Mobile Phones

When I was in my late teens, it was a very romantic era: There was a weekly dance in the local hall and the girls came dressed modestly in their prettiest dresses and the boys dressed in their very best too. There was also a C of E Ball, a Catholic Ball, a Show Society Ball, a Masonic Ball, and a C.W.A. Ball with wonderful music and great suppers. There was no Television so simple Ballroom dancing was one of the ways young people got together to enjoy themselves which was different from the “Strictly Ballroom” we see on T.V. now, which is mostly a form of gymnastics by scantily clad females. The songs they sang back then were romantic too and I still refresh my wife’s memory by singing to her with songs like: “With someone like you; a pal that’s good and true, I’d like to leave it all behind and go and find, some place that’s known to us alone, just a spot we’d call our own. We’d build a sweet little nest somewhere out in the West and let the rest of the world go by.” You see Audrey and I did “build a little nest out in the West”.

It was a one bedroom house and I got the builders started on it before we went on our Honeymoon and when we arrived back, there it was, as you see in the photo. The Mailman who used a 10 ton truck (instead of a motorbike), on his weekly mail delivery, had delivered our furniture too, so all we had to do to complete the picture was to put the furniture in place and settle in. We were very fortunate to have such a lovely start to our married life weren’t we? Particularly seeing that we had both accepted God’s forgiveness and had learned to “text” God with prayer.

Now before any young person reading this gets jealous let me point out that this house was 90 km from Bourke (the nearest town) and there was no Television in that part of the world. We had a radio but there was no Telephone and Mobile phones hadn’t been invented yet. Therefore if Audrey wanted to find out how her family and friends were (for example) she would have to write a letter and give it to the mailman and expect to get a reply in about 2 weeks. If there was a serious accident well “bad luck” as there was no “000.” There was no electricity either, just kerosene lamps and a kerosene refrigerator and a wood burning stove. Thousands of Australians have lived under worse conditions, not having a nice house as we did, and we had the added “bonus” of being in love, so we were privileged.  Of course there are lots of newlyweds today that are in love, but they would not like to give up their Mobile phones,T.Vs and electricity with all the useful gadgets that are available like air conditioning; not to mention the security of having the availability of “000”, and shops  and Doctors within walking distance.etc.

Strangely though a very large percentage of these young people who avail themselves of these wonderful material benefits that they have to-day, are still “living out the back of Bourke” with primitive conditions as far as their Spiritual lives are concerned. They don’t realise that there are hundreds of “text messages” from God stored in the Old and New Testaments that they have not yet opened; that would make their lives so much less stressful, more relaxed and complete. It is comforting for Christians to know that they have an Eternal future in Heaven when their days here are over of course, but let’s face it, (depending on your age), that may be many years away, and help right now would be very much appreciated by most people. So I recommend that you do as I do and check the bible’s text message “In box” throughout the day where you will find messages like this text from Paul saying “don’t worry about anything, instead, pray about everything. Tell God what your need, and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience God’s peace”; and Paul should know because his life was very difficult. One such “text” that I claim every morning is the one where God says: “I will be with you in trouble, I will deliver you and honour you, and with long life I will satisfy you and show you my salvation.” Now that is the sort of “back up” you really shouldn’t ignore, because it is addressed to all those who are prepared to “believe on Him”. There are stacks of others: “He shall give his angels charge over you to keep you in all your ways” is also very reassuring. There is a “text” covering every situation so, if you haven’t done so, you need to read the New Testament and at least the Psalms in the Old Testament, in order to see how your Heavenly Father has catered for your needs.       Best wishes, Tom.

 

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.

 

Australia Day (First Instalment

When we look at Australia to day and see the skyscraper skyline of Sydney and the development around Botany Bay this painting  of what took place on the shore of Botany bay in 1788 (only 228 years ago) seems almost unbelievable.

Many tribes of Aboriginal people had been living off the land here for many years of course, and they were as perplexed by what was happening as were the  British convicts who had arrived on the “First Fleet” of sailing ships and were forced to make this inhospitable looking piece of land their home.

It is interesting to note that the first thing the people in the painting above did when they landed on the shore, of what has become known as “Australia,” was to hold a Christian church service and thank God for their safe arrival and this set the pattern of weekly Church services on Sunday. As the years rolled by little church buildings were constructed wherever the people went to settle. These early settlers lived close to nature and had none of the luxuries of life that we have to-day so they became reliant on God and looked forward to the preaching of the Gospel from the Bible and learned to become more Christian in their behaviour.

I heard a story that goes like this: there was a boy who told his mother that he didn’t want to go to church because he didn’t understand the preaching and therefore thought it to be “a waste of time”. His mother didn’t comment but asked him to take the basket that she kept the dirty potatoes in, down to the creek and bring back a basket full of water each day for a week. At the end of the week she asked him how much water he had managed to bring back. “None” he replied “it was a waste of time”. “Did you notice anything about the basket” she asked, “yes” he said “it is a lot cleaner”.

