Earth:Theatre of God's Universe - Introduction
A Special Presentation in Easy English By Canadian Deaf Ministries International
This is a special Internet presentation of the STORY OF SALVATION which you can read in one to two hours. It contains paintings from the collections of: The Review and Herald, The Pacific Press, Advent Digital Media and artist "Joe Maniscalco". Our thanks to each of them for permission to use these paintings.
Introduction
WHERE DO YOU FIND YOURSELF?
Today you find yourself in a world that is in terrible trouble! Every news report tells of people being killed. Some may live near you. Others live in Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Ireland or any other part of the world.
Perhaps you find yourself surrounded with problems. Relatives are dying, and friends get cancer or die of a heart attack. Has someone you know committed suicide? You may face serious money problems. Is the marriage of a close friend now breaking up? It seems we all go from one crisis to another.
Isn’t everything really supposed to be love and harmony, joy and friendship? Why are we in this mess? The answers are not simple. To understand we have to go back in time to the beginning of everything.
There are THREE GREAT QUESTIONS that sooner or later we all ask?
- Where did I come from?
- Why am I here?
- Where will I be going when I die?
Many people give answers to these three questions.. Every "religion" gives some answers to these questions. Every religious system of answers calls for one to "believe"!
For us the best answers to these questions are found in the Bible. We have chosen to believe for three basic reasons:
- The Bible gives us the best answers for life's hardest questions.
- The Bible’s answers give us power to live a life of love to God and other people!
- It is the Jesus of the Bible, who is the real answer to life's deepest questions. Life becomes truly meaningful when we come to know Jesus personally and develop an intimate relationship with Him! [2 Peter 1:2-5]
Do "We" have every question answered? No, but, we find so many answers in the Bible. We have chosen to act and believe on the overwhelming best evidence!
Our Earth: A Theatre of God's Universe
The Bible tells us that our earth has really become a "Theater of God's Universe". All the created Universe is watching to see what God is now doing, and what He will do to solve the terrible emergency of sin that has crept (come) into our Universe. Let’s now look at the drama of the Universe!
HOW DOES THE SITE WORK?
The drama is separated into 20 Sections. Read one, and at the end, click to go to the next. There will be several kinds of Hypertext [HTML] references:
- Bible References: Click on the reference and read the Bible text in an easy English version, OR, we provide a way to look up any verse through a Web Site with an online look-up Bible, in any of 7 versions.
- Bible Study Guides: There are three excellent sets of Bible Guides. You will find links to the Web Sites where the specific guide is found that is on that general topic.
- God's Way Guides: This is a set of "Easy English" Bible Guides you can actually do online, or just view. There are 24 guides in the full series at the Deaf Bible School Website.
- Amazing Facts: This is a very colorful short series in Easy English. There are 12 guides in the series also at the Deaf Bible School Website.
- Discovery Bible Guides: This is NOT in easy English, but it is the largest and most complete series. We highly recommend them. You can view, or do them online. Discovery Guides
- Deeper Study: Occasionally there will be a note of explanation, a chart, or another web site, etc., that goes deeper into that topic. Click on the Deeper Study! [Study #1]
- Time Line: Have a look at Earth's approximate "Time-line". The 20 sections of the Theater of the God's Universe are all linked to the chronological Time-Line Map.
- NEW DVD: Read about the new signed DVD that is now available.
To Start Your Trip in "The Theater of God's Universe"
Go To:
"The Beginning of the Universe...God!"
or
Go to "Earth: Theater Site Map" and Time-Line
Background Explanation
Back in the early 1970's, two men dreamed about a special presentation. The idea called for showing the whole plan of salvation from beginning to end - to be read or viewed in one sitting. It was called: "Earth: Theater of the Universe". These two men, Pastor Richard Lange and a business man, Bill Wiley, joined together to prepare this special project. They hired an artist, Lorenzo Ghiglieri, and a musician, Loren Frost, to work with them in a full audio-visual presentation. Sixteen large murals were painted. Many pages of music composed and written. Finally, the whole production began with a book and three vinyl records. [If you would like to contact the present owners of the original presentation, please use the information at the bottom of this page.]
Throughout the years, the presentation has made a great impression on many minds. We have found their presentation useful in our ministry. So, we have written this unique Internet presentation -- using almost the same name ("God's" has been added to make it unique). This Internet presentation follows the same basic plan, but is specifically written in Easy English for those whose mother tongue is not English. Special thought has been given to the Deaf who read this and those mother tongue is visual in Sign Language. The authors have two Deaf children, and this presentation is dedicated to them: Judy and David.
We trust that you will enjoy this presentation. We would encourage some group to prepare a very large web site. This large site could use the same concept, but add many more items such as streaming video, music, a sound track, etc. With enough time and money, a super site could be prepared utilizing every feature the Internet can use. However, we hope that this site fills a useful place in explaining the plan of salvation from beginning to end in simple English!
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE ORIGINAL "Earth, Theater of the Universe" Presentation Please Contact:
Joe Martinson 1151 - W. Valley Road Alhambra, CA 91803 Phone: (626) 281-3555 Email: [email protected]The Original book with all their paintings by artist Lorenzo Ghiglieri, and scripts by Richard Lange, etc. (different from our presentation here).
Please contact them for details.
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This site is maintained by John and Alberta Blake, of Clive, Alberta, Canada. The Blakes have four grown children, two of whom are deaf. Mrs. Blake trained as a teacher of the deaf and taught in Nova Scotia and British Columbia, Canada. Mrs. Blake also taught in the USA at the Christian Deaf Center in Arkansas. John is a semi-retired Pastor, and is currently a Church Coordinator of Deaf Ministry. The Blakes are now working in the development of Deaf Ministries in different countries. In March 2006, John also became the Regional Deaf Ministry Director for Gospel Outreach and is head of a new department for expanding the Deaf Ministry through Gospel Outreach.