Climate Change, Drought and Dust Storms

I was talking to a lady today and she commented on the drought and dust, saying how she wished it would soon end. I think I shocked her when I said that God was in charge of the weather and if I was Him, I wouldn't end it yet. "Why wouldn't you end the drought yet if you were God?" she asked, somewhat shocked. My reply was: Well, if you were the parent of a couple of children and you told them to not leave their toys all over the living room floor, and their clothes on the floor of their bedroom, and they repeatedly ignored you and even did other things as well, that you had told them not to do, would you not be inclined to either give them a smack or Discipline them by withholding at least part of the pocket money they wanted?

I reckon most parents would do either one of those things.

God is our Heavenly Father and gave us, (His children), an Instruction Book to live by, called the Bible and we are defying his instructions. Some generations have followed it to a reasonable extent and others have not and at the moment we are being very disobedient. Ignoring God's instructions altogether, so what should He do? Why not discipline us by withdrawing some of our privileges?

Each time we reach old age, our generation dies out and another younger generation takes over and they have to decide to follow the instructions and reap the benefits of doing so, (promised by God), or alternatively to disregard them and do things their way, independent of the instructions, and make a mess for the following generation to clean up, if they can.

In the past, when people have created too much mess, God has intervened (the Old Testament has plenty of evidence of this). He even encouraged other nations to overthrow the Israelites for some years until they repented and turned back to Him. "He is the same, yesterday, today, and forever" so we had better watch out.

Now, we have all bought equipment to use in our house, farm, shop or factory at some time, and there is always an instruction book with it, written by the designer and manufacturer. Experience has shown me that when I read and followed those instructions, things went well. However, being of a mechanical turn of mind, and very independent, I have sometimes ignored reading the instructions fully, and lived to regret it. Not only did I not get the best out of the machine,  but I also voided the warranty, and had to bear the burden of repair myself. And that is all rather ridiculous. Worse though is the person who ignores the instructions altogether, and virtually " writes his own". Such a person has no right to blame the manufacturer of the equipment when it doesn't work properly for him. Neither should we blame God when we defy His instructions.

Having lived now for 86 years and 9 months, my life has spanned two generations. As a boy I watched draft horses doing the work that tractors and trucks do now. We lived without electricity and all the gadgets that it powers. Even the dentist drilled my teeth with a foot pedaled machine (as illustrated), that drove the drill, and as he had arthritis, the drill rotated very slowly and without the cooling squirt of water we have today. So I am not saying that it was all beneficial living back then. But Morally it was, as people respected the Bible as their instruction book. (Well 99.9% of them did).Consequently, we never locked out houses, cars had no wind up windows, and most had no boot, so we just left the groceries on the back seat and no-one ever stole them. We walked home from the dance hall or picture theatre late at night and were never molested. There were very few police and they never carried a hand gun or wore protective clothing. They didn't need it. There were no surveillance cameras. Women dressed modestly and men respected them. No one lived with a "partner" unless they were married. The things that Israel Folau spoke of recently as sins, were never done because they are forbidden in the Bible. along with so many other things that are ignored today. People went to church and were aware of these things. Children were not taught the ridiculous rot that there is no sign of intelligent life in the universe and that they just evolved from a monkey, but understood that they were Created in the image and likeness of God. This does make a difference; when I looked at my wife I didn't see her as a sort of animal (just a few generations from a monkey), but as one of God's beautiful creations that had inherited eternal life from her Heavenly Father. Droughts are normal, this one is excessive, and is probably the belting we deserve, so we should repent and "pull our socks up" before He allows something worse than a drought to happen to our Nation. Remember, pride comes before a fall. Regards, Tom

Christmas Day

When I was a young man, my brother John and I sometimes had the job of droving sheep from the property where we lived, to some additional country Dad owned. This job took a couple of days so we had the pleasure of sleeping out under the starts. On a clear night that was a wonderful experience. No town lights, no traffic noises, complete quiet, broken only by the noise of crickets and the occasional call of a Mopoke or Night Owl.

The Bible tells us that the shepherds were watching their flocks by night and I can picture them doing just what my brother and I did. Lying on their backs, looking up at the starts. One shepherd would point to an area in the sky and say "doesn't that group of starts look like a bear?" or "look at that frying pan over there" and "I wonder if those are the seven sisters." (or whatever constellations they have in the Northern Hemisphere). When suddenly the whole sky above them was filled with what the Bible describes as "the glory of the Lord" and an Angel appeared.

