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.