Spirit of Truth/The Bible on Trial

Illegal vs. Unlawful! Misconception and misrepresentation are two identities that are so prevalent in the world today as to be ubiquitous! We see both of these everyday in the world of politics, in the battle between the Left and the Right for the 'soul' of the electorate, not only in the USA but throughout the world. One side may misrepresent the truth, while the other side accuses the other of that very misrepresentation. Misconception is the result of not understanding the difference between an act being illegal, and an idea or concept being unlawful. Not to put too fine a point on it but we are seeng this in Washington with one side accusing the other side of illegal acts without 'facts in evedence' to support the accusation, and then stating that doing this is legal.  So what is the difference between 'legal' and 'lawful'?  When Jesus was here on earth the Pharisees and Saducees accused Jesus of being a sinner. Their definition of sin was based upon the 'Law of Moses' that THEY had intepreted, and had codified in the Talmud; that is, they decided by fiat (Satute) what keeping the law was supposed to be, and if you didn't keep it their way you were a sinner. They had conflated their understanding of the Law as being the only way to legally keep the Law. Jesus came to earth to show them and the world that the Law of God was above the interpretation of mankind, and that Law simply 'WAS'! Jesus showed that the Law of God was the 10 Commandments, the Covenant of the Kingdom, and was in and of itself immutable  "Common Law". Law that is legislated (produced) by mankind is 'legal'. The Law that simply "IS" is Lawful!  Jesus told Moses at the burning bush, "I AM", showing that it is HIS words that are the gold standard of truth. Obedience to the LAW of God brings salvation.

Earth, Wind, and Fire~ No, this post is not about the Band that topped the charts beginning in 1969 and lasted through the 1070's and on, although it could be. (Great sound!) What prompted todays post is the brush fires currently raging in Southern California, and the devastation  that is happening in the 'burn area' (as it is called). I have good friends that live in Santa Clarita and Acton, and although they are as yet not a part of the evecuation area, the strength of the winds and the speed of the fire makes their situation tenuous at best. My prayers are with them and all those affected by these fires. My reflection today is about the 'element' that is missing from this list of elements, and that is 'water'. Water is not only what sustatins life, but it is also the thing that can put out a fire, if applied at the right time, and in the right way. We have all heard stories of people that have experience the 'fire' of the 'holy spirit' that came upon them and caused them to do or experience euphoria and joy of a 'heavenly' nature. The story in Acts about the Disciples in the house that came under the 'authority' of the 'holy spirit' where a rushing wind came through the house and a 'tongue of fire' lited upon each of the people in the house in tern (Note: this did not happen all at once, to everyone in the room-if it happened at all), is representative of the fact that people will believe almost anything if there is a supernatural component to it. The thing missing in this story is WATER, and water represents TRUTH. When truth is applied to any situation it allows a person to compare rumor to fact, and see the difference clearly. Simply believing that something is true just because it appears in a 'holy' Scripture is a good way to allow yourself to be fooled into believing a lie as if it is the truth. Truth exposes lies!

Fake News~ Recently, we have heard a lot about Fake News, and the closest I can come to a cogent definition for that phrase is this: un-tested and un-confirmed information published as truth! The News Services that do this are certainly publishing Fake News. This not only hurts the person about which this false information is stated, it also hurts the credibility of the news organization that publishes this information. This kind of thing is not new; it has been around since the days of the 'Town Cryer' in ancient times.  So how is it that this can still exist today? Have the people that do this not learned anything in the interviening years? Apparently not! So how is it that we can combat this Fake News?  Jesus said it best to His own disciples, because He knew what the Pharisees were saying about Him and His teachings!  And Jesus answered and said to them, "See to it that no one misleads you. Matt. 24:14. Jesus put the onus of responsibility for defining truth squarely upon His own disciple then, and upon us today. We are responsible for the information we believe. We CHOOSE that which we believe as truth, no one does this for us.  So when you hear someone in the news claiming that what they are saying is truth, do your research and PROVE it to yourself, before you post it on Face Book. And when you hear that Paul said something that seems to make sence, do the same thing; prove it by comparing what He said with what Jesus taught, and see if it matches 100%. If it doesn't it also is Fake News. The words of Jesus that He gave to His own eyewitness disciples ARE the gold standard of Spiritual truth. Accept no substitute! '