The Bible says they were very frightened, and that is probably a considerable understatement! However, the Angel said "Fear not, for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord".

The city of David was, of course, the town of Bethlehem. The Angel then went on to tell them where to find the baby and how he would be dressed. "Then suddenly", the Bible says "there was with the Angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace and goodwill toward men." 

Then, as suddenly as they had appeared, they were gone, leaving the shepherds wide eyed, with their mouths open. When they regained their composure, they said, "Hey, let's go and check this out" (or words to that effect) because Bethlehem was near to where they were. 

Upon arrival, sure enough, they found things exactly as the Angel had said. There in the stable belonging to the Inn, they found Joseph and Mary with their donkey, and some other animals, and the baby Jesus wrapped in cloth and bedded down in a small feed trough. Now a feed trough is not really the place you would expect to find a King is it? bear in mind though that Mary came on a donkey and there really wasn't room for a bassinet on a donkey. The accommodation problem was caused by the sudden influx of visitors to the town, people like Joseph and Mary, who were complying with an order by the Emperor Caesar Augustus that all people must return to their place of birth and register, as he was taking a census so he could tax everybody.

Hundreds of years earlier a Prophet had foretold that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem. God knows the future and arranges things His way. Some people would say, "Surely then, God could have arranged it so there was a bed for this special family". Well, no doubt He could. And He did, you see a stable was the place where He wanted Jesus, the saviour of the world, to be born. 

"Why?" you may well ask. Well, simply because God wanted Jesus to be born in a lowly situation, so none of us could say to Him, "it's alright for you, you had it better than me." This followed through His life on earth, He either walked, or rode on a borrowed donkey, and He died a death that no one would envy. He is the greatest King there ever was, but God arranged for Him to be brought up in a Carpenters cottage, instead of a palace, so he could empathise with ordinary people. However, God also knew that King Herod would want to kill baby Jesus, thinking that He would one day usurp his throne, so God sent three wise men from the east to confirm that Jesus was to be a King and brought Him presents. One of the presents was gold, that would be very useful for Joseph (Jesus' earthly dad, who was not a rich man), so he could then afford to take Mary and Jesus to live in Egypt until Herod died. 

Therefore, no matter what situation we find ourselves in, Jesus understands and can empathise with us, even if we are migrants, or persecuted, and can offer us comfort, reassurance, understanding and best of all, Eternal Life by forgiving any sin we have committed, that is, if we ask Him to, and request that He be the Lord of our life. 

Many years ago a Christian man, called Saint Nicoholas, recognised that Jesus was God's great gift to mankind and started the tradition of giving out gifts to remind us of God's wonderful love. His name has deteriorated over the years from Saint Nicholas to Sannicolas and Santa Claus and this tradition of giving is great and helps make Christmas a lot more joyful, as God wants it to be!

So have a wonderful, happy, love-filled Christmas! Best, Tom

An answer for anxiety

Psalm 55:22 says: "Cast your burden on the Lord, and He will sustain you, He will never permit the righteous to be moved" 

There is probably no emotion as common as worry and it is the most useless! Because most of our worries are about things that will never happen or about things we cannot change. Jesus said "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" Worry is the interest paid on trouble before it falls due. Let us then cast our cares on Him because He said in Psalm 91 "I will be within you in trouble  and deliver you, and honour you, with long life I will satisfy you and show you my Salvation." We are to constantly cast all our cares on the Lord and leave them there. Anxiety is contrary to the lessons of nature: "Said the robin to the sparrow, I would 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." 

Jesus used the carefree attitude of the birds to illustrate the fact that worry is unnatural. "Behold the fowls of the air, they sow not neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them" (Matthew 6:26), And why take you thought for raiment? Consider these lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory, was not arrayed as one of these."  "All things work together for good to those that love God."

If He cares for tiny birds and frail flowers, why can't we count on Him for every aspect of our lives? I know that modern living taxes the faith of the greatest Christians, but none of us should doubt the ability of God to give us grace sufficient for our trials even amid the stresses of everyday life. We should not go about wringing our hands, shouting "what shall we do?" creating more tension and worry, but we should trust quietly, believing Him, when His word says that

Our Father God, thank you for your constant care, please give me the carefree faith and the trust that your other creatures show. Help me to know You will always be there to catch me when I fall and lead me through difficult times. Remind me of Calvary and your amazing love for me. In The Saviour's name, Amen. 

