TRUTH IS A PERSON 

PART TWO

Jesus, in John's Gospel, chapter 8, when stating His divinity to a group of Pharisees, who virtually were accusing Jesus of being an illegitimate child, says to them: "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me.

Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word.

You are of your father, the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do.

He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.

But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me.

Which of you convicts me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears God's words; therefore, you do not hear, because you are not of God." John 8:42-47

In stark contrast to Satan, the father of lies, Jesus Christ said of Himself: "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through Me." John 14:6 He was saying to His disciples, and directly to Thomas, in reply to a question from him, that He Himself was the embodiment of Truth.

Earlier in John 8, the chapter quoted above, Jesus defends His self witness to being the Son of God, as He says in verses 29, 39 "And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him." As He spoke these words, many believed in Him.

Then Jesus made an astounding claim, which proved to be true for those who put their trust in Him at that time, and still proves true today in the lives of those who take the Living God at His Word. - Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you continue in My word, you are My disciples indeed,

And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." John 8:31,32

I love what the Director of the Bible college I attended in New Zealand said of that verse: "..............you shall know the truth, AND THE TRUTH IN YOU SHALL BE A LIBERATING FORCE!" 

Jesus re-stated this truth concerning Himself, in verse 36, where He said: " If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed."

Back in the eighties, I remember hearing the testimony of Barry McGuire, who had a huge hit song in 1965 with the protest song "Eve Of Destruction." He said he went around to a friend's place one night to "smoke dope." On the coffee table was a copy of "Good News For Modern Man," a popular paraphrase of the New Testament in modern language.  He said in his gravelly voice, "Hey, I'm a modern man. What's this all about>" He took it home and began to read it, and he could not deny it was the Truth. That was the beginning of a transformed life as he encountered the Jesus of the Bible in the twentieth century - the God who still makes people free from the power of sin and its consequences.

As a Christian, I am far from perfect. At times, I have been guilty of not representing the Truth very well in my life. I say that to my shame, but daily I seek to follow the One who is unwavering in truth and integrity.

Jesus, the eternal Son of God, who is one with the Father and the Holy Spirit in the Godhead, calls to you today: I am STILL the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall not walk in darkness. I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, yet shall he live. And he who lives and believes in Me shall never die.

Those who all their lifetimes have sat in darkness and the shadow of death have seen a great light - and their lives have forever changed as they have encountered the Person, who is Truth, the Lord Jesus Christ!

Although this present world has been corrupted by the lies and deception of the evil one, I have read the back of the book and we win! The book of Revelation paints graphic word pictures of the final judgment of Satan and his hordes - to deceive the nations no more. Jesus Christ will return as  King of Kings and Lord of Lords, pictured in Revelation 19:11 Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True...

If you would like to know more about how to become a Christian, and experience the life-changing power of God working in your life, one resource I can direct you to is www.vision.org.au This is the online home of Australia's Vision Christian Media. Click on "Grow your faith" then from the dropdown menu, click on "Looking for God?" God Bless.

TRUTH IS A PERSON 

Over a number of years, the  Readers Digest have published lists of the most trusted professions in Australia, as well as compiling a list of the most trusted individuals. When I searched online, I found the list of 45 most trusted professions. Admittedly, this was some nine years ago, but I would imagine the ratings on the list would not have changed much over the years, concerning the public's perception of trustworthiness.

At the top of the list were paramedics, firefighters, pilots, rescue volunteers and nurses in positions one to five.

At the other end of the scale of trustworthiness were taxi drivers, real estate agents, car salesmen, politicians and telemarketers. Having been a taxi driver in Hobart, the southernmost capital city of any state in Australia - for over fourteen years (was it really that long? Time flies when you're having fun - or more to the point, as you get older), my boss had me laughing at times, when directing my reverse parking in his yard into awkward spaces, when he called out: "Trust me, Pete! I'm a cab driver!"

Having said that, looking at the list of professions, the perceived levels of trustworthiness are generalisations. As a cab driver - I hung up my keys for the last time nearly four years ago, many of the cabbies I have known have been hard-working, decent people just trying hard to make an honest living. Also, our experience four years ago as we had our house on the market, and subsequently sold, and then bought another house - dealing with three real estate agents, lower on the list of professions than taxi drivers - was a happy one, and we could say without a shadow of a doubt that we trusted these three agents implicitly.

As to the list of most trusted individuals, I would personally question some of the choices at the top of the lists, but that is another story.

The reality is, that as we are at the beginning of the third decade of the twenty-first century, honesty and trustworthiness seem to be character qualities that do not always seem to be in ample supply. It used to be said that a person's word on a matter was their bond, quite often sealed with a handshake. In other words, if a person said he would do something for you, his word could be trusted - at least in the majority of dealings with reputable people and organisations. That, obviously is far from reality in our present times.

With the advent of personal computers, laptops, tablets, smartphones and other readily available communication platforms, using the internet to host a myriad of social media sources, the potential for users to fall victim to a host of online scammers and cyber-criminals of varying degree and sophistication is mind-boggling and not just a little bit scary!

Add to the online scammers the criminal telemarketers preying on the elderly, in particular, who use fear and intimidation techniques to attempt to catch them unawares, and in turn, by deceit and lies, to fleece them of financial assets - all the while presenting as bona fide representatives of organisations such as the Australian Taxation Office, Centrelink, and Telstra. We have had bogus calls from people purporting to be from all of those bodies just mentioned. At one time, the "Telstra" one was almost on a daily basis - usually with voices from overseas call centres. So frustrating! The really upsetting thing is that, no doubt, there would be numbers of people who fall for these scams and suffer financially, physically and mentally in the process - and it would seem they can do nothing about it.

