MY FAVORITE PSALMS - PART SIXTY NINE

                                             MY FAVORITE              PSALMS

     PART SIXTY                   NINE


Not to us O Lord, not to us
But to Thy Name give glory
Because of Thy loving kindness,
because of Thy truth
why should the nations say
Where now is their God?
But our God is in the heavens
He does whatever He pleases.

Their idols are silver and gold
The work of man's hands
They have mouths but they 
cannot speak;
They have eyes but they cannot 
see;
They have ears but they cannot
hear;
They have noses but they
cannot smell;
They have  hands but they 
cannot feel;
They have feet but they
cannot walk;
They cannot make a sound
with their throat.
Those who make them will 
become like them,
everyone who trusts in them. 

O Israel, trust in the Lord
He is their trust and their shield
O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord
He is their help and their shield
You who fear the Lord, trust in 
the Lord
He is their help and their shield
The Lord has been mindful of us, 
He will bless us
He will bless the house of Israel;
He will bless the house of Aaron;
He will bless those who fear the Lord,
The small together and the great. 
May the Lord give you increase
You and your children
May you be blessed of the Lord
Maker of heaven and earth

The heavens are the heavens 
of the Lord
But the earth He has given to
 the sons of men
The dead do not praise the Lord,
Nor do any who go down into 
silence.
But as for us, we will bless the Lord
From this time forth and forever.
Praise the Lord!


next post  7th July

MY FAVORITE PSALMS - PART SIXTY EIGHT

                                            MY FAVORITE                PSALMS

    PART SIXTY                      EIGHT



When Israel went forth
 from Egypt
The house o f Jacob from a people
of strange language
Judah became His sanctuary
Israel His dominion.

The sea looked and fled;
The Jordan turned back.
The mountains skipped like rams,
the hills like lambs.
What ails you, O sea, that you flee?
O Jordan, that you turn back?
O mountains that you skip like rams?
O hills, like lambs?

Tremble O earth, before the Lord.
Before the God of Jacob,
Who turned the rock into a pool
of water
The flint into a fountain of water.


next post 30th June

WAS JESUS A REAL PERSON? - PART 10

                                         WAS JESUS A REAL                PERSON?
                                                       Part 10

 (copied from
   Y-Jesus.com)


Here was a Man.

So do historians believe that Jesus was a man or a myth?

Historians regard both Alexander the Great  and Jesus Christ as real men.  Yet the manuscript evidence for Jesus is far greater and hundreds of years closer to His life, than the historical writings for Alexander are to his. Furthermore the historical impact of Jesus Christ far exceeds that of Alexander.

Historians cite the following evidence for Jesus' existence:

*  Archaeological discoveries continue to verify the Gospel accounts of people and places they record, the latest being Pilate, Caiaphas, and the existence of first century Nazareth.

*  Thousands of historical writings document Jesus's existence. Within 150 years of Jesus' life 42 authors mention Him in their writings,               including nine from non-Christian sources.           

 During that same time period, only nine secular  authors mention Tiberius. Only five sources  report the conquests of Julius Caesar. Yet no  historian denies their existence.

*  Historians, secular and religious, readily acknowledge Jesus Christ has influenced our world more than any other person.

After investigating the Christ-myth theory, the great world historian, Will Durant concluded that unlike the gods of mythology, Jesus was a real person.

Historian Paul Johnson states that all serious scholars acknowledge Jesus as real. 

Atheist historian Michael Grant writes:  " To sum up, modern critical methods fail to support the Christ-myth theory. 
It has again and again been answered and annihilated by first-rank scholars.

 Perhaps  the historian  H.G. Wells put it the best  regarding Jesus Christ's  existence:

 "Here was a man. This  part of the tale could not  have been invented."


DID JESUS REALLY  RISE FROM THE           DEAD?

The eyewitnesses to Jesus Christ actually spoke and  acted like they believed  He rose from the dead after His crucifixion. No god of mythology
or any other religion ever had followers with such fervent conviction.

