All Things Testify of God

Miraculous Synchronous Events To ignore Divine Design is to ignore the miraculous facts when contemplating the earth, its atmosphere, the solar system, earth’s orbit and strategic position, the seas, the subatomic, atomic and molecular worlds, the bacterial world, the marvel of photosynthesis, and especially the marvel of the human body with all its functions. The odds of these miraculous creations randomly occurring precisely on point together with millions of associated and continual synchronous events necessary for life to exist, should be evidence enough that a Supreme Creator is the architect. To think otherwise belies all logic, as such orderly complexity is beyond the realm of possibility. Understanding the Nature of God With the preponderance of evidence in nature that a Divine Architect and Creator exists, it is therefore incumbent upon all mankind to understand His identity and plan for us. Throughout the history of the world, man has pondered this question. Blaise Pascal was a 17th century French philosopher, mathematician, and physicist. He is perhaps best known for Pascal’s Wager wherein he states that humans bet with their lives that God either exists or does not. He argues that it would be far better to believe in God and be wrong than to not believe in God and be wrong; not just because of the eventual judgement as Pascal argues, but because of the quality of life and goodness a belief in God would lead one to follow. The same could be said of a belief in the restored Church of Jesus Christ but with the added promise that one can know through the witness of the Spirit that it is much more than a way of life; it is our loving Heavenly Father’s eternal plan of happiness for each of us. It was Helen Keller who said, “A simple, childlike faith in a Divine Friend solves all the problems that come to us by land or sea.” But this is only true if one knows that their Divine Friend, God, is real and chooses to obey His laws. Knowing who God is, therefore, is mankind’s most important quest. It may be helpful to first say who God is not. Paul declared to the Athenians on Mars Hill, “Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device.” In the Ten Commandments the Lord commanded the children of Israel, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” and, “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.” The divinely instructive commandments were a wake-up call to the confused and disobedient Israelites but it was still said of them, “And they served their idols: which were a snare unto them.” The Psalmist lamented, “They made a calf in Horeb and worshipped the molten image. Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass.” Isaiah logically exclaimed, … “shall I fall down to the stock of a tree?” and … “shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou?” Habakkuk, a prophet who lived about a century after Isaiah, continued to plead with Israel to let go of their false idols and worship the only true God. He cautioned, “Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach! Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it.” It is illogical and absurd to think God is something we can create with our own hands; yet perhaps this practice persists because it is easier to follow a God whose rules we can also create rather than the one true God of eternal laws. The first is illusionary, selfish self-deception; the latter is visionary, unselfish obedience. Through the ages, false gods have been created and perpetuated by the “father of all lies” to deceive and justify wickedness; but following such gods is a dead end. Jeremiah declared, “… The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens.” A prophetic lament regarding the state of the world juxtaposed with mankind’s eternal nature was declared by the Psalmist, “They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course. I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High. But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.” If our greatest desire is for riches, fame, power, and glory, then we have replaced God with our own graven images. Each of us is free to believe as we choose, but the consequences will not be altered irrespective of our beliefs. Job aptly observed, “They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave.” We will all die someday so the question of who God is really matters. It is, in fact, the most important question to get right! The consequences of knowing the one true God and keeping His commandments not only affect this life but also the life hereafter. God has made every effort to tell us who He is because it is so important that we also know who we are. Understanding our true identity makes all the difference in how we view our life and its purpose. In order that this most important foundational truth not be misunderstood, God declared in the very first book of the Bible, “... God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”