Spirit of Truth/The Bible on Trial

Cheering Crowds~ The Ryder Cup, the single most important three day golf tournament that happens every two years, began this morning at Whisling Straights golf club, located on the shores of Lake Michigan. With Covid restrictions in place last year the Ryder Cup was postponed a year, so this is the third year not the second year for this tournament. The Cup is played between the United States and Europe, and Europe has won 7 out of the last nine meetings. With the easing of Covid restrictions In the USA there is a crowd of fans watching on sight, limited to 'only' 40,000 fans per day. These fans are wildly in favor of the US Team, and as such can sometimes to overboard in expressing their disfavor of the European team. Any fan that goes out of bounds in their language in doing this will be ejected. A positive cheering crowd can actually help a player play better. A crowd that is cheering against a player can, and does, negatively affect the outcome from time to time.  We are all in a spiritual tournament of our lives. It is not a game. And there are crowds of a spiritual beings that are cheering either for or against you as you 'play' for your very life. Who you choose to listen too does affect how you behave, and does affect the outcome of whether you win through to eternal life, or not. The truth must win in your mind if you are to gain eternal life. Somewhere in the recesses of your mind you are either listening to the crowds of Gods angels cheering you on to victory over sin, or you are listening to the crowds of Satan's angels telling you that you cannot beat the sin in your life, and that you don't even need to try. One side is cheering you to honor and practice the Law, the Prophets, and the Words of Jesus, and the other side is cheering against you, that all you need do is 'believe' on Jesus and you will be saved. Listen only to the cheers of truth.

Steps to Learning~ We have all had to learn things that have challenged what we already know. What we know has brought comfort and stability to an otherwise chaotic world, and whenever something is different than our current understanding of things we get nervous and cranky. Yet as we grow older and mature in our thinking we come to the realization that there are understandings that 'may' be different than what we believe, but are none-the-less an acceptable truth. The first step in the growth of learning is 'Unconscious Incompetence'. This is the realization that "We don't know what we don't know!" This is not only the first step, it is the most difficult to accomplish, because the paradims that are firmly established in our intellect fight against every attemp to change them. But as we discover new ideas and concepts we come to the second step in learning, which is 'Conscious Competence'; that is, now you know that you don't know, and you work to remove that which you have learned that is false, and replace and establish this new concept in the intellect. In other words, you are good at it, but you must work hard to do it. The final level of learning is as expected 'Unconscious Competence'. This is when that new thing you have learned is firmly established in the intellect, and now you no longer have to reprocess this information everytime you use it; it becomes automatic, and is no longer a burden, but a joy! This is what Jesus meant when He said, "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine," and "Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth". This Truth is different than what you now believe, and this is as it should be due to your current understanding. Take heart. Jesus said, "And you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." (John 8:32)

Improvise, Adapt, Overcome~ The identity of the US Marine Corp is encapsulated in the Marine slogan seen above. This allows the individual US Marine to deal with any physical, mental, or spiritual hardship; and hardship is the 'name of the game' for the US Marine. The basic training for a Marine is brutal, and only gets tougher as they extend their training into their MOS (Military Occupational Specialty). Our friend Dr. Don, and our passed friend Dr. Rich, were soldiers in the US Army. Getting through that training takes a level of will that few that have not accomplished it understand. The discipline and dedication to a cause that is bigger than yourself is amazing, which is why we as a society honor those that have accomplished this stellar feat. Yet when we think about how we train for induction into the greatest army of all, most people have been taught and believe that they don't need to be trained to gain entry into the Army of God. They have been taught that Jesus loves them so much, and wants them with him for eternity, that all they must do to gain entry to this company is to say the 'sinners prayer' and they are in; that there is no further training needed, no requiirements of performance to a standard and that nothing can separate them from God after they choose to believe. The sad thing is that as easy as this sounds it is a lie, perpetrated by the commander of the opposition to truth to lull these 'soldiers' into believing a lie as if it is the Truth, and teaching them that they will not be held accountable for their actions. The Manual of Arms for the Kingdom of the Heavens has been established by the Commander of the Host, and anyone and everyone that enters this Kingdom MUST accomplish the tasks in that manual, or they cannot gain entry to that Kingdom. That 'manual'  is the words and teachings of Jesus Christ, and they will lead to Truth!

