I've had people ask me,when I witnessed to them, "Does God save the Winkum People in the wilds of the Amazon?".
Well, here is one key to that answer. There are several ways that a human being can gain awareness of God, which
we will shortly explore, but as for the Winkums, we must all pass a simple test first, before He brings the gospel
to us; We must be positive at God consciousness. Consider this a litmus test which determines probability. The answer
to the question is; If even one Winkum is positive, then God is obligated to get them the message of salvation. This
does not imply that the negative soul never hears the gospel, but it is a prerequisite which can come into play under
extreme conditions, as say, when a geographical location is remote, as is Winkumland.
There is another principle that applies here, a safety net from God, and that is that there have been times in history
when the number of missionaries have been very few, and it was not possible for a remote people to get the gospel. In
such cases, God saves the positive soul even if they never respond to the gospel. This is in keeping with His Justice.
As long as we're on this subject, He also saves, automatically, any child who dies before reaching the age of accountability.
Nobody can say just what this age is, it differs, but God reads the thoughts of all men, and He knows when a person is
accountable or not.
A significant number of souls will be in heaven that were saved under this condition, such as the thousands of little ones
that perished in the drought that ravaged Africa years ago. We can all remember those heart rending pictures of starving
babies with flies buzzing around their sad faces, well, they were transported to heaven the instant they died, and so
shall they ever be with the Lord. For those astute readers that have good powers of observation, you may have arrived at
the correct conclusion already that it is a great blessing, under these circumstances, to die if the person would have
grown to accountability and never accepted Christ. They would have gone to hell.
Very good! This is exactly the case. Sometimes, in the absence of effective witnessing, God does bring terrible suffering
upon a people just to harvest the souls of thousands that would otherwise have gone to hell as adults. If this seems
cruel or inhuman to you, consider that God places the highest priority upon the salvation of the human race, and if that
means that even one single soul can be rescued from hell, He will subject the nation to whatever disaster is necessary.
Yes, it is unfortunate for the unbeliever population that also suffer hunger, or whatever, but their comfort and welbeing
is secondary in God's eyes to the eternal destiny of that lone soul.
Ofcourse, it has probably never happened in just that way, with that extreme a situation, not for just one individual. But
don't doubt for one second what God would do if a situation did match this example.
ONTOLOGICAL
The first means of gaining God consciousness is rationale. It is possible for a human being to contemplate their own
existence, and the variables in life, and arrive at the conclusion that there is a superior being, or power, out there
somewhere. Just what the particular mechanics of this phenomenon are, nobody can say exactly. It occurs differently with
different people, but the end result is a knowledge that God exists.
TELEOLOGICAL
Albert Einstein was of the opinion that no scientist could possibly reject the idea of a creator. He once called Carl
Sagen, one of his students, a "fool" to his face, because Sagen was an atheist. Albert was alluding to the evidence
found in the intricate arrangement of natural phenomenon that there is a creator, a designer. The deeper into science
one delves the more abundant this evidence becomes. Nature is a virtual miracle, perfectly coordinated, and in such
minute proportions that the mere thought of a random method as the cause of all things becomes preposterous. Even a
child can marvel at the delicate beauty of a snowflake, like fine lace, under a magnifying glass. I remember, as a
boy, my Father told me that in all the zillions of snowflakes that have ever fallen, no two have been exactly alike.
This fact was my most profund belief as a child, and I repeated it often.
PHYSIOLOGICAL
David, in a prayer, said; "...we are fearfully and wonderfully made...". I always loved David's way of expressing his awe
at the miracle of the human body, which also happens to introduce our 3rd means of coming to God consciousness. A woman
once told me that, before she was a believer, she would ponder for hours the beating of the heart, and what
mysterious power supplied the energy to animate a lump of flesh for decades. She looked into the anatomy of the heart,
and cited many facts that I don't recall in detail, but I remember being very impressed at how much blood the heart
pumps in a year's time, millions of gallons. She probably gained her God consciousness by this means, observing the
awesome manner in which our bodies are constructed and the undeniable evidence that it could only have come from the hand
of a being infinately superior to ourselves.
ASTROLOGICAL
The vast reaches of the universe have captured the imagination and wonder of men since the beginning of human existence.
This is probably the least effective of the four, in terms of bringing the human mind to the awareness of God, or a
superior being, but there are many recorded cases of astrologers, mostly, that have found God in this way. Most of us never
know enough about the delicate balance of our solar system, the pattern of orbits around the sun, and the gravitational
and meteoroloical (weather) forces that are controlled by the path we follow as we hurl through space. But knowledge
yeilds the fruit of wisdom, and God has employed every available means to infuence man and bring us to a preliminary
knowledge, though it may be no more than a "hunch", that He exsists.
There are two fascinating events which led men to God consciousness that have always been favorite stories of mine. One, in
recent times, was the Shroud of Turin, a relic which was concealed in the ancient city of Turin for centuries, and has just
been made available for study in the last 20 years. There was a great deal of interest when the shroud was revealed, for the
claim of the custodians of this mysterious piece of linen was that it was the cloth in which Christ was wrapped before He
was placed in the crypt.