But must we take the resurrection of Jesus Christ by faith alone, or is there solid historical evidence?  Several skeptics began investigations into the historical record to prove the resurrection false. What did they discover?


next post  5th July

ONE HEARTBEAT AWAY 3

 ONE HEARTBEAT      AWAY  -  3

 Mark Cahill's book 





Chapter one

Nobel Prize

"I can see how it might be possible for a man to look down upon the earth and be an atheist, but I cannot conceive how he could look up into the heavens and say there is no God."  -Abraham Lincoln

Many people believe there is no God because they are convinced that science has fully explained how our universe came to be. If there is a natural explanation of our origins, they think, who needs a supernatural one?  Perhaps like many, you see a contest between science and religion, and believe that science has been the winner hands down.

But does science alone explain this incredibly  beautiful and complex creation in which we live?  Doesn't its magnificence make you wonder?

How does the sun provide just the right amount of energy to light and heat our planet?  What makes everything in our orderly world work so well together?  How is it that we can predict the precise day of a full moon, or an eclipse, or determine whether to expect a violent thunderstorm or a fresh snowfall?

Where does lightning come from, or a brilliant rainbow?  When we see the startling colours of a sunset, we often wonder how such a spectacular display was created. We marvel at the grandeur of mountains and the beauty of beaches. 

As I saw the Grand Canyon for the first time, my jaw dropped. The canyon's vastness was awe-inspiring, and its colours were truly amazing. Where did that canyon come from?

Everytime we look at something built by man - a house for example - we know it had a builder, someone who assembled it . When we see something that has design, like a watch, we know that it had a designer who planned it. When we see artwork, like a painting, we know there is an artist who painted it. When we observe order - say twenty coke cups lined up in a row - we know there was an "orderer"  who set them up that way.

When we look around the universe, at things not made by man, what do we see?  We see creation, design, art and order. So if everything manmade has a creator, designer, artist or orderer behind it, why would we not think that there is a Creator, Designer, Artist and Orderer behind the universe?

Why is it that when we look at Mount Rushmore, we don't say, "Wow, erosion is an amazing thing!  Look how it formed the heads of  four presidents of the United States ?"   We realize that would be a foolih statement. Whenever we see creation, design, art or order, it's obvious that there was some intelligent force behind it to make it happen.

I speak in many venues around the country, so I fly a lot. Once, on the drive from the airport, I saw a beautiful sunset - one of those amazing technicolour displays, that keeps changing lije a kaleidoscope. I began to pray that someone would see that beautiful sunset and wonder who painted it in the sky.

The following night was halloween. I was staying with some friends who had a very large house set back from the road quite a distance. No one had come to the house for candy that night - until there was a ring at the door at around 9.30.  As the lady of the house went to answer it, I stuck my head around the corner to take a peek.

At the door were two young ladies, their faces painted like cats.  They looked a bit too old to be trick-or-treating, and, of course they said they wanted some candy!

After chatting a few minutes, I brought up a question about eternity. One girl said, "you're wasting your time talking to us about God. We're atheists."   So I asked them what evidence they had found to prove that there is no God. They didn'thave any evidence at all which I found very interesting. 

Like many people they were probably thinking that reason was on their side. Yet without any evidence to support their belief, what they actually had was blind faith - and they were using that for their eternal destiny.  Some people think it takes blind faith to believe in God . But we use calculated faith for most decisions in life, and we should 
do the same  for our decisions about eternity.

I asked them what would be enough evidence to prove that God exists. Tgey didn't have an answer for that either.  So I told them I would give them something to think about, and I explained the concept that the universe displays creation, design, art and order I asked them, "if everything else has a creator, designer, artist  and orderer behind it, why would you think that there is not a Creator, Designer, Artist and Orderer behind this universe? "

Suddenly their eyes grew wide . One of the young ladies said, "Yesterday I walked outside at dusk and saw a gorgeous sunset. And I was wondering to myself  'who painted that in the sky?'  "

Within twenty-four         hours of my prayer, I       got to meet someone       with whom God 
had answered that prayer!

Both young ladies were students at a local art college . As artists they knew 
that for every beautiful painting there must be a painter who created that artwork. And logically the same would have to hold true for all that is in this incredible universe.

