abused others. Jesus came to purchase our forgiveness, and anointed “coaches” like Paul to encourage us to abandon any “left over Baggage” we might be carrying (after we have accepted Christs forgiveness) and be as consistent as those sporting contestants when he says in his letter to the Hebrew Christians in Chapter 12 verse 1: “let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.” and in verse 14: “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no person shall see the Lord.”  So just as the games contestants have controlled their diet, sleep, and daily training exercises, we need to control our lives by following New Testament directions on how to behave as Christians in order to be ready for the eternal life Jesus earned for us and be able to say with Paul “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith”. (2 Timothy 4:7) Best wishes, Tom.

Part of Closing ceremony

 

 

 

To Be or Not to Be

The first photo you see here is Princess Elizabeth as she was when I was at school.

Actually, she is 7 years older than I am and this photo of her was taken during the 2^nd World war when she was a teenager and being “home schooled” in England. Her father King George the 6^th was on the throne of England at that time. Elizabeth became Heir to the throne because her uncle (the Duke of Windsor) abdicated his right to it and her father had therefore become King.

Elizabeth married Phillip Mountbatten and became Queen much sooner than she expected because her father died suddenly whilst she and Phillip were visiting South

Africa.  In 1954 the young Queen and her husband; (now the Duke of Edinburgh), visited Australia and as a soldier I had the privilege of being one of their Guard of Honour as they toured Sydney in an open car.                   For ceremonial purposes I carried a rifle with bayonet attached. But we carried no bullets because in those days Australians were Christians, and Christianity is all about love and kindness so there was no thought that any harm could possibly come to our Queen, and it didn’t.

 Queen Elizabeth is elderly now and has been a very sincere Monarch, much respected by most people, and both she and her husband have been good examples as husband and wife. When the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury placed the crown on the

Queen’s head he gave her to understand that if Jesus returned during her reign it was rightfully His. So you see the queen’s royalty is looked on by the Church of England as a type of “caretaker position” and even if Jesus does not come back in her lifetime her special royal status will end when she dies as it is a “man- made appointment,” and normally her son would take over. Some people would say “It must be good to be royalty, with everything laid out for you.” Certainly it would have its advantages, but there are a lot of responsibilities and limitations too, e.g. the Duke of Windsor had to turn down the top position so he could marry a Mrs Simpson, a divorced woman (which a King was not permitted to do then). But that was his choice.

 Interestingly, you and I were born to live as part of God’s Kingdom of Heaven family. Did you realise that?  You see, our Heavenly Father is ruler of that Kingdom, but sin has divorced us from Him. However, our Heavenly Father loves us so much that He made arrangements for us to be forgiven and reinstated as His Children, “and if Children, then heirs of God and joint Heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:14-17) and bear in mind that Jesus Christ is described as “The King of Kings and Lord of Lords” (1 Timothy 6: 15). Which implies an interesting relationship for us. Doesn’t it? If we become joint heirs with Him.

The question that arises from our consideration of the above is simply this: Did you know that you are eligible for reinstatement as a Child of God? If so, have you asked God in prayer for your reinstatement? The only alternate option is for us to live a few years here ignoring God, doing as we please, abdicating our right to Heaven, and then spend eternity in Hell?  Of course, we are free to make that “choice” if we like, just as the Duke of Windsor chose not to be King of England. However, the choice we do make is much more important than the choice he made, isn’t it?  Because (on the surface) his choice only affected his earthly life, whilst the choice we have to make affects our Spiritual life now and forever. (and “forever” is a very long time, no matter how you look at it).

To become eligible, we need to “repent”, as the bible puts it, which means a change of heart and direction, but in the light of what Jesus did on our behalf that is not too much to ask. Romans 12:1 says “It is our Reasonable service”. After all, He did suffer a dreadful death by substituting himself for you and me, He is the sinless Son of God and died so our sin would be forgiven (we owed a debt we couldn’t pay so He paid our debt that He didn’t owe) in order that you and I could be reinstated as Children of God and be freed from the consequences of our sin, and regain our “Passport to Heaven”. Now that is Love!

This necessitates believing in Jesus and asking God in prayer for the forgiveness Jesus earned on our behalf. We also need to examine the way we live, and may have to change the company we keep, as well as change the way we think and behave. If we are not sure what that entails, then we need to read the New Testament and find out. Please do check this out, (if you haven’t already done so), because It is the most important thing you will ever have to decide and it won’t go away, because in the end we all have to “stand before the Judgement Seat of Christ, and give an account”. (Romans 14:10).       Regards, Tom.

Obviously God did it- Who else could have

At Easter time I gave one of these “chickens,” sitting in a half “egg shell,” to each of

my great Grandchildren to remind them that Easter eggs represented the “new life” that Jesus revealed when He rose out of the tomb, and if we repent and believe in Him our sins are forgiven, (because He allowed himself to be crucified to delete our sins). By accepting His forgiveness, we are “born Again” into newness of life. Unfortunately, there are people out there who teach that there is no God and that everything we see just happened. Well, the egg on its own makes nonsense of that theory. Let us look at it:

In this next photo I have just broken a real egg into my frying-pan, the shell is real so let us imagine that the toy chicken is real also. We all know that the egg was made by a chook, inside herself. She collected all those ingredients that you see in the pan,

placed a membrane around them and then covered the membrane with a shell to hold it together and keep the contents safe (and she did all that without looking). If the egg was fertilised before she sealed it up, all she has to do then is keep it warm at her body temperature for 21 days by sitting on it, and “bingo” out pops a chicken which is a baby fowl, complete in every detail. Similar to our toy above.