 Similarly, going to church made these deported British convicts a lot cleaner too as I noticed when I was born in Australia 145 years after that flag was raised on Australian soil. We never had to lock our house, our car had no ignition key (just a switch) and when we went to the picture show on a Saturday night we left our groceries etc. on the back seat of the car where anyone could take them, (because it was an open car with no boot and no windows), but no one touched anything.  Women, girls, and anyone else could walk home at night unmolested. It is vastly different now though as we have to lock our house and turn on an alarm. Lock the car, and hide valuables in the boot and no one walks home alone at night.  For the moment then, imagine that we are “baskets” like the one I mentioned above and you will find it easier to see why things have deteriorated like they have.

What do I mean? Well like “potato baskets” people are constantly being filled with the “dirty potatoes” of immoral T.V. programs, also “dirty” rough and violent D.V.Ds and the “dirty potatoes” of excess alcohol and illicit drugs are used by many. The dirt out of all this rubs off and remains in people, and as most Australians don’t go to church anymore the Gospel of respect, love, and decency, doesn’t wash through their framework and help to remove this dirt. So a lot of people are affected by these bad things and the Police and law makers are at a loss to know what to do to solve this problem. As you see though, the answer is obvious. Revelation 1: 5 talks of Jesus blood washing our sins away, and Titus 3:5 talks of the “washing of regeneration” by Jesus. Paul got it right in Hebrews 10:25: “Don’t neglect worshiping together as some do”   Best wishes until we talk more on this subject next week. Regards, Tom.

A Wonderful Father

I guess that most loving parents, who had the money to afford it, would like to establish their children in a secure position in life by either helping them to obtain a University Degree and, or set them up in a secure business of some type, and yet they would also like to allow the child to use their own initiative in developing the business without too much supervision from the parent. Well our Heavenly Father did exactly that for us, His children, by stocking the earth with every food and raw material that we could possibly require and letting us work it out from there with the intelligence He gave us.

There are thousands of types of fruit and vegetables for our sustenance. I have illustrated a few here to just remind us of His great provision for us, and there are countless other resources too.

You see God wants us to enjoy culinary delights, and no matter what our tastes are He has catered for them.  Likewise whatever work we would like to be engaged in the resources are there for us to pursue it and develop our skills too.

The earth is not just some planet like Mars that we decided to inhabit, No! It was purpose built and designed for us: the air is just right for us to breathe. The rain water is just right to drink. The soil contains all that is necessary to grow all our food and the oceans are stocked with seafood too. We have all the minerals imaginable, together with coal and gas and oil sufficient to last until the end of the world. Whereas the renewable resources like timber, crops, vegetables, livestock and fowls will reproduce “after their kind” in whatever quantities we require. Of course when we talk of God designing a place for His children to inhabit, we must realise that He knows the future and thus foresaw the things we would require and also knew the quantities of non-renewable resources necessary to last until the end of the world. After all He knows what the world’s “Use by date” is. Therefore there is not the slightest possibility that we will run out of anything that is necessary for our livelihood. Consequently it makes good sense not to worry about anything (Philippians 4:6). Those who have been brought up to not believe that God designed everything will worry of course, because if everything designed itself, there could be a dreadful disaster somewhere down the track. However the incredible designs in nature bear witness to the fact that the Bible is true and God engineered it all.

 This Donut advertisement highlights the fact that the earth alone produces crops that make flour and of course we should be good stewards of what we have been given. (So that is my excuse for eating donuts).

A wonderful world like I have just described is the perfect setup for a population of happy people, particularly seeing that we have been instructed to “love our neighbours as we love ourselves” and show forth the fruit of the Holy Spirit which is love, joy, peace,  patience, gentleness, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self control. So if we put all this (that I have mentioned so far) together and combine it with these New Testament Christian attitudes, then everyone in the world would be friends, well fed and happy, and that is what God had hoped for. However selfishness “raised its ugly head” and look at the mess the world is in? To the extent that “all have sinned” and wouldn’t make it to Heaven unless God intervened. So He sent Jesus to pay the price of our sin. You see Jesus was truly human but was also divine as Paul says (2Corinthians 5:19) “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them”. Seeing our hopeless plight He lovingly came and paid our debt as 1Perer 3: 18 points out:  “The Just” (Jesus) “dying for the unjust” (us), and is now waiting for each one us to ask for forgiveness (in prayer), so He can cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If you haven’t “claimed” this forgiveness yet, then don’t delay because you never know when you may be “called home” and you want to be sure that you do have a home in Heaven to go to.  Don’t you?   Best wishes,  Tom.