Spirit of Truth/The Bible on Trial

Withdrawl~ In today's world the word 'withdrawl' gives many people  a picture of drug addicts or alchoholics going through the horrors of detoxing. Yet there is another use of the word that while not as titilating subscribes a person to a dubious identity, that of 'quiter'! This weekend is the first of three tournaments that will crown golfs FedEx champion. The prize is $15 million dollars to the winner of the year long points race, that will identify the most consistent and best golfer on the PGA tour. This is a prize worth having, and is a career making victory that puts the winner into the Golf Hall of Fame. This weeks tournament is where the 125 top golfers in the 'race to the FedEx cup' will be reduced to 70 golfers, that will go on to next weeks tournament. Fifty-five golfers will be OUT of the race. Today Tiger Woods (no explaination needed) withdrew from the Northern Trust tournament with a right oblique muscle strain. He will try to play in next weeks tournament, but the disappointment due to his exiting this weeks championship is palpable. The press release stated that due to a 'mild' muscle strain Tiger reluctantly withdrew from competition. As for next weeks competition, there is no (by rule) ability to withdraw from that competition; once entered, a player MUST complete all four rounds of the tournament, or be immediately and irrevocably eliminated from the FedEx Cup competition. All of us, whether we understand it or not, are now entered into a life or death competition from which there is NO withdrawl. Even if you don't realize it you are in a competiton that pits TRUTH against Lies, and your option is to WIN or die. Overcoming the lies that are sin is what leads to victory or defeat, life or death. By overcoming 'as Jesus did' you earn the 'right to the Tree of Life', and a permanent place in the Kingdom of God.

"You've got to be kidding me!"~ There are such things in the English language as 'throw away lines". These are either declarations or responses that are symantically null-that is, they mean nothing.  For example - "Hi, how are you?" The normal answer is, "Fine". For most people, and in most cases, this is a greeting and not a real question that demands a direct answer. Neither the person that says it, nor the person that receives it expects to give or recieve a long, drawn out answer that tells a life story. It is simply a conversation starter. My Uncle Paul, who taught college level symanics (I took his class) said that if someone is really interested in what is going on in your life the proper question would be, "How are you, and why?" This delivers and expectation of a more complex answer that the word "Fine". Another one is when you make a comment of a dramatic nature, and the recipient says, "You can't mean it!", or, "You've got to be kidding me!" Then you have to repeat what you just said to reinforce to story. It is as if the person that is receiving the comment didn't hear you the first time, and needs reasurance that you meant what you said.  This can be very annoying, and in some cases demeaning. So when you are in a spiritual discussion with a friend, or an aquaintance, and you say, "You know, Jesus never said that", you will often hear one of the same responses as described above. They are so inculcated into their belief patterns that when you call them on it they cannot believe you have the temerity to question them and their understanding. When this happens don't worry, and don't get upset. Jesus knew this would happen and said this: "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you." John 15:18.

Truth is Frightening~ Most of us, at one time or another, have found ourselved in the unenviable position of sitting in the Doctors office or a hospital room waiting for test results. This can be a most nerve wracking and frightening experience, because in spite of assurances by your Doctor or your family there is always the thought in the back of your mind that 'this time' it's going to be bad. What is even worse is being told that it will take a week for the biopsy to be processed, so you must wait with anxious expectancy for that call from the Doctor's office that tells you your fate. This happened to me in 2006 when I was just about to go on vacation, and was told that my needle biopsy from a lymph node in my right neck would take a week to assess, so just go on vacation, have a good time, and when you get back we will have the results. I spent a week in 'anxious expectancy' in Sequoia with my family, sleeping little, working on the manuscript for "The Spirit of the Church" (Tate Publishing, 2007), and spending time with my family. And yes, it did turn out to be a Stage 4 malignant melanoma, and because I am still here things turned out well. The point is not the illness, it is that pesky 'anxious expectation' that is the issue. When you don't know the outcome, when the situation has not resolved, when your mind is filled with doubt because you DON'T KNOW THE TRUTH about what is going to happen to you, there is always concern as to whether you will survive or not. For many the pressure is too much, and rather than face the truth and deal with it they bury their minds in irrelevancy and try to ignore the 'elephant in the room'. This NEVER works well in the long run. Facing TRUTH about salvation and eternal life does create 'anxious expectation', but seeking and finding the truth will bring a peace that happens because you now understand, and can make positive change.

