For modern Christians who have spent their entire lives studying Scripture, surrounded by Church life, very familiar with the "vibe" of Christianity, it can be very easy to forget that, Jesus said some really strange things.

Without the benefit of 2,000+ years of theological research, amazing Christian lives lived, and acquaintance with the person of Jesus through Scripture, we miss what it might have been like to hear the words Jesus spoke for the very first time. When we strip away our bias, our over-comfortability with the phrasing of the Bible, and imagine what it would be like for someone to encounter Jesus in the first century - we realize that MANY of His words were inflammatory and radical.

We've become so used to using Jesus as a comfort blanket that we lose sight of just of how different a life He calls us to.

Don't get me wrong! Jesus IS and SHOULD BE a comfort to us. But to view His ministry as little more than a combination of cute quotes that make us feel good is to do a disservice to God, ourselves, and the relationship He desires to have with us.

In reality, when we understand how intense Jesus's message was, are appropriately shocked by it, and wrestle with it the way He desires us to wrestle with it - we realize that to accept and believe these words is nothing less than a powerful action of faith. 

Lunatics and cult-leaders have used Jesus's radical methods to gain a following. Liars have echoed His words and claimed them about themselves. But it is only the LORD who can say them with no hint of insanity or deceit. Jesus is LORD.

Email: [email protected]

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TruthBeToldYouTube

Logo: Matt Hernandez

Music: Acoustic Indie Folk Years By MarkJuly

Going through difficulties in life, suffering, and facing consequences of sin are difficult parts of life. Painful, harmful, and traumatic circumstances happen to all of us and they can cause us to question God's goodness. Why would God allow me to go through this? Didn't He know it would hurt me?

Eventually, we learn that those situations and circumstances were designed and/or used to teach us good lessons, but it doesn't mean the pain totally goes away. When we experience this kind of scarring or residual pain, it can cause us to double down on our questioning of God. Sure, I understand the difficult circumstances was used to draw me closer to God, but how does this continuation of trauma (which seems to only lead to ongoing doubts) draw me closer?

In this episode, we'll explore the situations of some of the heroes of the faith who must have asked these same questions to try to gain solidarity with them and understand what some purposes might be for the scarring God allows us to experience rather than healing us fully every time.

Email: [email protected]

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TruthBeToldYouTube

Logo: Matt Hernandez

Music: Acoustic Indie Folk Years By MarkJuly

Ok, ok.. before you get all up in arms - No. I'm not saying Jesus was a woman. The term Messiah just means Anointed One, and refers to one who saves Israel.

Many people were smaller versions of Messiah before Jesus appeared, prefiguring in part all that He would accomplish.

Interestingly, in THIS story that we cover from 1 Samuel, it's a woman who steps into that role. However, she isn't saving all of Israel or the entire world, but one man who, unfortunately might prefigure US.

I think it's amazing just how accurately this woman acts out what Christ fully accomplished and I think you will too.

Email: [email protected]

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TruthBeToldYouTube

Logo: Matt Hernandez

Music: Acoustic Indie Folk Years By MarkJuly

When the world becomes chaotic, Christians flock to the Scriptures to determine read prophecy. We read about end time events and, naturally, have a little fear when we consider that we might have to live through some of it. Some people prepare by saving drinking water, hoarding food, equipping bunkers, and keeping extra batteries on hand.

While there's absolutely nothing wrong with being cautious and prepared for potential rough times ahead, if we're doing all of this BECAUSE of our reading of prophecy, we might be missing the point.

Biblical prophecy is not just a heads up about God's punishment so we can attempt to avoid it. It's way more than just a telling of future events so we can beat the system. Biblical prophecy is given for a purpose, and it isn't for us to worry ourselves over escaping physical difficulty.

If we understand WHY prophecy is given in the Bible and read it accordingly, we might learn the ONE THING that might actually make us more prepared than any amount of stockpiling could do.

Email: [email protected]

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TruthBeToldYouTube

Logo: Matt Hernandez

Music: Acoustic Indie Folk Years By MarkJuly

We all know someone who isn't Christian, and many of us probably know someone who has died without coming to Christ. Are those people who have died in ignorance eternally damned?

In David Platt's book, "Something Needs to Change," he discusses his emotions at witnessing the burial rites of those who have died in the remote areas of the Himalayas. While the book itself is fantastic, his conclusions on the fate of those Hindus and Buddhists who never had an opportunity to hear the Gospel preached reflect those of many mainstream Christians.

However, do these conclusions accurately reflect what Jesus says about the subject?

Email: [email protected]

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TruthBeToldYouTube

Logo: Matt Hernandez

Music: Acoustic Indie Folk Years By MarkJuly

A few weeks ago, it was brought to my attention that my friends Brad and Ryan have started a new project called, "Reacting to Truth," that, essentially, is a reaction channel to my podcast/YouTube channel. 

This news really took me by surprise. Were they making a joke about it? Was it a prank I wasn't aware of? Why didn't they tell me they were doing it? Surely they wouldn't go through all this effort to, not only LISTEN TO my content, but to discuss it enough to want to record their conversational thoughts on it, while JUST intending to be supportive and kind to me?

