Painting of Jesus not destroyed in a huge church fire in England

I write this reply to a question posed by Rev. Ir. Tan Seng Khoon as to “why God destroyed his own house”  in a news item where it was reported a huge fire destroyed a historic church in England, but a painting of Jesus survives the fire in a video sent to me via Whatsapp.

My answer:

Dear Rev. Ir. Tan Seng Khoon

This church is absolutely nothing to God who created the heavens and Earth.

Before I go further to explain, in the first place, God does NOT dwell inside a church or in any building.

Being a Creator of the entire Universe, He does not even live inside the immensity of His own creation, let alone a man-made church made of stones and concrete built anywhere on this planet.

Destroying a church or a temple is nothing to Him.

At one place when the Jews challenged Jesus in a market place “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?”

Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”(John 2:19).

But the temple he had spoken of was his body (John 2:21). “Body” here means His spirit, NOT a physical body. God does NOT dwell or live inside in any man-made structure or a church, or any temple or any place of worship.

He does NOT even live inside any part of this physical Universe which is His own creation, an Observable Universe that spans a mind-boggling 46.6 billion light-years across, let alone an infinitesimally insignificant man-made church

It says “heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool:  where is the house that ye build unto me?" (Isaiah 66:1). Hence you can understand from Isaiah, a church is nothing to God. It can be burnt up

He will even destroy His own creation – the entire Universe, let alone just an insignificant man-made church. It is clearly revealed below:

"But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up" (2 Peter 3:10)

Read here another verse carefully with the wisdom He gave you.

Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away (Matthew 24:35)

But it is the Spirit of God that dwells  in you and me if we accept Christ as our Savior, that is not going to pass away. This remains forever.

It is the church within us and with others in fellowship with Christ that is something that cannot be destroyed by fire or by physical death. All other things outside our physical body including a building or a church can be destroyed by fire, by bomb or any other physical means

It is the intangible spiritual entity within us that is going to last throughout all eternity.  The existence of God and our soul lies outside the framework of time, space, and this cannot be destroyed

The entire physical Universe is restrained by Him in time and space, and He exists outside the dimension of space and time. It is just like a housing developer who does not live in any of the houses he built, or stays within the same housing estate he created. He stays outside.

When we pray, seek not material wealth, but always ask for wisdom as King Solomon, son of David did when God appeared to him in a dream that night, and said to him, “ask for whatever you want me to give you.” King Solomon replied “give me wisdom and knowledge” (2 Chronicles 1:7, 1:10).

God is a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24).

Being a Spirit, He is non-tangible. He cannot be perceived by touch or seen physically, or can He be measured by any instruments. He is beyond Science. It is folly to use Science to "prove" the existence of God. Only His handiwork is perceptible of His presence. We can see and feel His presence in our lives every day.

Hence when we pray, seek not for material wealth or anything that is worldly and tangible. It would be much wiser to ask for something non-tangible such as wisdom, knowledge, health, forgiveness, love, peace, joy, and all things unseen but can be felt as these will have an everlasting effect in our lives. What use would it be if we have all the kingdoms of this world, but we lost our lives and are void of these virtues

It is only through wisdom can we clearly see and understand the word of God and the verses in the scripture, and not interpret them literally as Nicodemus did when Jesus told him “unless they are born again” (John 3:1-21).

“That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18).

The Rock on which the Church was to be built was Himself. This means, His spirit, NOT His material being, or some kind of a concrete building, whether with or without a cross hanging there. Almost everyone associate a church must have a cross hanging somewhere inside or outside the building.

A church  is just a gathering of a people who accepts Christ as their Savior, whether in their tens of thousands in one sitting, or “where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20).

Neither did Jesus nor His heavenly Father asked for such a cross to be built or hung up in a building.

Where in the Bible is found a verse that commanded a man to build a church of stones and concrete, and worse of all, give various names for different churches.

In fact Jesus prayed everywhere - up on the mountain, in the Garden of Gethsemane, in the wilderness, in a Jewish  synagogue, in the home of disciples... anywhere where He can get in touch with His Heavenly Father.

He even mentioned a time will come when a temple would no longer be needed for true worship.

When talking with a Samaritan woman near a mountain in Samaria, where her people had a temple, Jesus said: “The hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you people worship the Father.”

Jesus then added that true worshipers would “worship the Father with spirit and truth.” (John 4:21, 23)

In another verse, Jesus taught that your own bedroom serves even better, not even a church somewhere in the street, or a street corner

“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you (Matthew 6:5-6)

Aren’t all these church buildings man’s own creation, their versions and beliefs, or for their convenience? Not just that alone. Each church subsequently adopts their own belief and version such as “our church is the only true church", because “I am holier than thou”. This is clearly self-righteousness

Isn’t this division of churches liken unto the parable of the net Jesus spoke about since every church thinks they are the only “true way” rather than us as an individual fish – like this parable Jesus spoke about:

“Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. 48 When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. 49 This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous 50 and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 13: 47-50)

Even though God and Jesus as Father and Son are outside our dimension of time and space, His Spirit is already present  since the beginning of time when Earth and heavens were created at the same time  (time, space and matter is one single entity as shown by Einstein), and His Spirit hovers over it as given in Genesis 1:1.

So why must God and Jesus live in a man-made building called a church, and why must a church have a cross hanging there, when a church is  just an congregation of people who has the spirit of Christ built as strong as a rock in the hearts of everyone like a fish present there 

In a nutshell, God is a Spirit, and being a Spirit he does NOT live inside His own creation, let alone inside a building called “a church”, or in any man-made creation bounded by time and space within a physical dimension.

God’s existence is OUTSIDE time and space where NO physical form like you and me, any building or a man-made church, or any kind of structure is allowed to enter.

If this is so, then let such a physical building in England be destroyed by fire

That’s for sure!  


lim ju boo