Truth is Perishable~ Have you heard the adage, "Practice makes perfect"? It is commonly heard in music studios or classrooms, at golf lessons, shooting ranges, or anywhere teachers interact with students in passing along knowledge and skill in virtually any discipline. However, this understanding is a lie! Practice does not make perfect, it only makes what ever you practice PERMANENT.  Only PERFECT practice makes perfect results. Every skill in every discipline, whether physical, emotional, intellectual or spiritual, amature or professional, requires not only perfect practice, but persistant, consistant, and regular practice in order to not only aquire that skill, but keep it current. This is especially true when it comes to searching for, and finding Truth.  Just because a person has made the effort to learn the truth about salvation does not mean there is not more to learn. No one, so far, has found ALL the truth that is 'fit to print'. There are concepts inside truth that must grow and be developed inside the intellect (heart). Finding part of the truth does not mean you have found enought truth, in order to accomplish the 'demands of righteousness'. "Who then is the bondservant that is faithful and sensible enough for his master to put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time? Matt. 24:45 (JB). There is a 'faithful and wise' bondservant that WILL know ENOUGH about the Words of Jesus in the New Testament, the Words of God in the Old Testament, history, and the sciences, to be able to form a 'Unified Field Theory' about how the truth of salvation in relation to eternal life, to be able to 'give' (teach) his fellow bondservants this 'food' (truth) at the proper time. Then the truth will go to world 'at the proper time'. Keep learning, keep growing in truth.

"Liar, liar, pants on fire"~ There is an old saying that goes, "How do you know when a politician is lying? When their lips are moving!" And this is also true for pastors, teachers, preachers, medical practitioners, fiduciaries, or anyone in a position of responsibility for others that knowingly lies to further tor protect heir position, or income, at the expense of their charges. This is also true  in relationships between family members or friends. If a person KNOWINGLY lies to save their own skin at the expense of another then they are betraying a sacred trust that cannot have a remedy, even if they subsequently ask for forgiveness. The damage is done, unreparable, and irrevocable, in spite of their sincere and heart felt apology. The person wronged may have the character that allows the to forgive, but by the very nature of the LIE they can never forget. It is for this reason that it is critical to KNOW whether what you believe to be true actually IS true; because if it is not, and you teach it, or tell it as if it is true, you may never be able to undo the damage that belief has done to another person that believed it because of you. And this is especially true when it comes to spiritual truth. There are lots of 'truths' out there that people sincerely believe, but which one IS true, without question? Jesus answered, "You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice." John 18:37 What Jesus told Pilate gives the parameters for truth; If the words come from Jesus they are true; if they don't, they aren't.. But there are writers in the Bible that never knew Jesus personally while He was here on earth, they never heard Him speak, or saw His miracles, and yet they are held as authorities of truth. Be careful of them!

I was a on point in my life an avid golfer, and passed the love of the game on to my son, who was a high school team golfer, and still plays from time to time. I love the game, because it embodies many of the the same time tested spiritual principles that can help bring a person into the Kingdom of the Heavens; honesty, perserverance, growth in spritual identity, forgiveness of mistakes, practicing to become perfect, and most importantly-playing by the rules. These are all things that in one way or another that Jesus came to teach those that would become members of His Kingdom to accomplish, so they can 'win the prize' of eternal life. So it was with great consternation that due to the politically correctness of our time I learned that there will not be a single "Champion Golfer of the Year" crowned at thie 148th Open Championship this year. The golf Powers That Be in Britain have decided to give 'participation awards' this year to the 156 golfers that qualified to play in this years Open, rather than the 1st and 2nd place trophies that are normally presented. Also, the prize money for First Place through 80th (80 players will make the cut) will be combined and then divided among all 156 players that entered, so no one will feel 'left out'. Funny thing, though; the quality of the play as been severly affected by this. For some reason the players have lost interest in doing their best, and are instead just going through the motions of 'playing the game'. Scores are getting larger, and the galleries (people in attendance) are getting smaller each day. Now you understand how silly this would be if this was actually the case. No one would play under those conditions. Yet we are told that this is how salvation works today, as preached by the Christian church as founded by the 'apostle' Paul. Everyone wins the Prize, just because they say "I am saved through grace". Simply not true!

