Spirit of Truth/The Bible on Trial

Moving Day~ My daughter, her husband, and my one- year old grandson are moving house. They are moving 12 miles from a now obviously temporary residence of a year or so, to a permanent residence in the town where my wife and I live, where they purchaced their  'new' home. They have been sorting, cleaning, packing, boxing items, and preparing for this move for about 6 weeks, when they were first told by the landlord that the place where they had been living was to be sold. So for them today and tomorrow is 'moving day'. We have been cleaning and preparing their new home for occupancy by changing the locks, having the carpets cleaned, painting the living room, planning a cabinet and mirror change in the bathroom, ordering and still waiting for appliances to be delivered, and the myriad other things that go into taking and established house-hold and moving it In Total to another locations. In some ways this is a joy, knowing that where they will live from here on will be much better than the old place, but the actually 'doing' the the things that make this possible is not fun, because it is a LOT of work.  Getting from Here to Eternity is also a LOT of work, don't let anyone fool you about this fact. The old things that have seemed so important, that have kept you from learning the truth about how salvation works and what it takes to become righteous in fact must be boxed up and thrown away, in order to make room for the NEW truth that will see you through to your new home. The dwelling place where you will live for eternity has to be prepared, fixed up, in order to accomodate the 'new you' that will reside in this 'new home'. Don't be fooled, this takes a lot of work, and does not happen overnight, or with one 'conversion event'. Entering and finishing the process of sanctification is how you get the 'house key' to your new home

Today Rick Sterling will continue from yesterday's study into exactly why we are in a new and different timeline than the one seen in the main body of Revelation. There is information in both Daniel 2 and Matthew 24 that more than suggest that what the Faithful and Wise Bondservant, and hence his fellow servants are doing today is demponstration that the prohecies of the Death Road have been overtaken and supplanted by the Prophecies of the Life Road.  Join us on Saturday (Sabbath) July 24, 2021 for another episode of The Revelation of jesus with Rick Sterling, brought to you by Spirit of Truth Ministry. This program will be on at 10 AM Pacific time, on: blogtalkradio.com.

Symptoms~ You would think that after all these years I would recognize the symptom of a condition that if I noticed it right away could be controlled with a specific drug taken in a specific dose in a specific way. The problem is that I didn't see it early because I wasn't looking for it where it appeared in my body. In fact, after all these years of mostly successfully controlling this condition it had never manifest where it did. Without going into specifics, my not recognizing the unique symptom and taking appropriate action right then, I have been suffering debilitating pain in my knee that yesterday put me to bed for most of the day. The truely sad thing is that I am on vacation with my family and extentions, and I missed out on a wonderful hike, some wonderful views, and delightful memories. This, all because I was thinking that my knee pain was one thing, when it was another. (Note-the medicine is working, and the pain is deminished where I will not miss the adventures of today.) Our spiritual natures also have this same dynamic. We have been taught certain things over the years, and those teachings have become a part of our spiritual natures, thus becoming the norm for the way we operate in the spiritual realm. We look at our lives a certain way, because that is the way we have always viewed our relationship with God. We have spent years cultivating our identity with respect to how eternal life operates, and it appears to work just fine, so why look anywhere else.  And then something hits us out of the blue, that causes us to question our spiritual existence, and whether we are on the correct path to salvation. We will then ignore this 'symptom' that if addressed would lead to life, taking us off a road that is leading to death, but we don't recognize it because we aren't looking for it 'over there'. The cure is found in the words of Jesus.

Join Spirit of Truth Ministry for our continuing study of the transition between the current understanding of End Time Prophecy involving the Death Road prophecies of Revelation, and the Life Road Prophecies of both Revelation 10 and Daniel. Rick Sterling has been presenting the idea that because of the choices made by the people of the USA and the world in 2016 the prophecies of the End Time have shifted course from the devestation of the Death Road to the Peace and Prosperity of the Life Road. We will continue this study in our program today, July 17, 2021, in The Revelation of Jesus with Rick Sterling. Join us at 10AM for our program, at: blogtalkradio.com/sot.

Lists~ This coming Sunday our family is heading out for a week of vacation. There will be seven of us making the drive to the Eastern Sierra's for some hiking, kayaking and SUP's (Stand-up Paddle boards), and maybe a little fishing. I anticipate a wonderful time with my Wife, Son, Daugher, their spouses, and my grandson in the mountains.  The thing that is going to get me there with all of the accoutrements needed for a successful vacation, the thing that will allow me to relax and know that I have not forgotten anything important, are lists. Right now my main Trip List contains 11 categories, that will have multiple items in each; such as Food/kitchen, Clothes/shoes, Tool bag, etc. This list includes little things such as flashlights and batteries, to roof racks and kayaks. Without these lists I know I would leave something behind that i really need, and would have to replace at significant cost while on the road. Nothing on my list is necessarily irreplacealbe, but it would end up being significantly inconvenient. Another thing that would be inconvenient would be to miss out on eternal life because you forgot to learn something important that could have saved your life. (This is assuming that you actually would like to live forever.) And in order for you to forget something, you would have to have known about it in the first place. A list has no value if you don't know what to put on it. We have been told by our family, teachers, pastors and preachers that we don't really need a list to know how salvation works, because all you must do to be saved is to say and believe that you are (saved). But is this true? Could there be something you might need to know that is different than what you have been taught for all your life? If not, then you are saved. BUT IF there is something that you don't know that you need to know, and you don't know, then you are in trouble. Make a LIST!

