[The following is an excerpt (Chapter 7) from the revised edition of “Answering the Question: Who created the Creator?”]
A strange dream.
Here I am on a special aircraft which moves at a speed of 30 km per second! I am with so many people but strangely, no one knows where we are going. But even more strangely, there appears to be no control room where you can find a pilot and a steering wheel of some sort. However, everyone seems to be at peace because despite all these odd facts, the aircraft seems to be extremely well-programmed! From the time we aboarded, it has never crashed despite moving through space which is littered with different kinds of aircraft and dangerous objects.
The technology of the aircraft system looks very sophisticated. Our aircraft is labeled PE and resides inside another aircraft called SS which moves at an unimaginable speed of 828,000 kilometers per hour! However, this is nothing compared to MWG, an extremely enormous aircraft which houses SS – it moves at 2,100,000 kilometers per hour!
I look around in the aircraft and notice everyone is very busy. Many have smart phones in their hands and headsets in their ears. I see young men deeply immersed in reading academic textbooks. I see men and women being conferred degrees at some ceremony. Other people are partying. I see others embracing and kissing. Then I see millions of children getting born on this aircraft. But many other people are dying too, and I see crowds gathering as they sob in tears for the deceased. A strange dream it is; one time I feel excited at what I see, and at another time deep anguish grips my soul.
Somewhere on a wall I see a clock ticking. Time in this aircraft seems to be in fast forward motion. I can see babies…Oh, they have become toddlers and learning how to make their first step! A little mustache appears on the young men and swelled breasts on the young women. They join the routine – wake up, eat, grow, work, make children, get old, die, and get buried!
In a distant corner somewhere, I see a cheering crowd. No, they are not cheering at me. Their eyes are fixed onto a podium. I see men beautifully clad in uniforms, giving a salute to one among them who has been sworn as their leader. Next, he makes promises of how he will make their lives better. The event looks so colorful, peaceful, and joyous…Oh no!…I am distracted by a terrible noise…
Dark smoke is rising from buildings. There is commotion on the streets. A crowd of people are chanting slogans with placards in their hands with words of demanding justice and freedom. Gunshots are fired. Corpses of men and women, boys and girls are lying on the streets. Then I hear a weary voice of an old man asking: “People, where are we going, and what’s the purpose of this journey?…Just how did we get here?”
“Get on with life, old man!” a teen retorted. “You’ll get mad if you start asking such questions. This super plane we are on simply exists and the only reality is, ‘We are here!’”
No, it’s not a dream.
We are here on planet Earth. Yes, it moves around the sun at a speed of 30km/s! The Earth is in the Solar System which in turn also moves at a speed of 828,000 km/h. But this speed is nothing compared to the speed of the Milky Way Galaxy which houses our Solar System – 2,100,000 km/h! These are not a figment of someone’s imagination. They are scientific facts. And if facts then it is most important to answer the old man’s question!
On the pages of time…
We surely are on a journey through time. In this journey we have found ourselves equipped with the ink of blood and pen of life and are to write a story on the pages of time. This moment you are reading these words, think about how far you have come in life. How old are you? What story have you been writing this far? What’s been the theme of your story? How many pages do you think are remaining before your covers close? If today your covers close, what will the owner of the ink and pages say about your story – “a waste”, “meaningless”, or “well done, my good and faithful servant”?
We are on a journey…we have found ourselves equipped with the ink of blood and pen of life and are to write a story on the pages of time.
One thing is certain, one day you will put a final stroke on your last page, the covers will close and you will be shelved away from the land of the living. But…“the books were opened”… the eyes of Saint John saw the vision: “and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.”[1]
Surely a day of reckoning is coming when you will have to account for how you used the ‘ink’ of life and ‘pages’ of your earthly days. “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom” prayed the Psalmist.[2] The ink of blood and pages of time are not our resources and it isn’t just a wise thing to get started with a life story for which we don’t know the purpose or destination. Prudence requires that we ask ourselves, Why am I here? What story am I supposed to write?
