Greetings!
A few shipments arrived
this week. If you log
into your account at www.toywonders.com, before clicking on any of the links
below, approved wholesale accounts will see wholesale pricing.
Forgot
your password?
Having
trouble viewing this page?
Missed
a previous week's newsletter?
DIECAST Collectible
Model Cars And More
Please do not reply to this email address..
Any questions or comments, please email us at [email protected]
To unsubscribe to this newsletter, send an email to [email protected] and put the word 'unsubscribe' on the subject line..
Thank you
Lu Su
Toy Wonders, Inc.
www.toywonders.com
201-229-1700
God and the Art of Toy and Diecast Marketing
Connecting the Dots via Omniscience (part 1 of 2)
By Lu Su
If God is omniscient (all knowing), there are not that many ways God could reveal this to us. Asking God to perform a miracle (peace in the Middle East) or some awesome feat (read my mind), would not prove omniscience. This concept of omniscience is really out there. How could any being be all knowing? There is a being out there that knows my thoughts, the number of hairs on my head, and where all my missing socks are? I know it is a strange concept, but I happen to believe that God is omniscient. He knows what we are thinking about (right now and at the same time), knows every deed from our past, and knows what you and I will do tomorrow. So, would your behavior change if you knew that the ultimate video camera was constantly rolling on you life? This video camera is even more intrusive because it not only records words and actions, it even records your thoughts! For me, if we rolled the tapes, I think it would reveal that during the first few decades of my life, my selfishness was on par to Bernie Madoff's; one difference is that he was entrusted with more of our Maker's assets.
If you have been on this road trip with me, you will remember a couple of stops ago there were some important words of wisdom given to us. The words were, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them'. And if you recall in the same parable, the man who died and was in great torment in his new retirement home and begged Abraham for a favor. He wanted Abraham to send someone back from the dead to the living and to warn his brothers. He wanted his brothers to 'repent' -so that they would not share his same fate. But Abraham's reply was, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them'.
So a reasonable question is how does listening to Moses and the Prophets lead us to repentance? I know this 'repentance' word is an absolutely foreign concept to many. In our modern culture, the word's meaning has practically vacated our language. We don't repent any more. I think at best some people will admit to have made some mistakes and express some sorrow for unintentionally hurting people; but that isn't repentance. Repentance is far more than just an admission of guilt or an expression of regret. It means to 'turn'. More specifically it means to turn from your old thoughts and ways and turn to God's thoughts and ways. Like flour is to a cake, repentance is a necessary ingredient for the restoration of a relationship with God.
Back to the question. How does listening to Moses and the prophets lead us to repentance? Remember, when Jesus told this parable, Moses and the major & minor prophets were no longer around.To my knowledge, no live interviews of Moses and the prophets were never preserved on VHS or Beta max video tapes. So if you want to know what Moses and the Prophets said, I only know of only once source to turn to -the Scriptures.
So this is my thinking on the matter. If I can show that God is all knowing (omniscient), it might lead some to this bizarre concept called repentance. For me, this is how I see it. You have the words of Moses and the prophets on one side. You have a concept like repentance way over on the other side. How do you connect the dots? For me it is something called prophecy which bridged the gap between the two. The Scriptures are loaded with them. If you were to read the Bible, you would see that 1/4 of the books in the Bible are prophetic in nature.
On the last stop, I had asked you to check out this series of events that were recorded in the book of Daniel. Now I know the general readership is probably not in the habit of reading Scripture -despite the book being in almost every American's home. But I want to encourage you that if there is value in something, invest some time with it. If there is value in work, spend time at it. If there is value with your relationship with your son or daughter, spend time with them. If there is value in the Scriptures, read them.
The book of Daniel is probably one of the most prophetic books in the Bible. If you have been with me on this journey, you will realize this is not the first time I have mentioned this prophesy. Whenever uncertainty, politics and the subject of war come up, I'm drawn back to this particular prophesy; because it specifically provides an outline of what is to come and introduces the end times for man's last empire.
God gives the most powerful man on earth (at the time) a dream which Daniel interprets. It reveals the rise and fall of world powers. It also reveals what man's last empire would look like, and what is to follow. Most prophesy found in scriptures can be categorized into either fulfilled or to be fulfilled. This is one of the few prophecies where it has been only partially fulfilled. If you accept that Bible is God's word, you will come to the same conclusion as I have -that we are now living in the end times.
I'm going to attempt to unpack Daniel 2. I'm going to employ a technique that one of my favorite theologian Vernon McGee uses. As Vernon goes through a particular chapter in the Bible, he interject his comments and thoughts on the passages. I've never had the opportunity to meet Vernon; but as I read more of his stuff, I get this image of a no nonsense crotchety old man that is very humble and deeply in love with God. Hopefully with my writers marketing ploy of putting a youthful picture up, you will get the image of a young, spry, and energetic writer with a small portion of the later attributes.
Nebuchadnezzar's Dream
1 In the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his mind was troubled and he could not sleep.
This is actually King Nebuchadnezzar II (also called King Nebuchadnezzar the Great). He ruled the Babylonian empire from (630 - 562 BC). He constructed the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, which was one of the ancient wonders of the world. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see it -it was beyond my time. Babylon was a city located in modern day Iraq. I've heard many people try to categorize Christianity as a Western religion. I have even heard some say it's a "white man's religion". How is this a Western religion? This story takes place in modern day Iraq. The two main characters are Nebuchadnezzar who is a Babylonian and Daniel who is a Jew. Anyway, the Babylonian empire went from the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea. Notice that Jerusalem is a city in the Babylonian empire. In 597 BC, Nebuchadnezzar's army destroyed the entire city of Jerusalem and the temple of Israel. As a practice during their time, the conquered were hauled into exile to the conqueror's country to be immersed in their ways and culture. Daniel was young living in Judea when this occurred. Biblical scholars estimate that Daniel was somewhere between the age of 14 and 17 when he was led on a walking expedition with thousands of other Jews from Jerusalem to Babylon.
2 So the king summoned the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers to tell him what he had dreamed. When they came in and stood before the king, 3 he said to them, "I have had a dream that troubles me and I want to know what it means. "
Noticed, the king is troubled. My guess is that the dream that he is having is a reoccurring one. It's so troubling to him that he cannot sleep; maybe he is afraid of going to sleep. There is a very important lesson to be learned here. Learn this and this knowledge may one day allow you to preserve life. Learn this.
When men of power become fearful, harsh decisions will soon follow; the consequences of those decisions is usually death to innocent people. Let me cite some examples:
Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, but the Israelites were fruitful and multiplied greatly and became exceedingly numerous, so that the land was filled with them. Then a new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power in Egypt. "Look," he said to his people, "the Israelites have become much too numerous for us. Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country." So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites and worked them ruthlessly. They made their lives bitter with hard labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their hard labor the Egyptians used them ruthlessly. The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, "When you help the Hebrew women in childbirth and observe them on the delivery stool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live." ..Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: "Every boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live."
-Exodus 1:6-22
Here's another example:
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him." When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. "In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written:"
'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.'
...When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him." So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called my son." When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.
-Matthew 2:1-22
Less you start thinking that our world governments are now far more advanced than the Pharaohs' or King Herod's and that we have better laws in place to protect innocent, I best cite a more recent example. On September 11, 2001, four U.S. planes hijacked by terrorists crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania killing nearly 3,000 people.This event disturbed the leaders in America -as well as every American citizen. Harsh decisions soon followed. Innocent people were affected and many have died.
I see that I only got 3 verses completed (good thing for you that I'm not charging by the hour). I'll try to wrap up next week.
