The gathering

"Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand. “Therefore if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the desert!’ do not go out; or ‘Look, He is in the inner rooms!’ do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together. - Matthew 24: 23-28

The statement Jesus makes at the end about the "carcass" has always intrigued me. It seems like such a random thing to say and I'm still not 100% sure what he means.

Some years ago the body of grey whale washed up on the beach near our home. Someone told us that it was out there so we took the kids and went to find it. We walked along the grey rocky beach looking for a the body of a grey whale and I knew we would clearly be able to spot it from a mile away because I imagined that it would be covered with eagles. I was right and even though I didn't know where it was we found it without any trouble.

If you told someone in Israel to go out into the desert to look for a body they would likely scan the sky. If they saw nothing in the sky they would ignore you. But if they looked up and off in the distance they saw eagles or vultures circling, that sign would lead them with complete confidence to a body.

I think what Jesus is saying it that false Christs and false prophets will be misleading "even to the elect" but when Christ actually returns like lightening flashing from the east to the west all doubt will be removed.

Not alone

See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven.
And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, "YET ONCE MORE I WILL SHAKE NOT ONLY THE EARTH, BUT ALSO THE HEAVEN."

This expression, "Yet once more," denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.

Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe;

for our God is a consuming fire. - Hebrews 12:25 - 29

Scientists say the earthquake in Concepcion Chile was so powerful that it caused the earth to shift slightly on it's axis.

Click here to read the report --> NASA

We tend to trust the created things around us more than we probably should: money, technology, doctors, etc. It's fairly common to trust those things and arguably just as common to have our trust in them shaken. But the earth... shouldn't that always be secure? 3 minutes of solid ground behaving more like a liquid would be an extremely frightening experience.

Scripture says heaven as well as the earth will be shaken. Having that knowledge doesn't make it any less frightening. In fact it makes me a bit apprehensive to even think about it, but it gives me hope that what can't be shaken... won't be.

O LORD, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty;
Nor do I involve myself in great matters,
Or in things too difficult for me.
Surely I have composed and quieted my soul;
Like a weaned child rests against his mother,
My soul is like a weaned child within me.
O Israel, hope in the LORD
From this time forth and forever. - Psalm 131

No matter what happens in this world our spiritual lives are secure. Everything might fall down all around us, and if we fall down in this world its comforting to know that there will be Someone to catch us in the next.

This reminds me of one of my favourite quotes from the movie Signs:

"People break down into two groups. When they experience something lucky, group number one sees it as more than luck, more than coincidence. They see it as a sign, evidence, that there is someone up there, watching out for them.

Group number two sees it as just pure luck. Just a happy turn of chance. I'm sure the people in group number two are looking at those fourteen lights in a very suspicious way. For them, the situation is a fifty-fifty. Could be bad, could be good. But deep down, they feel that whatever happens, they're on their own. And that fills them with fear. Yeah, there are those people.

But there's a whole lot of people in group number one. When they see those fourteen lights, they're looking at a miracle. And deep down, they feel that whatever's going to happen, there will be someone there to help them. And that fills them with hope. See what you have to ask yourself is what kind of person are you? Are you the kind that sees signs, that sees miracles? Or do you believe that people just get lucky?

Or, look at the question this way: Is it possible that there are no coincidences?"

Dark matters

He stretches out the north over empty space;
He hangs the earth on nothing. - Job 26:7

Are you aware that the majority of the universe is missing?

I don't mean that we can't see it with telescopes or travel across it in a spaceship but that a good deal of it is totally unaccounted for. The space between the sun and Pluto, even between two objects in the room your sitting in. Scientists know there is more... they see it's effects, they can calculate it's product with math. There's more energy and more matter all around us but no one can find it. For this reason they call what they can't find dark matter and dark energy.

This sort of thing might sound weird but in a similar way Neptune's existance was predicted before it was ever discovered by observing the motions of it's neighbour Uranus. Motions that could only be explained by another large object nearby.

Here's an interesting passage from a book on this topic...

