PADKOS – 2 May

THE 23rd CHANNEL

William MacDonald said: In order to detect counterfeit money, people study genuine bank notes. So it is that a deep acquaintance with the truth enables us to detect and despise every false way.

With Bank Note printing, one of the aims is to ensure that it is impossible to counterfeit. Some of the images are engraved by hand into metal plates and others are engraved by machine. There are approximately 85 specialised inks used to produce notes for the UK. The Bank Note paper is produced by a specialist manufacturer using cotton fibre and linen rag which makes it tough and more durable than ordinary paper. To add to the difficulty of making illegal copies of Bank Notes a watermark is incorporated into the paper using a wax process, together with the introduction of a metal thread during the manufacturing stage. The various printing stages to finally produce a finished note are highly complex and remain a secret for obvious reasons!

Which brings me to my message of today: How do we tell the difference between the truth and what is counterfeit?

We live in a world where from one day to the next, none of us know what is true anymore. We are fed lies every day from every corner of the globe on just about every subject imaginable. Is it any wonder that the vast majority of people have given up believing and trusting anyone? Most people have even given up researching subjects that are necessary for the building of character in themselves and their children. The following is some of the findings from a comprehensive study carried out by a well-respected research centre:

• 90% of adults no longer read books taken from a library, with most of them reading magazines and television guides instead.
• 40% of libraries close down due to lack of interest from the public.
• Computer games account for 65% of money spent by young people.
• People spend on average, 3 hours per day talking and texting on mobile phones, with watching television taking up a large percentage of what’s left of the day apart from sleeping.
• Approximately 92% of the population in the UK do not read the Bible.

When I read this study, I was shocked with the last finding. To think that a country like Great Britain, who had produced some of the world’s best known Gospel preachers and teachers had sunk so low that they do not even bother to open the Book of Books and search out the truth and the mind of their Creator, reaching instead for counterfeit lifestyles and godless practices. This is sad, very sad indeed, and it makes this new version of Psalm 23 more appropriate than ever.

THE 23rd CHANNEL

The TV set is my shepherd.
My spiritual growth shall want.
It maketh me to sit down and do nothing for His name’s sake
Because it requireth all of my spare time.
It keepeth me from doing my duty as a Christian,
Because it presenteth so many good shows that I must see.
It restoreth my knowledge of things of the world,
And keepeth me from the study of God’s Word.
It leadeth me into the paths of apathy,
And doing nothing in the Kingdom of God.
Yea though I live to be a hundred,
I shall keep on viewing my TV as long as it shall work,
For it is my closest companion,
It’s sound and it’s pictures they comfort me.
It presenteth entertainment before me,
And keepeth me from doing important things with my family.
It filleth my head with ideas which differ
From those set forth in the Word of God.
Surely no good thing will come of my life,
Because my TV leaveth me so little time to do the will of God.
Thus I will dwell in the house of idleness and sloth forever.

Our verse of Scripture today speaks about the Bible being a LAMP and a LIGHT and boy! do we need both of those to get along in this world. There is so much darkness and evil which surrounds all of us, and it is the Word of God that divides light from darkness, the truth from the lie and the genuine from the counterfeit.
It is the Bible that teaches us where we came from and where we are going. It is God telling us that He loves us!

My prayer is that you will realise the need of getting back to the Word of God, read it, study it, meditate on it and memorise it. Let it become a LAMP for your feet as you walk and LIGHT to light your path.