Spirit of Truth/The Bible on Trial

This is the final program of 2017 (Sabbath, December 30), and we will not only be taking a look at what we learned this past year, but also what we MAY be learning and experiencing in the months ahead. We hope you will join us for this very special program.

What if you saw a job offer from God, and it went like this?: "My faithful servant, I want you to come work for me. Here is the job description: The hours are long, and you will be paid nothing. You will be responsible for everything I own, but you will personally own nothing. You will be in constant grave danger, and will suffer much physical and emotional pain, and no one will know, and no one will care. You will travel the world, but you will never be a tourist. You will eat and sleep only when I tell you. And when the time is right, you will die so that My Bride will live. And when you are resurrected, you will be on the job as my Bondservant for all of eternity." This is what awaits the Faithful and Wise Bondservant and his fellow servants that are described in Matt. 24: 42-51. Sounds great, doesn't it? Who in their right mind would accept such a reduculous and painful job?  God is looking for a few good men and women, 144,00 in number, to work for Him/Them at the end of time. The job is not easy, and takes great courage to see through to the end. And when it ends on earth, it begins in Heaven, and lasts for eternity. Only a few people out of all the billions on earth will qualify for the job, and only those that recognize that righteousness is not a gift, but a commitment. Do you have what it takes?

Christmas is here, and people are still running to and fro, buying presents, and preparing the Christmas dinner, and doing all the things necessary to make the Christmas holiday a special time. We take great care in this because we love our families, and want the best for them. There is a LOT to do; so we also divide the responsibilities in making the day special between family members, and rely on them to get their assignments done, and done right. This is what God expects of HIS family as He gets ready to come again. God cannot do this prep work alone. He does not hand out righteousness as a 'gift' before He and His Father arrive on the scene. WE must become fully obedient and compliant to the Commands of God, and the Testimony of Jesus, in order to be prepared for service to the Kingdom of God, and to the World. Please, enjoy your holiday, but don't forget to prepare your heart/intellect for the Coming of the King.

Christmas tradtion is a lovely thing; the celebration of the birth of our Saviour, God born as a human being. We celebrate Christmas time with wonderful carols that describe the birth of the Baby in the manger, surrounded by farm animals, with kneeling shepherds and Wise Men from the East in attendence, Mary and Joseph looking lovingly into where the Baby lays. "Angels We Have Heard On High" singing out in the field, announcing the birth to the world. Christmas trees aglow with lights, and presents under the tree to be given as a token of the gift that God gave us in Jesus. We celebrate this Christmas season, but do we know what it is that is true and what is fiction? The conception and birth of John the Baptist by Elizabeth, with John leaping in her womb at the mention of Mary being 'with child'. The shepherd in the field, watching their flocks by night. The dream of Joseph concerning Mary, his betrothed. The Christmas Story is beautiful, and inspiring. Yet we believe it simply because it is in the Bible, and the Bible is 'The Word of God'. Singing carols and giving and receiving presents, decorating trees and eating Christmas dinner with family and friends is truly wonderful. Yet Jesus did not come to earth to give us a nice story that we can tell once a year and enjoy. Let we forget, Jesus came for one reason, and one reason only: Therefore Pilate said to Him, "So You are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice. John 18:37.

"No one said this would be easy!" My Dad was a 'sage', and I think he got it from his dad, on backward ad infinitum. He was a physician (radiologist), a teacher in his profession, and a all around nice guy. I believe that he was truly a Renaissance man, because he also could build a house, lay bricks, put in underground galvanized sprinkler systems and pipes, dig a perfectly square ditch, install an electric socket or switch, expertly use hand and power woodworking equipment; and while doing this come up with some of the most exquisite puns and pithy sayings I have ever heard.  He was also a war fighter. He went to the PT (Pacific Theater) during WW2, and was stationed on Kwajalein Island while the fighting was still going on-the lsland was not secured. Even when he was in the process of dying of a brain tumor, the one thing he always rememberd was his experience as a Lieutenant in the US Navy. And because of this he never backed down from a moral fight. As we were talking on the back porch one day during a 'counciling' session over a moral infraction I had committed against my mother (I called her a nasty name in a fit of pique), my Dad told me of some of his Navy experiences, and that when he came back after that experience he had the conviction that there was NOTHING he could not do if he set his mind to it. Then he looked me in the eyes and said, "No one said it would be easy!" Doing the HARD thing is NEVER easy. Courage is not just for the battle field, it is also important to DO THE RIGHT THING even when no one is looking (the definition of bravery). The important thing is to learn THE RIGHT THING. Without a guide outside of self it is impossible to do the right thing. This is why God sent Jesus to earth, to testify to the Truth of the Covenant of the Kingdom, so that we would have the means to 'do the hard thing', and become obedient to His words.

Fantasy is a big part of media today, wherein fantasy is portrayed as reality. Fans watch Star Wars and dream of themselves living in that universe. Alternative Universe is a standard modality for artistic expression; from straight science fiction, to a world view modified by just one thing out of place that changes everything. And in these 'worlds' time travel and time manipulation are common themes. But if you are a sensible person you simply ignore these stories as being a figment of a writer's firtile imagination. But have you not had the experience of looking as a news story, movie, or book and saying to yourself, "I don't remember that peice of history, or that story, being THAT way". You get a feeling of deja vu that the story or history should somehow be different in the real world, but it isn't the way you remember it. When you do remember how you learned something as a child, or you have re-watched a movie that has a component that is somehow different than you remember, you chalk it up to your own faulty memory, not to a shifted reality. But what if it isn't? What if what you remember is the reality, and what is now presented  to you as reality is really a fantacy generated through time manipulation. 'He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time". Dan. 7:25. In order to understand this text we must first suspend our disbelief that TIME, and historic events of the past, cannot be changed simply because they are in the past. If that were true then this text itself could not exist. Thinking 'outside the box' often means 'thinking out of time'.

