Spirit of Truth/The Bible on Trial

Border Patrol~ One-quarter of the US government is still shut down because of the conflict between the President and the Congress on border control. One party wants open borders and immigration policy, the other party wants border control based upon soverignty and national borders. It looks like this is going to be the presenting issue for Congress for a while. It is interesting to note that this is also the presenting issue when it comes to entry into the Kingdom of the Heavens. Most Christians believe that God has an open border policy toward believers, that will allow them entry into the Kingdom of God based on a simple declaration of 'Belief in the name of Jesus'. This declaration then allows a person to enter the Kingdom WITH their sins intact, because they believe that the blood of Jesus COVERS their sins such that the Father can no longer see the sins that are still inside them. Satan has done a masterful job in creating a situation in the minds of Christians whereby there are no true borders that protect the Kingdom of God from the sins that Christians believe that they will be able to carry with them for eternity. Truth is the border wall of the Kingdom of God. Truth as defined by the words of Jesus says that a person entering the Kingdom MUST have NO sin in them, they must be righteous, in order to 'enter throught the gates into the City'. And once righteousness has been achieved through the process of Sanctification THEN the sacrifice of Jesus will completely eliminate the penalty of death that is concurrent with the forgiven sins of the righteous.  This "Gospel of the Kingdom WILL BE preached to all the world", but how many in the 'world' will believe it?

This is our first program of 2019, and we are excited to see and hear where God will lead us this year. Please join us every week for our study into the Process of Sanctificaiton through the words and teachings of Jesus, the Son of God. Spirit of Truth Ministry is dedicated to learning truth through His words that He received from God in heaven, and brought to earth.

Dissonance~ Have you ever experienced a time in life when it felt as if something was wrong but you didn't know what it was? Where you had an upset stomach for a few days, but anti-acids didn't help, or when you felt just a little irrational nervousness over insignificant issues? (Just FYI-I am not a psych professional, nor do I play one on TV; what I am saying is not meant as therapy.) There exsists situations in our lives that set us 'on edge', but we just don't know why. Often these uncomfortable situations are caused by something that is termed 'cognitive dissonance', which is defined as "mental discomfort experienced by a person who simultaneously holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values. This discomfort is triggered by a situation in which a person's belief clashes with new evidence perceived by that person". When a person believes something with all their heart, and then hears something that challenges that belief, there is set up inside that person a 'cognitive dissonance' that makes them at the very least uncomfortable, which if not dealt with can cause them to lash out at the person or situation that triggered that dissonance. We here at Spirit of Truth Ministry experience this all the time when presenting concepts and ideas to people that simply don't want to be challenged in that way. Denial, defensiveness, or outright antipathy are the result, more often than not. The solution to this anxiety is to confront the issues directly, and find out whether there is any truth in what has been presented, not to ignore those ideas and hope they go away; they don't, they will just fester in the mind, and cause the intellect great harm. Facing the Truth head on, and confronting new ideas and concepts is never easy, but when you discover the truth you are rewarded with peace.

The Next Breath~ This morning I woke up to the news that a beloved KTLA News broadcaster in our local market died suddenly yesterday afternoon. He was 43 years old and leaves behind a wife and daughter. He was 'on air' yesterday morning, and was found unresponsive and died yesterday afternoon. He had a full life that was cut short, the cause yet undetermined. One moment he was there, the next he was gone. Having a full life is important, that is certain. Being successful at your chosen career is important, that also is certain. Having a wonderful family, and good friends with which to share life is a delight for most people. And if that is all there is then most of us would call it a waste. What comes next after this life is an important concideration. Unless Jesus comes in our life times we all go to sleep (die) and in the next second we awake to something, if what we read in Scripture is true. What we awaken to is something we must consider if we want the 'what' to be something wonderful. None of us are guaranteed our next breath, and our relationship to Truth is what makes our next breath after we go to sleep wonderful, or not. Eternal Life is guaranteed by loving and practicing the truth.

Join us for our Christmas show today.

T'is the Season~ The Christian world is preparing for the 2nd most important 'holiday' of the liturgical year, and that of course is Christmas. "T'is the season to be jolly, Fa La La!" Presents are being bought and wrapped, menus are being planned for the 'blessed' day, travel plans are being finalized, and children are living concurrently in a continual state of excited anticipation and abject fear that they will either recieve their Santa request, or not. Music flows constantly from the radio or through the ear-buds, expressing both joy at the Saviors birth, or the demise of grandma, who got run over by reindeer. World religions and charities are all (in some way) capitalizing on the resources being spent on commerce to fill their own coffers with funds (much needed) go sustain then through another year of 'good doing'. And All Is Well! Or is it? People that don't normally go to church are beset with guilt that for at least one day will drive them to seek solace in a 'house of worship'. Ringing bells and 'red kettles' provide as way for many to asuage that guilt by providing a way for the miserly to feel better about themselves. And most important, those that name themselves as members of a particular denominattion will go to their favorite church and listen to an oft told tale of 'angels bending near the earth' in order to 'sing hosannas' to the 'new born King', and listen to stories of wise men from the East that came to Bethlehem to 'worship' the babe 'Away in a Manger'. The eyewitness disciples give a more abbreviated record of the occurances surrounding the birth of the Christ child. John stated, "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us." (John 1:14) And this WORD is the actual, verifiable and immutable Word of God, that was indeed 'born from above', who testifies to the Truth.