Then there is the "fake news" phenomenon spurned by the 2016 US election of Donald Trump, with most of the major US networks and newspapers and news magazines deliberately presenting stories as facts, when, in reality, oftentimes they are nothing more than attempts to denigrate him as a person in ways that cannot be substantiated by the truth. In 2020, post November 3 election in the USA, this phenomenon is actually worse. Networks and news outlets are falling over themselves to declare Joe Biden is the runaway winner of the election, and Trump should just concede, and fade into oblivion. 

Fortunately, for Donald Trump, and American democracy, the battle for the truth about this election outcome is far from over, and diligent lawyers and millions of Bible-believing Christians are standing for full disclosure of fraud, evil vote-rigging and exposure of corruption on all levels, including suspect computer software under the name of Dominion.

Here in Australia, where I live, the mainstream media also has been guilty of presenting "fake news" and for political advantage, only presenting a one-sided appraisal of individuals and political parties. I have had to laugh, albeit cynically, when I have heard promos on ABC Newsradio stating that their news is authoritative and unbiased - when in fact, they are obviously very much biased to the left side of the political spectrum. No more was this so, than when Tony Abbott was Australian Prime Minister, and was constantly being undermined and ridiculed by the ABC. Their current treatment of Donald Trump is no better. As has been said by others, once upon a time, you could listen to the news and receive objective facts, and then it was left up to the hearer or reader to make up their own minds on a particular matter.

We should not be surprised that truth and personal integrity are dwindling commodities in today's world. The Bible says in 1 John 5:19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. NKJV

Speaking of the rebellion of Satan, when as the angel, Lucifer, he lost his place in the presence of God, Revelation 12:9 tells us: And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. Paul, the apostle, says in 2 Tim. 3:13 But evil men and imposters will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 

Lies and deception entered the human race when Adam fell into sin the Garden of Eden.

TO BE CONTINUED

THIS DAY WE FIGHT 

In his book, "This Day We Fight - Breaking the Bondage Of A Passive Spirit," American pastor and author, Francis Frangipane recounts a scene from the third film in the Lord Of The Rings series, "The Return Of The King." Quoting from page 32 of the book,...Aragorn seeks to inspire his hopelessly outnumbered men against what seems like sure defeat: Hell's swarming legions have amassed before them and the courage of Aragorn's fighters is weakening.

Riding along the front lines of his gathered, but rather lowly army, he shouts:

I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship. But it is not this day...This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good earth, I bid you stand, men of the West! 

Francis Frangipane goes on to say: Let us also put aside our fears and the burdens of a passive spirit. Let us take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. And let us war on behalf of righteousness. A day may come when the world succumbs to the forces of evil. But it is not this day. This day we fight!

The day we committed our lives to Jesus Christ, and He became our Saviour and Lord, we were enlisted in an army, but unlike a soldier in a physical army who after a time may decide to leave the ranks of the military and return to civilian life, our commitment to fighting our enemy is a life-long one, and we dare not remain passive in our stance toward our foe, Satan, for if we do not take the offensive position against him, he will seek relentlessly to weaken us to the point of being ineffective in the Lord's army. After all, as Jesus said in John 10:10, the thief (Satan) has the unwavering aim to STEAL, KILL and DESTROY - Us!

As I was pondering the quote above from Francis Frangipane's book "This Day We Fight," I thought about the passage in Ephesians 6 where the apostle Paul encourages Christians to: "Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil."

Four times in the verses Ephesians 6:10-14, Paul admonishes his readers to STAND.

Verse 13 says: "Therefore, take up the whole armour of God, that you may be able to WITHSTAND in the evil day, and having done all, to STAND."

As I read and watched the impassioned cry of Aragorn in The Lord Of The Rings, I was amazed at the last sentence...................."I bid you stand, men of the West."

It seems that, as each day passes, all that we hold dear in the West, as in Western nations and society is being attacked and eroded. For those who do not hold to a Biblical worldview, there are no longer any moral absolutes. What once was white is now black, with all shades of grey being accepted in between.

Truly the words of Isaiah the prophet spoken some seven hundred years before Christ are true of our times:

    "Woe to those who call evil good

      and good evil,

      Who put darkness for light

       and light for darkness,

       who put bitter for sweet

       and sweet for bitter." Isaiah 5:20 NIV

Whether it concerns issues such as Abortion, Same-sex marriage, Euthanasia, or all the implications of Political Correctness, the need has never been greater than today for Christians who are fully committed to the Lordship of Jesus, and who are committed to obeying the Word of God, the Bible - To STAND FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS, and TO KNOW WHAT we are standing FOR and AGAINST according to the unchanging standards of Truth and Righteousness in the Word of God.

In the context of where we are in early November, 2020, the U.S. Presidential election has just taken place this week, with the outcome still on a knife-edge, although mainstream media are all but calling a victory for the Democrats and their contender, Joe Biden. Certainly, in the natural, there would seem to be almost no hope of Donald Trump now reaching the 'magic' number of 270 Electoral College votes, with Biden only six short of that number and Mr Trump still on 214. As the counting of postal votes has continued in key states, it seems that the majority votes have been for the Democrats.

AND YET, there have been a number of prophetic words this year and in years previous to this from well seasoned and highly regarded prophets - that Donald Trump would win a second term as President (2020=2024). There has seemed to be an agreement amongst some of these men and women of God that this would be a certainty, albeit with much civil unrest, rioting, looting etc., to follow. Some prophets have also stated that President Trump would experience a deeper relationship with the Lord God during these times. 

As with Aragorn, in The Lord of the Rings, it seems that the opposing "army" is about to vanquish Donald Trump's hopes of retaining the Presidency and staying in the White House.

BUT GOD....... WATCH THIS SPACE!!