Sure enough - they were. They appreciated what I was doing and wanted to share their support and thoughts on the messages I was delivering. When I found this out, I immediately went from shocked and skeptical to heart-warmed and appreciative. But why was this my reaction?

Don't I pray always for God to bless my efforts? Don't I want HIS support for this endeavor? Why, then, was it so hard to accept that my friends would want to express this type of love for me?

If John says that it's more difficult to love God who we can't see if we're not even loving our brothers who we CAN see, is it possible the inverse is true? Is my reluctance to accept love from those I can see an indication that maybe I'm not in the right frame of mind to accept personal love from God who I can't see?

Email: [email protected]

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TruthBeToldYouTube

Logo: Matt Hernandez

Music: Acoustic Indie Folk Years By MarkJuly

**PLEASE READ DESCRIPTION**

This episode is the 2nd in a series that I'm slowly working through, dedicated to analyzing the potential for division in the Church that runs along age lines.

While I don't see any wild amount of disunity between the different age groups currently, there are differences in experience, thought, understanding, and preferred methodology that could quickly turn into division if we're not aware of them.

We should all be looking around at the members of our congregations and asking ourselves, "How can I better serve them?" The first step to this, in my opinion, is understanding them. By building relationships built on a desire to understand and succeed together, we mitigate the human tendencies to assume poor motives, to write people off, or to forge ahead alone believing ourselves to be the only correct thinkers.

In this episode, I sat down with my friend Dallin who spoke for himself but did his best to represent how he saw the mindsets of those in his age group. Dallin is a former camper of mine with a thoughtful mind and a great heart. He started out fairly nervous to participate in the podcast but ended up articulating his thoughts well.

The primary points that Dallin brings out that I hope you'll take away from this episode are:

-Younger generations don't always think the same way that older generations do and, if we assume they do, we'll really suffer in our communication with them.

-Younger generations were born into the culture of the Church, they didn't necessarily build it. This isn't their fault and it doesn't need to be held against them.

-Young Christians might take certain things less seriously than older Christians but this doesn't mean they should be taken less seriously. They're intelligent and thoughtful and valuable to our Church.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TruthBeToldBiblePodcast

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TruthBeToldYouTube

Email: [email protected] 

Logo: Matt Hernandez

Music: Acoustic Indie Folk Years By MarkJuly

Are you in danger of having an Us vs. Them mentality when it comes to those who aren't Christian? Is this even all that wrong?

In Joshua 5, we get a really unique story in Israel's history regarding the Commander of the Army of the LORD. This story sits between Israel's wandering in the wilderness after their liberation from Egypt and the fall of Jericho as the first of the conquests of the Promised Land. As such, it often gets forgotten. However, it is a story that might have some really interesting application to our own lives.

Joshua asks this Commander, "Are you for us or for our adversaries?" The Commander merely replies, "Neither."

How could the Commander of the Army of the LORD not be FOR those who considered themselves to BE the army of the LORD? Doesn't God deliver the city of Jericho over to Israel? Doesn't this mean He's AGAINST their adversaries?

In this episode, we explore all of these questions and some potential applications to our own modern lives as we follow God.

Email: [email protected]

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TruthBeToldYouTube

Logo: Matt Hernandez

Music: Acoustic Indie Folk Years By MarkJuly

#faith #religion #spirituality #hope #love #Joshua #theophany #Christophany #Jesus #Christ #JesusChrist #theology #apologetics #OldTestament #NewTestament #Gospels #Writings #CommanderofthearmyoftheLORD #TheLORDSarmy #usvsthem #tribalism #Christian #Christianity #exegesis #hereneutics #bible #biblestudy #biblical

It often gets stated by skeptics that the Bible is "full of contradictions." Even Christians will stumble across verses that get a bit confusing sometimes.

Whenever this conversations comes up, it seems like it results in hostility and frustration most of the time. There are a few things we need to keep in mind before we even THINK about getting into these types of conversations.

It's important to go through the individual verses, but we have to remember to have respect for one another when we do this and come to the table for an actual conversation, not an anger-inducing session of talking past one another.

Follow these steps to increase effective communication between you and someone on the opposing end of the debate.

Link: https://www.logos.com/grow/biblical-hermeneutics-guide/

Email: [email protected]

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TruthBeToldYouTube

Logo: Matt Hernandez

Music: Acoustic Indie Folk Years By MarkJuly

The birth of our Savior is one of the most important events in human history. It is the fulfillment of prophecies, it is the answer to prayers, it is the beginning of hope. God became flesh and dwelt among us. 

While, personally, I don't celebrate Christmas (I don't think there is any chance this is remotely close to the actual birth of Jesus), to ignore this story in an effort to distance yourself from the materialistic trappings of the holiday is to refuse to participate in the recognition of an event that lowly shepherds, lofty kings, faithful Israelites, watchful Gentile astrologers, a humble Jewish family of little notoriety, and hosts of angels took very careful note of.

This story is historical fact and it is the answer to a question that has echoed down throughout time. "How long, LORD?!" The answer of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ is one that should be rejoiced over.

Email: [email protected]

Logo: Matt Hernandez

Music: Acoustic Indie Folk Years By MarkJuly