All The Little Pixels ... In The Big Picture

Jesus Christ often illustrated His talks and teachings using examples and stories drawn from the everyday lives of His audience. These parables taught about Heavenly things in the understandable terms of everyday worldly experience. Were it to have happened today I am sure Jesus would have spoken in parables about cars and computers and factories as readily as He then spoke in stories of wheat and grape farming, orchards, threshing floors and winepresses. Indeed I am certain He would use anything with which His audience was familiar. Even computer graphics perhaps and the tiny, humble, but oh-so important, ... Pixel.

You see the secret to a big, high resolution picture is not bigger, more powerful pixels. Indeed they just make a picture LOOK bigger, but at the cost of clarity and focus ... and detail. Indeed make them big enough and the picture becomes quite incomprehensible. In short, bigger more powerful pixels cause you to see LESS, not more.

No, the secret to seeing more of the REALLY BIG picture in perfect clarity and detail is to keep building it up from more and more tiny, high quality pixels. The more pixels the more you can see of the big picture, both overall AND in detail (blessed be the ZOOM!).

Don't worry,  Jesus' disciples often didn't quite "get the connection" either (for they had not yet been filled with the Holy Spirit who came later at Pentacost after Jesus had risen from the dead and ascended into heaven). A post event "staff debriefing" was often in order before the "AHA" moment hit even them.

The lesson of THIS "parable" is that seeing the big picture of Christ Jesus and what He is all about that the Bible paints for us is. in attention to the "pixels" within it. The LITTLE THINGS that most people miss. Consequently not only do they not see the whole picture, but even what they do see is "fuzzy" and "unfocussed" for lack of detail.

OK "what pixels??" you might ask. "Too many to list them all here", I might reply. But let me point you in the direction of a few examples of "Biblical pixels".

I have heard many people over many years espouse many theories and sermons as to why Jesus uttered the words "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Yet not a single one of them ever mentioned Psalm 22 which begins .... "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Psalm 22 are the words of Jesus AS HE hung upon the cross. But they were written hundreds of years before Jesus was born by King David. And yet they ARE the words of Jesus on the cross, describing everything He saw, felt, and thought, as He hung there dying. Apart from totally blowing out of the water all our conceptions of TIME (past, present, and future) we also begin to understand that "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" was much more than a desparate cry of despair. Far from it. It was a final cry of triumph for Psalm 22 is a psalm of triumph over pain and agony. A psalm of the victory of the Lord, a FUTURE promise ALREADY fulfilled, a victory already won. Not a cry of confusion, but a rallying call and a comfort and encouragement to those who knew the scriptures and to His friends and disciples gathered there. Jesus wanted them to know that nothing was happening that was not meant to happen. That  this was not the victory of evil over good that it seemed, but the victory of God over evil that was planned from the beginning.

Then there is that perennial question that pops up with monotonous regularity from those who like to argue. If the Law came with Moses, and sin is transgression of the Law, then how is it that those who lived before the Law are guilty of sin?? (For the Lord says ALL have sinned). And how can those who never heard the Law be held responsible for transgressing it. Surely this is not right or just?? Like many others I simply knew they were because the Lord said they were, and I believe HIM. But I could never properly explain WHY they were. Then I had an AHA! moment (or perhaps a DUH! moment). What was the name of that tree that Adam and Eve ate from???? AHHH yeah, that's right,"The Tree of KNOWLEDGE of Good And Evil". The Law might have come with Moses, but the KNOWLEDGE of what is good and what is evil came with Adam and Eve. We KNEW right from wrong from the very beginning .... but did what was wrong (sinned) anyway.

Then there is the endless debate about the authority of the Bible. Some quite erroneously argue that the Bible was written about 300 years after Christ. What they forget is that the BOOKS of the Bible were actually written by the Prophets and Apostles themselves or their contemporaries. However history DOES tell us that one of the first acts of the first ever Christian Emperor and founder of the 1,000 year Byzantine Christian Empire, Constantine the Great, was to assemble ALL the church leaders previously scattered and persecuted by the Pagan Roman Empire. One of the first things this great council of churches did, after much talking among themselves, was to assemble ALL the preserved documents from among the churches and very carefully determine which were, beyond the shadow of any doubt, the genuine and authenticated, and/or endorsed writings of the Apostles themselves, together with the properly authorised and authenticated Jewish Scriptures (which became the Old Testament). These PROVEN 66 books where then assembled and bound into what we know today as "The Bible". This "Bible" was then faithfully copied and distributed to all the churches so that all would be able to have a record of what the Prophets and the Apostles had actually written or verified as a true and accurate record. As it were "a book of rememberance" of the things that are true beyond doubt and to be believed. The Early Apostolic Church and the Churches of the Byzantine Christian Empire called these 66 books "The Oracles of God", being held to be from the Lord Himself.

