|
For
the time will come when men will not put up
with sound doctrine . . . . 2 Tim. 4:3
The word “Truth” has tossed around
in my mind for several months now. As for me, I know I want
nothing more than to speak the Truth when I write. But if I
fail to reveal Truth, then I pray that God will cause me to
cease from what I’m doing. It would be a terrible thing to lead
anyone astray. One day on my journey for the meaning of Truth,
I awoke with a Scripture:
“Stand firm then, with the belt of Truth buckled around your
waist.” Eph. 6:14
As I began my quest for what “Truth”
really is, I took a look deep inside my own heart to see what I
believed Truth to be and how I would define it. The things that
came to me were that I knew without a shadow of a doubt that
God’s Word is Truth. I knew that the God the Bible speaks of is
indeed sovereign, the Great I Am, Father of all, He alone is
Truth and that He alone is God. That Jesus, who is the Savior
of the world, died for all and gave the ultimate sacrifice,
arose from the dead on the third day and when He ascended into
heaven, sat down at the right hand of the Father. And what a
place to be seated! I knew that the Blood of Jesus which was
shed at Calvary cleanses from all sins whether past, present or
future, and that all we need to do is ask God for forgiveness,
believe upon the Lord Jesus and we shall be saved. I knew that
the Blood of Jesus will never lose its power. I also knew when
Jesus ascended into heaven that He sent the promised Holy Spirit
to comfort, guide and direct us. With all sincerely, I believe
all of these things to be Truth! I can also tell you that there
is not enough time or space in this writing to say all that I
feel within my heart, but must save some of those Truths for
future writings as God inspires me.
When I was looking through the
Scriptures concerning Truth, I noticed one major detail about
Jesus. He answered many questions with: “I tell you the Truth.”
One thing I know is that Jesus could not answer with anything
but Truth because grace and Truth came through Him (John 1:17)
and He is the way and the Truth and the life. (John 14:6)
Before Jesus was crucified He stood
before Pilate and clarified His reason for coming into the world
and why He was born, which He said was to bring Truth. Pilate
asked Jesus, “What is Truth?” Pilate wasn’t too interested in
getting an answer because he turned on his heels and left
Jesus. When he returned to speak to Jesus further, he never
once revisited the question left hanging in the air, so he never
got an answer from One who knew all about Truth. (See John
18:28-40)
That’s the way it is with many
people today. Many search for answers, but never take the time
to wait for God to give them what they so desperately need.
Some never even search God’s Truths for the answers. Some
search for Truth, but are looking in all the wrong places.
They're grabbing at anything that comes down the pike, so to
speak. Some even look into the darkness to find Truth, but
Truth can only be found in the light.
To give an illustration for what I
mean, it had been my dream to go north and see the states where
the pilgrims settled since I love American history. I also
wanted to tour the city of Salem, Massachusetts. In Salem, we
toured a few museums. Once we were inside the first museum, we
learned that it had to do with the Salem witch trials. It
didn't take long for our tour guide to begin talking about the
Wicca religion and said that the religion was not to be confused
with witches flying on brooms, but something totally different.
I became increasingly uncomfortable and wanted to leave very
soon upon arriving because of the evil I felt there. In fact,
I was so uncomfortable that I wasn't interested in anything else
he had to say but wanted to make a hasty exit!
At the last museum we visited, I
struck up a conversation with the ticket person. I asked her
what the Wicca religion was all about. She said, “Oh it’s the
worship of flowers, trees and things of nature.” I said, “So
they worship created things rather than worshiping ‘the’
Creator?” She replied, “Exactly!” Unfortunately, I was so
stunned that I was left speechless. Clearly, they have traded
the Truth for a lie. The following thought came to me while I
researched Truth: “If we don't believe the Truth, then we
believe a lie.” This passage goes hand and hand with that
thought:
They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and
served created things rather than the Creator – who is forever
praised. Amen. Rom. 1:25
More and more we see people turning
to false doctrines which is anything but the Truth found in
Scripture. Unfortunately, the counterfeit, and the belief
thereof, can have more of an allurement than the Gospel of Jesus
Christ to some. You can be sure that the enemy is laying down a
trap for any who will go there and any who runs head-on into his
snare. Satan is the father of all lies, so we must be careful
not to exchange the Truth of God for his lies. We must ask God
to help us to always believe the Truth.
We can even skip through the
channels of our TV and some things may shock you and can even
leave you feeling confused unless you’re well-grounded in your
faith. I heard something the other day that alarmed me to no
end! A man who was a “self-professing” prophet said these exact
words: “In the past it has been said that prayer changes all
things, but money is the answer to all things.” I didn’t wait
to hear him speak another word but changed the channel! Be
warned that you cannot believe everyone on TV who says he is a
prophet or seems to have a connection with the Almighty just
because he or she claims to do so. We must ask God for complete
discernment of who is a carrier of the Truth and who is not, but
sometimes some are so obvious that we don’t even have to ask!
We must also be made aware that in
this day and time, there are ministers who are afraid to speak
the Truth to their congregations for fear that they may
experience a mass exodus. The Name of Jesus is never spoken,
the Blood of Jesus is never brought up and the Cross is
completely left out of sermons. All of these things are the
foundation for our faith to start with. Salvation is not
possible without them. People need to hear Truth from the
pulpit. Actually, I want to hear some old fashioned preaching
of the Truth because that’s what I grew up on. It is the type
that is not sugar coated and watered down, but is saturated with
the anointing oil of the Holy Spirit and is Truth. When Truth
is preached, repentance is destined to follow and revival is
sure to come in a real and mighty way. I love to hear the Truth
and long for revival. In my opinion, services like those are
few and far between in this day and time. But there is
something liberating when we hear the Truth because Jesus said:
“Then
you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free.”
John 8:32
Prayer:
Dear Father, I
come humbly with a heart filled with the things that You have
been so gracious to show me. I pray for others to long to know
your Truth because it will indeed set them free. I thank you
Father for ministers who are not afraid to speak Truth to their
congregations and I pray for those who are afraid to. I pray for
a holy boldness for all ministers. I thank you for the Holy
Spirit who is ever present and reveals the Truth to us so we
will know how to live and operate in this society we live in.
Help us to search for Truth in Your Word, to be guided by it, to
live it and to speak it. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
|