Logically, we know that there cannot be an unpainted painting, an unsculpted sculpture,  a undesigned design. That just doesn't make sense. And it makes less sense for us to base our eternal destiny  on something we know is not reasonable.


Next post  3rd July + 4th July 

ONE HEARTBEAT AWAY - 2

 ONE HEARTBEAT      AWAY    2

Mark Cahill's book - the pictures used are not in Mark's book


Introduction continued - 

When you die, what do you think will be on the other side?   There are many different beliefs. For example:

*  Hinduism teaches that an individual is 
    almost  endlessly reincarnated , based     
    on the law of karma, which says that 
    the good and bad deeds and thoughts  
    a person sends out  in one lifetime are    
    done to them in a later reincarnation.

*  The Jewish Bible (called the Old
    Testament by Christians ), as well as
     The New Testament , teach that 
     there is a heaven and a hell. Jews 
     believe that there is some form of
     reward or punishment after death.
     As do Christians.

*  Islam teaches that there is a paradise
    and a hellfire, with martyrdom the only 
    sure ticket to paradise.

*  Buddhists believe that, through
    enlightenment, the soul is 
    continuously  reincarnated until it
    reaches an ultimate state of non-
    existence, called nirvana.

*  Atheists believe that there is  no 
   consciece afterlife. One atheist refers 
   to death as a "celestial dirt nap."

*  The New Age movement
    encompasses many varying beliefs, 
    including the belief that people 
    keep being reborn until reaching 
    oneness with God.


 There are many              possibilities, but              which is the one              that will happen  to you?                                                                   How can you know what is out there after you draw your last breath?  Is it even possible to know?

Although the majority of people believe in the soul and life after death, many are unsure of their own destination.

One in four adults admits he has " no idea "  what will happen after he dies. An amazing two-thirds of atheists and agnostics accept the existence of an afterlife, so it's obvious that many people have not carefully thought through what they believe and why. More importantly, they  haven't considered  whether there is any evidence to support that belief.

Suppose I was in the northern U.S.  in December, and after a few days of below freezing temperatures, ice begins to form on a nearby lake. I've enjoyed walking on a frozen lake before, so let's say I decide that I would like to walk on this one.. But then I get a better idea, I decide to take a snowmobile out onto the ice. I have seen people do that on T.V.  and it looks like so much fun. Even better I am going to build a snow ramp so that I can launch the snowmobile into the air, and land it on the ice, and slide for a good distance. Now that sounds like a lot of fun!  There is only one problem: No matter how much I believe I can do that , no matter how much faith I have, I would go right through ice, because it would still be very thin. That is reality.

Now suppose it is February at the same lake, and we have  had over 2 months of below freezing temperatures. Although I really want to walk out onto the ice  I'm afraid to do it because a friend fell through the ice a few months earlier. So, I'm only willing to take one foot and step ever so lightly onto the ice to make sure it will support my weight. The ice not only holds me up but would have supported  a snowmobile being launched into the air and landing on it.  Why?  The ice is many inches thick  by this time.

What is the difference between these two scenarios ?  In the first I had all the faith in the world, but the object of my faith wasn't what I thought it was.: the ice was too thin. I would 
have been taking a blind leap of misplaced faith.

In the second  scenario, had I considered the evidence, I could have placed only a small amount of faith into action and I would have been fine.

Although we may not realize it we all have faith in something. In fact, you place your faith in many things every day. You have faith when you drive that other drivers will stop at red lights. You have faith that the chair on which you are sitting will continue to hold you.
Every time you fly you excerise faith that the pilot is not suicidal and planning to crash the plane.

The key is not the amount of faith we have, but the object of that faith. That is, are we believing and trusting in something that is actually true?

So, it doesn't really matter what we believe about life after death . But it does matter whether the object of our faith is trustworthy and will support our trust. Are you taking a "blind leap"  onto some "thin ice"  for eternity or is the "ice" you will be landing on many feet thick? 

No matter what your answer to that question, your answer is based on faith or belief in something. So, ask yourself what evidence you have to support that belief? 

Oprah Winfrey said that her favorite question to ask show guests is : "what do you know for sure?"  Well, one thing we all  "know for sure "  is that we will die , but the question now is: "where will we go after that?"  

