Spirit of Truth/The Bible on Trial

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.

I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. Rev. 3:18.

I have an old lemon tree in my back yard. We have lived on our home for over 16 years, and this tree was fully mature even then. It is an unusual tree because it bears two types of lemons, the Eureka, which is the regular bright yellow/bitter lemon, and the Meyer, which is know as the 'sweet' lemon. The Meyer lemon is named after the man that first introduce the lemon to the United States in 1908 from China, Frank Meyer, and is a cross between a Citron lemon with an Mandarin orange. It is less acidic than a Eureka lemon, a has a slightly sweeter taste. (Just FYI-it makes GREAT lemon meringue pie because you can use 1/2 cup of sugar per pie, instead of 1 1/2 cups that the recipies usually uses.) It is fascinating to me that my lemon tree produces both kinds because the previous owners had someone graft the Meyer onto the Eureka, and the tree has flourished all these years. So I went to the angel, telling him to give me the little book. And he *said to me, "Take it and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey." I took the little book out of the angel's hand and ate it, and in my mouth it was sweet as honey; and when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter. Rev. 10:9-10. Why would something sweet in the mouth turn the stomach into acid reflux? In the case of prophecy it is that the initial prophecies no longer apply, and that the new prophecies will bring new results for the Kingdom of Heaven. From the standpoint of Truth and Lies we have been led to believe that the Truth is sweet and that lies are bitte, but this is actually the opposite of the truth. Lies taste sweet in the mouth, because they are what you WANT to hear and believe, but when they are assimilated into the stomach, and are carried into the intellect they turn bitter, because they lead to death. Truth can be bitter when you first hear it, but turn sweet in the mind.

Religious Fascism! Have you ever attended a church that had a dress code, or played one kind of music to the exclusion of all other types? Have you ever had religious person tell you with certainty that the prophet of their church is right, and you better take heed and do what she/he says or you are going to hell? When you ask a person what their 'religious belief' is based upon do they ever cite Bible texts to you that seem to prove their point, but are taken out of context? When someone insists that you believe as do they or you are not going to be saved, this is a form of Fascism, which states that God is going to punish you with eternal death if you don't believe what their church states as truth. When this happens most of us chalk this up as a reaction to religious fervor and just let it go. But this is a symptom of the world in which we now live.  An example of this is the following Facebook post from a friend: Political Correctness is Fascism pretending to be Manners! So taking this to its logial religous conclusion, we can say that: Religious Correctness is Fascism pretending to be Truth! ALL religion is a man made construct that takes personal belief to the extreme of demanding adherense from everyone. In order to belong to any church a person must accept what that church believes to be true about salvation, and if you don't follow the dogma you are excommunicated without prejudice. If THIS what Jesus came to earth to accomplish? Hardly! Jesus told Pilate that He came to "Testify to the Truth", and this did not include starting a religion which has been named 'Christianity' by its founder, the 'aposlte' Paul. Truth is not what we believe, it is what we KNOW!

Truth is the rarest of commodities today. There are many that claim that they and only they have the truth. Others don't even pretend that the truth matters at all. What are we to do when someone comes along claiming that indeed they have the truth? We must test that truth against an unalterable, infallible, and reputable source of truth. But who or what can that be? We at Spirit of Truth Ministry have an answer, and that is this; that the truth of salvation and eternal life can be found ONLY in the words of Jesus that He gave to His own eyewitness disciples while he was here on earth, and NO ONE ELSE! So, all of the words of Jesus culminate in the two requirements for eternal life that Jesus gave to His prophet John in Revelation, who gave it to us:   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) This is the test for entry into the Kingdom of the Heavens. It is not difficult to accomplish through the power of the Holy Spirit, and the Words of Jesus. Join us as we learn how to accomplish this in our lives.

Changing States~ It has been said that it is much more dificult for a wealthy person to hide in poverty than a person in poverty to hide in wealth. This 'change of state' is much more convincing to the world going from the state of poverty to wealth because, as an example, no one questions the good fortune of a poor person winnng the Lottery, thereby becomig famous. How does a famous person with fabulous wealth convince his friends and family that he no longer has this fabulous wealth, for the purpose of 'hiding in plane sight'? How does a wealthy person disappear from the view of his friends and family, without having them try to find him or her? This is the challenge of the Witness Protection program, that the US Federal Marshalls have set up to try to protect people that testify in court in order to convict evil doers. What must a person be willing to give up in order to testify to the truth? Everything, including home, friends and family, and wealth. Jesus is the King of the Kingdom of the Heavens, and as such owns that Kingdom 'lock, stock and barrel'! He was willing to give up the riches of that Kingdom to come to earth to "Testify to the Truth" (John 18:37). The plan was for Him to 'hide in plane site' until such a time as His testimony of truth would prove that the Prince of this world was up to 'no good', was himself NOT the 'God of Creation' (as he claimed), and as a result demonstrate that Jesus was in fact who He said He was, 'the bringer of Light to the World'. Soon we will be required to give up everything for the truth, to Change our Station, to come out of hiding and to declare the Truth of God to the world. Are you up to the task?

Truth is a rare commodity, almost non-existent in both religion and politics. To these, truth is what either a pastor or a politician says it is at the moment, and anyone that argues against their understanding is to be ridiculed and denigrated. This is just what Jesus went through when He was on earth, and He said that this kind of thing would happen to His disciples at the end of time. Truth is a magnet that draws both good and evil to its flame; to either shine which its light, or try to extinguish it. Be ready!

Spirit of Truth Ministry presents The Revelation of Jesus with Rick Sterling. We will be On Air at 10 AM Pacific time today. Join us for the Study.