Do not fear the new Police State~ Well, in case you missed it, earlier this week Administrator Biden signed an Executive Order that (circumventing the legislative process) has made America a Police State! How so, your say? Citizens of the USA are now required by edict and without consent of the governed to present papers on demand, that prove they have been vaccinated in order to buy and sell, to enter restaurants to eat in, and to work in various fields, including the US Military, all heathcare facilities, food service, and other businesses where contact with the public is required. In doing this the "President' of the entity named the United States of America Corporation has made the citizens of the Republic of the USA vassels to a ruling class that does not have their best interest at heart. Is this a very frightening prospect? It would be terrifying if the actual identity of this had not been revealed by Spirit of Truth Ministry via Rick Sterling on our Blog Talk Radio programs The Bible On Trial (Friday at 10AM), and The Revelation of Jesus (Saturdays/Sabbaths also at 10AM) starting August 14-15, 2021 at: blogtalkradio.com/sot. What we have discovered is that the prophecies of death and destruction that have been laid out in Revelation and Daniel defining 'End Time Events' for 2000 years or so, are not the prophecies that will carry us throught to the Kingdom of God, as we have all been taught. Because of the understanding of the exact timing or these Death Road prophecies (http://spiritoftruthministry.net/STM/Must_Read/Entries/2010/6/7_Timing_Chart_of_the_End.html) we now know and understand that the time for these events in the order presented in the prophecies has passed, and we are in a new and different timeline that will culminate in the Life Road prophecies being fulfilled, as seen in Revelation 10 . Take heart, and worry not, for all is going according to God's plan.

Planned Disappointment~ Have you ever had your car break down on the road on the way to the mechanic to get it repaired? Or said to yourself, "I'll make an appointment with the doctor for next week, and then end up in the ER with an enflamed gall bladder? These are pretty specific examples of a syndrome that I call The Planned Disappointment. We have all been guilty of letting things go because we are too busy with other 'more satisfying' things, or so overwhelmed with life that watching a movie on Netflix is more important than studying for that pesky test. All of us have made excuses for our lack of planning when it comes to things that don't seem important 'in the momemt', but end up biting us in the ankle (or a body part a bit higher). There is an old expression that states, "If you don't plan to win, you plan to loose"! Rick recently put a piece up on the Spirit of Truth Group page on Facebook about how John the Baptist was not able to acknowlege that he (himself) was the 'Elijah' type prophet that was to come before the appearence of the Messiah. It is evident that he knew the prophecies concerning the Messiah, and was even told by a 'messenger' how to identify this person when He appeared. But what John was not able to do was acknowlege and recognize the it was he that was this person. And this changed his future. We don't have to guess what will be the result of deciding to make a wrong choice, but often make that choice even when we know the outcome will not be what we really want. In doing this we are in fact planning for disappointment. Doing this can change our 'Real Reality' that will put us outside of the Kingdom of Heaven. Planned Disappointment is making a wrong choice on purpose. Thankfully the 'Elijah type' of today, who is this Faithful and Wise Bondservant, does not do this (Matt. 24:45).

"What if we were . . . ? On December 17, 1903 Orville Wright made the first successful powered flight in a heavier-than-air machine, a machine that later would be called and 'airplane'! It took thousands of years of experiment and failure, and uncounted lives lost, to achieve this "miracle of flight"! Only Sixty-six years later on July 20, 1969 Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed a space craft named 'Eagle' on the moon. Thirty-nine minutes later Neil Armstrong became the first human being to set foot on the lunar surface. He was joined 19 minutes later by Buzz Aldrin. The everyday person in 1900 CE did not dream of being able to climb in an airplane and fly to where they needed to be. Except for a few advanced minds writing in a genre called 'science fiction', no one thought it possible that mankind would be on the moon just 66 years later. What if we were right now living in a future history that was just as shocking, dynamic, advanced and unlooked for in technology and culture was as then, and the world didn't realize it, except for a few people that were (as back then) called 'nuts'. What if we were living in a timeline that just 5 years ago was headed in a direction that would have led the world to the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Death Road described in Revelation 7, 8, 9, and 13; a world where evil reigned supreme, and the people of God had to suffer the horror of the "Time of Trouble such as never was before, or would be again!"? It actually happened. With the election of Donald J. Trump in 2016 the world changed course, and the world knew it not.  What if we were living in a timeline that was changed from this Death Road to the prophecies of the Life Road, where peace and prosperity would be the norm, and the Kingdom of God would fill the whole earth? What if you knew? Would it make a difference?