We are all one day closer to eternity than we were yesterday. No matter what or whom you have chosen to place your faith in , you are betting the only life you have  - your eternal well-being - on your decision.

Have you examined the evidence to ensure you are making the right choice? For your own sake, you owe it to yourself to fully explore the options. You don't want to be wrong for all eternity just because you didn't take the time to consider the evidence. 

So, before your journey into eternity begins, please take a brief journey with me on a search for evidence of eternal truth. 

Is there a God ? Or isn't there?  Is there life after death?  Or not?   And how trustworthy is the object of your faith?

Sir Winston Churchill said, " men occasionally stumble over the truth , but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened." 

I hope you won't just stumble over the truth and ignore it, but that you will actively seek it - and place your faith in it.

Let's take a look at some of the evidence to see "just how thick the ice will be "  on the day you die. Let's research the depths of the mystery of eternal truth and see what we find.


Next post tomorrow 27th June








    

TWENTY SEVENTEEN - PART THIRTEEN

                                       TWENTY SEVENTEEN         - PART THIRTEEN


Hello folks,

It is now Saturday 25th, I woke up in the early hours completely off balance. I had to battle to stay on my feet without falling when going to the bathroom (the walker does not fit in everywhere). Had to literally hold onto walls to prevent myself from falling.

My head was spinning and I was disorientated. My neck was also stiff and sore.  This continues till midday. I am even dizzy while lying on the bed.

Feeling better by mid morning.

Sunday 26th February, Ruth is not well. 

Monday 27th Charmaine's last day before going on a months leave. 

 Tuesday 28th Fiona's birthday.

Wednesday 1st March - Charmaine comes to work, she has changed her mind. She will no longer be taking leave as previously arranged.

We are very pleased, she is very trustworthy and we were not looking forward to someone else in our home. All the previous ones stripped us of goods including a lot of  our bedding.

Thursday 2nd March  - power goes off  at 7.30pm - life is not comfortable. I no longer have a torch so cannot get to the bathroom in the dark. Too risky with a candle at my age.  Spend another night in the dark.  There is a limit to how much you can sleep and there are no other distractions available.

Friday 3rd March - power comes on at 1pm, it has been off for  over eighteen hours. Ruth goes to town to do some shopping. She has been ill again for more than a week now.  She buys  me a new torch - another problem solved.

Saturday 4th March - Danny comes to fix our tumble dryer and do some other jobs for us. He will first go to the chemist to get some citro soda for Ruth as she has pain in her kidney area.

Our last healthy meal 
was Sunday 26th February. We have been living on pies,
 bread and buns. I am now constipated and suffering from heartburn. Our next healthy meal is tomorrow Sunday 5th March hopefully.

The house flies in this place are intolerable. Right from day one it has been a constant battle. We no longer eat off plates but put our food into plastic containers with lids so that each time you take a bite or a forkful you can cover the rest of the food while chewing. 

We have tried many other ways of deterring them but this seems to be the best solution.

Tuesday 7th March  - We go to town for my blood tests. I also have some problems on my tablet and cell phone to sort out at Vodacom. I also need a service on my hearing aid. 

We take the two small dogs with us and again it is extremely uncomfortable. We  decide to go home and leave the servicing of the hearing aid  and the Vodacom problems for tomorrow.  Ruth has  doctor's appointment for tomorrow and she will sort it out after her appointment.

We are trusting in  our Lord - not our will but His be done. Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.

Next post 2nd July

EVOLUTION -PART 10

                                                  EVOLUTION -                                                       PART 10


      
                                     (copied from  Mark Cahill's 
    Book  One Heartbeat  Away.)



The Missing Link

If humans evolved from apes the fossil record should reveal a multitude of transitional forms.
And since humans are said to have evolved relatively recently, the fossils would have had less time to decay and should therefore be plentiful.

So, what have scientists found?  Nebraska Man, Piltdown Man, Java Man, Peking Man, Neanderthal Man, and Lucy, are all supposed to be "missing links" but did you know each one of these have been disproved scientifically. Yet they were included in my schoolbooks and though scientifically disproved - many can  still be seen in textbooks today. 

