The Purity of Truth - The Battle of Our Day

If there is one thing sure in this media driven world we live in today, it is that truth is under attack. It has been rightfully called an age of post-modernism or an age of relativism. Put in simpler terms, we live in a day when many believe there is no absolute truth. What is right for me, is not necessarily right for you, is the mantra of our times.

The Bible speaks a different message. It has a lot to say about truth. The Christian faith is founded upon truth. Listen to the Biblical description of who Jesus is by His own declaration in John 14:6, “Jesus said “"I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” Jesus is the truth.

The battle against truth began in the Garden of Eden. Satan’s temptation came through his casting doubt on the command God had given Adam and Eve about what trees they could and could not eat from.

Genesis 2:16-17
The LORD God commanded the man, saying, "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely;  but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die."

Satan suggested Eve question the truth of what God had said.

Genesis 3:1
Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?"

“Has God said?” That was the question the devil put before Eve and it was just enough doubt for her to deviate from the truth. And once truth has even an iota of untruth in it; it becomes untruth. And in that little deviation from the truth, sin entered the world and through it the curse of sin lives in all of us.

You see truth is pure. Truth has no imperfection in it. But once the smallest amount of untruth mixes with truth, the purity is gone. Thus, by definition, truth that is no longer pure, is no longer truth.

And this is the way that Satan operates, even today. Just as Jesus states that He is the truth and operates only in truth, Satan operates by deception. That battle for truth that began in the very beginning of man’s time on earth, rages on today. 1 Timothy 4:1-2 speaks of this battle in the later times warning us that, “the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron.”

Satan operates in deception and in lies. He deceives us by surrounding truth with just enough untruth to draw us in. But truth is pure and if we allow Satan to taint truth in the smallest of ways, we end up in untruth. Truth is pure.

The solution to fighting the enemy is found within the wearing of the spiritual armor as seen in Ephesians, chapter six. We are to put on the belt of truth. And we are to use the Sword of the Spirit to strike down the lies. 1 John 4:6 teaches us that there are two spirits at work in our world and how we are to fight the battle. It says that “We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”

We must be masters of the sword; the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. And the way to understanding the truth of God’s Word is through the Holy Spirit, who is promised to all true followers of Jesus.

John 14:16-17  

"I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.”

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth. The devil is the spirit of untruth.

Truth is pure, and it must remain pure otherwise it becomes untruth. 

Psalm 119:159-160
Consider how I love Your precepts; Revive me, O LORD, according to Your lovingkindness. The sum of Your word is truth, And every one of Your righteous ordinances is everlasting. 

I leave you with a short prayer from the psalms. Make it your prayer this very day.

Psalm 86:11-12
Teach me Your way, O LORD; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name. I will give thanks to You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, And will glorify Your name forever. 

Keep truth pure, lest it becomes untruth.

If there is one thing sure in this media driven world we live in today, it is that truth is under attack. It has been rightfully called an age of post-modernism or an age of relativism. Put in simpler terms, we live in a day when many believe there is no absolute truth. What is right for me, is not necessarily right for you, is the mantra of our times.

The Bible speaks a different message. It has a lot to say about truth. The Christian faith is founded upon truth. Listen to the Biblical description of who Jesus is by His own declaration in John 14:6, “Jesus said “"I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” Jesus is the truth.

The battle against truth began in the Garden of Eden. Satan’s temptation came through his casting doubt on the command God had given Adam and Eve about what trees they could and could not eat from.

Genesis 2:16-17
The LORD God commanded the man, saying, "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely;  but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die."

Satan suggested Eve question the truth of what God had said.

Genesis 3:1
Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?" 

“Has God said?” That was the question the devil put before Eve and it was just enough doubt for her to deviate from the truth. And once truth has even an iota of untruth in it; it becomes untruth. And in that little deviation from the truth, sin entered the world and through it the curse of sin lives in all of us.

You see truth is pure. Truth has no imperfection in it. But once the smallest amount of untruth mixes with truth, the purity is gone. Thus, by definition, truth that is no longer pure, is no longer truth. 

And this is the way that Satan operates, even today. Just as Jesus states that He is the truth and operates only in truth, Satan operates by deception. That battle for truth that began in the very beginning of man’s time on earth, rages on today. 1 Timothy 4:1-2 speaks of this battle in the later times warning us that, “the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron.”

