What Happened to Dad... Fifty Two Years On.

 It was Monday June 19 1967. I was a student in Room Two at Te Poi Primary School. I was sitting working quietly when there was a knock on the door. It was mid-morning. My Auntie was at the door. The teacher went out to speak to her briefly and came back into the room. She told me to get my bag and to go with my aunt. 

Home was only two miles away so the journey back there was a very short few minutes. Though it proved to be a memorable occasion. I asked her what was happening but she simply stated that “Your mother will tell you.” We rode in her Austin 1800 in comfortable silence for the rest of the time.

We both got out of the car and she knocked on the door which I thought was unusual. Mother answered and my Aunt said that she had brought me from school as requested. Mother thanked her and for doing that. She turned and walked back to her car, got into it and left. I watched her as she drove out of the gate.

 

I went inside. Mother and my older brother had evidently been talking in the room we called the pantry and Mum had rejoined him there. I thought that a little strange as well. She just left me in the dining room without a word. I wondered where Dad was and decided to look around. It wasn’t uncommon for him to have gone to a meeting or a dog trial or something of that nature. I thought he had probably gone to see a friend about a cow or dog or, something.

I knew about his heart and for a second I felt reassured that he was alright. I wondered if I should go out on the farm to search for him. It took a moment to notice that the Chev was parked in the driveway. Where was Dad? My world began to crumble. I didn’t want to acknowledge the terrible possibility that was a shadow in the corner of my mind. That would explain why I was home from school with no explanation and the odd behaviors that people were exhibiting.

 

I could hear them as I walked down the hallway toward the pantry and as I got closer I could hear what they were saying through the tears. Dad had died. The Doctor had been out to help try to save him. He’d had a massive heart attack. Initially he had collapsed in the gateway of the Pump Shed paddock. He yelled out for my older brother who had run to his aide. He helped Dad home and sat him on the sofa in the dining room. Dad had known that his time was up and he shook my older brother by the hand and said ”Looks like this is komati Old Chap.” 

 

They had performed CPR on him for an hour and a half. The ambulance was deployed elsewhere and hadn’t been able to come for that length of time. The doctor had declared him deceased and they had got Dad in the bath and cleaned him up before the hearse came to take his body to the mortuary. I gathered all of this and walked into the room where they were. I asked where Dad was and Mother confirmed my worst fears. My entrance caused the two of them to take stock and pull themselves together. 

 

Mum went off to begin making arrangements for the funeral and to contact people. My older brother went out on the farm to shift stock and feed out which needed to be done and soon. Both I guess needed time by themselves to process the reality of the situation that they had just experienced and to consider the likely consequences of Dad’s passing.

 

Through the afternoon and evening the family began to gather from around the North Island. One brother worked a farm job in the Te Poi area. My sister was at New Plymouth Girls High School and came back by bus. Mum met the bus in Matamata from memory. Yet another brother was at a farm job south of Rotorua and my oldest brother met him at another bus at the end of the road. Two of my brothers were at Capenwray Hall in Auckland attending bible college and came home the next day. News traveled fast around the community and many friends and family came around to express their condolences. One thing was sure though and that was from that point on life would never be the same again.

 

Fifty two years on I can’t help but wonder how things would have been different for all of us if Dad had lived another ten years. Passing when he did he never got to see who his children married or any of the grandchildren. Because he was taken in his prime we viewed it as a tragedy and that has profound consequences in itself. In the end all I can say is that God had a purpose in taking Dad when he did and I miss him everyday.

 Alter Call

Friends I want you to know that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, that whosoever believes on him shall not perish but inherit eternal life. You need to understand that you are not alone in needing his forgiveness. Romans 3:10 “There is none righteous, not even one.” Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and all fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” So won’t you believe on him that your sins may be forgiven and that you may receive the free gift of God which is eternal life Christ Jesus our Lord?

When I Was Six I Got the Measles...

I was a student in Room Two at Te Poi Primary School. It was later in the autumn of 1967. I had been unwell the previous evening and Mum and Dad had called the Doctor. He had visited me and taken a sample for testing. About mid morning there was a knock at the door of Room Two and Dad, was there. He spoke briefly to the teacher and I got my bag, made my farewells and left for home.

Mum was packing a bag for me and we were only home briefly. We got in the car and headed for Waikato Hospital. We were there in about an hour and a half. It was an uneventful trip if not accompanied by a little anxiety as I didn’t really know what was happening. I gathered it was to do with the Doctor’s visit the day before.

We arrived at the hospital and I was admitted. I was prodded and poked by doctors and treated well by the nurses. I failed to find the toilets on time the first afternoon there and wet the floor in the corridor. The nurses were wonderful and I quickly found the layout of the ward. It was beautifully clean and I remember the shiny white linoleum on the floor, polished to a a lustrous sheen.

