Camel Bag Time - (Object Lesson)

Nathan: You have to open it up. Don't take anything out just look. Now, tell everybody, what's in the camel bag.

Bethany: Things from the Holy Land.

Nathan: Things from the Holy Land. Well, some things from the Holy Land, other things from all over. Some things are hard to identify like for example. What do we know, what's in that? Well, let's find out. Bethany, what's that look like?

Bethany: Egg.

Nathan: Where do eggs come from?

Bethany: Chickens.

Nathan: Are you sure? (Nathan laughed.) Let's say I never heard of a chicken, will you describe a chicken for me?

Bethany: Well, it's the opposite of a rooster. (Nathan and the audience laughed.).

Nathan: Okay. How many legs?

Bethany: Two.

Nathan: How many heads?

Nathan: One.

Nathan: And covered with?

Bethany: Feathers.

Nathan: And what do chickens eat?

Bethany: Corn.

Nathan: True. When I was your size, we lived on a farm. We had chickens running around on the ground. And if a chicken saw an earth worm, what do you think happened?

Bethany: Ate it.

Nathan: Gobbled it up. It was delicious. If a chicken saw a grasshopper, what do you think happened?

Bethany: Ate it.

Nathan: If a chicken saw corn that you mentioned, what happened?

Bethany: Ate it.

Nathan: Same thing. Then the chicken took all that and mixed it up to go inside his body, then manufactured a delicious breakfast, put it in a computerized container and delivered it for us. And when we ate eggs for breakfast they were full of grasshoppers, earth worms, and corn.

Bethany: No.

Nathan: No! (Nathan and the audience laughed.) How come nobody ever opened an egg and found a grasshopper in there? How could a chicken do this, Bethany? I mean change grasshoppers, and earth worms, and corn, and the rest of the grain they eat into a delicious breakfast. How could they do that?

Bethany: God made it to do that.

Nathan: Ah.....! God made it to do that. Do you think, now that we're so smart we can go to the moon we can do all kinds of things, we could invent a chicken?

Bethany: No!

Nathan: I mean do away with the chicken and just have a machine and shovel grasshoppers, earth worms, and corn in one end and out the other will pop the eggs.

Bethany: No!

Nathan: You don't think they could do that?

Bethany: No!

Nathan: I don't either. You know, if they ask a computer what shape an egg ought to be, then the computer said, "Just what it is." (The audience laughed.). I don't know if they expected the computer to say, "Square". (Nathan laughed.). The chicken would have trouble laying a square egg. God knew what He was doing alright when He designed the egg. And He knew what He was doing when He made a chicken that could manufacture a delicious breakfast out of all the things that they eat. Well, Bethany, you and I both agree that nobody can make a chicken, right?

Bethany: Right.

Nathan: Only who can make a chicken?

Bethany: God.

Nathan: Now Bethany, something that happens that only God can do. Something happens that only God can do, we say that's a m..... That's a m..... Something that happens that only God can do, what is it?

Bethany: (Bethany started to say something.).

Nathan: You have the right start. How would miracle sound to you? Would you agree to that?

Bethany: Humhah. (Yes.)

Nathan: Okay. Something that happens that only God can do is a miracle. Now, Bethany, if you and I both agree, nobody but God can make a chicken, therefore, a chicken must be a...

Bethany: Miracle.

Nathan: Miracle. If you meet somebody who says, "I'm so smart, I have so much education, I've been to the university, and I have all kinds of degrees, but I don't believe in miracles." Ask them if they believe in chickens. Then you've got them. (The audience laughed.). If they say, "No." Say, "Boy are you dumb", and walk away. If they say, "Yes." Then say, "You've got a problem," because men cannot make a chicken. Only God can make a chicken. And a chicken is a miracle. Think about that the next time you think about eggs. Well, you would never guess it in a million years where that one came from. Obviously it's not a real one or it would have broken by now, but it sure looks real. I bought that in a curio shop on the Queen Mary. (Nathan laughed.). I wouldn't think they would have eggs to sell there but they did. Let's take another miracle out of the bag while we're at it. Here, hold that up. Tell everybody what you have, Bethany.

Bethany: A walrus tooth.

Nathan: No, you don't need to go that far. You can go out there and see the animals grazing in the pasture along the highway. I was preaching in a church in the state of New York and a farmer brought that in one night and he said, "This came from my Ayrshire cow." He said, "I wish you would put it in the camel bag and use it." I didn't know how to use the cow's horn at that time, but I put it in the camel bag and I know how to use it now. Bethany, let's say I never heard of a cow. Would you describe a cow for me?