It is important to note that answers to these questions can only come from the creator. “But how possible is this?” someone may wonder. This question even becomes more important at this time when the world of religion is full of bogus testimonies of the supernatural. However, falsehood will never diminish the existence of truth. There are many people who have truly experienced hearing the voice of God in their lives, and the experience never leaves a person the same. I make this statement with confidence as a witness who has experienced the manifestation of God’s power. Of course there are many people who have wondered why if God exists He never has spoken to them or everyone else. Well, it’s all really a matter of a person’s attitude. C.S. Lewis beautifully illustrated it this way:
If you are a geologist studying rocks, you have to go and find the rocks. They will not come to you, and if you go to them they cannot run away. The initiative lies all on your side. They cannot help or hinder. But suppose you are a Zoologist and want to take photos of wild animals in their native haunts. That is a bit different from studying rocks. The wild animals will not come to you: but they can run away from you…Now a stage higher; suppose you want to get to know a human person. If he is determined not to let you, you will not get to know him. You have to win his confidence. In this case the initiative is equally divided…When you come to knowing God, the initiative lies on His side. If He does not show Himself, nothing you can do will enable you to find Him. And, in fact, He shows much more of Himself to some people than to others – not because He has favourites, but because it is impossible for Him to show Himself to a man whose whole mind and character are in the wrong directions (p.164).[3]
These are important wise words. Finding God, or understanding his ways, is much a matter of attitude. God is not inert matter which you can study, verify and validate using man-made methods. It is here that many wise people of the world often exhibit foolishness and it is no wonder that God would reveal himself many times to simple minds: For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.[4]
Finding God, or understanding his ways, is much a matter of attitude. God is not inert matter which you can study, verify and validate using man-made methods.
Surely God does reveal himself to those who are sincere and humble enough. It is at this point that talk about the supernatural becomes a matter of personal experience which cannot be duplicated or imitated. Without a personal experience of God, one is only left with speculation about the divine. But when one tastes and sees His goodness, a new life of trusting (having faith) in God begins – “O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in Him.”[5]
Having tasted the reality and power of God, in this life I have chosen not to write my own book but His – the Book of Life, which is the Word of God! As the Scripture says, “Ye are [an] epistle… known and read of all men.”[6] If I write my own story one day it shall be called ‘his story’ and it shall spell history. But like Paul of old I want to say “It is no longer I living but Christ liveth in me.” Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever, and His story is alive to all those with ears to hear and eyes to see. Amen.
[1] Revelation 20:12-13.
[2] Psalm 90:12.
[3] Clive S. Lewis in the book Mere Christianity (1942). Published by Harper Collins.
[4] 1 Corinthians.1:26-27.
[5] Psalm 34:8.
[6] 2 Corinthians 3:2.
The believers here are so welcome. The family of sister Sarah has been so caring, making me feel at home. All around me are white-skinned people. I guess am adding a little colour to their environment. Well, what I see around me are not Filipinos but brothers and sisters united by that precious blood of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ. No wonder there is love, peace and joy. They shall come from the East and West and sit down at the feet of the Lord, one song says. And the good old book says, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!“ (Psalm 133:1).
If there is God – why did He create us? Why did He set the fundamental laws of the Universe in such precise order? Was it for us just to wake up, eat, work, grow old and die? Surely not. He had a purpose! And science tells us that our galaxies are in motion. The Earth is also in motion around the Sun. Yes, We are on a great big ‘Bus’ called Earth which is moving through the road of Time. The question is: What are you doing on this bus? What is your destination? Until a man wakes up to the revelation of Purpose, he or she hasn’t yet started living. One must be Born Again and see (perceive, understand, comprehend) God’s work!
Day 2 of Butuan Convention – April 14, 2017
Have Endtime Message believers given heed to this warning or have they idolized the Messenger? What is the Message that the prophet emphasised we need to look at instead of looking at the messenger? It is important to note that brother Branham preached so many sermons – over 1,100! – however, he only preached ONE MESSAGE, and that message was “BACK TO THE WORD!”
Many tried to identify with the ministry of John but with lives that were not manifesting the fruit of receiving the Word, and the same has happened today. Many have only got new exciting knowledge about the Original Sin, about Church Ages, about the Seven Seals but yet live lives which are void of Christ. Lives which bring reproach upon the cause of Christ. Lives which do not bear the fruits of repentance. It is said that one should not jump higher than he lives. Many take pride in identifying themselves with the prophet but yet cannot exhibit the simple life of humility and consecration that he lived. John declared to the Abrahamites: “O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham” (Luke 3:7-8).
If it was an enemy advancing, he had to blow a specific sound of a trumpet to prepare soldiers for war. Likewise, if it was traders coming, people would hear the required sound of the trumpet and know that it was business time. Trouble is having a drunken man as a watchman; he will blow an “uncertain sound”, making people get baskets and other business vessels when they are supposed to be getting their swords for war –“For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?” (1 Cor.14:8).