Spirit of Truth/The Bible on Trial

Truth, or Consequences~ When I was 16 years old, one of the most popular show on TV was a game show called "Truth, or Consequences!" I think is aired on NBC. As an outing with the family, we went to a filming of a show, and as a lark I decided to see if I could get on the show. Wouldn't you know it, I actually made the cut, and was entered as a contestant on the show. I didn't win. And although it was a  little nerve-wracking, it was really fun being 'on camera'. Looking back on it 44 years later I realize that on that show, as in life, Truth was in short supply. The questions that were asked were deliberately vague and deceptive, and were not so much a test of your knowledge on a subject, but as test of alternate word usage and meaning. In other words, you had to be able to decipher a pun. I think this was a turning point in my life, and aided by my Dad I actually fell in love with puns after this experience (much to the chagrin of my family and friends). Words mean things, and sometimes they mean more than one thing. This was what the 'apostle' Paul was counting on when he penned his 'Epistles'. Paul has a 'way with words' that allows him to obfuscate and disguise meanings such that you can pretty much take anything you want away from what he says. As Peter (supposedly) said, 'Paul is hard to understand'. It is for THIS reason that in order to find truth in the Bible, or anywhere else for that matter, we need to find a Gold Standard of truth, whereby we can KNOW that what we are seeing, hearing and reading is, in fact, the actual 'God's Honest' Truth. And this is where the words of Jesus that He gave to His own eyewitness disciples comes in. This is why Jesus said; "I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word", John 17:20.

Gut Check~ We have all from time to time felt that something was 'just not right'. This feeling comes when there has been a 'cognative dissonance' set up by circumstances that are outside our comfort zone, where your heart says go one direction but your intellect tells you to go another. We experience the results of this 'identity crisis' as a 'feeling of doom', especially when what we are planning to do goes against a well established paradigm. In these kinds of circumstance there is often a feeling of uncertanty or dread, that what we are about to do will in some way harm us or others irreparably. This can be called a 'leap of faith'. This is especially poigniant when we consider spiritual truth in relation to what we have been taught from our parents or from the pulpit. When you discover that certain elements of salvation are not what you have learned throughout your live, but seem to be something entirely different, this sets up a 'cognitive-dissonace' that can truly set your teeth on edge. This is what it feels like to  even begin to consider that the apostle Paul may not be who and what you have been taught. Jesus words are what set up this 'gut check' situation, when you see that what Jesus said is materially different than what Paul taught in his writings. It is at this point where you intellect must overcome your tripidation of the unknown, and allow you to move from the realization that you have believed lies rather than the truth of the words of God. But when you realize that what you know now is not enough to gain eternal life, you can know that the words of Jesus that He gave to his own eyewitness disciples will 'save the day', and you will find peace.

Race Wars~ I occasionally respond to friends on Face Book when they post memes that attract my attention. Today, one of these memes spoke of being tired of the race wars going on in our culture; all of us know what this means. My friend ended the meme with this; "Start acting like civilized people. We are better than that!" My first thought was the question-Are We? Are we truly 'better than that?' My second thought was my response - "There is no such thing as separate human races; we are all ONE race, because God created ALL of the races at exactly the same time on the Sixth day of Creation (Gen 1:26). Adam and Eve came along much later. Therefore, no one of any 'race' can claim superiority over any other 'race. We Are All ONE under God. Now, if you don't believe in the Creator God then all bets are off." That last sentence that responds to my first thought. If you don't know and understand who is the true Creator God then you can "Worship a lie as if it is the Truth, believing that lie to be Truth". It is THIS that started the race wars at the beginning of humanities time on this earth. One race believing that they as a group were superior to any other race on the planet, and using force of arms to enslave another group of people, was one of Satans first idea for the subjugation of mankind under his rule, the rule of sin. Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. John 8:34. The concept that there are separate human races on the earth is SIN. The idea that we can never be without sin, and should therefore never try to eliminate sin from our lives is ITSELF a sin-because that kind of thought process give you the excuse to keep sinning and then claim that God does not care.   "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments." John 14:15.

