Spirit of Truth/The Bible on Trial

Think and Grow Truth` The most popular self-help book for financiial sucess that was ever written was by Napoleon Hill in 1937, Think and Grow Rich. In this book Mr. Hill defines 13 principles for building wealth, all of which revolve around the idea that "Success comes to those who become success conscious". This book has sold more than 100 million copies by 2015, and has promoted the mind set that has generated untold wealth for 'regular' people. We can convert the underlying principle of this book to encompass truth; "Truth comes to those who become Truth conscious". Most people with whom I have spoken don't really think about truth as something to be sought out and enabled. They go through life without a clear understanding not only of truth, but for the need to know truth intimately. Yes, they 'love' God, but that love is indiscriminate and amorphous, and does not have a clear direction or purpose. Before you can learn the Truth you must first have a DESIRE to know it. That desire needs to be purposeful and heartfelt. Without this burning desire to understand the HOW of God Truth cannot become real. This is why Spirit of Truth Ministry exists; to teach a method of searching for truth that gives purpose to the finding, and the desire to the learning of truth. The Conscious Awarness of Truth brings the understanding that leads to eternal life.

Join us for our study into Truth and How to Find It! We will be 'on air' at the top of the hour.

Decisions, decisions~ Decision making can be difficult, especially when you have to choose between two good things. Do you want a Mecedes or a Land Rover? Do you want to eat Itallian or Thai cuisine for dinnner? Would you rather have a hug or a kiss? Decisions are even more difficult when the choice is between doing a good thing, or nothing, especially when you might get hurt; such as attempting to intervene between two strangers fighting on a street corner, where a man is beating a woman-or do you walk away and say "It is not by business"? Life is about choices, and how you make decisions. Parents train children to make decisions; teaching them to be kind to friends and strangers, not take things that don't belong to you, eat your Lima Beans even if you don't like them. But the most effective teaching of decision making is by example-the ideal of "Do as I say, and not what I do" is simply not effective when instructing a child in proper civil behavior. This is true in life, especially when it comes to deciding about things eternal.  And Jesus answered and said to them, "See to it that no one misleads you". Matt. 24:4. Here Jesus was instructing His disciples in the fact that making a decision about eternity based on a false narrative can kill them, and that it is up to them to DECIDE whether what they are seeing, hearing, and experiencing is based upon truth or lies. And in spiritual matters just as in everyday life there is no excuse for making a wrong decision.  Many Christians believe that they will not be held accountable for making a bad decision about their salvation because Jesus loves them more that He loves the triuth. Oh sure, truth matters, but God will overlook their shortcomings in decision making because as long as they 'believe' they will be saved. Not true! Truth Matters!

We are not guaranteed our next breath!  This past week a good friend of my family had a massive MI (heart attack). He is in his early 40's. Peter came home from an exercise session, and when Jollet saw him she KNEW he was in trouble. She called an ambulance, that came an collected him, and took him to the same hospital where in years past I had two interventions in the Heart Cath Lab. He was saved by a wonderful medical team, that placed a stent in his left descending coronary artery (widow-maker), and three days later is at home resting and in recovery. He came close to dying, very close indeed! Listening to Jollet describe this situation brings to mind how fragile our lives are, and reminds me that eternity is a mere breath away. What will that eterninty look like for all of us, when the time comes for our 'transition'? How does what we believe affect which side of eternity we are on? The idea that we can just leave our ultimate future to the chance that what we believe to be true IS NOT, is more than most people want to contemplate. Yet, WHAT we believe and HOW we believe actually matters in WHERE and WHAT we experience after our transition. And even if you believe that life does not exist beyond our current life, is it not incumbent upon us to live as honestly as we can while we share this life with the world? Self-honesty is the true key to a happy, joyful and productive life, because TRUTH matters. The search for truth is the best gift we can give ourselves, because it shapes every relationship we have with everyone we care about. When we find a part of that TRUTH, the big picture especially about salvation and eternal life, it is truly good for our hear/intellectt-that part of us that will last for eternity. Making time for the search for truth is critically important both here in this realm, and in the realm to come. Truth, no matter what!