"Almost all of the universe is missing: 96 percent, to put a number on it. The stars we see at the edges of distant galaxies seem to be moving under the guidance of invisible hands that hold the stars in place and stop them from flying off into empty space. According to our best calculations, the substance of those invisible guiding hands - known to scientists as dark matter - is nearly a quarter of the total mass in the cosmos. Dark matter is just a name, though. We don't have a clue what it is.

And then there is the dark energy. When Albert Einstein showed that mass and energy were like two sides of the same coin, that one could be converted into the other using the recipe E=mc2, he unwittingly laid the foundation for what is now widely regarded as the most embarrassing problem in physics. Dark energy is scientists' name for the ghostly essence that is making the fabric of the universe expand ever faster, creating ever more empty space between galaxies. Use Einstein's equation for converting energy to mass, and you'll discover that dark energy is actually 70 percent of the mass in the cosmos." - From the book "13 things that don't make sense"

More dark matter

When I read this I'm reminded of Paul walking into Athens and seeing the statue to the unknown god. The people of Athens worshiped a plethora of gods but they knew somehow that there was something more. Today scientists also know there is something more. Their creators are abiogenesis and evolution, dark matter and dark energy the invisible hands that hold the universe and their supreme entity is the theory of everything.

Silver bullets

How can we attain a righteous life?

I think it falls into two categories; man's way and God's way.

Man's way is to work

Cursed is the ground because of you;
In toil you will eat of it
All the days of your life.
Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you;
And you will eat the plants of the field;
By the sweat of your face
You will eat bread,
Till you return to the ground,
Because from it you were taken;
For you are dust,
And to dust you shall return. - Genesis 3:17b - 19

The end of this path is thorns, thistles and ultimately death. So we can rule that out which leaves only one way.

God's way

God's way is faith in Jesus Christ.

Faith in Him that leads to action. The moment when you see yourself and what He has done for you. When the veil is lifted and you see His face. Never the same and at this moment your life is His. Being transformed into His image.

Strangely, this reminds me of the life cycle of a salmon.

Bear with me... Salmon are born into fresh water as fry. Their blood is saline like ours and so they need to retain salts and pump out freshwater through their gills to maintain this balance in freshwater. As the days get longer in the spring the fry literally "see the light". Sunlight triggers a small photo sensor buried in their skull called a "pineal gland". You and I have one too, it kind of looks like a tiny pine cone and it's why you might notice you may feel happier or more energetic in the summer. When the daylight portion of the day reaches a certain number of hours the photo sensor is triggered and the fry begins to change. This change is called "smoltification" and it happens routinely every year. It probably seems insignificant to most people but it is an even more material change than the transformation of a caterpillar into to a butterfly.

Smoltification is a transformation process involving changes on the inside and out. It's a mix of biology, salt, light and a bit of the miraculous. Inside the fish, the gills that once retained salt must be able to complete a 180 degree turn and pump salt out of the fish. To do this new chloride cells are constructed inside the gills. Every chloride cell has within it something called ATPase which is an enzyme required to convert the nucleotide adenosine triphosphate. ATP is required for growth and energy. Without ATPase the fish will die.

On the outside, while the fry are in freshwater their scales are small and hardened so that they can handle some abrasion while hiding under sticks and in the gravel. They are also covered in greenish camouflage. On their way to sea they trade in their green camo for their more stylish blue and whites. Now they have a bluish green dorsal colour and a silvery white ventral colour - ideal for the deep blue sea. Their scales become less hardened as their body is no longer intended for gravelly subterfuge but more or less built purely for speed.

This is what happens when a skinny green fry hiding in a dead lake becomes a silver bullet in an ocean of life. God intended for salmon to be changed on the inside and out just like you and me. All that's required is salt, light and a miracle from God.

"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.

"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. - Matthew 5:13-16

And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved - Luke 5:37-38

How to poison a king

A PICNIC SPREAD is laid out. A tablecloth, two goblets and between them, a small leather wine container. And some cheese and a couple of apples. The picnic is set on a lovely spot, high on the edge of a mountain path with a view all the way back to the sea.

As Vizzini fills the goblets with the dark red liquid, the Man In Black pulls a small packet from his clothing, handing it to Vizzini.

MAN IN BLACK "Inhale this, but do not touch."

VIZZINI (doing it) "I smell nothing."

