Spirit of Truth/The Bible on Trial

How does a person find the truth? Many people in our modern world find truth in something called 'metrics', that is "Standards of measurement by which efficiency, performance, progress, or quality of a plan, process,, or product can be assessed" (Buisness Dictionary). In school teachers use metrics to assess student performance in the various disciplines that comprise a set curriculum; they measure the student against a varifiable standard, and by that comparison issue a grade that reflects the quality of thought or action derived from that assassment. In other words, TESTING! Also, there are a very many people today that derive truth from the supposed safety of consensus; if everyone believes something then it must be correct. This is seen today in the idea that has been floated that 97% of ALL scientists accept that man made global warming, ne 'climate change', is fact, therefore it simply must be true. The problem with THIS concept is that 'metrics' can't support that kind of conclusion.  Did Jesus use either of these two systems to PROVE that what He taught was the truth? Did Jesus supply a 'metric' against which to measure all Truth? Did Jesus seek consensus from the religious scholars of His day for the purpose of establishing a truth everyone could believe? If all Jesus needed to do was simply come to earth to 'die for our sins' (as stated by the apostle Paul), a concept exclusively taught by Christianity, and by which nearly complete consensus has been achieved, then WHY did He feel the need to "testify to the truth" (John 18:37)? The 'metrics' of Truth is the Words of Jesus that He gave to His own eyewitness discples. The consensus  of the church does not confirm truth because HIS words do not promote consensus.

Today fires are raging all over the Western USA. In our region (about 75 miles from us) is the La Tuna Cyn fire, which has now changed direction and is heading for a populated area near Burbank California. Officials have declared a manditiory evacuation of 200 homes that are in the path of the fire. My son and his girl friend are visiting friends in Salem Oregon, and they are breathing smoke of fires near them. Fire can be very damaging if it is not under control; it can also be very beneficial when it is in a bar-be-cue. The only good thing about a wild fire is that unless you are blind you can see it comng and get out of the way, if you see it in time. There is another wild fire that is spreading in the spiritual world, especially in the Christian world, and there is a prevaling belief (for which many are praying) that this fire is going to lead to a world wide renewal the likes of which have not been seen since the foundation of the world. Christians are praying that the Holy Spirit in the form of the 'Latter Rain' will decend upon the earth and bring about a revival that will usher in the Second Coming. There is a huge problem with this identity in that the 'setter' of THIS fire is NOT the Holy Spirit of the God of Creation, but the OTHER spirit of the false 'god' that masquerades as the Holy Spirit. This is the same spirit that actually began the Christian church in the first century by intercepting Saul on the road to Damascus, and by this false 'holy spirit' changed a vile, murderous man into the founder of the Christian church, the 'apostle' Paul. THIS fire has started a conflagration that unless checked will consume the world with a false faith, a false hope, and a false truth. The purpose of Spirit of Truth Ministry is to open the eyes of the spiritually blind to this false fire, and reveal the True Way, True Truth, and True Life that are the Words of Jesus.

Illegal immigration is a huge topic in the world today. There are at least two sides to every issue, and this is true for this issue as well. In the USA one side says that those of us with the privilage to live in a 'free' society should not require people outside of that society to acknowledge the 'rule of law' and enter a country according to the laws for immigration for our country. The other side say that everyone entering our country must abide by those rules for lawful immigration in order to have legal standing to not only enter the country but to live here as a productive member of tha society Many modern Christians believe the former identity, because they believe that they have the 'privilage' to enter the Kingdom of God without having to adhere to the 'immigration' laws of that Kingdom; they believe that those pesky immigration laws of the Kingdom of Heaven have been 'laid aside' in favor of an open border policy set in place at the Cross by the death and the blood of Jesus Christ. They believe that the Kingdom of Heaven has no borders, and has no laws regulating access to citizenship in that Kingdom. These sincere Christians believe with all their hearts that they can enter the Kingdom of God WITHOUT respect for the laws of that Kingdom; and in this they are DEAD wrong, and wholly mistaken. Without LAW, and without borders that define the territory of the Kingdom of Heaven, there would be not difference between the kingdom of the world and the Kingdom of God; this is exactly what Satan wants us to believe. Jesus came to set the record straight, that HIS Kingdom is a Kingdom of Law, and Justice based on law; and anyone seeking entry must "abide in HIS words" in order to gain entry to His Kingdom and eternal life. The TRUTH about this is your passport into this Kingdom.

Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. Rev.3:10. Is this verse speaking of you? Have you ever thought about what this verse could mean to your future regarding salvation and eternal life? What does it mean to your salvation to 'endure patiently'? And why would enduring patiently keep you from the time of trial that will put to the test everyone that is alive on the earth at that (near future) time? These are examples of the types of questions that we at Spirit of Truth Ministry ask and answer during our program 'The Revelation of Jesus, with Rick Sterling'. The only way to get the correct answers are to ask the correct questions; and those questions can be difficult to identify because of the current paradigms and methodology that are pervasive within the Christian church. This mind set in many cases prevents Christians from asking the hard difficult questions, because to do so would open them to having to deal with even more hard and difficult answers. When Jesus was here on earth He asked the hard difficult questions of the (then) spiritual leadership of the 'Kingdom of Heaven', questions they could not answer, which made them want to kill Him. Spirit of Truth Ministry tries to follow in the Masters foot steps by asking the same types of questions of those who are truely interesten in finding the answers, the answers which will define who will be able to enter the Kingdom of Heaven and gain eternal life. Doing this is risky business; are you willing to take the risk?

"This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. "For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed "But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God." John 3:19-21. We here the word "Justice" bandied about in a cavalier way today in political speak, and the 'social justice' movement. What people don't yet realize, and this includes Christians, is that in order to have Justice you must first have JUDGMENT. Without judgment there can be no justice. Jesus spoke of Judgment; "For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him." John 3:17. So if the Son does not Judge, who does.  "He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day." John 12:48. It is the WORDS that He speaks that passes judgment upon the world, and this judgment is irrevolkable and permanent; there of NO reprieve once judgment is passed. Thankfully, this final judgment has not yet taken place, but soon it will. So how does a person escape the punishment for judgment, which is eternal death? It is really quite simple; 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. Keep the COMMANDMENTS OF GOD (all 10), and HOLD TO THE TESTIMONY of the one that brought the truth from Heaven to earth, that is JESUS. These two are the foundation of what it takes to be INSIDE the Kingdom of the Heavens when 'judgment falls on all mankind'. If you are in this Kingdom you are safe.

When we at Spirit of Truth Ministry look for spiritual truth, truth that leads to salvation and eternal life, we look to the words of Jesus that He gave to His own eyewitness disciples as the source for that truth, THEN we compare it to words of what other people have said on that particular subject and note any differences. The extent of those differences informs our view of truth, because it is ALWAYS the words of Jesus (and God Almighty in the Old Testament) that take precedence. In fact, it also work the other way as well. If you have studied the words of anyone else (other than the words of the Son of God), and have become an expert in what that person has said concerning salvation and eternal life, even gaining high academic degrees and religious recognition, and have not factored into the equation what Jesus said to His own eyewitness disciples on that subject, then you have missed an opportunity to learn the 'God's Honest' truth. Of what value is it to "gain the whole world, but loose your soul"? It is not just earthly recognition that is enticing; it is also the recognition and honor of those in your preferred religion that makes it nearly impossible to actually learn the truth. You must decide if you love this recognition and honor more than you love the truth.

Prayers for Barcelona! I spoke with a good friend of mine this morning, and he was upset with a number of his friends because, as he put it, "They have gone off the deep end". He is a liberal minded person, in that he likes to look at all sides of an issue before he makes a determination as to how to proceed. He said that many of his friends are responding with a 'knee jerk' reaction to world events, rather than taking a 'considered view point'. This can also be true for people that hear what Spirit of Truth Ministry presents; instead of carefully considering what is presented vis a vis what Jesus said as opposed to what ANYONE ELSE says, they 'go off the deep end' in condemning what  they have heard because it doesn't fit what they already hold to be 'as truth'. Is this really the kind of response Jesus would have form us, as we search for truth?