Bethany: Well, it has four legs.

Nathan: Now wait a minute. A chicken has two. How come a cow has four?

Bethany: Because it's a different animal.

Nathan: Different animal. A cow would look funny with two legs, wouldn't it?

Bethany: Yep!

Nathan: And a chicken would look funny with four (legs). (Nathan and the audience laughed.). Well, how many heads does a cow have?

Bethany: One. And ears.

Nathan: Ears. Oh! All right. How many tails?

Bethany: One.

Nathan: And what color is the cow?

Bethany: And it's white with black spots.

Nathan: White with black spots. That's the Holstein. Any other colors? Have you ever seen a brown cow, or a black cow, or a yellow cow? All right. All kinds of colors. What's a cow covered with?

Bethany: Hide.

Nathan: Hide. Cow hides! Okay. (Nathan laughed.). A chicken is covered with feathers. Isn't the cow covered in feathers?

Bethany: No, because then they would look funny.

Nathan: They would look funny with feathers. That's for sure. Well, what does a cow eat?

Bethany: Grass.

Nathan: How about grasshoppers and earth worms?

Bethany: (She didn't say anything or perhaps nodded indicating no.).

Nathan: No, just grass. And what's a cow good for?

Bethany: Milk and meat.

Nathan: One little boy must have been from the farm. He said, "Calves." (The audience roared with laughter.). Give him an A for that one. (Nathan laughed too.). All right. Something you get from the cow every day. You said it. What was it?

Bethany: Milk.

Nathan: Milk. What color is the milk?

Bethany: White.

Nathan: Well that's from a white cow, but a brown cow gives chocolate.

Bethany: No.

Nathan: No. (Nathan laughed.). You know, I had city kids who didn't know. I've had city kids who didn't know! They buy chocolate milk in the store they didn't know where it comes from. Well, this little girl you can't fool. She knows it. Well now, I forgot what I was going to say next. (Nathan laughed again.). She's doing so well up here. The cow like a chicken is the most interesting animal. Do you think that we could manufacture a cow?

Bethany: No.

Nathan: I mean make a machine and shovel the hay in the one end and out the other end would come the milk.

Bethany: No.

Nathan: You don't think we could do that?

Bethany: No.

Nathan: Well, they tried it in England. The people didn't like the produce. They complained it tasted to much like grass juice. Then a dairy farmer told me that a cow has four stomachs. And I think those people who made that artificial cow didn't know they had to put four stomachs in it. Anyway, they didn't manufacture milk. So, Bethany, you and I both agree that only who can make a cow?

Bethany: God.

Nathan: Right you are. And by the way, you're doing so well here I think we'll just give you an honorary professorship tonight and we'll call you Professor Bethany. And we want you to answer a question that the professors have been arguing about for a long time. Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Bethany: The chicken.

Nathan: Boy, she's got all the answers. How did you know that? The professors don't know it.

Bethany: Because you can't make an egg without the chicken.

Nathan: But listen, Bethany, they (the professors) argue you have to have an egg to hatch a chicken. So what do you say to that?

Bethany: Well, if you sit on it long enough. (Nathan and the audience laughed.).

Nathan: Well, they go round and round. They say, "You can't have a chicken until you hatch the egg." And somebody else says, "You can't have an egg till you have a chicken to lay it." Well, there's a book that I preach from all the time. What's that book called?

Bethany: The Bible.

Nathan: Can we trust it?

Bethany: Yes!

Nathan: Yes, we can. And that Book tells us the answer. Bethany gave the answer to you. She's absolutely right. But any professor who won't believe the Bible won't accept it. So they go on arguing all their lives and never settle the question which we have settled tonight. The Bible says that God made each to produce after its kind. He made chickens to produce chickens. He didn't make eggs to produce chickens. He made chickens to lay eggs to hatch chickens. So the answer, which came first, no question about it, the chicken came first. But the professors go on arguing and they don't know what this little girl knows. You didn't graduate from seminary did you?

Bethany: No!

Nathan: Where did you learn so much?

Bethany: From my mom.

Nathan: Oh, you have a smart mother. You have to thank the Lord for that. Not every kid does. Well now, we're talking about miracles tonight. We said a chicken is a miracle. Now Bethany, will have to agree, if men cannot make a cow, and only who can?

Bethany: God.

Nathan: God. So therefore, we must say a cow is a...