There was soon another with me in the room and I remember others coming in as well. Some with measles, some with other sicknesses. I think that was what I was there for also? I never did confirm that. A friend of mine at Te Poi School died of measles the following year when I was in Standard One in Room 3.

People came and went during the few days I was there. Mum and Dad and the family came and saw me in hospital. Dad bought me a picture book each time he came and I ended up with three of them. One was ‘The House that Jack Built,’ another ‘The Three Little Kittens,’ and I don’t remember the third although I believe I have them down in he garage on a a set of shelves there.

It was a special time. Although I was sick I was well cared for and I felt loved and supported by my loving family. I was in hospital for four days I believe and that probably meant I went into hospital on the Monday afternoon and left Friday afternoon. The trip home was again uneventful but I do remember the journey down Cobham Drive and out of the city past the car wrecker outside of Hamilton. Mum dressed me warmly when I got home and I remember not being allowed to go outside mush over the weekend. I was back at school on the Monday morning. A week later to the day.

 Alter Call

Friends I want you to know that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, that whosoever believes on him shall not perish but inherit eternal life. You need to understand that you are not alone in needing his forgiveness. Romans 3:10 “There is none righteous, not even one.” Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and all fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” So won’t you believe on him that your sins may be forgiven and that you may receive the free gift of God which is eternal life Christ Jesus our Lord?

Christianity: What is Life About?

Why?

 

As a Christian I know and understand what the bible says about creation and the fall of mankind. Yet I find it difficult to explain this to others in a way that will be meaningful to them. It has to be possible to furnish an explanation about the purpose of life in this difficult world in which we are born and live our lives as human beings.

 

Jesus shared a parable with his disciples. He described a farmer sowing seeds in his fields. When the crop germinated it was obvious someone had either contaminated the seed that was sown or come in later and sown tares among the wheat. Jesus spoke of an enemy who had done the evil work of sowing tares among the wheat. He mentioned that the enemy is Satan who has been misleading humanity since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden.

 

But what is the reason that Satan decided to deceive Eve in the Garden of Eden? To get even with God for winning the initial battle in heaven and throwing Satan and his followers out into the universe. To get control of the Earth perhaps? Is the Earth a special type of planet in the Goldilocks zone around it’s sun? If Satan can separate humanity from God and remove us all from the Earth can he then claim it as a possession of his own?

 

Is it his intention to begin constructing his own version of the universe here on Earth. Probably based on New Age and other esoteric philosophies including the cultural designs of pagan societies. An example might be the concepts that tattoo artists paint on the skins of those who fall under the control of the devil through drug addiction and by following the teachings of Satan’s disciples. Perhaps he would would seek to create new bodies for himself and his followers and for his army of evil spirits. May be the dragon legends from around the world aren’t of the past but what he envisages would happen in the future if he won. Who knows what the Earth would look like under the management of evil.

 

Christians know that God will not let this happen. In the Bible he has shown through history how the enemy has battled with him but how on every occasion Jehovah has had his people bringing the fight back to defeat the enemy. He will not allow those who love him to be overcome by Satan even though it sometimes means we will die in the battle. Salvation and eternal life are ours and we will stand with the Lord our God forever.

 

God’s purpose is to show the Heavenly Community that Righteousness is a superior platform to base the eternal future of the community on when contrasted with Unrighteousness as demonstrated by Satan through his system based on tyranny, sin, evil and death. It may seem efficient to some but who would honestly want to live under that kind of regime?

 

Where and How?

 

God created Earth in the Orion Arm of the Milky Way galaxy located near the edge of the Virgo Super Cluster. This is the location of creation as it is now known to mankind in our age with the tools of observation available to us. Jehovah made this creation in six days and He called it good. Which means perfect.

 

Jehovah intended it to remain perfect for eternity but he foresaw that Satan, who had fallen into sin as an Archangel in Heaven, would enter into the new creation on Earth and put the Adam and Eve to the test in the Garden of Eden. If they failed the test and followed Satan’s plan of deception then the result would an arduous journey of death, suffering and despair at the hands of an interstellar psychopath and his band of miscreant fallen angels. Leading mankind’s leaders astray through smooth talking deceptions and promises.

 

Adam and Eve failed that test. But from the beginning God had a plan to save a remnant from mankind. He gave dispensations of instruction to man, at different times, so that the path to salvation could be laid out for those who love Him. With Adam and Eve after the fall, with Noah after the flood, With Abraham to establish a holy nation, To Moses he gave the Ten Commandments, With David he promised a descendant who would be the Messiah.