POD~ Have you ever paid a bill? If you are an adult, and actually live (mostly) in reality then you have certainly paid a bill. In the past bills came in the mail. You would open the bill from you utility, credit card, mortgage, or gasoline company and at the top of the bill is a notice that says 'Due By Date'. If you don't pay the bill by that date your are in 'arrears', and your bill is subject to a penalty. In the case of a mortgage or utility if you don't pay after a specific amount of time (30, 60, 90 days) then you become subject to disconnect or foreclosure. That 'due by' notice is also known by the term Pay On Demand. This means that you have used goods or services ahead of the payment for same, and the entity that supplied the goods or services now, as in immediately, wants their money. When you go to a 'brick and mortar' store this POD happens when you go to the cashier and enter a transaction in which you present what you have chosen from their stock and present a 'bill' (currency) in exchange for that item. When the transaction is completed to the satisfaction of both parties you can take the item with you out the door. If the transaction is not completed, as with a declined credit card, you must leave the item on the counter and go your way. If you decide to take the item anyway (as happens on a regular basis where I work) then you become a thief, and are subject to legal action. Salvation works the same way. You have been sent a Pay On Demand notice by the God of Creation that says that you must pay for the sin of breaking of the Laws of God, and that the only acceptable payment is your eternal death. To live, you can have this penatly paid by the King of the Kingdom of Heaven IF you become a member of that Kingdom by "keeping the commandments of God, and holding to the words of Jesus" (Rev. 12:17).

Headache~ All of us get them, from time to time. You know what I am talking about-THAT headache; the one that makes your head feel like it is going to explode. All sorts of things can cause THAT headache; food, a bad conversation, a blow to the head, even low blood sugar. There is one thing, though, that can change the dynamic of a headache from the occasional 'two Excedrin' kind, to the 'I better take some Percocet or I'm going to die' kind. These kinds of headaches most often as caused by a chronic situation overwhich you have no control, and to which there is no end in sight. These situations are not always caused by physical issues, for the most part; because when you are ill there is almost always an end in sight, one way or another. (Except maybe for migranes.) When I was under treatment for malignant melanoma and taking high dose Interferon-A for a year, I had regular and debilitating headaches, along with a fever on 102 for that entire year. Yet I knew it would end when I was either cured, or not. Being in a situation where you can see no reasonable end can cause tension and stress that pills just can't cure. This kind of pain can lead to depression that is difficult ot overcome. There is a type of stress endemic to the study and understanding of truth. When you are living in lies but don't know it, you can easily allow yourself to believe those lies as if they are the truth. You don't know any better, so 'no harm, no foul'! But when you are exposed to the truth and you don't accept it, you then KNOW you are living a lie, and this sets up a cognitive dissonance that can be as debilitating as the worse headache known to mankind. There is only one cure for this kind of headache, and that is to apply self-honesty, and accept that you have been fooled. You finally hold yourself accountable for believing lies. The relief from doing this is AMAZING. Try it, you will love it!

Fire Insurance~ We had a scare yesterday, where I live in Southern California. It was been quite windy yesterday (more wind for today, also). A trash truck was collecting across fhr freeway from our little town, near a mobile home park and a bruchy area that extends for miles to the East and South. The operator of the truck noticed that the fire alarm for his truck whet off, and he decided to dump the load of trash in the middle of a street, to avoid losing the truck. Unfortunately, there was dry brush nearby that he apparently did not notice. The brush quickly caught fire and rushed away with the wind. Several mobile homes were damged and destroyed, but Cal Fire aircraft, fire teams and local fire department hit the fire hard, and stopped it in short order. This cannot be said for the Saddleback fire in Northern LA County. It is raging, with no containment in sight. Many homes have been destroyed, with more to come. Being prepared for a fire means having foresight to understand the damage that can be done by a wildfire, and take precautions. We do this for out homes and businesses, but not ao muxh in our thinking about our eternal existence. Unfortunately, many Christians believe that all they have to do to prepare for eternity is to go to church, pay their tithes and offerings, and believe what the preacher says from the pulpit, and your have bought your fire insurance for eternity. They believe that this is the same as paying your insurance company to cover your home against loss; pay the bill and all will be well. There is a universal belief in the Christian church that as long as you 'believe in Jesus Christ in any capacity, you will be saved'. They believe that what Paul says about salvation is the truth, and by the time they find out that this is not true it will be too late. True 'fire insurance' come through the words of Jesus Christ alone.