Heckling~ Almost any time a crowd gathers to watch a sporting event such as a high level football, baseball, or basketball game you will hear heckling. Fans of any sport have their favorite players, an by that same token they have players that they hate. So when they see an opportunity certain fans will take it upon themselves to try to influence the outcome of a game by deriding and interrupting the performance of a player by shouting at them at the most inopportune time to make them fail to make a shot, or hit a ball, in order to help their favorite player win. Most of the time a professional athelete will ignore these attempts to disrupt their game, and eventually the heckler will stop, heckling,  seeing that what they are doing is not effective. When an athelete bites on the situation, and responds to the heckler, this just exacerbates the issue, and causes an escalation from the 'fan' who is being disruptive. This is going on right now in the world of professional golf, where a player (and if you follow golf you know who this is) continues to respond to the heckling nearly every time it happens. The situation has gotten so bad that the Commissioner of the PGA has taken official steps to stop this practice during tournament play, before the issue become explosive. When Jesus was in ministry here on earth He had to put up with hecklers. These hecklers were the doctors of the Law, the Scribes, Pharisees, Saducees, and leaders of Israel (and their helpers) that were trying to get Jesus to 'bite' on their comments and questions, and trap Him into making a mistake that would give them an excuse to arrest Him. Jesus was constantly being interrupted, yet never once did He  responded in an inappropriate way.  The example Jesus set for us to follow was patience, when we are engaged with people that don't want to learn the truth. Let His words work.

The Revelation of Jesus with Rick Sterling is our continuing our study into the shift from the Death Road prophecies seen in Rev. 13, to the prophecy in Revelation 10 of the Seven Thunders, that has put the world on the Life Road.  Join us on Saturday (Sabbath) August 28, 2021 at 10AM Pacific time for our podcast, on: blogtalkradio.com/sot. See you then!           s

Corrective Lenses~ In 1957 my sister and I contracted a virus called Mumps. This is a disease of the perotid (salivary) gland, and was very contagious, since back then there was no vaccine as there is today. In fact, the vaccine only took 4 years to develope, and was first made available in the MMR vaccine in 1967.  The worst thing about the mumps was that the eyes were damaged because of the high fever associated with the disease. It was mostly a childrens disease, so when Denise and I contracted my physician father put us in a dark room, in the same bed, and didn't let us read, or look at books, or look at anything. The disease takes 2 weeks to run its course, and this was the most boring time for a pair of 7 year olds. Both Denise and I came away from this experience having to wear 'coke bottle' lenses in glasses. This was not a happy time. Mumps has been controlled by the vaccine to the extent that it has been declared 'cured'.  Denise and I both had to come to grips with living with very damaged eyes, and wearing thick, ugly glasses (especially Denise). Yet without these lenses we would have been considered to be blind. Corrective lenses have saved our lives.  The way in which we have all been reared and educated have put 'corrective' lenses over our spiritual eyes, which has shaped the way each of us views the spiritual world. We have become so used to these artificial lenses that we no longer realize that we are waring them. These artificial lenses affect every aspect of your spiritual lives, and are what cause everyone to "Believe a lie as if it is the Truth." There is no vaccine that prevents this. Yet we can choose to change our viewpoint of the spiritual world by looking through the lenses of Truth brought to earth by the Son of God; His Words. These words, these corrective lenses, will completely change the way you see life, and salvation.

Narrow Road~ "For the gate is small and the Road (way) is narrow that leads to life, and few there are that find it,": Matt. 7:14. If you were planning on going on a road trip that included traveling over some rough terrain to get to your destination. You were going to have to take a road that was windy and steep, that had ruts and dips, and you had to ford a stream in order to get there. Would you just pack the car, climb in and go? Or would you make sure your vehicle was prepared and ready for the trip in all aspects? You, of course, who go through you vehicle with a view to it having to do all of those things that would eventually get you to your destination successfully. You would check the tires, brakes, steering, suspension (shocks, struts, steering links), and all the other mechanical components and fluid levels that would assure that you could get to where you were going without a failure that would stop you in your tracks. Now what if you were not certain of the way to your destination, and assumed that the road was smooth and safe; a proper highway with services along the way where you could purchase the things you would need if you forgot something. What if you believed that WAZE had the directions and all you had to do was follow them and you would arrive at your destination without worrying about whether you knew the way. This latter is what Christians for centuries have believed about how it is that a person will get into the Kingdom of God. They believe the directions given by the Great Apostle or a Great Prophet of the church, assuming that this is the 'way the truth leading to life'. What if this belief is wrong, yet they believe with all there heart that it is right. Could this cause problems? What if the vehicle they are driving is not the vehicle that can get them into the Kingdom? What if they are taking the Death Road, instead of the Life Road?