It appears that in comparing what the Christian church teaches as an aggrigate (noting fairly minor differences between denominations) is unrecognizable as truth when compared to what Jesus taught His own disciples while here on earth. The principle that what Jesus taught (His words as received from His Father) is the unadulterated standard for truth is no longer considered as viable when seen in the light of the words of the modern prophets and apostles that came after Jesus returned to His Father at the end of His ministry here on earth IN THE FLESH. This is because these modern apostles and prophets, most notabely Paul, and the prophets that appeared in the 19th century, such as Jospeh Smith, E.G.White, Mary Baker Eddie (to name a few), state that they recieved their 'truth' directly from God in vision or dream from the Holy Spirit. Major Christian denominations were founded on these prophets, and indeed so was the Christian church itself. The idea that God in His wisdom changed what Jesus stated as truth after Jesus left the earth to an entirely "different Gospel" is the founding premis of Christianity. When viewed in the light of those WORDS of Jesus it is difficult to understand how anyone could be fooled into thinking this could possibly be true. YET, we have been led to believe that what Jesus said while on earth has been supplanted by a "better" way, in that faith is seen as 'going beyond' facts, and belief that what Jesus said no longer applies to salvation, that it is only 'grace' that saves us, is the order of the day; that it is only through the feelings that are received through the 'Holy Spirit' that confirm the truth that it is Salvation by Grace through Faith that saves us, and not obedience to some obsolete and ancient Law that is the foundation for salvation. If Grace saves us then everyone is saved. But IF this is NOT true, what then?

It is amazing to me how many Christmas songs involve timing. Think of it . . ."Santa Claus is coming to town" . . . "T'is the season to be jolly, Fa La La" . . . "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas" . . . "Come they told me, pa-rum-pa-pum-pum" . . . "Christmas day is coming, the geese are getting fat" . . . The beauty of the Christmas season is not actually the fact that Christmas day arrives, but the exquisite anticipation of the coming event generates a longing that is palpable. The songs of the season help generate this longing, which goes a long way to promote the huge amount of spending for presents, the opening of which lasts for seconds. Is this how we should look for the 'coming of the King', when THEY come in all their glory to finally cleans the earth from the ravages of sin? Is the anticipation of the event more important than the event itself? After all, most Christians will solumnly declare that 'they are ready' to meet Jesus; but are they, really? Are YOU really ready? And IF you are ready how do you KNOW? More importantly, how do you know IF YOU ARE NOT? In some ways this is more than a little terrifying, when it comes right down to it. We spend more time preparing for a holiday than we spend in becoming prepared for eternity. Think on these things!

We have entered the 'Christmas Season'; the time of year that is a picture of contradictions. You hear the songs of the season on the radio, and wonder, "When will this Christmas spirit hit me?" There is the stress of preparing for the 'Big Day', with putting the strings of lights on the house, buying and decorating the tree (and WOW have tree prices gone up), shopping for presents (don't get me started on this one), and wrapping them, planning Christmas dinner; and all of this in addition to going to work and trying to deal with regular life. The seasonal pressures are enormous. And yet there is a palpable contrast to all of this. At times we begin to think about the less mundane, and more about the eternal. At times we allow our hearts (intellect) to react emotionally to the idea that the Son of God actually came to earth to do what it was that the Father sent Him to do. And here comes another more important contradiction about which we must make a decision, and that is, 'What did Jesus actually come to do?' Countless Christmas songs, and thousands of sermons will tell of a 'Babe in a Manger', and how that baby would grow up so that He could die in our place, and ultimately take us all to heaven. We hear stories about 'Wise Men from the East', and 'Shepherds in the field watching their flocks by night', and long to be with them, so that we too can witness this amazing event, the birth of Jesus. Yet, if we take Jesus at HIS word we must come to an understanding of THE TRUTH, because Jesus told Pilate, "I have come to testify to the truth. All who are OF the truth hear my voice."  There are countless OTHER voices demanding attention during this season, but the voice we must actually hear is the one that says, "I AM the Way, I AM the Truth, and I AM the Life." Listen to HIM!

Was Israel a rightous nation when God finally took them into the 'Promised Land"? Was the land into which they were to enter made clean by God so that His rightous Kingdom could enter? The answer may surprise you, because God had promised Abraham that He would make a 'Great Nation' out of his decendants, and admonished Abraham to "Walk before me and be blameless. I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and I will multiply you exceedingly." (Gen.17:1-2.)  What does it mean to be 'blameless'? Today,it seems that our response to the word blame is not what God meant when He spoke to Abraham so long ago; that is, to be righteous. Today we play the 'blame game', where one person tries to direct an antagonists scrutiny away from their own blame by pointing out the blame carried by that antagonist. Our Christian society revels in the idea that we all have blame, and always will, but it doesn't matter, because God, through Jesus' death, saved us in our sin, and now holds no blame over us. God would have cleansed the land of Canaan of it's evil population before the FIRST time that Israel came to the border, but Israel decide NOT to enter the land of promise, demonstrating that they were not blameless. God tried again 40 years later, but did not cleans either Israel or Canaan, because Israel wasted those 40 years in the wilderness, and DID NOT become righteous and blameless before the Lord God. God only allowed Israel to go into Canaan to fulfill His promise to His friend, Abraham. God will not let this happen again. The Last Kingdom of the Heavens WILL BE BLAMELESS before God; righteous in all respects, and fit for eternal life. Only then will God allow them to enter His righteous Kingdom.