 

The fulfillment of his promise to David was in Jesus Christ who performed a redemptive work on the cross to restore the people to a relationship with God as Adam and Eve had in the beginning. Because Israel rejected Christ Jesus crucifying him on the Cross at Calvary this initiated the Age of Grace made open to all mankind.

 

At the end of the Age of Grace will come a period of judgment on the World known as the Tribulation. The gentile church will be Raptured to Heaven and the nation of Israel will carry the gospel in this time. This will see the restoration of Israel and the fulfillment of Gods promises to Abraham and the prophecies about Israel in the Torah. Then comes the restoration of the Kingdom of God, the reign of Christ Jesus and the establishment of the Millennial Kingdom for one thousand years upon Earth. Then a final testing and the White throne judgment and the establishment of the Kingdom of God on a new Earth and in a new Heavens.

 

So you see Jehovah has a well constructed plan based on love. John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. So Jesus Christ became a man born of woman and then bore our sins upon the Cross at Calvary that our sin debt might be paid in full. 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. It then behoves us only to believe on Jesus Christ to receive forgiveness and eternal life.

 

What?

 

The what is almost the where but it is a battle for the hearts and minds of men and it’s importance in the greater scheme of who ultimately controls the Earth or wins the philosophical battle about righteousness and unrighteousness between the forces of Jehovah and the forces of darkness.

Satan foxes with perspective. The deception he unfolded on Adam and Eve was just the beginning of his strategy mind games and his history in that vain with mankind. I imagine that Adam and Eve had no idea how high the stakes were in the decision to partake of the apple. They may have been lulled into a false sense of security by the generosity of Jehovah after the creation. Perhaps they thought a bit of a telling off would be the extent of their reprimand. Quite honestly they blew it and I’ll wager that they wouldn’t have minded a second chance on that assessment.

 

The fact they were thrown out of the Garden of Eden and now faced a rigorous life of painful child birth and hard work cultivating the land must have been a bracing snap back to reality. Death was now a reality as was animal sacrifice in atonement for their sins. The consequences of sin was now evident in the rest of creation as animals of prey began to arise and weeds became evident. Just to cap it all off Cain killed Abel in the worlds first murder and line of men began to arise that followed and worshiped Satan and the fallen angels.

 

Things rapidly got worse in the antediluvian world and the only people not in the devil’s camp were Noah and his family. From what I can ascertain Satan shared his polytheistic world view as pretender to the throne of God he led mankind astray with lies about the true nature of the creator and misrepresenting the facts about his place in the hierarchy. The worship of the Sun, other planetary bodies and the fallen angels taking a central place in his religion.

 

After the great flood in Noah’s time this form of paganism made a come back at the Tower of Babel so God confused the languages of man. Throughout ancient history in Babylon, Assyria, Medo Persia, Greece And Rome. Satan developed a series of philosophies and world views that opposed and sought to completely replace the truth of Jehovah and the Torah revealed by him to the nation of Israel.

 

After the Messiah came and was crucified the Christian Church drove paganism underground as the Western Roman Empire began to break down. However, the pagans came up with a master plan to integrate paganism into the Christian Church. This gave control of the Catholic Church to the pagan priesthood and led to concerted persecution of Christian’s believing in Salvation through Christ Jesus by faith alone. The Reformation came with Martin Luther and Yahweh brought a period of Christian religious freedom for Bible believing Christians that has lasted for five hundred years and for which the Protestant Church can be very thankful.

 

Finally though Satan has perfected his many chaotic theories of wisdom in the New Age Movement, the Interfaith Church and Secular Humanist World Federalism. He is in the process of preparing to unleash this on the Western World and then the whole World. The Tribulation Time is so close you can smell it and Bible believing Christians everywhere must surely be praying that the Rapture is at hand and that our wondrous Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ is coming soon. Come Lord Jesus.

 

Reference List

 

All scriptures from http://www.biblegateway.com King James Version

 

Encyclopaedia Britannica. (Eds). Achilles Greek mythology. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Achilles-Greek-mythology03.03.19

 

Holloway A. Creation Myth of the Maori – New Zealand

https://www.ancient-origins.net/human-origins-folklore/creation-myth-maori-new-zealand-0030503.03.19

 

Mythology of Ancient Greece. Five Ages of Man (by Hesiod)

https://www.greek-gods.org/mythology/five-ages-of-man.php03.03.19

Genesis: Why You Should Read the Bible

The book of Genesis describes how God created the the Universe. It is the book of the beginning and sets the scene for the battle of the hearts and minds of mankind. It begins by telling how God made the inanimate elements of the universe and then began his work on the categories of life. He called all things into being by his voice and it took six days to complete. God was pleased with creation and he rested on the seventh day.