Reparations~ There has been a lot of talk lately in the USA about having one group of people pay another group of people reparations for a perceived social infraction in the distant past, for somethng that neither group was personally involved with. This money transfer is demanded solely based on skin color, and not based in any actual physical restraint. No one alive today was either harmed by the other group, or inflicted harm to the other group; yet the one group demands payment none-the-less. In broad terms, this speaks of slavery. And while slavery still exists in the world, there is no institutional slavery in the USA today that pertains to skin color, race, ethnicity, or gender. So finding who should be held accountable for the slavery of the past becomse problematic. Jesus spoke of slavery when He was here on earth, but not the physical kind:  Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed." John 8:34-36. As evil as physical slavery is/was, what is much worse is  held captive by sin, that you have control over. Satan is the father of sin. If you decide to let him, he will keep you in sin forever, even to eternal death. But you have a choice. You can choose to overcome sin, and become righteous IN FACT. The choice you make happens when you recognize that you, in fact, are a slave to sin, and decide to do something about it.  Deciding for righteousness also means you do not need to seek reparations from Satan for your time as a slave to sin. Jesus has that covered: "He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne." Rev.3:21. This will be reward enough

Short Shelf life~ There are some things that just don't get better over time. We have all experienced looking in the refridgerator and seeing a container of 'something' that we forgot, and is now unrecognizable - reference George Carlin's "What is it?"  Certain skills are 'perishable'; playing any instrument well requires constant (perfect) practice to maintain; pistol or rifle shooting; cooking and baking; safe driving; flying an airplane or sailplane. These things, like left-overs in the fridge, or outdated milk, have a short shelf-life. The only thing you can do with outdated food is throw it away. The only thing you can do with unused skills is to relearn them, or just let them go. The longer you don't use something the more difficult it is to 'get back'. This is especially true when dealing with TRUTH. Most of us have gotten used to living from day to day and not questioning WHY we do certain things in specific ways. We get into routines that help us not forget what we need to take when we leave the house for the day; and when we do forget it is often because our routine was distubed by an unsusual situation. And this is often how we deal with our understanding of truth. We simply assume that what we know IS the truth; and we don't question it because we have become comfortable with that understanding. But this can be dangerous, because Truth itself has a short shelf-life. What we think we see as truth has become 'not truth' over time, but we have not recognized that fact. Truth must be reassessed from time to time, simply to confirm it's veracity and validity. Questioning is the key to understanding, and when we THINK we understand truth is the moment we need to rethink it. Join Spirit of Truth Ministry in learning HOW to learn to understand TRUTH, as we put THE BIBLE ON TRIAL!

Not a game~ The PGA Tour Championship is being played this weekend. The 30 top golfers for the year are competing not only for the FedEx Cup, but for an amazing prize that includes around $2M for the win in this final tournament win,  but more importantly $15M for the overall win. As much as they would like to believe it, for these golfers this IS NOT a game. If a player wins both the tournament and the Cup he will win $17 million, plus exemptions for 5 years on the PGA tour, including the major tournaments. They also become elegible for membeship in the Golf Hall of Fame. This represents the biggest individual prize package of any sport played in the world. It IS NOT a game.  These players are the best of the best, and the most consistent players of the year. They have worked the hardest, and the longest to achieve a goal of which only a few people in the world are capable. The difference between being in this field and missing the 'cut' was a matter of only a few points over an entire year. The disappointment felt by the player that came the 31st position was palpable. The feeling of the player that wins the ultimate prize is indescribable. There is only ONE winner. And even though all of the players that made the final 30 that were elligable to play in this big event have a lot to be proud of, only ONE wins the prize. This IS NOT a game. The biggest prize in the universe is not this FedEx cup, not by orders of magnitude. Everyone that "loves and practices" the truth can win a prize infinitely more valuable than a paltry $15 million dollars; The prize for winning through, for overcoming, is eternal life; and THAT is a prize worth fighting for. THIS is not a game, it is a matter of life and death. 'He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.' Rev. 3:21.

When I was studying chemistry in college in preparation for going to medical school (my mom's wish for me), In lab one day i learned about solvents uin a dramatic way. A solvent is a fluid compound that is used to desolve other compounds. One such solvent is toluene, which when heated in the presence of nitrogen at a specific temperature and duration can generate a highly explosive compound called tri-nitrotoluene; that is, TNT. When I was studying organic chemistry during a summer school, the class was tasked with creating a solvent called di-nitrotoluene to use to formulate another type of organic compound. We were doing this with lab partners because the professor wanted at least one person monitoring the distillation process to make sure the temperatures did not exceed the guidlines for creating the desired solvent. Near me in the lab were two chatty girls that were more interested in talking about going to the mall after class than they were of paying attention to the chemical process taking place in front of them. I happened to glance at the thermometer that was in the earlenmeyer flask into which the distillate was dripping, and was horrified to see the temperature well above the limits set by the guidlines. I carefully walked over to the professor and mentioned the temperature situation and he immediately, and in a very calm voice, told everyone in the class to shut down their Bunsen burners, and very slowly and carefully walk out of the lab. He then got on the phone and told the lab assistent to have the building evacuated. These girls had made enought TNT to blow the whole Chemistry building sky high, simply because they were not paying attention to what they were doing. Fortunately, nothing bad happened, and when the temp in their rig cooled down we were all allowed back insidel We cannot expect to get the results of learning salvation if we don't pay attention to the formula, and practice it carefully.

