June 2011 eNewsletter

G. Thomas Sharp • June 9, 2011

I again greet you all in the mighty Name of Jesus Christ, for by Him, through Him and for Him were all things created—heaven, earth and sea—plus all things in them. And I again thank you for your continued faithfulness to this ministry—please don’t let these words become idle or mundane because without You CTF cannot accomplish her mission. God bless you.

Diane and I were recently blessed (May 10 through May 21) to be the guests of two dear Friends of the Foundation that have moved to Istanbul, Turkey.  Our purpose for going there was first to visit, to fellowship and to enjoy time with these dear people, but also to take advantage of the location of the Seven Churches of Asia Minor and to visit these sites.

Of course, I was a little hesitant to go to Turkey because of all the fear mongering about this country, and, of course, after we arrived we found many people in deep spiritual dilemma, but not due to the national religion, because Turkey doesn’t have a national religion. In fact, since the founding of the Turkish Republic in 1923 and the Presidency and forward leadership of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the country of Turkey has become more and more secular and modern. There are Christian churches there! I did not know this.

Then, I became astonished by the fact that most all gentile church development mentioned in the book of Acts from chapter 13 to the end of the chapter, plus Paul’s epistles and even Peter’s, took place in Turkey. Notwithstanding the fact that the geographical location, and probably the prophetic location, of ancient places like Meshech, Tubal, and Togarmah are also in Turkey. Modern Turkey is the place of ancient Asia Minor, the  of locations Cappadocia, Galatia, Bithynia, Pontus—to name a few. The cities of Colossae, Miletus, Lystra, Derbe, Tarsus, plus all of the cities of the churches in Revelation 2 and 3 and the Isles of Patmos and Samos are there (plus many, many more locations mentioned in Scripture).

Now, to put this in context, I have for some time had the desire (I believe “a godly desire”) to lead a trip to Israel with many of the “Friends of the Foundation.” Then I discovered that there are already many available tours to Israel, many of which are hosted by my own ministerial colleagues that made this desire a little anticlimactic. I was puzzled about this for a period of time, that is, until this recent trip to Turkey. Now, please understand, I still think a pilgrimage to Israel is a vital journey for all Christian believers because Judaism is the roots of our faith and Israel is the matrix of Christianity. (Romans 11:17-18)

In His Name,

G. Thomas Sharp
Founder/President
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As many of you may know, I appreciate space. Not space around me, although the older I get the more I appreciate that as well. The things in the heavens fascinate me and have for a large chunk of my life. I love working with our telescopes, allowing people to see for themselves objects that the Lord made on the 4th day of history. When I was younger I followed our Space Shuttle program, and over the years I have had the opportunity to see a couple of those shuttles around the country. Now it is great to see all the renewed interest in exploring the heavenly creation. I know most of it is for evolutionary reasons, yet over and over again something is discovered that points to the trustworthiness of God’s Word. After all, we are to study His creation as Genesis 1:28 states. On a recent trip to El Paso, it occurred to me that Blue Origin’s launch facility is in west Texas somewhere. After some quick searching I realized we were within an hour and half of it, and there was a rescheduled launch window during the time of our meeting. So, with some persuading of my colleagues, we arose early one morning to make the launch. We made it with just minutes to spare. It was spectacular! The whole launch to just beyond the Karman Line (space boundary, 62 miles/100km) and return of the rocket and capsule is about ten minutes total. While Blue Origin is best known for its New Shepherd rocket that carries paying customers to space and back with the biggest windows ever in a capsule, this NS-29 launch was purely experimental with a payload of instruments to measure simulated lunar gravity. Even though it was not a Saturn V, Space Shuttle, Starship or Falcon launch, it was great to hear and feel a launch for the first time, from blast off to the sonic boom return. It has piqued my desire to see a bigger launch now. As I began to reflect on what I experienced, the Lord reminded me of His design. Earth, our home planet, is so well designed for life. There is literally nowhere in all the universe like it. Yet He gave us the ability to discover creation beyond it. The only reason we can launch rockets and do space exploration is because He set it up in an orderly way. Physics works because He established it to work in a predictable fashion. As much as we may never understand everything in the universe from our position here, it works on an ordered reality that is reinforced by God’s Word. This is what drove Sir Isaac Newton in his understanding of physics. He wrote, “The motions which the planets now have could not spring from any natural cause alone but were by an intelligent Agent.” Evolutionists may come up with theories about the origin of things in the heavens, but over and over again they are being shown through experimentation and observation to be wrong. The Lord set the order of everything in the beginning and sustains it by His Word (Hebrews 1:3). So as you look to the heavens tonight, gaze into the depths of space and observe the different facets the Lord placed up there for our eyes (Genesis 1:17). Peer through a telescope at the lesser light of the moon with marvel and anticipation of further human study in the coming years. Check out the amazing observations being made by the James Webb telescope from deep in space. All of these place a perspective of how awesome our Creator is and how much we depend on Him. Our design becomes more and more obvious with every discovery, yet in our universe we appear so minuscule and fragile. Thanks be to God that His infinite focus has, is and always will be here on us! Blessings.
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