Satan operates in deception and in lies. He deceives us by surrounding truth with just enough untruth to draw us in. But truth is pure and if we allow Satan to taint truth in the smallest of ways, we end up in untruth. Truth is pure.

The solution to fighting the enemy is found within the wearing of the spiritual armor as seen in Ephesians, chapter six. We are to put on the belt of truth. And we are to use the Sword of the Spirit to strike down the lies. 1 John 4:6 teaches us that there are two spirits at work in our world and how we are to fight the battle. It says that “We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”

We must be masters of the sword; the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. And the way to understanding the truth of God’s Word is through the Holy Spirit, who is promised to all true followers of Jesus.

John 14:16-17  

"I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.”

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth. The devil is the spirit of untruth. 

Truth is pure, and it must remain pure otherwise it becomes untruth.

Psalm 119:159-160
Consider how I love Your precepts; Revive me, O LORD, according to Your lovingkindness. The sum of Your word is truth, And every one of Your righteous ordinances is everlasting.

I leave you with a short prayer from the psalms. Make it your prayer this very day.

Psalm 86:11-12
Teach me Your way, O LORD; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name. I will give thanks to You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, And will glorify Your name forever. 

Keep truth pure, lest it becomes untruth.

How Do I Now I Am Really a Christian - Sheep and Goats, Wheat and Tares. How Do I Know the Difference (Part 3)

How do I know if I am really a Christian? According to research, almost 80% of Americans lay claim to that title. Yet, when we look out into the world and we compare the behaviors of those claiming to be Christian and those not, we just see little difference between the groups. Divorce, children being born out of wedlock, addictions of all types, and many other behaviors that the world exhibits, appear to be just as prevalent in the Christian as in the world.

Well, we claim, we might be Christians, but we aren’t perfect yet. Sanctification is the process of becoming like Christ and it is a life-long work. Yes, I agree, but the Christian life is more than saying God is changing me and then continuing on as the rest of the world does.

Let me digress before discussing change in the Christian. We cannot give due justice to this conversation until we agree on what being a Christian actually means. We must define the word.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the word Christian as “one who professes belief in the teachings of Jesus Christ.” That seems to be a reasonable definition. Jesus defines it in a very similar way in John 8:31, saying “So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples.” To be a Christian is to abide, to live and believe in the Word of Christ.

  

So, if we apply that definition to the word, then the logical progression in the search to determine what a Christian is, would be look to the teachings of Jesus and then find out what His teachings are. What is the Word of Jesus?  Any legitimate attempt to do so, requires a careful look at the Bible, particularly the New Testament, to find out what Jesus teaches.

Before I go on, I offer that anyone who claims to be a Christian, but rejects all of the teachings of the Bible, is not by definition a Christian. Jesus left this earth over two-thousand years ago, but since then, through archeological science, we have documents that prove out to be the ancient writings of His day. These documents were written by those who walked with Jesus in person or directly knew someone who did. If you reject the canonicity of the Bible, meaning it was inspired by God’s Holy Spirit as He moved the authors to write it, then you really have no legitimate reason to call yourself a Christian, because without the Bible, we have no reason to even believe Jesus existed. So, the first test we must make in order to determine if we, ourselves, are really a Christian, is to decide if we believe the Bible is what it claims to be.

Assuming you accept the Bible as true, if not you might as well stop reading this, then let us now begin to explore what the teachings of Jesus are, so that we can decide if we are truly a disciple of His.

The first teaching of Jesus is possibly the most important test of our belief; the deity of Christ. Simply put, Jesus claimed to be God. Do we believe that Jesus was God? The scriptures say He did. No, He didn’t walk around yelling, “I’m God, I’m God”, like some kind of insane man, but the Gospels certainly demonstrate that He held claim to being part of the triune nature of God. He was so adamant about this truth, that He died on the cross because of that claim as we see in the Gospel of John.

John 10:22-38
 At that time the Feast of the Dedication took place at Jerusalem;  it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in the portico of Solomon.  The Jews then gathered around Him, and were saying to Him, "How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly."  Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father's name, these testify of Me.  "But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep.  "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;  and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.  "My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.  "I and the Father are one."  The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him.  Jesus answered them, "I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?"  The Jews answered Him, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God."  Jesus answered them, "Has it not been written in your Law, 'I SAID, YOU ARE GODS'?  "If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken),  do you say of Him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'?  "If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father."