Heating Up ~ It is HOT out here in the Southern California. In many places it is going to be into the triple digits, and it is expect to reach 130 degrees in Death Valley, a record temperature. It will be relatively cool in Yucaipa/Calimesa at a balmy 97 degrees.  It is also heating up in the world of politics, economics, and religion as well. Housing, gasoline, automobile and lumber prices have spiked to such an extent that people just can't afford these everyday purchases. Inflation has reared it's ugly head, so the value of money is dropping, which also adds to the affordability factors in staples such as groceries.  Politics has dirctly contributed to these economic worries, with the closing of oil pipelines and the crisis at our Southern border.  All of this also reflects on how 'believers' feel about these current condition in the world, and they are wondering if we have entered the 'time of the end' that is seen in the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation, where all hell breaks forth on earth in a 'time of tribulation' such as never was before, just prior to the Coming of Jesus in the Clouds. The Good News is that because of what Spirit of Truth Ministry and Rick Sterling have found and revealed since August 14-15, 2020, we now know that the things that have been expected in the propecies of the end in the Bible will no longer happen. Instead of a horrible time of trouble that is depicted in the Death Road Prophecies, we now know for sure that the world is headed for a time of Peace and Prosperity that are seen in the LIFE ROAD Prophecies that have been hidden in plain sight in both Daniel and Revelation. There IS a proper time for these NEW prophecies to be revealed, and we are now in that time. God said that we must choose between Life or Death, blessings or curses. The World chose LIFE in 2016, and we are now on the Life Road. Joy!

Join Spirit of Truth Ministry today, Friday July 9, 2021, at 10 AM for our program The Bible on Trial. We will continue with our discussions about the Life Road and Death Road prophecies in Daniel and Revelation at: blogtalkradio.com/sot.

Table Etiquette~ This morning as I perused my social feed I was reminded of a house hold rule when I was growing up that took a lot of practice to achieve, and that I actually forgot about when I was rearing my own children, that most certainly would have eased their emotional discomfort at the kitchen table when my wife and I forced them to eat food they didn't like. The bit of etiquette was instituted by my mother apparently came from her mother, passed down through the generations on her side of the family.  Here it is: When presented with food that is new, and looks particularly uninviting everyone at the table (including parents) are required to take ONE bite of this food, chew it, and swallow it. My mothers approach to this was that you cannot KNOW that you don't like something simply by looking at it, you must taste it to confirm your initial impression. If you don't like it you don't make a 'face', or express your disgust verbally, you simply don't eat more of it. She also said that more often than not you might actually be surprised that you like it, and add it to your repertoire of foods you enjoy. We practiced this rule at the kitchen table, so that when we went out to eat, or went to a social gathering we would not embarrass ourselves, our parents, or our hosts by acting as if someone tried to poison us. This came in handy when our family went to Japan in 1967 as part of the Glendale Sister City delegation to the Osaka Worlds Fair. To young inexperienced taste buds some of the offerings were not appealing, but we managed to aquit ourselves well because of the practice we were given. The same is true for spiritual truth (or any truth). A new truth can be difficult to swallow, but when given the chance it can taste pretty good, and become important to your eternal life.   "O taste and see that the LORD is good." Ps. 34:8.

Independence Day! One of my favorite questions that I asked my students (when I was teaching) was; "Do they have "The 4th of July in England?" The answer was always as resounding 'NO', because in America the perspective carried by every single student that 'The 4th of July' is synonymous with "Independence Day". Many of my students were actually shocked when my response was, "Yes they do have July 4. Beause July 3rd is the day before, and July 5th is the day after." The students were not thinking about the Calendar, they were thinking about the holiday, and the celebration! How we view our lives in this world is based upon what we understand to be true, not necessarily what actually IS true, because what IS true is base on our perspective. And this is the problem with how we view the truth of salvation. We have been taught an idea of how salvation works for our entire lives in 'the Church'. And whether we practice Christianity (or any other religion) our world view has been scewed by what we have been taught that is true by our parents, teachers, friends, family, and society in general. As we get older most of us become a little more cynical and discerning about what we believe vis a vis religion, but these things are always in the background, influencing our decisions and actions to the point where we hardly ever think about where those thoughts come from. Only rarely do we take the time for self-introspection, for re-assessing not only WHAT we believe, but more importantly WHY we believe. Jesus came to earth to show us the WHY, not just the WHAT of our belief systems. And this is the WHY; "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life." John 6:63. Perspective brings Independence from lies, and THIS is true freedom.

Prepare a Place ~ Home prices have skyrocketed. A home that used to cost $200K in a nice neighborhood a few years ago now costs a half million dollars today. My daughter and her husband are in the market for a house. What they have discovered is that the cost of a home in the place where they want to buy have gone up so much  that they are nearly being prices out of the market. The issue is not that there are too few homes for sale, it is that it is now a sellers market, and if you don't put an offer on a house almost as soon as it comes on the market you will have lost your chance. However, the true issue is not scarcity of housing, it is the value of the dollar that is used to buy the house (or car, or anything else for that matter). Because of 'quantitative easing', which is just euphemism for printing money, the money supply has far outstripped the ability for that money to keep it's value. Therefore, it is not the houses that are getting more expensive, it is the money that is used to buy the house is become less valuable, and it now take more of them to use in exchange for material things. This is the same as if you "believe a lie as if it is the truth". Lies are cheap, and become worth less and less the more you believe them. On the other hand, spiritual TRUTH becomes more valuable as you use it. It costs nothing to believe a lie, it costs everything to believe the Truth. When you search for, find, and practice the Truth you have had to put aside your previous understanding of what you believe, and this changes everything. You no longer believe by faith, because you understand that "faith allows you to believe a lie AS IF it is the truth. You finally see that belief by faith has no value with respect to eternal life. Jesus said in John 14:3 that He has prepared a place for you, and that place is truth.