MAN IN BLACK (taking the packet back) "What you do not smell is called iocane powder. It is odorless, tasteless, dissolves instantly in liquid, and is among the more deadlier poisons known to man." - From the screenplay for "The Princess Bride"

Arsenic is known as "the poison of kings" or the "inheritance poison" since it's been used many times for murder due to it's ability to kill and disguise it's effect as some other common ailment. Someone once told me that you can poison someone slowly over many years by giving them smaller amounts. I've also heard that there could be traces of arsenic in our local drinking water. The symptoms are myriad but it usually affects the brain.

This gets me to thinking, if I was the devil how would I poison believers? Would I show up all horns and fangs with a bubbling poison cocktail to drink? Or smiles and friendship with a drink of something good. Something delicious, odourless, tasteless but at the end it would carry the sting of death. Something to slowly but inevitably bring about your death.

I'd slip trace amounts in the things you watch and do. Small enough so you think its not poisonous and after awhile I'd hope you wouldn't even notice. I'd try to change the way you thought and hopefully you'd stop reading the Word.

Their vine comes from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are filled with poison, and their clusters with bitterness.

Their wine is the venom of serpents, the deadly poison of cobras.
- Deuteronomy 32:32-33

Strange attractor

Most of us tend to view information one of two ways.

The first is to simply observe events.

Imagine you are watching the waterwheel in the picture below. Water drips from the yellow bucket into the multi-coloured cups on the wheel and as the cups fill and get heavier they cause the wheel to move one direction and then the other. Back and forth, there seems to be no pattern as the wheel spins chaotically.
If you look closely, you'll see that the wheel is hooked up to a computer that plots its every motion on a graph versus time. This is fairly common, produces the boring graph you see below and is the second way we usually look at information.
But there is another way to look at information and it's a way of looking at it outside of time when velocity and direction are plotted in something called "state space". In state space, the motions of the waterwheel, that once looked random and unpredictable, instead now form a beautiful shape resembling the wings of a butterflyYou may find it hard to believe but these are two graphs made from exactly the same data. When data that may have seemed random or chaotic takes on an ordered shape like this the shape is called a "strange attractor". It's an attractor because the data is attracted to the shape in the sense that it continues to draw the shape over and over and it's strange because... well, no one knows why it would form this shape.

I've often looked at Biblical prophecy like an x/y graph, looking for patterns in the seemingly random happenings of the current events or past history to see if I could get some hint of where we are on the revelation continuum. This is probably at best naive and at worst, arrogant. Since God exists outside of time its likely that the prophetic books can't be read as if they are step by step lists of what is going to happen in sequence. Maybe each state relates in some way to the "next" state in the pattern but not necessarily to what happens next in time.

So many people have tried to predict Christ's return or Armageddon or the rise of Antichrist maybe they've seen some seemingly obvious sign that suggests that they can predict what will happen next or maybe there is some greater pattern that is being formed that we are unaware of or unable to visualize and the best thing for us to do is to just make sure we're awake

Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” - John 8:58

Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you. - Revelation 3:3

Perceptual rendering

‘…Has a dead man any use for money? Is it possible for a dead man to have money? What world does a dead man belong to? 'Tother world. What world does money belong to? This world. How can money be a corpse's?

Can a corpse own it, want it, spend it, claim it, miss it? Don't try to go confounding the rights and wrongs of things in that way. But it's worthy of the sneaking spirit that robs a live man.' – Our Mutual Friend, Charles Dickens

Money belongs to this world, Jesus taught this as well. And the dead to this world belong to the next.

And they questioned Him saying , “Teacher, we know that You speak and teach correctly, and You are not partial to any, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”

But He detected their trickery and said to them, “Show me a denarius. Whose likeness and inscription does it have?”

And they said, “Caesar’s”

And He said to them, “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” – Luke 20:21-25

I picked up a devotional the other day that got me to look at what Jesus said from a totally different perspective. The writer of the devotional asked three simple questions and I was left to extrapolate if Jesus was speaking to people other than the Pharisees? Maybe He was speaking to me too?

Whose image am I made in?

Whose inscription do I bear?

Knowing this what should I do?

So God created man in His own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female He created them. - Genesis 1:27

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit – Ephesians 1:13