Spirit of Truth/The Bible on Trial

Join us for our program today, where we test Truth against the words of Jesus that He gave to His own eyewitness disciples. This provides a unique and perilous understanding of Scripture that will challenge your paradigms about salvatiion and eternal life.

One of my mothers famous statements to me was, "God hates the sin, not the sinner". And this is true, from her understanding of 'sin'. To her, sin was doing anything that separated you from God. And this idea came directly from the pastor of the church we attended as a family. Again, it is true, as far as it goes. But my concept of sin has changed a bit since I was a child. Then, sin was doing a 'bad' thing that disappointed my parents. This is as it should be, when a child is young. But sin takes on a more sinister meaning as we grow older, and learn more about sin; and learn by experimenting and doing. I was told by my parents, pastors and teacher that sinning was inevitable, but that God would love me in my sin, and in spite of it. Today I know better. Sin is what keeps us out of the Kingdom of God, because in THAT kingdom there is NO sin at all. But not just any sin such as cheating on our taxes to pay less. This sin is not a sin of omission, that is, forgetting to do something we said we would do. This sin is not a sin of commission, such as saying an invective when we hit our thumb with a hammer, instead of the nail we were trying to drive in a board. This sin is saying to God, "My sins don't matter to you, because I was told that by someone in authority in my church; so you can't punish me for that". It is saying to God, "I can sin, because you have not sent me your Holy Spirit to prevent me from doing it". It is saying to God, "The Holy Spirit told me that you will love me no matter what I do that is against your Covenant". THESE THINGS ARE SIN. But the big sin is claiming that God sent His Holy Spirit to teach me a lie as if it is the truth, and that I wll not be held accountable for that belief. This is what many Christians believe by Faith. Don't believe it.

'FACTS'~ We hear a lot about facts in the news today. The two sides of the same political coin argue incessently about which facts are correct and which arn't. "Fake News" is the order of the day. The huge number of religious denominations all claim to have the 'truth' from God; especially those religions that claim to have 'Divine' guidance via prophets. So how do we KNOW for sure what is real and what isn't?  One example is the FACT that the more 'science' learns about what constitutes a viable, life-sustaining planet, the more perameters there are that are needed to sustain life. At one point 'science' believed that there were only two factors that a planet needed with which to sustain life; a certain type of sun, and a planet a certain distance from that sun. Today there are more than 200 perameters that 'science' has decided necessary for sustaining life. The idea of a nearly infinite number of planets in the universe capable of sustaining life has been reduced to a few thousand at most, and so far only our planet has proven viable. Yet facts are facts! There is no grading of facts; information is either true or it is not fact.  When dealing with the SPIRIT, the FACT is that the words of Jesus have been proven to be the arbiter of spiritual truth, to those that are actually looking for it. Without HIS words, and HIS Spirit it is impossible to KNOW THE TRUTH.  Jesus *said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. John 14:6. In order to find fact there must be something against which we can compare the information we are given. Without a stable data set we have nothing. There is no more stable source of information that the Words of God as expressed throught the words of Jesus Christ, as given to us by His own eyewitness disciples.

"Settlers"~ Do you remember old cowboy movies where people in Conestoga waggons would leave their homes in the East, get together with other like minded families, and drive accross the plains to begin a new life in the West? The movie would track their trip through hostile territory where either renegade indians, or robbers would set upon the 'Wagon Train', and try to stop these people from getting to where they were going. These people were called 'Settlers'. That is because when they got to where they were going they would settle in that location, and start a new home. Being a settler was not for the faint of heart, or spirit. It took tremendous courage for these people to win through to the prize that they were seeking. These people were brave beyond the norm, with a burning desire to change their lot, and build a life that was special. In the spiritual world today, and especially in Christianity, there are a lot of 'settlers'. But these people do not fit the pattern that the original 'settlers' expressed by their drive to achieve something special for themselves and for their families. No indeed. Today Christians settle for a status quo that allows them to believe whatever they want, without regard for whether what they believe is actually truth. Truth does not matter to this kind of settler. By accepting whatever they are taught from the pulpit, these believers settle for a life of convenience and spiritual ease. Rather that stepping out and away from the crowd to find truth, they move in lock-step with people that believe there is safety in numbers; everyone believes that they have been saved 'by faith through grace', and that is good enough for them. Jesus does not call us to safety and preference; He calls us to danger and conviction. Don't settle for less than Truth!

Imagine Heaven!  What do you see in your minds eye when you think about what Heaven will be like? Are you living inside the City of God, the New Jerusalem, or do you have a place out in the country with a nice log home nestled amidst rolling hills, surrounded by beautiful trees, near a bubbling stream that feeds a crystal clear lake? (My idea of heaven.) What about the people? Do you envision large crowds of people gathered to 'worship the King of Heaven', or do you picture a small gathering of friends in your new home, seated around the dining table, chatting over a wonderful dinner? Or both, or all? What if you are out walking, and you stub your toe on a rock, and you automatically swear at the rock? What if another person runs in to you as you are walking the streets of gold, knocks you down, and then blames you for the result? What if a friend lies to you about why they didn't come to your dinner party (see above), because they had something (to them) more important to do? Impossible, you say! We are in Heaven, and no one would do these things. Oh, really? Why not?  We have been taught from Christian pulpits and in Christian churches that NO ONE can overcome sin, and that we are 'saved by grace through faith'. We are taught that without the free gift of grace we can never be 'in the Kingdom' and 'get to heaven'. We have been told that we will not be relieved of our tendency to sin until we get into that perfect Kingdom, where all is goodness and light; and maybe not even then, because all we must do is claim that our sins are COVERED UP by the blood of Jesus, shed on the cross, and therefore God the Father cannot see our sins because all He can see is His Son performing a 'cover up' for us. Why would it even matter if this is true? What if this is NOT true, and we ARE responsible for becoming righteous? Think about it!

