U.S. researchers [announced recently] they have made the darkest material on Earth, a substance so black it absorbs more than 99.9 percent of light. [Reuters]I'm afraid the material they seek already exists; Jesus spoke of it 2 millennia ago:"If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!"The Lord's implication is that there is a state of absolute darkness that is attainable (even the scientists, by virtue of their research, believe a condition absolutely free of all light is potentially achievable). But is not attainable in this age.Matthew 6:23b
The article explains the researchers' discovery in this way ...Made from tiny tubes of carbon standing on end, [the] material is almost 30 times darker than a carbon substance used by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology as the current benchmark of blackness.From Genesis 1:3 to Revelation 22:5 the word "light" is mentioned in 200 verses (in 31 by the Lord), from Genesis 1:2 to Jude 1:13 the word "darkness" is mentioned in 145 verses (in 13 by the Lord); notice the absence of the latter in John's Apocalypse.
And the material is close to the long-sought ideal black, which could absorb all colors of light and reflect none.
We must acknowledge that up until the "taking away" of the saints of God, darkness has no chance of an absolute existence because ..."[We] are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house."Consider the sense of all of this? Absolute darkness will be the standard for all in Perdition; absolute light the standard for all in Heaven, for ...Matthew 5:14, 15"And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever."'Nough said!Revelation 22:5
Showing posts with label Light. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Light. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
LIGHT: How great is that darkness!
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
SECRETS: Rolling Stones and Other Hidden Things!
"… nothing is hidden from the king"The trustees of a small country church determined the stone forming the front step was unsafe; it would have to be replaced. Years of hard use had worn it down too much. Unfortunately, there were no funds available for replacement. Then someone suggested turning the block over, thus its replacement could be postponed for many years.2 Samuel 18:13"… God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil"Ecclesiastes 12:14"… do not fear them, for there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known …"Matthew 10:25-33"there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do."Hebrews 4:13
A workday was set and volunteers recruited. On the great day, the men came with their gloves and back supports, the women came with lemonade and sandwiches, and the kids came to see the rolling of the stone. Knuckles were bloodied and sweat poured but at last the great stone was rolled away from its footing … only to discover their great-grandparents had beaten them to it.
[jokeseveryday - November 9th, 1999; © 1999 Jokes EveryDay Mailing List, message ID: 2302571, edited for publication]
Though we toil in the heart of the night, though we strain in secret, though we concoct our carnal strivings with care … nothing is hidden from the eyes of the One who made us.
Though the four winds move the sands of a desert upon a thing, burying it so none can see, God will (should He choose to do so) appoint a day and a man to brush aside the wrappings of a millennia to reveal what must be seen.
Monday, December 24, 2007
LIFE: What are we doing to one another!
OF PLANTS AND OTHER LIVING THINGS: 1 John 1:5-7
Just because a thing is assigned a particular name doesn't mean it will absolutely function according to that name. For example, calling a thing a "house" plant doesn't mean it will thrive, or even survive, in every house; especially flowering houseplants.
All plants, at least all flowering plants, require certain essential things in order to thrive and survive: sunlight, carbon-dioxide, moisture, nutrition.
All over the world, there are places where houseplants will not thrive or survive, their environment is hostile to them, especially the outdoors. If there is a lack of life-supporting essentials, this too will stifle and thwart the well-being of a plant. We now know the absence of an unseen intangible (tenderness perhaps, some might say love; I'd say support and encouragement) will also affect a plant's quality of life.Simple calling a person (or yourself) a Christian won't in and of itself insure thriving or even surviving under all conditions; a houseplant left outside will die; a houseplant deprived of nourishment and care will also die, even though inside the house.
On the one hand, we tend to project an unattainable standard upon those called "Christian," sort of recreating them in our own image, insisting they meet our expectations just because they are called Christian.
On the other hand, we tend to knowingly place ourselves in environments hostile to our well-being. This ought not be!
Like houseplants, Christians need a particular kind of light and moisture, a special diet, supporting encouragement and fellowship (prayer and koinonia), as well as a manageable environment. Struggle (sometimes stunting or even death) comes from the absence of these growth essentials. We all need to mindful of our own needs and the needs of others if we expect growth in ourselves or them.
Sunday, August 07, 2005
LIGHT - Let the be no darkness at all!
BETTER TO BE BLIND! [John 8:12; Illumination, Jesus, Life] (Added 3 June 2006)CONSUMED BY HIS POWER! [2 Corinthians 4:4; gospel, power (God's)]Imagine no red rose, no blue sky, rolling but grey hills, and a several shades of grey Monarch Butterfly. Without light, there is no color. Color is just bands of light reflected off an object; which bands are reflected depends on the nature of the object. Without light, things would be very plain … AND VERY DARK.
So too without Christ … imagine no hope, no love, no future, and no present purpose for living.
Jesus said, "I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life."
Without the light of Christ, there would be no spiritual blessings, no sustaining grace, and no “daily bread” worth eating. Just as it is impossible to receive mail without a delivery address, it is impossible to receive a true blessing outside the person and authority of Christ but it is the individuals nature that brings His ultimate blessing.
COME INTO THE LIGHT! [1 Peter 1:19; Revelation, Sin, Truth]One of our church janitors was in my office the other day and told me a fascinating but sad story.
A hardworking man finally had time to go to a night baseball game with his family. They were doing the usual things: eating hot-dogs and peanuts, drinking cokes, and complaining about the prices.
His wife, a registered nurse and mother of his three kids, said something and he turned in such a way that the park lights were directly in his eyes. She gasped and took his face in her hands to have a closer look. Her suspicion was correct, his eyes were jaundiced, a sign of several serious diseases. Within a few weeks her childhood sweetheart and the father of her three children was dead.