The Hubris of Stubborness~  Have you ever experienced looking at your gas guage in your car and saying to yourself, "I'll get gas on the way home"? And when you get in the car to go home you are so fixated on getting away from work, getting home and relaxing that you forget the promise you made to yourself to get gas; and you run out a half-mile from your driveway. Or you have to make a trip to the grocery, and your wife says that she needs a few items, and you think to yourself, "I'll remember it, I don't need to write it down"? And when you get to the store you promptly forget one of those items because you were to stubborn to take a few seconds to make a list. We have all experience this. It is not the result of malicious intent. It is simply that we believe that we are better than we really are at keeping track of all those things that invade our ongoing thoughts. When we believe that we know all that we need to know about anything, we remove our ability to learn anything new from the equation of our lives. The hubris of stubborness is a chronic problem of identity; we believe that what we believe is correct, and believe we don't need to know anything else to accomplish a task. 'Because you say, "I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing," and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked," Rev. 3:17. As much as we would like to believe it, we (all of us) are in some things still at the first stage of learning; We don't know what we don't know. And this is a very dangerous place to be, because this 'not knowing what we don't know' can rear up and bite us more quickly than a rattlesnake in the brush.  Little children don't have this problem. Become as a little child, and learn Truth

I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. Rev. 3:18. Gold that has been refined is pure. Truth, like gold, can only be pure if it has been refined. There is no need at all to refine fatih. In fact if faith were to be refined it would disappear into thin air. Jes "Many shall purify themselves, and make themselves white, and be refined; but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand; but they that are wise shall understand." Dan. 12:10. Gold does not purity itself, or by some magic refine itself. Someone must have the where-with-all to perform (DO) the refining. That person is the person that values the truth above all earthly posession, because the Truth is not of this earth, not of this realm. Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm." John 18:36. The Kingdom of Truth is the THIS Kingdom of the Heavens. If a person is to achieve entry into the Kingdom of the Heaven they must gain that entry not through physical means, but through the Spiritual identity that comes from intimately knowing the King of that Kingdom. And there is only one way to KNOW the King of that Kigndom, and that is to DO what that King has established as the WAY, that leads to that Truth, that leads to the Life that is found in that Kingdom. Jesus himself established what it was that a person had to do to gain entry to that Kingdom of Truth; So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. Rev. 12:17.

Earth Shaking! The last 3 days in Southern California have been uncomforable, to say the least. When the first 6.4 earthquake hit Ridgecrest Calfornia, I was at work at the Ace Hardware store in Yucaipa, and I knew it was an earthquake only because the hanging products started swinging in unison. There were no big jolts, just a gentle rolling motion that though disconserting was not frightening. I found out later the quality of damage that occurred in Ridgecrest, about 100 miles away to the north. Last night my wife and i were eating dinner, when the house literally began to 'rock and roll'. This quake lasted 20-25 seconds, and did frighten the animals, especially our big GSD Charlie. I turned the TV to the news, and we were informed that a 7.1 earthquake had hit Ridgecrest again, and this time the damage was signficant. These quakes remind me of the tenuousness of location where we live, and that we need to be as prepared as we can to ride out a signficant local earthquake with the supplies we need to live until rescue arrives. As with a physical earthquake being prepared for EARTH SHAKING information that changes everything about the way we view the world is nearly impossible to accomplish. What we believe right now we believe because it is the truth we now know, right now. And like a physical quake, when the foundations of our 'faith' are shaken we are  ALWAYS  unprepared for the result; truth has a way of blindsiding us, because truth, the real truth, is always unlooked for. Yet in the case of Salvation and Eternal Life Jesus, through the words that His eyewitness disciples wrote down for us to read, has given us the ability to ". . . know the truth, so the truth will make you free" (John 8:32). This truth, by its very nature, will be earthshaking, if all you have read in the Bible is different than those words. If you can ride this shaking out, you WILL know the Truth.

Today Sprit of Truth Ministry will be presenting a BEST OF program from October 27, 2018. We pray you will be blest by this 'blast from the past'. We will be 'on air' with the regular crew tomorrow for out program "The Revelation of Jesus with Rick Sterling.