In chapter 4, verse 6 of his letter to the Christians at Phillipi, the Apostle Paul wrote: "Don't worry about anything; but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Chris Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are Just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; If there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think of these things." 

What a great way to live the day, like our pet Wombat here relaxing in our bathtub on a hot day, with the shower just dripping occasionally on her tummy. She didn't worry about anything, she left it all to me. May God bless you for a Great Day as you leave it all to Him. Regards, Tom.

Incidentally, whilst you have this very unusual photo of a female wombat, let me point out how the God who designed her, left nothing to chance. he designed her to dig burrows in the dirt so when He designed that pouch between her back legs for her baby to live in, He place the opening to the rear so when she tosses the dirt back between her legs it does not fill the pouch and smother the baby as would be the case if it were faced forward like that of a kangaroo. This remarkable God also designed you. Trust Him, He knows best and loves you very much. "Cast all your care upon Him for He cares for you." (1 Peter 5:7)

Healing for everybody

Jesus said "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto". (John 15:7)

"God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent (change His mind): hath He said, and shall He not do it? Or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?" (Numbers 23:19)

When we believe what Jesus and God (one in the same), have said above, we should pray for, and expect complete healing. The God we pray to is the God "Who raises the dead, and calls those things which be not, as though they were." (Romans 4:17)

Therefore God sees our liver or kidneys, lungs or whatever we are concerned about as perfect as the liver in the photo; without spot or blemish.It is up to you and me to align our thoughts with God's statements above, thus we will find that we will "Cast down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." (2 Corinthinans 10:4). We must do this or else our imagination, which will see spots and blemishes, will negate our faith and we will not have a good result. 

And never forget that "The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him". (2 Chronicles 16:9). There is therefore a real benefit if the person being prayed for is a believer who loves the Lord. Remember what Jesus said to the lady who touched his garment? "Your faith has made you whole". Jesus could have healed her if she had no faith, but having faith was a real benefit.

So, what more could we want now than to say "Thank you Lord for your wonderful care and healing power". Amen.  

Unseen Danger

When I bought this new car, I phoned the NRMA and had it comprehensively insured before I even drove it out onto the street. Why? Well I cannot see any problems ahead, but I know that a heavy hailstorm can wipe thousand of its resale value, a passing car can throw a stone and break the windscreen, or someone can accidentally bump it. All hypothetical possibilities, but potential dangers nevertheless and that protection relieves me of any stress.

When Julie Bishop was Minister for Defence, she visited Afghanistan to see our troops. She wasn't in a battle zone as such, but wore a bullet proof vest and helmet just in come some sniper took a shot at her.

The police do this too. You will have to admit that this policeman in Europe is prepared for the worst, if it should eventuate. 
Our house was broken into twice when we weren't home, by people we never saw. But, since we installed a security system, we have been safe from such intrusion.
In Australia, the average person is covered against every imaginable disaster and most people think this is ok. There are security systems to protect your computer from viruses, home and contents insurance to reimburse us if we get a fire or theft, insurance against ill health, workers' compensation insurance, in case of accident at work, or travelling to or from work, travel insurance if you are going overseas, health care and Medicare and many others that escape me at the moment.
Why all this? It is just we realise there are forces out there that can accidentally hurt us, and there are also forces out there that deliberately want to hurt us, like the people who get great pleasure by designing viruses to ruin our computers, even though they don't know us. Consequently, we endeavour to protect ourselves from all possible disasters, which is very sensible behaviour, as it relieves us of those concerns.
There is another side to our lives though, the Spiritual side. We are aware of mediums, magicians, seances, spritism, witches, demons and Satan; but most people do not realise the significance of these and how to avoid the dangers.
As a man who has been confronted by spiritism and hypnotists during my life, I know that we are surrounded by spirit beings, and there is a "Spiritual Warfare" going over our souls that we cannot see (and this is backed up by Jesus and the Bible's teachings). We get some protection from the insurance and armour already mentioned, but there is a lot that we are powerless to address under our own strength. What really concerns me is that our young people are walking out there in a world that is a minefield of spiritual wickedness, (dressed up as fun and entertainment), where the unseen forces of wickedness see to it that these innocent kids are introduced to alcohol, drugs, spiritism, immoral behaviour and temptations that look harmless, and they then become hooked on the very easily because they are walking in a "Spiritual war-zone" without any spiritual armour on. They don't realise that it is not cool to "go with the flow". A dead fish can do that! But it takes a live fish to swim against the tide. They need to realise that God designed them to be His Children and be Joint Heirs with Christ, and being in a war-zone they need to be Leaders with "Spiritual armour" on.