The "missing link" is still missing  and will forever remain missing, because the rule holds for humans as for all other life forms: there are no transitional forms. Everything appears in the fossil record suddenly and  perfectly formed. 

Again, while there is plenty of evidence for microevolution , (adaptation within a species) , macroevolution  - the supposed development of one species into another - has no evidence to support it.  None.  Scientists  have found no transitional fossils and no missing links.

Dr. Colin Patterson, director of the British Museum of  Natural History, and a highly respected evolutionist, wrote a book about evolution. When asked why his book didn't contain any illustrations of transitional fossils, Dr. Patterson, who has seven million fossils in his museum replied:

"I fully agree with your comments on the lack of direct illustrations of evolutionary transitions in my book - if I knew of any, fossils or living, I certainly would have included it.....  I will lay it on the line. There is not one such fossil for which one might make a watertight argument.."

Nils Eldridge, a leading
expert in vertebrate 
fossils decided to honestly 
weigh the evidence. Here is his conclusion:

"No wonder paleontologists shied away from evolution for so long. It never seems to happen. Assiduous collecting up cliff faces yield zigzags, minor oscillations, and the very occasional slight accumulation of change - over millions of years, at a rate too slow to account for all the prodigious change that has occurred in evolutionary history. When we do see the introduction of evolutionary novelty, it usually shows up with a bang, and often with no firm evidence that the fossils didn't evolve  elsewhere!  Evolution cannot forever  be going on somewhere else  yet that is how the fossil record has struck many a forlorn paleontologist looking to learn something about evolution."

Wow! What a couple of statements : they just said there is no evidence to back up the theory of evolution. 

So, after doing a bit of research to discover the truth, I did "learn something about evolution" 
I learned that the evidence just isn't there to put my faith in.  How about you?


next post  1st July

MY FAVORITE PSALMS - PART SIXTY SEVEN

                                              MY FAVORITE             PSALMS

      PART SIXTY                     SEVEN



Praise the Lord!
Praise, O servants of the Lord.
Praise the Name of the Lord.
Blessed be the Name of the Lord.
from this time forth and forever.
From the rising of the sun
to its setting
The Name of the Lord is to be
praised.
The Lord is high above all
nations,
His glory  is above the heavens.

Who is like the Lord, our God, 
Who is enthroned on high
Who humbles Himself to behold
the things that are in heaven
and in the earth?
He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the ash heap,
To make them sit with princes
with the princes of His people.
He makes the barren woman abide
in the house as a joyful mother of
children.
Praise the Lord!


Next post  30th June

PRAISE POST 9

PRAISE POST    9



He causes the grass to grow for
the cattle and herb for the service
of man that he may bring forth
food out of the earth
And wine that maketh glad the
 heart of man
 and oil to make his face to shine,
and bread which strengthens 
man's heart

The trees of the Lord are full of sap;
the cedars of Lebanon which
He has planted where the birds make
 their nests.
As for the stork, the fir trees are 
her house.

The high hills are a refuge for the 
wild goats; and the rocks for the conies. 
He appointed the moon for the seasons; 
The sun knoweth his going down.
Thou maketh darkness and it is night
 wherein all the beasts of the forest creep forth.

The young lions roar after their prey; 
and seek their meat from God.

The sun arises, they gather themselves
together and lie down in their dens.
Man goeth forth unto his work and his
labour until the  evening.

O Lord how manifold are Thy works!
In wisdom Thou hast made them all
The earth is full of Thy riches.
So is this great and wide sea: wherein
are things creeping innumerable,
both small and great beasts.

There go the ships, there is that  great
Leviathan, which Thou hast made to
play therein
These wait all upon Thee that Thou
might give them their meat in due season
That Thou givest them they gather.
Thou openest Thy hand, they are filled.

Thou hidest Thy face, they are troubled
Thou takest their breath away, they die, 
and return to the dust.

Thou sendest forth Thy Spirit, they are
created, and Thou reneweth the face
of the earth
The glory of the Lord shall endure forever.
The Lord shall rejoice in His works.

He looketh on the earth and it trembles
He touches the hills and they smoke.