Baking~ This morning I am baking my version of Cinna-buns, taken from a base recipie on the King Arthur web site. As with all my recipies that I regularly use I have changed a few things to fit my taste and the taste that my family and friends have come to love. One of the things that I regularly change in almost all my 'sweet' recipies is that I use less sugar than the  original recipie calls for; often a lot less. This is because in most cases desert, canning or confection recipies are (in my opinion) well over sugared-they are way to sweet. Reducing sugar and adding a little more spice allows the other flavors that are present in any recipe to bloom. And in the case on my culinary experiments there is nothing that I change that will kill anyone. There is, however, a recipe for achieving eternal life, and if you change anything about THAT recipe you will certainly not 'taste' the result you desire. That recipie has been passed down through the centuries since Jesus was here on earth, and those instruction have been changed over time, and throught modifications by 'experts', that if you follow you will certainly not find the result that has been promised by those 'chefs' that have done the modifying. The product of those modifications tastes 'sweet a s honey', but at the eating will begin the process that if not returned to the original recipe will lead to death. Paul has changed the Gospel of the Kingdom that Jesus brought to earth from His Father, into the gospel of god (note the small 'g') and THAT god is NOT the God of Creation, but the god of destruction. In order to find the Truth of Salvation you need to go to the author of Truth, and that is God Almighty in the Law and the Prophets (Matt. 5:17), and Jesus the Christ, and Him alone. " . . . the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus". Rev.12:17.

Illegal Aliens~ One of the most controversial problems in America (and indeed the world) today is unauthorized immigration. This can be defined as a foreign national entering our country without going through the legal immigration process.  How to deal with the millions of illegals in the USA is a pernicious problem, where good people on both sides are seeing this issue so differently that it is causing a divide between friends, family members, and indeed total strangers.  JesusBut as with nearly everything that creates animosity and conflict today the base issue is this; do we follow the Law, or not!  All countries have defined immigration policy-some more strict that others. The USA has one of the most lenient immigration policies of any country in the world, and yet meny in the USA (for whatever reason) want OPEN BORDERS, whereby anyone that has the desire to make the arduous and dangerous trip to our Southern bordes should be allow infettered access to cross into the USA and gain all the privilages of citizenship, without going through the naturalization process. The Kingdom of the Heavens also has an immigration policy. It is termed "Sanctiication". Many that say they are in the Kingdom of Heaven have entered by climbing over the fence, and not entering through the 'door'. "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. John 10:1. These people have been taught that they do not have to do the hard work of becoming legal citizens in that Kingdom, and want all the benefits without the authority of having accomplished the 'demands of Righteousness'. "But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God." John 3:21. Doing Truth is the entry to the Kingdom!

Cowards~ Bravery has been defined as being scared to death, but doing it anyway. The idea of 'overcoming' is ubiquitous in the gospel of the Kingdom. Jesus uses the word 'overcome' to establish the context of what it takes to enter the Kingdom of God.  'He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. Rev. 3:21. But what does it mean to 'overcome'? What was it that Jesus overcame, that we must also overcome? Most of us would say 'sin', and that would be partly correct. Did Jesus, as God, have any propensity to sin? Not hardly! So the answer must go beyond the 'what' into the 'how'. How do we humans that have a genetic popensity to sin overcome sin? Jesus clearly states who will not be included in those that enter the gates of the New Jerusalem: "Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying." Rev.22:15. The most difficult part of the process of sanctification (becoming righteous in fact) is recognizing that we 'don't know what we don't know." If we believe that we already have all we need to be saved, and what our church teaches as the path to salvation is wrong, we can never understand what we really need to know to be saved. There are conflicting messages in the New Testament on both the 'what' and the 'how' of salvation. Paul says one thing, Jesus says another, and somehow the church (for the past 2000 plus years) has tried to amalgamate these two identities into one unified whole. This cannot work. Doing this is the cowards way to salvation. Overcoming takes courage to accomplish. To enter the Kingdom of God, cowards need not apply.