How can God in heaven see and hear you — even know your very thoughts? Read this article about the "miracles" man can perform using the physical laws and materials God created, and gain a new realization of GOD'S incredible power, His knowledge of and interest in YOU!
MILLIONS of eyes worldwide were glued to television sets July 20, 1969. Millions were awestruck to actually see space traveler Neil A. Armstrong plant the first human foot on the moon, 240,000 miles away in the heavens. As Astronaut Armstrong's feet stirred the dust of the moon's ancient pitted surface, his voice dimly penetrated the earth's atmosphere by means of an electronic "miracle." Hundreds of millions of excited earthlings then heard him say: "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." It was a profound demonstration indeed of man's ingenuity — of man's ability to travel and communicate! In less than a century mankind had progressed from the smoke-signal and horse-and-buggy age into the TV, rocket and space age. But what of the God who made these "miracles" possible? And what do man's communications and space travel have to do with whether God sees, hears, or is interested in us? The Apostle Paul declared, "The invisible things of him [God) from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead ..." (Rom. 1:20). By this principle we should be able to understand that what God has made possible for man to do, God can obviously do much better Himself! Let's notice just how this is true.
Knowledge Foreordained to Increase
Before our TV sets that memorable day in July, we humans saw prophecy being fulfilled. Long ago God had told Daniel, "But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased" (Dan. 12:4). But until very recent times man has depended on slow and comparatively limited means of communications — word-of-mouth, hand, flag or smoke signals, or homing pigeons. None of these means was usable over great distances. None could reach into space. It was not until 1835 that Samuel B. Morse's telegraph, an electrical device using wires, provided the first rapid method of moving a message long distances. He did it by the use of "code" — long and short pulses called dots and dashes. Alexander Graham Bell's "telephone," a method of transmitting the voice via wires, soon followed. Then near the turn of the century the first means of communicating without wires, the "wireless" or "radio," was invented. Television closely followed. Most people will be surprised to learn that the first TV pictures were transmitted across the Atlantic Ocean from London to New York City on November 30, 1924. By the start of World War II, radio had become a common means of communication worldwide, but television was still in its infancy. It "grew up" following the war. Now almost every American home has at least one TV set. Then in the late 1950s, Russia's Sputnik I ushered in the "space age" which spurred the U.S. Government into an all-out effort to overtake and beat the Russians in placing the first man on the moon. Obviously, super-reliable, ultra long distance radio and TV and other sophisticated equipment would be required. But early radios and televisions had large, cumbersome and fragile glass vacuum tubes, besides bulky resistors, condensers and a raft of wiring and other components far too heavy ever to be lifted to the moon in the early days of the space race — and most likely would not have survived the journey in working condition if they had been. How could the innards of a TV camera be condensed into a small enough package to be transported into the heavens? And how would man be able to include the computerized guidance systems and other sophisticated equipment to enable that camera to get to its destination and return?
The Means to Do It!
In 1948, Bell Telephone Laboratories displayed the first "transistor" which was soon to revolutionize the electronics field and pave the way for the space age. The transistor's incredibly small size, in comparison to a vacuum tube, belied its functional capacity and reliability. It was found to be extremely trustworthy. Simultaneously, researchers developed the " printed circuit" board to connect major components and eliminate most of the bulky wiring formerly required in electronics equipment. Still later the final step forward was the introduction of "microminiaturization" — the integrated "chip circuit." Texas Instruments, Inc., of Dallas, Texas is so amazed at these "micro-miniature giants" which it builds, that it has this sign on the wall saying: "We don't believe in miracles; we rely on them." Some of these "chips" replace dozens of transistors, yet are so tiny they could pass through the eye of an ordinary sewing needle. And all these scientific marvels are made from materials mined from the earth, and operate by principles of physics that God created for the physical realm of man. How much easier it becomes to comprehend, "by the things that are made," that God has far better means of long-distance communication in the spiritual realm!
Seeing Tiny Details at Great Distances
Surveyor I, carrying a TV camera, was rocketed May 30, 1966, from a point on the rotating earth moving about 870 miles per hour, toward a spot on the moon almost a quarter of a million miles away and itself moving in space approximately 2,300 miles per hour! Surveyor I landed within nine miles of its planned landing spot. Stephen E. Dwornik, program scientist for Surveyor, estimates that a rifle bullet would have to hit within a fast moving bull's-eye about Ii- inch in diameter 250 yards away to be as accurate! Surveyor I sent over 11,000 television pictures back to earth. Particles only 1/50 of an inch across could be seen and measured in these pictures. Can your mind grasp that? From the earth, almost a quarter million miles from the heavenly body called moon, man can actually see, measure and identify particles that tiny! And this is not all man can do.
Using POWER at Will Over Vast Distances
Many laws exist in the universe which man has not yet been able to explain, though he has been able to use many of them to produce good and harmful results. Man does not fully understand what electricity, or gravity, or light really is, yet he uses all three. No wonder scientists who work with these laws and forces often describe what they accomplish as " miracles." Said Robert Parks, Surveyor Project Manager at Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California: "The spacecraft [Surveyor] gave us an engineering miracle. Its flight and landing worked exactly as expected. On its journey and on the moon, it answered almost flawlessly more than 100,000 radio commands sent principally through our huge antenna at Goldstone, in California's Mojave Desert" (National Geographic, August 1968, p. 281). Like God, man is able to command and be obeyed at a distance. Someone greater than man put the laws and forces in motion and sustains them to make this possible. If even man can see, count, and identify particles no larger than -k inch in diameter a quarter million miles away, how much clearer and better can God see over great distances. And how much easier can He accomplish things on command through the power of His Spirit!