The Jews wanted to stone Jesus because they said He was making Himself out to be God. Under threat of death, Jesus refuses to dispute this claim.

Another bold claim of His deity, as well as claim to being eternal, is found in John 8:57-59,

“So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?”  Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”  So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

Using the phrase, “before Abraham, I am”, was a reference to God telling Moses to tell the people that “I AM” sent him, as we see in Exodus, chapter three, which is one of God’s names for Himself. The Jews understood Jesus was claiming to not just be from God, but to be God. Again, Jesus makes this claim under threat of death.

The Bible is replete with many references to the claim of Jesus to be deity. Please, do your own study of the scriptures. But here are just a few verses that tell us Jesus is God.

Titus 2:13
waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,

2 Peter 1:1
Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 9:6
For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

Romans 9:5
To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.

Jesus claimed to be deity and the other writers of the Bible agree. This is the first test of our Christianity, believing Jesus is God. This is why we refuse to accept the claims of other groups such as the Mormons and the Jehovah Witnesses, that they too, are Christians. They deny the deity of Christ, which means they deny the teachings of Jesus, Himself.

How about you? Do you believe the truth of the scriptures and follow the teachings of Christ?

More to come next time as we continue to answer the question, Am I a Christian?

Sheep and Goats, Wheat and Tares. How Do I Know the Difference (Part 2)

Am I really a Christian? 

Last time I wrote on this question, the main thrust was to remind ourselves that we must test ourselves to see if we are “in” the faith. Our eternal destination is dependent upon this answer. Personally, I find this to be the most important question that I must be sure of, as I live out this life. Being an atheist would be easy. Life has no meaning thus whatever I do has no meaning. If what we do has no real meaning, then I am free to live my life for myself. Whatever brings me temporal joy, will be what drives my behavior. This my friends, is the age we are living in. The world is all about me.

But certainly, anyone claiming to be a follower of Christ knows the Christian faith is not about self. Right? Jesus is Himself the epitome of humility, having left the glory of Heaven to come to earth and become like us, human. Though He remained fully God, while being fully human, he set aside His deity and subjected Himself to humiliation and suffering that would lead Him all the way to the cross. In Matthew 26:53 Jesus declared that he had at “His disposal more than twelve legions of angels” who would sweep down at His request to save Him from the arrest that would lead to His crucifixion. Jesus denied His own safety and comfort for all of us. He knew the pain to come. Yet, he thought not of Himself, but of the lost and dying world. So, He gave His very life.

Listen to this “fact.” In 2015 according to the World Christian database as quoted in The World Almanac and Book of Facts 2018 edition, there are 250,678,642 Christians in America. That means that 77.9% of Americans claim to be Christian. When you go to Walmart almost 8 out of 10 people you encounter are Christians. The highways are filled with Christian drivers. Our businesses must be running by a Christian majority. Our government has to filled with them.

Really? It sure doesn’t look that way. The American culture is a mess. Crime, addiction, murders, abortions, sexual promiscuity, divorce, school shootings and any and all kind of sinful behaviors are everywhere we look. Either we are really bad at being Christians or something else is at work here. Are we really going to believe that almost eighty percent of Americans are living the Christian life?

One of the biggest issues in communication is that often we say words to each other, but we do not define them in the same way. Words have different meanings which are dependent on the context of how they are spoken. They can be spoken in jest or seriousness and things like body language are important to understanding the meaning of a word or how it was meant to be taken. They also change across time and generations, as well as across cultural settings. Communication is just not that simple and this causes a wealth of misunderstanding in our world. So, when we say we are a Christian, we need to find out just what that really means.

My guess is that the 250 some million Americans, do not define a Christian in the same way.

So, what do we do with that? I suggest we go to the source. The Bible is the genesis, pun intended, of the development of the term Christian. Before we can answer the question, Am I a Christian, we must determine what that means. We must look into scripture and find out what God has to say about being a Christian.

Before we explore scripture, I suggest we spend time in prayer and ask the Holy Spirit to lead us into the truth of what it means to be Christian.

In part three of this little journey, I will try and discover what the Bible says. See you then.