I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God while I have
my being
My meditation of Him shall be sweet,
I will be glad in the Lord.
Bless thou the Lord, O my soul
Praise ye the Lord!

next post   27th July 

WAS JESUS A REAL PERSON? PART 9

                                             WAS JESUS A REAL                 PERSON

            Part 9

     (copied from 
      Y-Jesus.com)


Myth vs Reality

Whereas mythical gods are superheroes living out human fantasies and lusts, the Gospels portray Jesus as a man of humility, compassion and impeccable moral character. His followers present Him as a real person for whom they willingly gave their lives.

The non-Christian scientist  Albert Einstein stated  "No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word.  No myth is filled with such life....No man can deny the fact that Jesus existed, nor that His sayings are beautiful."

Is it possible that Jesus death and resurrection were plagiarised from these myths?  Their case against Jesus was presented in the You Tube movie, Zeitgeist where author Peter Joseph boldly claims;   "The reality is, Jesus was ... a mythical figure ... Christianity, along with all other theistic beliefs systems is the fraud of the age."

As one compares the Jesus of the Gospels with the gods of mythology, a distinction becomes obvious.
In contrast to the reality of  Jesus revealed in the Gospels, accounts of mythical gods depict unrealistic gods with elements of fantasy.

*  Mithra was supposedly born out of a rock.
*   Horus is depicted with the head of a 
    falcon
*  Bacchus, Hercules and others were 
    flown to heaven on the horse 
    Pegasus.
*   Osiris was killed, chopped into 14 pieces, and reassembled by his wife, Isis and brought back to life.

But could Christianity have copied Jesus' death and resurrection from these myths?
His followers certainly didn't think so. They willingly gave their lives, proclaiming that the account of Jesus' resurrection  was true.

Furthermore, "accounts of a dying and rising god that somewhat parallel the story of Jesus' resurrection appeared at least one hundred years after  the reports of Jesus' resurrection."

In other words, accounts of Horus, Osiris,  and  Mithra dying and rising from the dead were not in their original mythologies, but were added after the Gospel accounts of Jesus were written.

 T.N.D. Mettinger,                  professor of  Lund                University, writes, 
"The consensus among modern scholars - nearly    universal - is that there were no dying and rising gods that preceded Christianity. They all post-dated the first century." 

According to most historians, there are no true parallels between any of these mythical gods and Jesus Christ. However, as C.S. Lewis observes there are some common themes that speak to man's  desire for immortality.

Lewis recounts a conversation he had with J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of  The Lord of the rings trilogy.  "The story of Christ,"  said Tolkien, is simply a true myth: a myth with this tremendous difference that it really happened." 

New Testament scholar, F.F. Bruce concludes, "Some writers may toy with the fancy of a  "Christ-myth"  but they do so on the grounds of historical evidence. The historicity of  Christ is as axiomatic for an unbiased historian as the historicity of Julius Caesar. It is not historians that propagate the "Christ-myth" theories.



next post 28th June

ONE HEARTBEAT AWAY - 1

ONE HEARTBEAT       AWAY -  1
                                       (Mark Cahill's book)

   The pictures used are
     not in Mark's book.


Introduction

He who provides for this life but takes no care for eternity is wise for a moment but a fool forever.  -John Tillotson.

It is said that a presidential candidate  must be very careful in selecting a running mate , in case they are elected . At any moment , a vice president is just one heartbeat away from becoming president of the United States of America - the most powerful position in the world.

The truth is that each one of us at any moment can be one heartbeat away  from eternity. Your heart beats about 100,000 times in a 24 hour period . One day one of those beats will be your last.

Does that thought concern you?  Most people naturally have a fear of death. Comedian Robins made light of it by joking " Death is nature's way of saying 'your tables ready.' "  Actor David Niven said, " I won't go. I'll kick and scream and make a terrible fuss."  And Woody Allen said, "I'm not afraid to die . I just don't want to be there when it happens."

And then there's the bumper sticker that says " Death is nature's way of telling you to slow down ."  Yet death will eventually  happen to each one of us, and  we will be somewhere for all of eternity.  Three hundred million years from now where will you be?