Not powerless followers of others, devoid of protection. In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul says in chapter 6, verse 11 that we must "Put on the whole armour of  God that we may be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, bu against Principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against Spiritual wickedness in high places." He then goes on to tell us the type of "spiritual armour" that we require in order to protect ourselves, and he tells us how to apply that. This girl in the picture illustrates it, as by prayer she has put on her "Helmet of salvation" and has the "Sword of the Spirit" (the word of God) in  her hand and will then use the "Shield of Faith" in these promises, to protect her from Satanic attack. If you care to read on from verse 11 of Ephesians chapter 6, you will see how it works, or you can contact me and I will be glad to discuss it with you. Best wishes, Tom

Peace, perfect Peace

There was a king who wanted a painting that depicted peace and tranquility.After he had examined many paintings, he finally settled for one that had a rushing, noisy waterfall in it. His friends asked why he chose this painting when there were others that seemed more peaceful. His reply was that he had noticed that the artist had painted a little bird sitting on her nest in a cleft of the rock just behind the waterfall and she was apparently not disturbed at all by the rushing noisy water pounding the rocks below, but was at peace despite her surroundings, and that was a lesson he wanted to learn.

We all long for peace of mind, and some way that we can relax and forget our anxieties; all our days can be go, go, go, full on from the minute we wake in the morning until we turn in at night; and even if we have a husband, wife or partner who is selfish or unloving and, or, possibly, children that are demanding, or a job that is taxing, we will not necessarily have a peaceful sleep.

When (not if) we find ourselves in such positions (or similar) we have two options offered to us. One option is to examine the proposition put forward by Jesus when He said "Come unto me all you who labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest." Of course, unless we have been brought up in a Christian environment, this is probably the last option that we would consider; a bit like the man who was walking in a fog and accidentally fell over a cliff; as he was falling he grabbed the branch of a tree that was growing out of the cliff face. Looking down he could see nothing but swirling fog, so he looked up and saw the same thing, so he yelled out "Is anyone up there?" and the reply came "yes, my son". So he yelled out "can you help me?" and the reply came "yes, if you will have faith". So he said "what do I have to do to have faith?" and the reply came "let go of the branch". There was silence for a while, and then the man yelled out "Is there anyone else up there?" First options don't always impress us, do they?

The second option is the one adopted by many people, and that is to spend a lot of time going to parties, night clubs, raves, music festivals etc... where the secular music can be degrading, as is the dancing and dressing. At such functions they often drown their sorrows in alcohol or other drugs that seem to give them a sense of elation for a while. This, of course, can then lead them to make choices that they wouldn't normally make but, because they are partly intoxicated, their judgement is blurred and they can easily find that they get involved in immoral behaviour, which they regret in the light of day (assuming the can stand the 'light of day' with the headache from the 'hangover'.) Then there is always the possibility of fights, or car accidents following such parties.

At best, this second option is fairly expensive and a very temporary relief from the real world that is still there the next day, and after some time all this can lose its glamour, and leave us depressed, lonely and feeling degraded.

Coming back to that first option then; Jesus said in John 14:27, "Peace I leave you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." You see, we have an entirely different approach here as God "didn't send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that through Him the world might be saved" and Jesus himself confirmed this when He said "that whosoever believeth on Him shall not perish, but inherit eternal life." Why, for goodness sake, would He adopt this attitude?

Well, you see, God never wanted things to be as they are now, it was His plan to be the loving Father to His very large family, so he made us a planet with every imaginable thing that we could want. Just think of the variety of fruits and other foods and spices, with their remarkable flavours. Think of the variety of trees and the beautiful timber, and the flowers on the jacarandas for example (and all the others). "Loving our neighbours as we loves ourselves"; but, we sinned and went our own way. All is not lost. He loves you, as an individual, and wants to reinstate you as his loving child, and even make you a joint heir with Jesus (His son) who died for our sins so you can go free again, if we will only believe in Him and repent.
Think of the variety of flowers and their wonderful colours and perfumes. The glorious scenery and the wonderful animals and rich soils that can grow anything. Stacks of minerals, suitable for everything we could imagine. Think of the way he has been recycling one lot of water for thousands of years. God wanted us all to just enjoy and share these wonders by "Loving our neighbours as we love ourselves" but we sinned and went our own way. All is not lost. He loves you, as an individual, and wants to reinstate you as his loving child and even make you a joint heir with Jesus (His Son) who died for our sins so you can go free again if we will only Believe in Him and Repent. Regards, Tom

