CHAMPIONING TRUTH 6 OCT 2015

A spiritual message on the question of truth & challenging unbelief. Truth & Christ (the Way, the Truth & the Life) exist regardless how we perceive them. In these times, truth is under savage attack. The Spirit of this Age is to reject the idea that truth even exists; and the Emerging Church has embraced this and abandoned Biblical truth. These Emerging Church pastors are skeptical that anyone knows what the Bible means, & half of the born-again Christians no longer believe there is absolute truth. The skeptic resists the truther with “How do you know??” “Who says?” and “Says who?” While I believe in sincere investigation, I am skeptical about skepticism. What’s life’s meaning? What happens after death? How do we tell right from wrong? There is more promise in faith than cynicism & skepticism.

TOO SMART FOR THEIR OWN GOOD. Sophisticated thinkers think that knowledge does not exist. If we know nothing, how do we know to doubt? To become a skeptic, one must have certain ideas and knowledge. I ask the skeptic if he can prove to me & convince me that my knowledge in Christ is bogus. Oh the skeptic may claim the possibility, but he has no knowledge with which to disprove me, and the possibility I am wrong is not the certainty of it. We need to allow our thinking to penetrate reality. Faith in God allows us to penetrate the satanic Matrix of lies. The truth sets us free!! (JN 8:32) The World’s inability to admit truth exists is debilitating. And to be honest, these skeptics will not handle a hot stove, and when the doctor says take a certain med, they do. In spite of their professed skepticism towards truth & knowledge, they know more than they will admit! The Word of God warns us not to walk in the vanity & futility of these people’s minds, “Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:…But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus…”(A)

FROM RATIONAL GODLY AUTHORITY TO UNGODLY SOCIAL POWER: the creation of PROGRAMMABLE MINDS. When people have no absolute convictions, and no moral absolutes, their minds are easy to control. When I worked with trauma-based mind control victims, I noticed their minds were malleable to believe that the truth was whatever the programmer said it was. Some people think we are better off not knowing the truth, even if it does exist. Without truth, our minds are ships without anchors which the waves & winds toss anywhere. Students coming out of high schools & universities today are rarely able to think systematically by using evidence step by step to build a conclusion, & are ignorant of basic facts & knowledge once considered foundational. Instead they have been socially programmed, and their mind controlled minds respond to visual images & buzz words. For instance, engage some of these students on environmentalism and they use buzzwords & slogans. Attempt to engage them with facts & knowledge, and they cling to their programming. Our Christian forefathers had convictions, while these deChristianized public school grads have only opinions, and have been convinced truth does not exist. Virtue in a person strives for truth; public opinion cannot do this, and often strives to aid & abet vice. Deniers of truth have no anchor to their mental boats & are mentally tossed around to be blown by the winds of popular opinion & programming. In contrast, Christians are told to take every thought captive to Christ.(B)

“THEY RECEIVED NOT THE LOVE OF THE TRUTH, THAT THEY MIGHT BE SAVED.” (2 THSS 2:10) The context of this verse is the End times when the AntiChrist arrives with all power & lying wonders, and all the deceptions of unrighteousness. Satan animates him…yes, Satan who is the Father of lies.(C) But if there is no single truth, but simply relative truth,… if “this is my truth & that is your truth”, then Satan’s job is finished. If everything can be truth, then there are no lies to uncover! The age old wisdom of the Word of God says, “Buy the truth, and sell it not.”(D) But truth is not popular anymore. It is on the modern junk pile of discarded ideas. It never ceases to amaze me how the World will get very specific in how you are to do something, how to be successful at some competition or how to get somewhere by driving, and then tell us that all roads lead to God. Supposedly, there are no wrong turns to get to God. It is silly to think that everyone is right, & nobody is right…and junking absolutes leaves us nothing to define evil. So you can see that all truth is God’s truth. The Word of God teaches that there is a specific way, and that everyone on the side of truth listens to Christ.(E) Christ went on to say, “Everyone that is of the truth hears my voice.”(F) In fact, the Word of God says that the truth can be seen in nature, so that we are all “without excuse”.(G) How can anyone think they can fellowship with the God who is called the “God of Truth”(H) without believing in truth?

