GOD IS!
By H. E. Phillips

“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard” (Psa. 19:1-3). In every language and tongue, day after day and night after night, the voice of the creation of the heavens and earth declare the glory and power of God. Little wonder David said by the Spirit of God: “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God” (Psa. 14:1). After looking into the heavens and observing the world in which we live, only a fool would deny the existence of God.

The amazing fact of life about us, the majestic wonders of the earth, the awesome depth of space, and the perfect symmetry of the whole works of the universe cry aloud that God is! The foolish and unfounded statements of pseudo-scientists, and the incredible and contradictory explanations of the origin of the universe and man by atheists and evolutionists are overwhelmed and swallowed up by indisputable facts uncovered by true science. The more man learns about himself and the universe in which he lives, the more proof he has of the fact that God is!

Two possible sources of information may be given to man upon which he must base his belief in the origin and nature of himself and the universe: human wisdom and divine revelation. Divine revelation has been ridiculed, rejected and replaced by the self acclaimed intellectuals of our times. These scoffers assure us that “There is no God,” or “God is dead!” Divine revelation says, “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God” (Psa. 14:1). The wisdom of the world may teach a man how to build and operate a battleship or make a fruit cake – the word of God does not deal with these matters. But the origin, nature, duty and destiny of man can only be known by the revelation of God. The will of God can not be known by the wisdom of the world (1 Cor. 1:21).

There are several unimpeachable proofs of the existence of God, but one speaks out with such force to every man that the most radical skeptic must admit his ignorance in attempting to explain it without admitting the existence of God and His creative power. This proof is the very existence and precise function of the universe. It declares the glory and power of a real God.

Two self-evident facts are admitted by all: 1. Every effect has a cause – something cannot come from nothing. 2. Something or someone must be eternal. As we trace the cause and effect back we must finally come to the original cause and this cause must be eternal or we have not traced the effects back to the original cause. The materialist must argue that matter is eternal and some force acted upon matter at some time in the past to produce the universe as it now is. To admit intelligence in creation is to admit God, hence, the atheist must deny any part of intelligence in the origin of the universe. Let the materialist logically explain the following three facts about the universe without supreme intelligence, whom we know to be God.

1. The greatness of the universe. This earth upon which we live is large to us, but it is a tiny planet in relation to the solar system. To man years, life time, and centuries are long periods of time. A distance of thousands of miles is great. But we are staggered by the fact that planets within the solar system are billions of miles away. We are told that our galaxy is so large that it would take light, traveling at the rate of 186,000 miles per second, approximately 100,000 years to go from one side to the other. I cannot comprehend a distance so great. One day has 86,400 seconds, which means that light would travel 16,070,400,000 miles in one day. Now try to figure the distance light would travel in 100,000 years and you would have the distance across our galaxy. We are also told that there are hundreds of millions more galaxies as large as or larger than this one. There has to be some supreme and powerful intelligence to bring all this into being and hold the order of it.

2. The minuteness of the universe. The tiny elements and creatures in the universe that man cannot detect with the natural eye show intelligence. It is as impossible for man to understand extremely small components of the elements about us as to understand the immense space of the heavens. Atoms and molecules are terms to define the smallest units known of anything, but who understands all about them? Every time man discovers something new about the elements of the universe, it is always in harmony with everything known. The harmony and balance of these units of chemical composition tell of supreme intelligence.

3. The design of the universe. How anyone who calls himself a scientist can deny supreme intelligence in the universe is a mystery within itself. Just one phase of this design is enough to establish beyond doubt the supreme intelligence and power governing the universe.

During the past few days history has been made in space flight. (Man had just orbited the moon for the first time, mg). As this is being written three men in a space craft are heading toward earth after ten times circling the moon. If they should safely enter the atmosphere and land on the earth again, they will have accomplished a feat long dreamed of by men of science. However, there is a limit to man’s exploration in space. He cannot live long enough to go to most of the planets in this galaxy, even if he could travel at the speed of light.

The hundreds of billions of dollars spent, the thousands of scientists, technicians, engineers and craftsmen, and the hundreds of thousands of intricate machines and computers have all worked upon the science of mathematical calculation. Split second timing was used in firing the rockets to achieve the desired speed and direction to reach the moon as it travels at great speed around the earth and then return to earth. Whether some admit it or not, they based everything upon the knowledge of some intelligence in the movements of the earth and moon and other planets and stars. The use of mathematical timing must admit design in the universe, and design must admit God, because neither man nor chance can produce such accuracy in the movements of these planets.

It is no wonder that the three experts in the space flight sent the following message to those upon earth on the evening of December 24, 1968 as they circled the moon for the ninth time: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth ...” And so on they read some ten verses from Genesis 1. These men had been where no other man had ever been, and as trained observers they knew God’s hand was in it all. They recognized him as the Creator of the heaven and the earth. God is real and this universe is the product of His infinite intelligence and creative power. The greatest wonder of all is how a so-called scientist can look at all this and say, “There is no God.”

– Searching the Scriptures, Volume X, Issue 1, January 1969, pages 1-2. 

Did Christ Die In Vain?
By David McPherson

“He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth” (Isa. 53:7). Isaiah described the events leading up to the death of Christ. In obedience to the Father, Jesus willingly stretched out his hands and died on the cross for our sins. But was his death in vain?

For those who refuse to obey the gospel, they are saying, “Lord, we don’t care what you did.”

“Jesus, so what if you loved me and gave your life for me?” Those who stubbornly reject the

gospel of Christ are saying by their actions that the death of Christ was in vain.

If this is true of you, then consider that one day the Lord will return “in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thess. 1:8). Appreciate what the Lord has done for you. Recognize your need for the blood of Christ. Obey the gospel! Don’t let Christ’s death be in vain. – Collegevue church of Christ Bulletin, September 2, 2018.