Hairs and Sparrows
What does the scripture in Matthew 10:29-31 mean to you? Jesus asked His disciples, "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father [knowing]. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows." When I now realize that man has been able to use God's laws governing electronics and communications to place a TV camera on the moon which allowed him to see, count and identify tiny particles a quarter million miles away in the heavens, I know God has even better perception to see, count and identify each hair on your head or mine! But what about keeping up with ever-traveling sparrows? Let's see how man keeps up with man-made objects he has rocketed into space. At the U.S. Government's Space Center at Ent Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, with the aid of computers, recorders and a multitude of other. sophisticated electronic equipment, men are able to keep track of a satellite, or a hunk of abandoned space junk — as small as six inches in diameter (the size of a grapefruit) and up to 2,700 miles from earth. They can spot and keep up with every man-made object which has been rocketed into space! Correlating this ability with the ever-watchful eyes of the North American Air Defense Command using the latest in photographic cameras, men can photograph clearly the light reflected from a basketball-size satellite 50,000 miles away! With all this in mind, can you more fully understand God's ability to keep up with sparrows when they fall to the ground? Can you grasp God's ability to keep track of you? "Ye are of more value than many sparrows," Jesus declared (verse 31), "For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him" (II Chron. 16:9).
God's Communications Center
Perhaps God's communications system is similar to the one man has developed. Let's take a glimpse at God's communications center at His heavenly throne and compare it to the North American Air Defense Command in Cheyenne Mountain. The Apostle John wrote: "And immediately I was in the spirit; and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.... And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold. And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God" (Rev. 4:2, 4, 5). This is God's heavenly throne! John continues: "And I beheld, and, 10, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts [living beings], and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb [Christ] as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth" (Rev. 5:6). Since the Lamb — Christ — stood in the midst and had the seven "eyes" of God sent forth into the earth, do we not have an indication that God the Father may use Christ as chief director, coordinator and controller of His heavenly communications system? Could God's central communications system be basically comparable — as an analogy — to a super-sophisticated spiritual computer supervised by 24 operators and spiritually tied in with seven spiritual Surveyors ("eyes") — "Surveyor I, Surveyor II," etc. — each one of which can instantaneously be shifted wherever the action is? Of course, none of these spirit beings needs rocket motors, fuel, vacuum tubes, transistors, integrated circuits or other sophisticated electronic gear with their attendant malfunctions, however few they may be. Each of these beings has been perfectly designed and manufactured from pure spirit. Since these highly mobile units are not bound by physical laws and use spirit power, they move at speeds infinitely faster than light, which, we are told, travels at the "slow" speed of 186,000 miles per second. Messages which travel via interference-free spirit rather than radio or television waves are never garbled — always crystal clear and INSTANTANEOUS! Crystal clear "eyes" delivering perfect pictures to the heavenly throne not only make it possible to "measure particles 1/50 inch across," but 3/1000 inch hairs on human heads! We need have no doubt God can see, count and record any and all information about us that He may require! But what about your thoughts?
Are Your Thoughts Really Private?
In July 1965, 135 million miles from the earth, the Mariner IV spacecraft swung close to Mars so its television camera could snap close-up still photos of the red planet and relay them to earth. "These pictures were scanned and broken into 64 different shades of gray. Each shade became a number, and the numbers in sequence were transmitted to the tracking stations of NASA and the Jet Propulsion Lab. "The signals were faint when they reached earth — only one quintillionth of one watt strength. They were amplified, taped, and fed into computers. Each sequence of 6 'zeros' and 'ones' became a piece of visual information, which was then reconverted into one of 64 shades of gray to make a picture, much like the tiny dots make up the picture on your TV screen at home" (Reader's Digest, October 1965). Can your mind comprehend how little power "one quintillionth of one watt" is? Most ordinary light bulbs in your home are probably rated at 100 watts. If written in decimal form, "one quintillionth" would be .000000000000001. Yet man was able to receive, amplify and decipher the message carried by one quintillionth of a watt of power. Is it conceivable God could receive your thoughts in His heavenly communications center, amplify them, record them, read out and understand them by and through His Spirit? Notice in Malachi 3:16-17 that God definitely does record certain of man's words and thoughts: "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. 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." God read Job's thoughts. Job was self-righteous. God was so interested in Job He let him go through much grief to learn to recognize and overcome that self-righteousness. Finally, Job said, "I know that thou canst do everything, and that no thought can be withholden from thee" Job 42:2).
God Also Broadcasts Commands
When King Ahab and the whole nation of Israel sinned grievously, God allowed a three and one-half year drought to overtake the nation as punishment — to wake up the nation and its king. During this period, to keep His prophet Elijah alive, God "commanded" ravens to bring food to Elijah. God told His prophet: "And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there. So he went and did according unto the word of the Lord: for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook" (I Kings 17:4-6). How did God "command" the ravens to feed Elijah? He may have done it by altering their instinct which regulated their behavior patterns. Regardless of how He did it, the Scriptures show us that God has the ability to give long-distance commands and cause them to be obeyed by His creation! From the "miracles" of modern science and God's Word, YOU CAN KNOW that a Living Being in the heavens can clearly see and hear the activities of any and all human beings on this earth!
God Uses His Power to HELP US!
As a member of God's Church, you are one of Christ's disciples. You have been chosen by God. And you as an individual are being scrutinized by God. Much more than the sparrows, God, through His spiritual assistants and master spiritual communications center, watches, hears and keeps track of you, for your good. Said Jesus Christ, "You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you" — why? — "that ye should go and bring forth fruit" John 15:16). And what goal does He have in mind through that? Christ told His disciples: "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day" John 6:44). That is your destiny. That is the reason God watches and hears you — to help you and guide you so you can qualify to one day be instantaneously changed, or resurrected, to join Jesus Christ and the Father in their all-powerful Family for eternity!