Pastor’s Letter (March 7, 2020)

Creation of Marvel

     “Compared to me, other wonders of the universe pale into insignificance. I am a 3-pound mushroom of gray and white tissue of gelatinous consistency. No computer exists that can duplicate all my myriad functions. My component parts are indeed staggering in number: some 30 billion neutrons  and five to tens times that number of glial cell. And all of this fits into a size 7 hat. I am Joes’ brain.

     But I am not part of Joe. I am “Joe” – his personality, his reactions, his mental capacity, He thinks that he hears with his ears, tastes with his tongue, sees with his eyes and feels with his fingers. But I am the one who tells him when he is hungry, cold or hot, sick or healthy, happy or moody. I tell him everything he needs to know.

     Even when he is asleep I continue to handle the traffic that would swamp all of the world’s telephone exchanges, processing all electronic information at speeds of 225 miles per hour”

    The brain has sometimes been called the last frontier. Once man learns the secrets of the universe, will man perhaps then be able to learn of all of the secrets of how the brain functions?

      These are the words from Dr. J.D. Ratcliff’s book, I Am Joe’s Body that he wrote back in 1967 even before so many additional phenomenal discoveries have been made.

         But as amazing as man’s brain, God’s brain is far more complex – it would have to be in order to create man’s brain. Creation always demands a creator and the creator is always greater than his creation. In this case it is much more so.

WHAT MAN’S “Computer/brain” SEEMS LIKE TO GOD: [picture]

EARLY 1940’s COMPUTER…BY 2004 IT WAS EARLY COMPUTER SWITCHBOARD

PREDICTED THAT EVERYONE WOULD HAVE ONE THIS SIZE  BUT WHERE COULD YOU PUT IT?

WOULD IT BE HARD TO BE HUMBLE OWNING A DINOSAUR LIKE THIS? [picture] MAYBE THE GARAGE

 

     God’s brain knows when a sparrow falls to the earth, (Matthew 10:29) and He knows the numbers of hairs on your head (Matthew 10:30). Someone who could inadvertently read that statement might conclude, “How can God possibly know the number of hairs on somebody else’s head when He could be fully absorbed just trying to figure out how many hairs are on my head.”

God’s brain is far more extensive. For example God knows what everybody else is thinking.  Everybody?!  Impossible you say? But it is true because God says it is true in (Proverbs 15:3 and II Chronicles 16:9). And it has to be this way because otherwise God would not be able to fairly judge all people that make up all of mankind. As it says in (Revelation 22:12) and a host of other Biblical passages, God is in a position where He is fully capable of rewarding everybody “…according to his works.”

God’s Brain is My Brain – God’s Brain is Your Brain

     Yes, even more amazing yet is that God shares His brain with you and with all of us. For example, when we pray for God to answer a prayer, He uses His fabulous brain to eventually give us the most specific, piercingly exact, pinpoint accurate answer that we need, just at the right time. He uses His computer brain to steer the winds of Bible prophecy, forgive sins, inspire special music at church, answer the needs of angels, inspire sermons and protect His brethren. There seemingly is no limit to God’s brain.  If there were limitations in these vital areas, then how could God be God?

     I have a computer that helps me produce this message. It can probably perform thousands of other functions yet I know only a fraction of its total capacity. Because I may never use all of this capacity doesn’t mean that all of the other features don’t exist. By the same token, We Don’t Begin To Have Any Real Idea of How Great God’s Brain Really Is. It is humbling for me to even discuss it as if I really did know all of its capacities. But it is a comfort to know that God’s spectacular brain capacity does exist and that God always uses it in the best interests of the creation that He serves.

Several News Trends

FEAR IN CHINA  [picture]  ANOTHER GROUNDED CHINESE AIRCRAFT [picture]

    As it is always good to monitor world news trends, we need to keep track of the current Coronavirus that keeps spreading. Because of the media hype, it is difficult to know where it goes from here. It may get worse or go into remission as the West Nile Virus and other illnesses have done.

     Last week. Benjamin Netanyahu did well enough in the Israeli elections to extend his tenure as prime minister. This helps keep Donald Trump’s very bold peace plan together that may pave the way for a 2-tiered state (Israel and Palestine) to temporarily coexist and ultimately arrange for cooperative activity of both states in the Temple Mount.

     This week behind the scenes it appears that the Democratic party, reeling from recent internal acrimony that might best be described as a chaotic circular firing squad, has determined to get several moderates out of the race to enable at least one to have broader support to fight off Bernie Sanders for the nomination.

     Church Administration this year budgeted to pay the lodging for all pastors and elders to attend the non-divisive General Conference of Elders meetings in early May in Cincinnati. This is because it felt that it was helpful at this time to kindle additional camaraderie throughout the ministry. I can only think of one other time that was done (December, 1995) as the church was beginning.  It is always good to re-connect with many people that you may have not seen in some years. Also it is valuable to remind ourselves that as important as everyone is, we are all simply spokes of a wheel and that all of us are far more important than any one of us alone.

     It is worth noting that Sharri in Ocala and Jan in Ft. Myers were back at church services last week. Those were wonderful milestones of recovery

     This weekend, Moses Summers will be in Ft. Myers, Randy McQuien will be in Ocala, Stan Braumuller will speak in Vero Beach and I will be in Tallahassee.

     I am persuaded that ALL of us underestimate God’s brain and ALL that it can do. …and He always uses it with the best of intentions.   

BV