But all this happened around 325 AD hence the debate. BUT WHAT IF the OT Prophets and "The Oracles of God", THEMSELVES foretold of the Bible, not as a book written by man but as a "book of rememberance" ordered by the Lord Himself for those who desperately wished to know for certain and faithfully follow His will?? I have NEVER heard ANYBODY speak of such a prophecy ... until I came across THIS pixel myself while reading the words of the Prophet Malachi:-

Malachi 3:16  "Then they that feared the LORD SPAKE OFTEN ONE TO ANOTHER: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him FOR them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name. 17  And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. 18  Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not."

Sounds to me like a great council of churches meeting to talk together (actually there were a number of such "councils" ) and a book of remembrance assembled for the guidance of those who believe and fear the Lord! BUT remember these prophetic words were written several hundreds of years BEFORE Jesus was born and the great Nicean Council of Churches and the assembling of the 66 books of the Bible did not occur until about 325 years AFTER the birth of Jesus. And yet the one is the perfect foretold description of the other. The Bible is no ordinary book, but a book FORETOLD and ordained by the Lord Himself.

Then there are the little "pixels" that speak volumes about the character and nature of Jesus Himself. One "pixel" I love in particular takes place after Jesus has risen from the dead but not yet ascended into Heaven. Here is the Son of the Almighty God, who had already been given ALL power and authority in Heaven and on Earth and over even Death itself. Someone with the power of God, and the host of Heaven at His command. And as Peter and the others wearily pull their boats up to the shore after a long night of fishing they find the risen Jesus on the beach standing next to a fire where some fish were cooking alongside some freshly made bread. (John 21) The Son of the Lord Almighty Himself ... had cooked breakfast on the beach for His friends....

D.J. Ludlow

Provided it is done freely and without charge

"All The Little Pixels ... In The Big Picture" may be copied, used and distributed

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by brothers and sisters in Christ

to the profit and glory of The Lord alone (ttpagoTLa)

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D.J. Ludlow copyright 2015

#smallgiftsministries #ttpagoTLa

CREATION MINISTRIES INTERNATIONAL: An SGM at Heart and in Spirit

A BIG THANKYOU TO CREATION MINISTRIES INTERNATIONAL (CMI) FROM THE FLEDGLING SMALL GIFTS MINISTRY MOVEMENT (SGM)

It would seem that CMI ( http://creation.com/ ), like me has been led by the Holy Spirit to the conclusion that the work of God has always been about ministry not money. And like me they have asked of themselves the hard question, why should the copyright laws of man hinder the great commission of Christ?

Small GIFTS Ministries ( #smallgiftsministries ) was born out of the conviction that the gifts I have been freely given by the Lord are intended to be freely shared among His people for the nurturing and benefit and ministry of the body of Christ here on Earth, not merchandise to be sold and traded and profited from. We know from John 2:13-16 what Jesus thought of those who would seek to make merchandise out of the things of the Lord.

My vision is that #smallgiftsministries will become a rallying point and search tool for all of those who, like me, wish to freely share,  or (as in the case of CMI) indeed are already freely sharing, THEIR God given gifts, and for those of limited resources who so desperately need them. (For the gifts of God are given for those who need them, not those who can afford them.) SGM is driven by the motto “To The Profit and Glory of The Lord Alone” (Hence also the search key  #ttpagoTLa ).

It was therefore with great joy and humble amazement that I found Creation Ministries International was already well ahead of me in adopting the SGM concept even if not the #smallgiftsministries hashtag. (To be fair I’m unlikely to be high on the CMI radar – or indeed anybody’s radar at the moment. J)

CMI produce and issue excellent (soundly) scientifically based articles as part of their “Infobytes” ministry. These articles are a very valuable and powerful tool for evangelical and apologetics ministry, both as a source of information and as personal handouts (or hand arounds?) when dealing with those who are naturally very skeptical or who have been strongly influenced by the deceptive claims of atheism. The GOOD NEWS is that CMI (like the SGM movement) gives special permission for these articles to be freely used, copied, printed, distributed and shared by people, churches, etc.  for non-commercial purposes.

Rather than put this special permission on each article CMI has created a webpage outlining its copyright and permissions policy. The webpage can be viewed here:- http://creation.com/our-copyright-policy .

At some future time, if the SGM movement gathers strength (Lord willing), I may be honoured to see CMI provide its own links to SGM by including the SGM hashtags somewhere on its searchable webpages. In the meantime because CMI has by its own leading of the Holy Spirit, so thoroughly embraced the SGM concept I am both pleased and proud to use THIS article to link the CMI website to the SGM movement  so that those who search either #smallgiftsministries or #ttpagoTLa will now (via this article) find the free ministry offerings of CMI. (This is how “Hashtag Angels” works).

If any would be “Hashtag Angels” out there (may the Lord bless you) are reading this article and are aware of other websites which  are also giving special permission for its ministry offerings to be freely used and shared or distributed by brothers and sisters in Christ (does not have to be all of their offerings but some at least) please post an article or link somewhere on the internet where search engines can find it. Include in your article a link to the relevant website or websites along with the hashtags #smallgiftsministries and/or #ttpagoTLa . This is all that is needed to make the relevant website findable (via your article) by those who enter the hashtags as keywords in any search engine, however a little blurb about the linked website would also be helpful to searchers if you can manage it.

Don Ludlow