A select team of scientists and forensic experts were finally given access to the shroud, and since that time, thousands
of tests and studies have been conducted. But the one story that caught my attention was about a Jew, an unbeliever, who
was a physicist. His area of study involved the image on the cloth, how it was imprinted. He conducted dozens of tests to
determine what process had been involved. He learned that the shroud hadn't been scorched, as was first assumed. It hadn't
been stained, either. Finally, with all other methods eliminated, he was forced to the one conclusion left, and the
conclusion that led to his accepting Christ as his savior. The image on the Shroud of Turin could only have been the result
of a flash of light, a light 1,000 times more intense than any technology known to man can produce in the time in took to
print the image. Only a laser can duplicate this light, but the heat of it would incinerate a block of iron in seconds.
He explained that linen is a celluloid, in the some family as photographic film. Ofcourse, film is extremely sensative to
light, and that sensativity is enhanced by a coating of very fine silver dust and other chemicals. All celluloid compounds
are photo sensative, but in the case of the linen cloth, it would require a burst of light with a candle power in the
millions range to print a photographic image. Even today, much less in a time when there was no technology or electricity,
this would be impossible without burning the material. His discovery was so profound that He believed in Christ as a result.
The time involved for this phenomena couldn't have been more than a nano-second (one millionth), and the physicist went on
to make a very interesting observation. The only mechanism known to man that has a reaction time to light that fast is the
human eye. This is of particular interest because of this scripture concerning the Rapture of the Church, and those following;
"In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised
incorruptible, and we shall be changed." (1Cor:15:52)
"Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." (Eph 5:14)
"This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all." (1John:1:5)
The second event occured on the day Christ was crucified, at the very moment He died, and was a an act of God which He intended
to convince the obstinate among the Jews that Christ was the Savior. But first, some background;
Much of the Old Testement is documentation of the Divine specifications
for Israel's worship of Him, described by New Testement authors as "shadow
worship", that is, the Levitical code, which ordained every tiny detail of
worship, was a tribute to the shadow of the real thing.
"Levitical", incidentally, is an extended version of Levi, who was the
brother of Moses, and the first High Priest of Israel. Thereafter, the
tribe of Levi (Israel was composed of 12 "tribes") became the official
priesthood of the people and, as such, were given the tenents of worship,
in excrutiating detail, that must be adhered to. This body of spiritual
law was recorded in the Book of Leviticus.
In addition to the biblical text, there were thousands of pages of extra-
biblical writings which involved these rules of conduct and protocol. In
a very brief nutshell, Levi was responsible for everything from actually
ministering to the people to crafting the tabernacle and it's components.
They were designated the official choir, as well, and even had the task
of transporting the tabernacle and its' accoutments from place to place.
The tabernacle, as a category of the spiritual heritage of Israel, was no
simple tent, but probably required nearly 100 mules and camels to move
from place to place. It is hard to say how many people this required, but
we can safely assume numbers in the several hundreds.
One single item of the tabernacle, and the subject of this story, was a
veil that covered the "Holy of Holies", which was the sacred room that
represented heaven. This "veil" was hardly a wisp of silk, as the term
conveys, but a massive object that weighed several TONS! The precise
dimensions of the veil are recorded in Leviticus, and I admit to my
shocking laziness, so approximate measurements will serve for now.
Woven of pure wool, which was died several colors; The veil was 12 foot
wide, twenty five feet high and 5 feet thick. One can readily see why it
was so cumbersome, FIVE FOOT THICK!
When the tabernacle was erected, and the veil was in place, the Shekinah
Glory appeared within the Holy of Holies. This phenomenon is well
documented in the bible and Jewish history as the supernatural light which
signified that God, The Messiah, in preincarnate form, was present.
Because The Savior had not yet done the expiatory work of salvation, the
way into heaven was not open to men, and this was the significance of the
huge veil. Obviously, its' enormity was a statement from God that no man,
or any power, was able to penetrate the barrier of sin which seperated Him
from mankind. In fact, the law stated that anyone who entered the Holy of
Holies while it was erected, and occupied by the Shekinah Glory, would be
put to death instantaneously. There are several scriptures which record
the deaths of careless individuals who, perhaps by accident, violated this
inflexible law from God.
Having laid this very sketchy groundwork, we are ready for the miracle
which ocurred on the day Christ was put to death. When the priests reported
for work on the day following the crucifixtion, they were astounded to find
that the massive veil had been ripped up the middle, for its' entire length,
like a flimsy piece of tissue paper.
"And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to
the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent" (Mat:27:51)
Ofcourse, the implications of this event are a great comfort to the thousands
of beleivers who have lived down through the centuries; The way into heaven
is now wide open, and any man can enter through the "new veil", The Lord
Jesus Christ. "I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the
Father but by me", he said.
As you might well imagine, many unbelievers who came to see this miracle were persuaded
that Christ was their Messiah, for only God could have ripped the massive veil.