She hurt my Feelings

I received a letter from my sister who was attending Teacher’s College in Sydney, and boarding with some people in the suburb of Ashfield. My sister and I had always been good friends, but in this letter she had pushed the boundary of friendship too far. She said she had been attending Ashfield Baptist Church and had become a Christian and I was a sinner and must become a Christian too, or I would go to Hell. I was dumbfounded by this. (and found her “bedside manner” most offensive), because I was brought up in a Christian country, went to church occasionally and lived a reasonably decent life, so I considered that I was already a Christian, certainly not a Sinner.  So why on earth did my sister, write and tell me that I was a sinner, and needed to become a Christian”?  I put this question to my Dad and he replied that “she has probably got mixed up with some Religious Fanatics.” So I threw her letter in the Garbage Bin and shook my head in disbelief.

 

 However, she had also sent me a little booklet, and out of curiosity I read it. A quote from the New Testament struck me, where it said: “All have sinned and come short of the Glory of God” and “The wages of sin is death” (meaning eternal separation from God), “but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our lord.” Well then if that was the case, I figured that I had better look into this more closely as there just might be something in what Anita had said, and in John’s Gospel I found that Jesus Himself had said: “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have Everlasting Life.” His implication being that those who don’t “Believe” in Him Do Perish! “So the Good News was that the Son of God, (Jesus Christ), paid for our sin by dying on the cross and rising again, Therefore, He can offer forgiveness to anyone who truly repents and asks to be forgiven. And I can assure you I was delighted to know that, as it was more like the assurance that I wanted to hear.

Just as these sheep had come under the shelter of the tree for protection from the sun’s heat. I had also come under God’s protection from ultimate heat.

 

It was then that I realized why most people, who have accepted this forgiveness, want to go to church and pray and read the bible and so on. It is not in an effort to gain salvation, (as I had previously thought), because if they believe in Jesus they already have that Salvation, but they do these things in order to get to know Jesus, and God, more intimately and find out how they should behave as God’s children now that they are under His protection.

Possibly there are more people around the world who do not understand Christianity than there are who do understand it. This is because some churches perform too much ritual which causes many people to look on Christianity as a religion, when it is really not a religion at all, but is an intimate relationship with a person.  That person being the Lord Jesus Christ. 

In the mind of many people there seems to be the idea that in order to please God, or should I say, to “not fall out” with Him, or to gain His forgiveness, they must religiously perform certain rituals, (Nothing could be further from the truth, and is absolutely untrue). Nevertheless, some religions, require their followers to face in the direction of a particular shrine, and pray a certain number of times per day.  Others have to burn incense or turn prayer wheels, or repeat certain phrases, or make certain sacrifices and ritualistic prayers. The idea being that if they do these things consistently they will somehow earn themselves a good place in the next life. Well, I am sorry to say that they are wasting their time because the Bible points out that “it is by Grace that you are saved through faith, and that not of your selves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2: 8) The Apostle Paul, commenting on this, said that in the light of all Jesus did it was reasonable for us to accept His forgiveness and change our ways. Thus we are given help right away, and a “Complimentary free ticket” to Heaven when the need arises, with no strings attached, Wow! How about that for a great outcome?

However, Jesus knew that Sin had to be “Erased” from our “resume” though, and He, being the sinless Son of God, was the only one who had the qualifications to achieve that, and, praise God, He did it. How dreadfully He must have suffered to achieve that for us though, and how loving of Him it was to make it so easy for us? Unfortunately, some of us are still too proud to accept that forgiveness. I know this, because I even hesitated for a while myself.  

Christians are believers in Christ, the one who paid our entire debt and has done all that could be done for us.

As He knocks at our heart’s door then, it is now up to us to accept Him by opening our heart to Him.

Of course, we can also reject the one who died at terrific cost to purchase our Salvation, if we choose to.

The decision is ours, not God’s. So think it through, because the Almighty God who designed these flowers and looks after them, wants to reinstate you as His child and look after you too, and thankfully He actually said that we are much more valuable to Him than they are. Best wishes, Tom.