Bethany: Miracle.

Nathan: If somebody says, "I'm so smart, I have so much education, and I don't believe in miracles," ask him if he believes in cows. Then you got them. If they say, "No." Then say, "Boy are you dumb," and walk away. If they say, "Yes." Say, "You got a problem." Nobody but God can make a cow. A cow is a miracle.

There are other miracles in that camel bag like a kernel of corn. I have some down in there (the camel bag). You plant a kernel of corn in the ground, it rots and decays, and out comes a new stock. Well the new one has one or two ears with 500 kernels. That's a miracle. And do you know that the children of King Tut, down there in Egypt in the Valley of the Kings when they found that, and opened it, and found all that gold and all that stuff, found something else that to me was just extremely interesting. When I take people to the museum in Cairo I never cease to point out to them what a miracle it is they have a lot of seeds. King Tut thought about the life after this and in the heavenly realm he wanted to have his garden. So he had them put a lot of seeds in his tomb so he could plant his garden. Three thousand two hundred years later they opened the tomb and took out those seeds and planted some of them. And Bethany, tell everybody what happened.

Bethany: They grew.

Nathan: How did you know that?

Bethany: (Bethany did not say anything or shrug her shoulders indicating, I don't know.).

Nathan: You're right. Absolutely. They grew. Can you imagine that? A little speck of protoplasm tucked away in a tomb four hundred miles south Cairo in the side of a hill and three thousand two hundred years later they take out that little seed and put it in the ground and it grows. Now, that's a miracle. Nobody but God can make a seed.

There's another miracle I want to talk about. She's not in the camel bag, she's standing beside me and her name is Bethany. Bethany is full of telephone wires. A hundred thousand miles of them, and I'll need a pin to prove it. Somebody loan (barrow) me a pin so I can stick it in here (her finger), I'll hit one of those wires called a nerve and it will send a message up through here to her computer. And when the pin goes in here (her finger) out of her mouth will come...

Bethany: Ouch.

Nathan: All right. It was a little weak, but you have the point. (The audience laughed.). Do you believe that, a hundred thousand miles? Do you think that's possible?

Bethany: Yes!

Nathan: You do! Boy you are a smart girl. Most people don't think it's possible. But the health book says, "A human being has one hundred thousand miles of nerve fibers." No wonder somebody said, "I have nerves." (Nathan and the audience laughed.). I have nerves all right. And think about this. The fella that wrote that book thinks it all happened by chance. Boy is he dumb. Somebody ought to take him fishing and get his line tangled. You know, if you had a 25 yard line and you get that tangled up so badly that you couldn't even get it unraveled. But ask him how he thinks he could take a line that is one hundred thousand miles, that's four times around the earth. Now take all of that and put it in one human being and let's have no wires crossed, we don't want any short circuits. You think that happened by chance? (Nathan laughed.) No way. I don't know if there are a hundred thousand miles, but that's what the health book says, "In the average human being a hundred thousand miles of nerve fibers."

Not only that, but Bethany is a miracle because she's full of tubes (Nathan laughed again.), sixty thousand miles of tubes. Do you believe that?

Bethany: Yes!

Nathan: Oh, she does. Boy she's trusting. (Nathan laughed.). Most of the kids say, "No." Well, those tubes have a red liquid in them. Do you know what it is?

Bethany: Blood.

Nathan: Oh, I thought I was going to have to use that pin and prove it, but she knows all about it so we don't need to prove it. But the rest of you who don't know it, if I took a pin and stuck it in there (her finger) and squeezed it a little bit there would be a bubble of...

Bethany: Blood.

Nathan: You're sure you have some?

Bethany: Yes!

Nathan: You're sure?

Bethany: Yes!

Nathan: Where did you get it?

Bethany: From my heart.

Nathan: No! Sorry! The heart is a wonderful organ. It's a wonderful pump, but it doesn't manufacture blood. It only pumps it.

Bethany: God.

Nathan: Ah! You got it. But how did God get it to you?

Bethany: It was a miracle.

Nathan: Oh, you're ahead of me again. (Nathan laughed.). It's a miracle, she says. Well I thought you stop at a gas station every so often and say, "Fill her up."

Bethany: No! (Bethany laughed.)

Nathan: No! (Nathan laughed real hard too.) When you were born you had some, but Bethany you're getting bigger all the time. The bigger you are the more blood you have, but how is this extra blood coming to you?

Bethany: Food.

Nathan: Oh, yes, you're right. What's your favorite food?