 

When the creation was finished God focused on man and had him name all of the different species. Man was given dominion over all of the new creation. God saw that man was alone and made him a companion woman because he did not want man to be alone. Man and Woman lived in a garden that God had made for them called the Garden of Eden. They had everything they needed. Trees and fruit of all kinds to eat and lived in constant communion with God. Life was idyllic.

 

Then suddenly an antagonist entered the Garden of Eden. Called the Serpent and almost certainly the incarnation of Satan. The enemy unfurled his intrigue on Eve by asking her about God’s instructions regarding eating the fruit of the trees of the garden. Eve relayed that they could eat freely of the fruits of the garden save the tree at the centre which they were not to eat or they would surely die. He then proceeded to paint God as villain saying that “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3 verses 4 - 5

 

This was an absolute distortion of the facts because God knew that if Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the tree of Knowledge that in disobeying God the spiritual connection with him would be severed and they would be eternally separated from God. Physical death would not be immediate but eventually they would die physically as well.

 

And so sin had entered into the creation and the battle for the hearts and minds of mankind had begun in earnest. Those who followed God walked in righteousness and sought the path that would bring them back to God. Those who listened instead to the subtle lies of the evil one were tempted into self interest, self gratification and the worship of self. This according to those who walk in darkness was the sacred wisdom on the path to so called enlightenment. Known generally as enslavement to wickedness and the path to unrighteousness. The failure to understand what Adam and Eve had lost at the fall of man that sorry day in the garden.

 

The next major event highlighted the divide between those who follow righteousness and those who turned away from God. When giving sacrifice to God Abel brought the best of his flock as an offering and Cain brought his crops as an offering and God accepted Abel’s offering but rejected Cain’s offering. In the resulting dispute Cain killed Abel and God banished him. This marked the division between the Sons of God and the Son’s of Men. From this point forward the descendants of Seth, Abel’s younger brother, followed God and the descendants of Cain followed Satan and worshiped other Gods.

 

Then there came intermarriage between the two lines and eventually after several hundred years the only family still walking in righteousness was the family of Noah. God instructed Noah to build an Ark and prepare for judgment upon the Earth. This was because every intent of the hearts of men was only evil continually and God wished he had never made them. However, he prepared a path of salvation through Noah and the Ark.

 

After the Great Flood gave mankind a second chance promising never to bring a flood upon the Earth again. God made a covenant with Noah that he would never flood the Earth again and the sign of the covenant is the rainbow seen in the clouds. The fear of man was put into all of the animals and every moving thing and green herb was to be food for man. They were not to eat the blood as life is in the blood and they were not to kill their fellow man. This was a period of human government and Noah and his family were instructed to go forth and multiply upon the Earth.

 

It didn’t take long for man to go back to the old evil ways and soon the enemy had him building a tower to reach the heavens called the Tower of Babel. A united secular government was the aim and God would not tolerate it so he confused the language and caused the people to move away to form their own tribes and nations.

 

Then we enter into the time of the Patriarchs and God called Abram out of the city of Ur of the Chaldees to move to the land of Canaan. Abram brought with him Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew and all of his household. God made a covenant with Abram renaming him Abraham and promising to make him into a great nation with descendants as numerous as the sands in the desert.

There was a question of faith as Sarai (renamed Sarah), was very old and felt she couldn’t conceive. Her handmaiden Hagar came into the scenario and brought forth a son called Ishmael. She was cast out but God founded a great nation on Ishmael. Sarah then conceived and brought forth a son called Isaac whom God blessed and with Rebekah his wife brought forth Jacob after whose sons the twelve tribes of Israel are named. God renamed Jacob as Israel and thus the nation of Israel was begun.

 

Genesis ends with Jacob’s son Joseph being sold into slavery by his brothers and ending up in Egypt where he eventually became a leader of the nation of Egypt. He was a prophet and God warns him to use seven good years to store food for seven years of famine. His brothers come to Egypt to get food and were reunited with Joseph. Jacob and the entire household relocate to Egypt and we leave them there in apparent contentment.

 

The journey of God’s people continues in the book of Exodus and is revealed in the sixty six books that make up the Holy Bible. There you will learn that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, that whosoever believes on him shall not perish but inherit eternal life. You need to understand that you are not alone in needing his forgiveness. Roman’s 3:10 “There is none righteous, not even one.” Roman’s 3:23 “For all have sinned and all fall short of the glory of God.” Roman’s 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” So won’t you believe on him that your sins may be forgiven and that you may receive the free gift of God which is eternal life Christ Jesus our Lord? Important information that can secure your eternal destiny.