Occasions~ My father would occasionally use the following phrase when dealing with a son (me) that would occasionally challenge his fatherly authority: "Son, we can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way; you choose". Mind you, on only two occasions did using this expression engender a physical result from my response, which ended up being the really 'hard way'. The other fairly common occasions when he would say this to me we simply went somewhere private (for a walk with the dogs, or even out for an icecream) and had a 'heart to heart' talk (mostly him talking and me listening). It wasn't untl many years later that I realized what he was really saying; that the easy way was actually the 'right' way, and the hard way was actually the wrong way. The 'hard way' only seemed as if it was the easy way, at that time. This appears backward to what was have been taught in church about good and quality decision making. We have been taught that 'living by faith through grace' is easy, and living by obedience to a set of defined commands is hard, when in fact, the opposite is true. Life is full of 'occasions' that give each of us the opportunity to choose either the 'right way' or the 'wrong way' of doing or believing. For me, it  was learning from my father that making the right choice at first may seem as if it is difficult, but as you grow in your understanding of these life situations the hard decisions become easier, until you wonder how it was that you could have been so stupid as to believe the wrong choice was the right choice. Most people never realize this, choosing the hard way of 'faith' instead of the easy way of truth.  Jesus taught: "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.

Today marks the Twenty-fourth anniversary of the Bible study class that eventually became Spirit of Truth Ministy. Our exsistence as a ministry gives evidence to the love and concern that God has for the Truth. Join us today for a 'remembering' of all that God has done for His Kingdom in the past, in the present, and in the future.

Truth is NOT ubiquitous, that is, universal. Oh yes, people believe that what they know is the truth, but as we have discovered in our own research here at Spirit of Truth Ministry, this is simply not the case. People that actually KNOW the truth about anything are rare as hens teeth. And sadly, in the world of Christian belief this idea they Christians know the truth simply because they are 'Christian' IS ubiquitous. This is why there are hundreds, if not thousands, of denominations that have named themselves 'Christian' that know nothing of the truth of salvation, yet they think they do.  "Faith allows a person to believe a lie as if it is the truth, without accountability". Rick Sterling. It is important to become 'like Christ', at least according to Christian dogma, and is the sole purpose of becoming Christian. Yet these sincere people that believe WITH that 'simple faith' have been deceived into believing lies as if they are the truth BY this 'simple' faith. Do not be deceived; commit to learning and practicing the truth, and you will find it.

"No One Knows the Future." I hear this phrase a lot these days, especially with regards to political issues. And that may be true, as far as it goes. But what about spiritual issues? Is there a source with which the future can be defined? Even the source for all truth said, "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone" (Matt. 24:36). What day and what hour? "For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah" (Matt.24:37). Jesus defines the 'day of His coming' in no uncertain terms by giving testimony to what the future holds for the world. Then Jesus said, "For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will" (Matt. 24:44). We want to be ready; but how? That is the question that we answer using the very words of Jesus, as we at Spirit of Truth Ministry study to know what is about to happen. Join us today for another edition of The Revelation of Jesus.

"New Year New Outlook!" We are five days into the new year, and I don't know about you but for some reason life just seems the same as the end of last year. The sense of optimism brought about by the 'holidays' has quickly settled into the normal routine of life. Get up, dress, eat, go to work, walk dogs, shop for food, fix dinner, watch a favorite TV show, shower, get ready for bed, go to sleep; start over tomorrow. The only break in this pattern over the last four days has been that I isolated the problem with our oven not heating (igniter module), and ordered a new igniter from Amazon.  DYI means I don't have to by a new gas range, which we really can't afford.  Where did the 'new outlook' for the 'new year' go? Was it really there in the first place, or was I just projecting my desire onto the reality of life, letting 'life' dictate my mood? Truth needs to take the long view of life. The truth of how daily life operates does not necessarily relflect on how the Truth of Salvation and Eternal Life operates in our heart/intellect. Rarely does the mundane activity of daily living inform how we view the understanding of the Truth of God. Yet, as I go about my daily existence thoughts of how God works in and through His Kingdom to bring truth to the world occasionally come to mind, reminding me to take the Long View, and think of the thousands of years of activity that God has used to put you and me right here, right now, to learn the Truth of how salvation really works, so we can share that Truth with those that must know it in order to live eternally. This understanding changes the dynamic of life just enough to keep me interested in continuing to learn more of the Truth, so that when the time comes to take action for the Kingdom of the Heaven we WILL be prepared and ready for service.