Bethany: I really don't have one.

Nathan: You don't have one. Hey, that's the first. That is the first. She says she doesn't really have one. Ninety some percent of the kids in America say, "Pizza." Invariably the answer I get is pizza. But not long ago I had an unusual one. A little boy was helping me and I asked him, "What's your favorite food?" he said, "Spinach." I had to look up his mother afterward and ask, "Why did he say spinach?" Now that couldn't be his favorite food. She said, "It's not." But she said, "I think he was nervous. Looking at all the people and we had spinach for supper and I think that's what came to his mind, so he said spinach."

Well, we're down to what it is that you happen to eat, it goes down into your stomach, you breath air in the lungs, the lungs takes the oxygen and somehow in there God miraculously takes the food and the oxygen and mixes it up and manufactures blood. Now blood is a miracle. You know, the chemist can't make it. They can analyze it in a laboratory and they can tell you exactly how much of every element. We call it qualitative and quantitative analysis. They can say exactly how much of each one of the elements. But if they take their bottles of chemist chemicals off the shelves and dump exactly the same amount of each one together in a beaker and mix it up, you have exactly the same formula as the real blood, it's not blood. There's something missing that the chemist does not keep in the bottle on the shelf and the Bible says what it is. Do you have any idea what I'm talking about?

Bethany: No.

Nathan: The Bible says, "The life is in the blood." (See Genesis 9: 4.). That's why Jesus when He shed His blood gave His life. The chemist does not keep a bottle full of life. So he mixes all the chemicals, but he doesn't have the real blood because there is no life in it. That's why the Red Cross says, "Give your blood to the Red Cross." Only who can make blood?

Bethany: God.

Nathan: Right you are. We're surrounded by miracles. You're full of miracles. There are miracles on every hand and yet, some people are so stupid. They think there's no such thing as miracles. Well, those of you who know the Lord and know about His Word know that that's all wrong. There are so many miracles on every hand. And every time you look at a boy or girl you're looking at a miracle because only God can make them, or a man or a woman, or a chicken or a cow. Think about that. Life is full of miracles.

But the greatest miracle of all took place when Jesus came down to Planet Earth and took the body of a man. He did not have that in Heaven. He entered the womb of the virgin, Mary, and became a baby, and then grew up as a man. And when He entered Heaven something entered heaven that hadn't been there before, the body of a man. Well, that was the miracle of the incarnation. And then He died on the cross and shed His blood. He preformed the miracle in that He paid the price for our sin so that we could have the gift eternal life. There are so many miracles on every hand.

Young people don't ever let the professors in the universities make you think they're so smart that they don't need to believe in miracles. You can just whisper to yourself, "Boy are you dumb." Don't try to tell them or they will flunk you, but you can think it anyway. (Then Nathan and the audience laughed.). It's amazing these days how the professors in the universities and seminaries make their students think they're so brilliant and so bright yet they don't believe in miracles. There are a lot of seminaries today where the professors are training the young pastors not to believe in miracles. They say, "Well you don't take those things literally."

Well, I lived long enough to examine the Bible carefully from cover to cover and examine ever so many of the specific prophecies. For example: God has a way of taking it just like he says it, literally. When He says He's going to bring back His people (the Israelites, Hebrews) from all over the world. That's not figurative. They came back. He says they're going to plant trees in those hills (in Israel). That's not figurative. There are trees. He says they're going to produce fruit. That's not figurative. They're producing fruit. Everything is happening just like God says. And when Jesus says He's coming back to take us to Heaven. That's not figurative, that's literal. And when the Bible says that Moses went through the Red Sea with the water standing straight up and Pharaoh followed with his army and got drowned. That's not figurative, that's literal, just exactly as it happened. Well, so much for the miracles tonight. We'll close up the camel bag now for two years. Sorry about that, but the pastor made me promise I'd come back in two years and if the Lord doesn't come and He gives me the strength I'll be back. But in the meantime, tell everybody what you have.

Bethany: A donkey.

Nathan: And tell them what kind of wood it is.

Bethany: Olivewood.

Nathan: And tell them where it was carved.

Bethany: Bethlehem.

Nathan: And what's so important about Bethlehem that we need to remember?

Bethany: Jesus was born there.

Nathan: But what's so important about Jesus?

Bethany: He died on the cross to pay for our sins.

Nathan: Hey, you know it all. We'll give you an A plus tonight. Thank you so much for helping us. Give her an applause. That was wonderful. (The people clapped their hands.).