It is something all of us consider at some point in our lives. Whether it is an illness, a bumpy plane ride,  a car crash, the death of a friend or of a famous person like Johnny Carson, Dale Earnheardt, or the pope; or a catalysmic event like  September  11, the Indian ocean tsunami or other natural disasters - some circumstances will turn our thoughts to what happens to us when we leave this planet?

 For that matter, why  are we even on this planet? What is the purpose of  our existence?

Many  people think it is just to go to school, party a little, find a job, get married, have kids, attend  sporting events, watch their hair turn grey, (or turn loose), retire, play golf and die.

But is that the reason we breathe every day? Isn't there more to this journey of life than living and dying?  How can we know whether our  time on earth has been successful? 

Some might say they had a good life if they stayed out of  jail and didn't hurt anyone. Others define success as having something - or someone named after them. Maybe to you, a good life is  if your kids don't get into too much trouble or if  you never have to worry about your finances,

What is most important to you in this lifetime?  Is it one of the above-mentioned things ?  I asked this question of a man at an airport and he answered that his family was the most important  thing to him, which is a typical answer to this question. 

I then asked him what would be the most inportant thing to him on the day he died. When he again answered it would be his family, I asked him what he meant. He explained that he wanted to ensure he left behind enough money to to take care of his family after he was gone.

"Wouldn't it be important," I suggested "to find out where you are going after you die, and for your family to join you  there someday?" 

His eyes widened and he said he had never thought about that before. 

Since we are all part of the ultimate statistic that ten out of ten people die , where we go when we die and who will be there with us are things we all should  think about. You will leave your body behind, but what about your soul?  If you believe there is something more to your existence than simply this life, you're in good company. According to a recent survey by the Barna Group eight in ten Americans believe in some sort of afterlife. And 79% agree that " every person has a soul that will live forever , either in God's presence or absence."



Next post  27th June 

This new post follows the same theme as its predecessor  "Where does your soul go when you die."

PRAISE AND WORSHIP 8

  PRAISE AND             WORSHIP

           8



Precious Lord Take my Hand.

Precious Lord, take my hand
Lead me on, let me stand
I am tired, I am weak,  I am worn;
Through the storm, through the night,
Lead me on to the light
Take my hand precious Lord
Lead me home.

When my way grows drear,
Precious Lord, linger near,
When my life is almost gone,
Hear my cry, hear my call,
Hold my hand, lest I fall;
Take my hand precious Lord,
Lead me home.


When the darkness appears,
And the night draws near
And the day is past and gone,
At the river I stand
Guide my feet, hold my hand;
Take my hand precious Lord,
Lead me home.


next post  26th June

TWENTY SEVENTEEN - PART TWELVE

                                        TWENTY SEVENTEEN                - PART TWELVE

                                         Hello Folks, 



Wednesday 22nd  - Power 
is still off.  Charmaine informs me that the power went off yesterday  at 11 am, while we were in town.  The whole neighborhood is without power.

Apparently one of the power lines is down.  Power comes back on at 1pm.  It has been off for twenty five and a half hours.

Thursday 23rd - power is on and off all day.  We discover that when "Lucky's " wife is cooking it causes an overload and trips our power line. When that does not happen then Escom is at fault. It is a never ending circle.

Life is very difficult we cannot live without power. Everything revolves around it. It seems to be a bigger problem here, but maybe it is because of the wet weather.

Our bathroom wash basin is also pulling away from the wall if you so much as touch it it feels as if it is going to fall over.  The kitchen cold tap releases the water so slowly I timed it and it takes sixty five seconds to fill a two litre jug.

  The shower taps also give grief . You have to wash the soap off of you with jugs of water as the pressure of the shower is too low.  Fortunately Ruth does this for me as I would never be able to manage.  

 
 We do have some                     advantages here for which       we are extremely thankful -     the cockroach population         here is very  low. In fact we     seldom see one, and there       are no ants. 


But we do have the house fly problem. Which is pretty awful.

24th power on and off again all day.