"Lighten up!" We have all heard this phrase directed at us from time to time, because there are times when we feel that life becomes slightily more intense than our ability to cope. In these situations sometimes our friends can see solutions that we can not because they are not 'inside' that situation. That being said, I cannot imagine any of the disciples of Jesus saying that to Jesus, except for Peter. Matt. 16:22-23 describes Peter 'rebuking' Jesus for suggesting that He must go to Jerusalem, where He would suffer humiliation under the leaders of the Jews, be killed, and be raised from the dead on the third day. In other words Peter said, "Jesus, lighten up!" The response of Jesus was epic, ""Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's." (Matt. 16:23).  In a forceful way Jesus was was reminding Peter that in order to be in the Kingdom of God you must THINK differently than those people that are in the world. The world is in darkness, the Kingdom of the Heavens is in the light. Jesus reminds us as He did Peter that,  "This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. "For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.  "But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God." (John 3:19-21) Here Jesus is saying to us, "LIGHTEN UP", by living the Truth, living the Way, and living the Life that Jesus came to earth to show.

Fraud is such an ugly word. I think all of us, at one time or another, have experienced some form of fraud; Bait-and-switch in buying a used car, credit card fraud, charities fraud, check fraud, pyramid schemes, and now online fraud, to name a few. Genesis 29 speaks of a fraud Laban perpetrated upon Jacob in giving him Leah instead of Rachel to wife, after seven years of labor in payment. Yet as horrible as these fraudulent activities are the most evil and indeed terrifying is identity fraud. Identity theft is the fastest growing type of fraud in the world today. Millions of people have their credit card or bank account information stolen and used to buy products and services for someone that is masquerading as you. For those of you that have had this happen there is almost nothing that is worse than realizing that someone has taken over your identity and acted AS you for the purpose of robbing you of your money, or worse, your reputation. Now just imagine how God must feel knowing that Their identity has been stolen from Them, for the purpose of getting the people of earth to give a being that simply 'says' he is 'God' the worship, praise, honor, devotion and obedience that rightly belongs to Them. "Impossible", you say; God would NEVER ever allow this to happen. After all, He is sovereign of the earth, and would protect 'His Word', the Bible, at all cost, from ALL assault. Yes, God IS sovereign, BUT He IS NOT the ruler of this earth, Satan is; and Satan is allowed by God's own law to do what ever he wants to trap and defraud the people of the earth of their eternal life. Satan HAS stolen the credit card of God's words of Truth, and His sacrifice and death for His Kingdom, and substituted the lies that the Commandments of God no longer have anything to do with salvation, and that the words of Paul are the words of God. Imagine how God must feel about this!

My son's very best childhood and high school friend got married to an Austrailian girls and moved to New Castle in Austrailia about 5 years ago. Zach and Shane don't see each other very often in person, but they do Skype regularly to keep in touch. Whenever Shane comes to the USA with Krysta, Zach will go to extraordinary lengths to be able to visit them. This involves considerable time and distance in the car from Los Angeles, where Zach now lives and works, to Cherry Valley Ca., where Shanes parents lives. This weekend Zach came out Friday afternoon to play golf with Shane and another long time friend, spent the night with Shane's family, will drive to Santa Monica for work, will drive BACK out tonight to prepare for church tomorrow in Redlands Ca. (organist/choir master at 1st Presbyterian church), only to drive out immediately after the worship for another shift at the hotel at which he works in Santa Monica. He is doing this simply because he wants to be with his long time best friend even for just a short time. Why? Because Zach knows Shane, and loves him like a brother, and will do what it takes to be able to be with him. Is Jesus your best friend? What are you willing to do to be with your best friend, Jesus Christ? What lengths are you willing to go to KNOW Him, and therefore be with Him, not just for a few hours every few years, but forever? Are you willing to leave behind your pre-conceived thought processes and conclusions about how salvation works, and take the time to really know and understand WHY Jesus came to this earth?  If learning and knowing the truth about the words and testimony of Jesus and the salvation He offers is a bother for you, and you don't have the humility to find out if what you now know to be true actually IS true, then you will miss out on that wonderful time when the redeemed get to spend eterninty with Him.