"My Favorite Things"! "Raindrops on Roses, and whiskers on kittens. Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens . . .these are a few of MY FAVORITE THINGS."  This song is one of the great songs from a wonderful 'musical' by Rogers and Hammerstein, The Sound of Music. It is best know as being sung by Julie Andrews in the movie, but it made it's first appearance on Broadway in 1956, sung by Mary Martin.  In the play/movie the eight Von Trapp children become frightened by a violent thunderstorm, so they all migrate to Maria's bedroom where the want-to-be nun comforts them with this song. Maria gets the children to think about something other than the storm putting their minds in a different place, a place of sweetness and light in the midst of the storm. The storm rages on, but the children don't pay any attention to it because they are being entertained and comforted by someone that they know and love. When our lives become frightening and difficult we all tend to seek comfort and distraction from something that is will make us feel as if everything will turn out well. This is also true in our spiritual lives. We want to not have to deal with the sometimes painful storms in our spiritual lives, so we train ourselves as Christians to seek to hide in the 'Rock of Ages', giving us an assurance of salvation in spite of our ongoing sinfullness. But in reality it is not Jesus that is singing us this comfort as Maria did for the children, it is 'substitute' singer that is singing a song that is bringing false comfort, that in the end will leave us victim to the storm. Good feelings, great faith, and comforting belief in a salvation that is based in fantacy cannot overcome the spiritual storm that is bearing down on us. Only 'the Way, the Truth, and the Life' can bring us home safely.

We will be having our ususal dynamic study into finding Truth.

The Deception Conception~ This morning I checked my messages (as usual) and saw one the source of which I did not recognize. Now sometime I recieve a secondary billing message that is meant for my wife, but also appears in my message box; things like 'Your Mortagage payment is due on . . .', that kind of thing. Those I recognize, even if they are not mean for me. This morning I recieved one from Wells Fargo saying that they have locked an account due to suspicious activity, and in order to reinstate the account go to the following link. I was now suspicious, so I waited until my wife was awake and asked her about it (she does have a Wells Fargo account). She told me she had been getting these phising messages for a while, and to 'delete without opening'. This I did. The message 'looked' official, but it was not; it was someone or some thing attempting to get privilaged account information in order to raid the account. This is happening all the time, now, and we all must be careful not to fall for the deception. Because of this kind of thing we are all becoming more careful with our money accounts, and who has access to our ID's and Passwords. We do this for our money, but for some reason we don't do this with our spiritual intellects, our hearts and minds. We allow anyone that declares they are 'from God' access to implanting information into our intellects, and hardly give it a second thought as to whether what is going in is the real "God's Honest Truth". We seem to be more careful with our money than we are of our eternal life. This is why that when we hear something of Truth that is different than what we already know we reject it out of hand, simply because we believe it to be a spiritual phishing expedition, and we don't want to be caught believing a lie. But what if it isn't a lie, but the Truth, and we reject it?

Cover Story~ An Agent Provocature (inciting agent) is a spy that lives among his/her enemies, and using subtrefuge and enticements gets another person or community to commit an illegal or rash act, or falsely implicate them into partaking in an illegal act that would damage reputation, or to intice a person or group to lose confidence in another person or ideas of another person or group to which they belong. This agent must have a believable 'cover story' to accomplish this deception. We clearly see this today in the political world, but be can also see this in the religious and spiritual world as well. The goal of an agent provocature is to get a person or society to 'believe a lie as if it is the truth', and do this so well that a person will fight anyone that points out this fact to such an extent that they are willing to go to war to defend their false beliefs. The 'Apostle Paul' is an agent provocature of the highest order, because through his words the world (particualarly the Christian world) has come to believe that his words come directly from God, and must never be challenged 'in court'. Paul has created a world in which sincere believers will believe his words over the words of the person that he claims called him to ministry on the road to Damascus. With subterfuge and the enticements of 'salvation by faith through grace.' Paul has made the words of Jesus that He gave to His own disciples of none effect, which guarantees that the people that believe Paul's words over the words of jesus will be lost. When this is pointed out to the Christian society they respond by fighting back with all their might in claiming that the words of Paul are, in fact the very words of Jesus.  Paul has a wonderful 'cover story', but do NOT BE FOOLED. Take Jesus at HIS WORD.