Co. Cork - when Irish eyes are smiling

I am just back from a visit to the Emerald Isle and it lived up to it's name, green and beautiful even on misty and foggy mornings. I was in Bandon and the surrounding area for a week of conference meetings starting on St. Patrick's Day. I arrived on a very sunny day and the views from the plane were stunning. Beautiful beaches and scenery. As I looked out of the window I wished that I was there on holiday but it was a business trip and there was work to be done.

My mother and wife are from the North of the country and there are a lot of similarities in the mindset of the people. The way they think and their attitude to life is quite similar especially those from rural communities. It was interesting to see the evidence of prosperity, every house I came across seemed to be bigger than the one before. It is however not the way things are at the moment. The country is struggling economically and I was told that there are developments of houses which have never been occupied and may even be knocked down. What a shame and a waste of money.

It all serves to reinforce that life is a constantly changing scene. You can never be certain of how things will go! Whether it is Japan with it's sudden calamity or Ireland and the Celtic Tiger fortunes can change and we never can be quite sure how things will turn out. All of this teaches me that the world will end one day and that only 'he that does the will of God will abide for ever'. The things that we see in this life are temporary but the unseen things of God are eternal and will still be around when time has run its course.

A question - what are you investing in? Things that will not be here at the end of life or eternal things. Jesus said 'Lay not up for yourself treasures upon earth, where moth and rust corrupts and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourself treasures in heaven....(Matthew.6.19,20).

Invest in something of eternal value. To learn more about how read some of my other blogs or listen to my podcasts on www.seekthetruth.org.uk.

The Earth's Foundations

Online, www.geology.com reported, ‘A magnitude 6.3 earthquake occurred near Christchurch, New Zealand on Tuesday, February 22 at 1:04 PM local time. The earthquake was at a depth of just 4.2 miles and was strongly felt at the surface.’ The 6.3 magnitude quake was not as big as the one on July 15^th. 2009 which was 7.8, or the one in September 3^rd.2010 that was 7.0 mag. The destruction and death suffered this time was far greater because of the time that it struck and the location of the epicentre, which was in the city centre. To date, 145 people have died and over 200 are missing. This area is on the sand-plane. Nearby places on the gravel-plane did not suffer as much damage or casualties. Some friends of ours live there and we have heard that they are safe, for which we praise the Lord.

We sometimes hear expressions such as ‘fault lines’ and ‘rift valleys’ but often that is where we let our interest stay, so I decided to look a bit closer. The tectonic plates that cover the earth form a jig-saw pattern and move either toward or away from their neighbour, sometimes one plate going underneath the other with tremendous force. On www.maps.com I counted eighteen named plates on their global map, the largest being the Pacific Plate and the smallest, the Arabian plate I will refer to this one later.

Wikipedia lists seven primary plates, seven secondary plates and about sixty tertiary plates. The plates are moving at a speed that has been estimated at 1 to 10 cm per year. Most of the Earth's seismic activity (volcanoes and earthquakes) occurs at the plate boundaries as they interact. Universities that follow evolution theories have their multi-billion year program of the formation and development of how these plates are today. Many of them present their theories like trustworthy facts; some of them are honest enough to say that they do not know how it all came about.

The Biblical record presents the truth of Creation as the following scriptures concur.

1. The Lord thundered from heaven, and the most High uttered his voice. And the channels of the sea appeared, the foundations of the world were discovered. 2 Samuel 22:14, 16

2. Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. Job 38:4

3. Of old thou hast laid the foundations of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands. Psalm 102:25

4. Bless the Lord, 0 my soul. 0 Lord my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honour and majesty. Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever. Psalm 104:1, 5

5. Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? Isaiah 40:21

6. And forgettest the Lord thy maker, that hath stretched, forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; . . . that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, . . . Isaiah 51:13, 16

7. Thus saith the Lord; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, . . . Jeremiah: 31:37

8. And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning has laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thy hands: Hebrews 1:10

When God laid the foundations of the earth they were not fragmented, so when did this take place? It is quite apparent that when God brought the flood of waters upon the earth in Noah’s day that the earth suffered cataclysmic convulsions. Gen.7:11 says, “In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up,” Even so, God made a covenant with Noah that the earth would remain and He would maintain the seasons and uphold the planet according to His own will and purpose.

I like the fifth quotation above where Isaiah addresses the idolatrous nation of Israel, “To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him? The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains. He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved. Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain.” In His deity the Son of God could sit upon the circle of the earth, in His humanity, wearied with His journey, He sat upon the circle of a well (John 4:6) Well might He be known as “The great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13)

I said that I would comment upon the Arabian Plate, this one is interesting regarding future days. The fault line of this plate runs North/South down the Jordan valley and down the Red Sea. Zechariah 14:4 says, “And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.” The fault line runs North/South but the mountain is going to split East /West to provide a water course for the healing waters to flow from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea one way and the Mediterranean the other way. I have been to Engedi by the Dead Sea and floated in the water. There are no fish there, but there will be according to Ezekiel 47:10 “As the fish of the great sea, (Med.) exceeding many.” The Earth’s foundations are in good hands! God bless.

(check out my latest podcast on seekthetruth.org.uk)

Written by Stan Burditt for Stephen G Baker