Oh, My Heart~ My wife and I just came home from the Rehearsal for my son's wedding. After the rehearsal we took the wedding party to the Rehearsal Dinner at a wonderful Thai restaurant. My son's tomorrow wife, Erica, is 1/2 Thai (her mother is full Thai, and her father was Irish Catholic) and they specifically requested to go to this restaurant; we were delighted to oblige. Seeing how Zach and Erica relate to one another, and how much their friends and family love to be with them, does my heart good. Everyone that is coming to their wedding has recieved an invitation, and everyone participating in the ceremony has recieved instructions as to what to wear.  Matthew 22 begins with the parable prophecy of a King that gave a wedding feast to His son. Each attendee recieved an invitation that told the person what to wear in order to be accepted into the marriage feast. However, there was a person who recieved an invitation, but did not wear the prescribed wedding garment. The King found this person to be unacceptable to be there, and had him thrown out, and was not allowed into the marriage feast of the Son of the King, How we are dressed says a lot about who we are, and whether we will be accepted among those that enter the Kingdom of God, and attend the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Without the pure, clean, robe of righteousness you will not be admitted. You must have this robe of righteousness already on when you enter the Kingdom. The King does not give you this robe as a free gift at the door to the feast, and then tells you to come on in. Also, you cannot 'come as you are' and expect entry, you must wear what the King demands. "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.

Wedding day~ Tomorrow afternoon my son and his bride will be married. It is an auspicious day, and one that we will enjoy to the full, and remember for eternity. The metaphor of the 'marriage' is all through the Bible, and especially in the parable/prophecies of Jesus in Matthew, John, and Revelation. The description therein touch my heart because as a father that has already prepared my daughter for her marriage to her wonderful husband, it is my great pleasure to have prepared my son for his marriage to the love of his life, and to be able to see the wedding come to pass. God is in the process right now of preparing His attendents so that they can prepare the attendents of the Bride, so the Bride can be fully prepared in her pure white linen wedding dress to meet her bride. This is going to be a moment that none of us that witness this event will ever forget, throughout eternity. To participate in thest things we must be fully prepared in righteousness to fultill the roles that Jesus has established for us from the foundation of the world. Don't miss it-learn the TRUTH!

The Best Laid Plans~ Sometimes no matter how hard you work, how well you plan, or how much is your desire to serve your friends, family, and the Kingdom of the Heavens, the situation dictates the result, and you end up not being able to complete the task. This is what happened to us yesterday, when just before the program The Bible on Trial was about to start Blog Talk Radio informed us that our ability to electronically get the "Show on the Road" was not going to happen. Both our access to Skype and to the Direct Connect feature on our studio page were not working, and we would not be able to go 'on air'. BTR assured us that their engineers were working to fix the presenting issues, but that would take some time, and we (STM) were out of time. Well, it looks like Blog Talk Radio has resolved the issues and as a result of a short test show, it looks like we will be 'on air' at our usual 10 AM Pacific time slot. Halleluia! This is all well and good, but the net result is that for the first time in a long time we were no able to present our program The Bible on Trial. We wanted too, to were not able too.  Sometimes no matter how much is our desire, how much we try, or how much we pray circumstance conspires to not allow us our fondes dreams to come true. When this happens we are told by our close associates that this is "just the way things are", so "suck it up buttercup" and move on. What we are experiencing in all of this is the 'D' word, Disappointment. And while no one said life would be easy, if our desire is for the love of God, then we only need do two things to have eternal life: "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. Those two things can turn disappointment into Joy!

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