“So what?” asks the Atheist. Just this, there isn’t a Scientist in the whole world (with all their equipment and know how), who could make an egg, and yet a “bird-brain” chook can do it without looking! Furthermore, what you see there in the pan are all the ingredients necessary to make the complete chicken: body, feathers, beak, legs, eyes, brain, heart, stomach, wings, the lot, nothing left out and nothing surplus. Now, as fowls only reproduce themselves in this manner, the first fowl had to get this exactly right or the species would have died out right then, because they couldn’t have perfected this idea over a long period of time could they? That also raises another impossible question for non-believers: Where did the first fowl capable of doing this come from? The only logical answer has to be, as the Bible says: God designed and created the first fowl complete and programmed it to be able to reproduce “after its kind” on the 5^th day of creation. (Genesis 1: 22) Those who refuse to believe in the designing mind of God, that is evident all around them, defy logic and lose credibility.  

Of course it is not only egg laying that witnesses to the mighty mind of God: look at the caterpillars that seal themselves in a chrysalis and in a very short time emerge as a butterfly. If you don’t believe in God then please explain how the caterpillar happens to have, in its body, exactly all the elements to make a butterfly, and how does it do that without a degree in Science?  Rather clever, don’t you think?

 

 

More food for thought,   Tom.

Our wants may change but never our needs

This picture depicts my brother John on the horse and me in the wagon with the kelpie dog “Bully” droving a mob of merino sheep from a property west of Cobar on the Wilcannia road to an additional property known as the “Cowls,” on the Sandy creek road, that Dad had acquired as an “additional” when the large property known as “Springfield” (owned by Australian Estates on a 99-year lease) was cut up by the Western Lands Commission, after the lease had expired.

John and I were both in our late teens and as the trip took several days we had the thrill of camping under the stars and cooking our meals over a small fire (there was plenty of bare ground so there was no fear of starting a bush fire). Lying on our backs looking up at the stars we talked about our hopes and dreams. Foremost in those dreams was the hope that we would each one day have a piece of grazing land of our own and, I think we both felt that if we achieved that, we would then establish lasting contentment and happiness by each of us finding a lovely wife to share our life. It is no wonder we slept well with thoughts like that.

I am sure God wants us all to think and plan along those lines. Of course we don’t all want grazing properties or farms, but the same principle applies no matter what your gifts or opportunities are as we are all seeking happiness and contentment. However, we need to take into account that we are Spiritual Beings designed by God to live forever. Thus we should not just cater for the bodies we live in at the moment, but consider our Souls as well, because they will out-live our bodies.

I heard a story once of a young man who gave his girl- friend a beautiful pearl ring which was placed in a little box that the jeweller threw in for nothing. How

disappointed he was when the girl got all excited about the box and said “Oh darling what a lovely little box, I will treasure it for ever” and showed very little interest in the ring. Ridiculous, isn’t it? But many of us do that with our Souls. If we could separate our Souls and Bodies (sitting them side by side) we would be ashamed of our poorly cared for starved Souls that had been fed very little spiritual food, sitting beside our bodies that were in many cases over-fed. Actually, our Souls deserve more consideration than our bodies do, because our bodies are just the “box” we live in, whilst our Soul (the real “us”) lives for ever.

 I guess I am one of the most fortunate persons in the world though, because about a month or so after that droving trip, mentioned above, it was explained to me the reason Jesus allowed himself to be crucified: It was so that He could pay any debt that we humans owe because of our sin. To me this was “Mind Boggling” so I read and re-read the New Testament to grasp the full significance of what this meant for me personally, and came to realise that having accepted His Forgiveness He then wanted me to accept the fellowship and guidance of The Holy Spirit and keep in-touch constantly by prayer. The outcome of all this was that I looked in the right places to “locate” the right girl to share my life in marriage, and I was able to find guidance in my life’s work too. (in case you are wondering, that didn’t mean that I became a millionaire or something like that). On the contrary, although I did acquire a grazing property my desires changed and I just wanted to do what God would have me do. That certainly meant that I had to make an honest living and look after my family, but (whilst doing that), I needed to set a goal (high on the list of my priorities) of helping people understand more about Jesus saving grace. That is why I write these articles pointing out that although some wealthy people seem to be content knowing they can afford a gold plated coffin for their dead body, whilst their Soul goes “into outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” for eternity. (Matthew 8: 12). I want to be sure that the people I know realise there is a mansion prepared for their Soul in Heaven by Jesus if they repent and believe in Him. (John chapter 14 verse 2 in conjunction with John chapter 3 and verse 16 and so on). My friends and acquaintances probably already know all that, but I just want to be sure that they do, because there is nothing more important.

 Best wishes. Tom.