Saturday 25th - Power goes off at midday and is still off at 3.30pm. All  batteries are very low and I can only use the laptop when it is plugged into a live electrical socket. Can't read as we have to keep the blinds down to limit the fly population, not that it helps very much and then it is too dark to read.  Ruth has bought some candles but it is too difficult to read by candle light.

Power comes on at 1 am  it has been off for thirteen hours. It is very difficult to cope with this. There is a limit to how much one can sleep so I  lie awake in the dark.

We must be thankful and content though. We have shelter which many people do not have. We have a roof over our heads, we have comfortable beds to sleep on and we have food and water.  I would much rather lie awake in the dark than be on the streets, homeless.

We continue to thank God for His grace and mercy and protection and provision. He is an awesome God. Without Him I would be living in despair. He is my strength and my shield. 

next post  25th June

EVOLUTION PART NINE

EVOLUTION
PART  NINE

(Copied from 
Mark Cahill's  
Book - 
A  Heartbeat Away)


According to Dr. Kent Hovind , the test of any theory is whether or not it provides answers to basic questions. How would you answer these?

1.  When, where, how and why did life 
      come from non-living matter?

2.  When, where, how and why did life 
      learn to reproduce itself?

3.  With what did the first cell capable
     of sexual reproduction reproduce?

4. Why would any plant or animal want
    to reproduce more of its kind since 
    this would only make more mouths 
    to feed and decrease the chances of 
    survival? (Does the individual have a 
   drive to survive, or the species. How 
   do you explain this?) 

5.  How can mutations (recombining of 
     the genetic code) create any new, 
     improved varieties?  (Recombining 
     English letters will never produce
     Chinese books.)

6.  Natural selection works only with
     the genetic material available, and 
     tends only to keep a species stable. 
     How would you explain the  
     increasing complexity in the 
     genetic code that must have occurred 
     if evolution were true?

7.  When, where, why and how did:
           (a)  Single-celled plants become
            multi-celled? (where are the 
             two - and three-celled
             intermediates?) 
      (b)  Fish change to amphibians?
      (c)  Amphibians change to reptiles?
      (d)  Reptiles change into birds? 
             (Their lungs, bones, eyes, 
              reproductive organs, heart,
              method of locomotion, body 
              covering, etc. are all very  
              different!) How did the 
              intermediate forms live?

8.  When, where, why, how and from
      what did
      (a) whales evolve?
      (b)  Sea horses evolve?
      (c)  Bats evolve?
      (d)  Hair, skin, feathers, scales, nails,
             claws,  etc. evolve?

 9.  Which of the                   following evolved           first. (How, and how long did it work without the 
                                          others?)

(a)  The digestive system, the food
        to be digested,
       The appetite, the ability to find 
        and eat food, the digestive juices,
        or the body's own resistance to 
        its own digestive juice, (stomach,
       intestines etc.)?
(b)  The drive to reproduce or the 
       ability to reproduce?
(c)  The lungs, the mucus lining to 
       protect them,
       The throat,  or the perfect mixture
       of gases to be breathed into the 
       lungs?
(d)  The plants or insects that live on 
       and pollinate the plants ?
(e)  The bones, ligaments, tendons, 
       blood supply,
       or muscles to move the bones?
(f)  The immune system or need for it?

Now take a minute to thoughtfully consider your answers. Are you sure they are reasonable and scientifically provable, or do you just hope and believe that it may have happened 
that way? 
Do you really think evolution makes sense?

Scientists want to convince us that new body plans and complex organs - with all their interrelated functions - simply appeared in order to meet a creature's new need. But when you stop to consider it logically, it just isn't possible. 

Natural selection is fine for explaining certain small-scale  changes in organisms, like the beaks of birds adapting to small environmental changes. It can take existing structures and refine them. But it can't explain how you get complex structures in the first place.

We also need to follow the idea of transitional forms to its logical conclusion:  Can a fish survive with a partial gill?  No. It would die! 
Can a bird survive with half a wing?
 No. It would be lunch for some other animal!  
Could we digest food with an incomplete digestive system?  Or see with an undeveloped eyeball? Could a cheetah run without fully formed legs?  Common sense tells us the answer.

And that leads us to the pinnacle of transitional forms - the missing link between ape and man.

next post 24th June