We have heard in the news in the past few days about President Trump meeting with Chairman Kim of North Korea, where they were negotiating the removal of the North Korean nuclear capability in exchange for economic insentives. They did not come to an agreement, so President Trump 'walked away'. This does not mean that the negotiations will not continue, but for now there was no result. Many people in the Christian church believe that they can 'negotiate' with God about their salvation. They cite this familiar text as their 'reason' that this is  possible:  "Come now, and let us reason together," Says the LORD, "Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool." Isa. 1:18. So if you THINK that you can negotiate your salvation by 'reasoning' with God, then you have 'another THINK coming'! The Hebrew word for 'reason' in this verse in Strong's Lexicon is H3198 - to be right (that is, correct); and to 'rebuke, reprove (-r), surely, in any wise.' The implication is that God will tell you what is RIGHT, and will rebuke and reprove a person when they do not DO RIGHT. This is NOT a negotiated result. This is doing exactly what Jesus told Nicodemus: "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. The 'reasoning' of which God is speaking is learning to practice the truth until you get it right.This is the definition of The Process of Sanctification.  If this was impossible to accomplish then Jesus was a liar; and we know that this is impossible. Learning the truth is the key to salvation.

As we see today in commercial news sources it is very difficult to decypher what is actually true from what is presented as truth. There are many news stories that make the case that what we see with our own eyes and hear with our own ears is exactly the opposite. We are encouraged to believe what someone says simply because they say it, not because there is any proof that what they say has any validity. The main stream media can take a video and cut it so smoothly that what we are shown is not what actually happened, which makes us complicit in believeing their lies as if it is the truth. This has also happened in the New Testament, and then by extension, in the Old Testament as well. We are told that the 10 Commandments are no longer a necessary function of salvation. We are taught that the words of anyone that simply claims to be 'of Christ' should be believed. We are encouraged to subscribe to a thought process that says that belief is all we need to find truth, and it doesn't really matter WHAT that belief is. Personal accountability is no longer a factor in salvation, just join the right church, believe what they dictate, and you are 'home free'. Unfortunately, this does not work any better today than it did when Jesus came to earth to 'testiy to the truth'. Words matter. The Words of Jesus matter most. The persons that heard those words first hand, without filters, are the words we need to listen too in order to find truth. If we are not careful as to what we believe then we will believe lies as if they are truth, and never know that there is a difference.

Truth is not ubiquitous, and most often it is not found where you first look. Going beyond where others have searched is necessary in order to be able to distinquish between what is considered true and what is actually true. Join us for our study that uses the Words of Jesus to identify what is true from what is not.

Feelings before Facts~ There is a systemic social identity prevalent today that I believe began in earnest with the release of the first of the Star Wars movie, A New Hope, in May 1977. The Original movies were wonderful, the later movies not so much. The phrase that was continually spoken during all of the Star Wars Saga's that has become iconic is, "May the Force be with you"! The Force; a ubiquitous power that guides and powers a person to accomplish more than they ever thought possible; for either good or evil. "Don't give in to the Dark Side of the Force" is an admonition to choose to do good with something that can just as easily be used for evil. This 'Force' is identified as a 'feeling'; "Feel the Force, Luke", was spoken by Yoda to Luke Skywalker during his training as a Jedi. The movie series give a person the idea that it is 'feelings' that should guide us to the equivalent of righteousness.  Feelings are misguiding people today to do evil things in the effort to accomplish good things. The latest example of this is the young black actor that wanted a raise from his TV series, so he not only concocted a plan to gain public sympathy, but he activated the plan, and was caught red handed by the Chicago police, and is now in serious trouble. He was caught up by emotions, but was caught out by facts. We gain salvation not by expressing the emotion of feelings toward God. We accomplish salvation by understanding the facts of how salvation works, through the words and teachings of Jesus, that He received from His Father in Heaven, and brought to earth to teach those that LONG for the truth. Truth is not affected by feelings, facts don't care about emotion (altough it feels wonderful when you gain understanding). Learning and practicing the Truth brings a satisfaction that can not be gained by the emotions of a moment.

Join us today at 10AM Pacific time for another challenging study as we search for and find Truth. Truth is the currency of Heaven, and it is the only thing that can be used to 'buy God tried in the fire' (Rev.3:18). We will search to fill our Heavenly bank accounts with the currency of Truth.

The Bible On Trial is brought to you by Spirit of Truth Ministry. Join us today for a study that will test your faith in what you now know. We will be 'on air' at the top of the hour.