Man must come into the light of God to see the ravaging affects of his sins. He is little more than the walking dead without the cleansing power of the blood of the Lamb. The Light reveals the truth for all to see. Many will come into the light too late. [1 Corinthians 4:5]LAVA LAMP BELIEVERS! [1 John 1:6,7; apostasy, believers, nominalism, testimony, witness]My associate pastor, Dan, used to work for Orkin (the pesty people); he was pulpit supply for me this morning and I was blessed to hear an illustration he used on the whole armor of God [Epesian 6:10-17].
Orkin evidently had special Maglites with custom commercial grade batteries in them ... make that battery. Instead of four D-cells it had a single, long battery. I gather They're like those used by law enforcement. At any rate he said it was a blessing when he was crawling around in attics and under houses; it would light up the area from one end to the other.
He used this tool to illustrate the power of the Light of God, Jesus our Lord. When an ordinary flashlight was shined directly into the beam of light coming from his Maglite the beam from the common flashlight was consumed by the power of the more powerful light.
So too the power of Satan, when it is exposed to the Light of God.Lava Lamps have made a comeback in recent years (2002). Many of today’s versions are more creative than when they were first introduced some forty years ago.
All lava lamps have one thing in common, none of them are adequate as a source of light. They're called a lamp, but they're not a lamp.
The age of their introduction was an age of darkness and half-light. People in that day didn’t want a lot of light. You might say they wanted just enough of the real thing so they could call the facsimile by name of the real thing.
Unfortunately, many Christians aren’t much better than lava lamps; they don’t really want the whole Light of God, just enough so they can go by the name of the Genuine Light yet remain in the shadows.
TURNING TOWARD THE LIGHT! [Ephesians 5:7-10; other topics - Holiness, Righteousness] (Added 3 June 2006)Our adopted daughter, Naomi, was admiring one of her mom’s houseplants. Her older sister, Jennifer, asked her if she noticed how the plant leaned toward the light coming through the front window. She said, “Yeah!” He sister then told her, “If you turn the plant around halfway, the plant will lean back toward the light inside of a week.” Naomi said, “Wow!”Likewise genuine Christians; separate them from the Light, or turn them away from the Light, and inside a short period of time they will have leaned back toward Him.
Thursday, March 03, 2005
Jesus (the Christ)
Bad News – Good News [John 3:16, 17; other topics - Judgment, Redemption, Second Coming]
The Grabouw Journal, a South African news journal, reports the story of Roger Russell, an activist crime-fighter. In August, 1999, Russell began a 2,800-mile walk around South Africa to focus attention on the nation’s infamous crime rate; his second day out he was mugged. He wasn’t out to judge the guilty, just bring an end to crime.
The Journal said, “It was either an awful start or the best one he could have hoped for.” You see Russell is down but not out; he’s coming back to finish what he started.
God announced in various ways, over hundreds of years, He wanted to relieve man of his sin-burden; He told us in advance He would send a Savior, a Deliverer, a Redeemer, a Shepherd, and a Messiah. When He did, He sent His Son, who came in the flesh and dwelt among us [John 1:14], to focus attention on the world’s infamous sin rate. He didn’t come to judge the world but to save the world.
At the Lord’s first attempt to reach sinful man, man attacked Him rather than receive Him … oh, He was down but not out; He’s coming again to finish what he started, only this time it’ll be to judge the world [John 5:29; Hebrews 9:27; Revelation 14:6,7].
[Adapted from “Reality Check for Anti-crime Trekker” by Ian Fisher, NY Times on the Web, (September 11, 1999)]
Fire Power [Acts 4:12; Lordship, Sovereignty]
In a world where numbers and possessions mean power, is it any wonder the subject of Jesus receives a cool reception?
Many are uninterested in the Good News because Jesus does not command divisions or carry a gun or have his stock listed on the NYSE or hold a Ph.D. or have a corporate title. The world doesn’t want to know who Jesus is; they want to know how much fire power He possesses.THIS LIGHT CANNOT BE STOPPED … THANK GOD! [John 1:9; other topics - Christ; Sovereignty]The New York Times reports researchers have slowed light to a dead stop, stored it, and then released it, as if it were an ordinary material particle. These reports are fascinating for anyone who knows a little about light but … there is another Light, a True Light, and no scientist will every exist who can stop Him … let alone treat Him as if He were “ordinary material particle”!The is nothing ordinary about the True Light!
Thursday, January 06, 2005
DISCERNMENT: Blind cave salamanders & other sightless, lightless things!
For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.2 Peter 1:9
There exists in our south central states (Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas), a troglodytic (cave-dwelling) salamander, which is blind and virtually colorless: where its eyes ought to be are two black dots. In the Ozark variety, eyelids do develop but promptly fuse over eyes that do not function. Most remarkably, when raised in ambient light the salamander’s eyelids degenerate even more abruptly.The Ozark variety was the first such blind cave salamander to be found in North America. All varieties of the Typhlomolge Rathbuni appear to be on an endangered species list somewhere.In our text, Peter is writing of the fruitful life in Christ Jesus we ought to have; he offers virtues we should add to our character in order to possess this life.“He writes of faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, patience, godliness, and brotherly kindness. He concludes with charity, or love, Christian love, which is completely unselfish love.Man living without these virtues is a man living in darkness. Over an extended period of time, man’s spiritual eyes have grown shut, his heart-eyes degenerating to the point of being non-functioning. The first sightless human was found in the Garden of Eden; but praise be to God, all varieties are on the Lord’s endangered species list.
"Without these characteristics, says Peter, the professed Christian is as totally unable to discern spiritual things as the salamander is unable to discern physical things.” [James A Tucker]
See also - Follow the Bouncing Ball
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