KEEP THE BELT OF TRUTH ON, & W/ THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT IN HAND, USE THE TRUTH. We are commanded to be ready to give a reasoned defense of our beliefs. This is called apologetics. Christian apologetics is unpopular today, because supposedly everyone can have their own truth. The apostle Paul repeatedly used the absolute truth to defend the Christian faith.(I) Jude 1:3 tells us to “contend earnestly” for the truth. And 2 COR 10:5 teaches us to “destroy speculations…against the knowledge of God.” At first, you may wonder about your faith…like Pilate you ask, “What is truth?”(J) Do you remember your experience when Christ forgave your sins?! It was real, wasn’t it? (By the way, the Greek word for when something that was hidden is unveiled in an epiphany is aletheia. When we experience forgiveness the epiphany is an aletheia.) God’s wisdom created the earth & you also. The goodness & good purpose of God fill this earth. There is purpose to your life.(K) And rational, godly, scientific inquiry can provide us with a better understanding of this planet. It is what motivated the early scientists. Faith & the truths of God are not at war with reason. They are at war with lies & deception. They help us get beyond propaganda spins & appearances. Christ constantly exposed appearances. The Worldly churches are using the World’s methods of buzzwords, images, and emotions for evangelism, rather than articulating the truths of Christ.

LIMITS TO OUR KNOWLEDGE. To acknowledge truth & knowledge exist, does not mean that we don’t have limits to knowing these. Of course we have limits. It is part of the reason that God’s Word establishes the standard of using multiple witnesses. This standard is not limited to Christians, it is a well-established concept worldwide. Further, the Word of God uses symbols to communicate truths…so we see two witnesses described in REV as “these are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.” (We can read more of these symbols of the two anointed ones at ZECH 4:3-14, EX 25:18-22 & KGS 6:23-28.) Symbols, patterns, prefigurements, and templates are some of the Biblical methods to communicate deep truths through the centuries. Babylon is a template of the power of false religion married to evil political power. Sodom is a template of unrestrained immorality. Egypt is a picture of the World System.

RIGHT KNOWLEDGE GIVES RIGHTEOUSNESS. Four modern historians describing an event will not necessarily emphasize the same items, some will be omitted, some down played, and some over-emphasized. So written history is a construct; by its very nature it will be limited in its descriptions of events…but that does not make it fiction. History is a search for truth. Facts are truth makers. The Bible is also a book of history…sharing the same limitations that all history has, even though it was inspired by God. Many Biblical narratives leave off important details…for instance, what happened to the converted population of the town that the woman of the well brought to Christ? There is no way to give all the details of a happening, and to have all viewpoints of an event be exactly the same. But we know history is important to God…He is called the God of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob. The Word records Almighty God breaking into human history and actively doing things. Christians have always seen a purpose to history. Likewise, your personal history is full of meaning & purpose. Much more than most Christians realize. We Christians have a new identity in Christ when we got a new life. In ancient & modern times, many Christians have died for the love of truth & their new Christian identity. We are “inwardly renewed day by day.”(L) When difficulties happen, and God seems remote, we are to remember, that nothing can separate us from the love of God. (M) God has special plans for His martyrs. Knowing our limitations, we sing, “Further along we will know all about it.” Hallelujah!
Just as history is limited, this article is too; much more could be written on its subject of truth. More is not necessarily better. Christ was sparing of words. Be blessed my friend, and may you recognize & walk in your true identity in Christ.

(A) EPH 4:18-21 (B) 2 COR 10:3-5 (C) JN 8:44 (D) PRV 23:23 (E) JN 10:1-3, JN 14:6,21,23 (F) JN 18:37 (G) ROM 1:20 (H) God is called this in DT 32:4, PS 31:5, & ISA 65:16 (I) see ACTS chapters 14,17,18,19 (J) JN 18:38 (K)One sees this early on at GEN 1:26-28 (L) 2 COR 4:16 (M) ROM 8:38