It seems now more than ever, those who speak the truth are hated. Believers are trying to share the truth with a world who would rather believe their own truth. Our own opinions seem to matter more than what is true. The dictionary’s definition of truth is a fact or belief that is accepted as true, is verified or is an indisputable fact. John 4:24, God is spirit and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth. Jesus replies to Pilate when he questions him about being a king. John 18:37, “I was born for this and I have come into the world for this: to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” Now more than ever we must preach the truth of Christ to the world. If not for our sakes, but our children’s and those still lost. The devil is distorting God’s truth and confusing not only the lost but even those who call themselves believers. What God has created in perfection, the devil imitates and deceives those not walking in the truth.
The first step to listening to God’s word and knowing the truth is by confessing and accepting him. Roman 10:9-10, If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation. I John 4:14-15, And we have seen and we testify that the Father has sent his Son as the world’s Savior. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God-God remains in him and he in God. If we do not believe Jesus Christ came on this earth as the Son of God, sacrificed his life for our sins and did not rise from the dead on the 3rdday, then we are not true believers. Muslims believe in Jesus but not as the Messiah but as a prophet. A prophet that went to heaven, who never really died nor was raised from the dead. In their religion he will return to help their Messiah as his prophet or what we know as the Antichrist. This is the devil twisting and deceiving the multitude. The truth is for those who believe in the word of God. We can never force the truth on anyone, but must imitate Christ in our own lives and continually pray for those in darkness and blinded by lies. John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. No other mediator. This also is another deception by the devil. Many pray to Saints when no one in the Bible prayed to anyone else but God and Jesus. Saints are men who lived for Christ and to spread his name, not their own fame. They have no power other than what the Holy Spirit gave them during their time on earth to fight the devil. As well as many who pray to Jesus’ mother Mary. Yes, she was a virgin and was used by God to carry his son. Again a human woman blessed by God and nothing more. There is no passage or text in the Bible where Mary ever asked for prayers or Jesus telling his disciples to pray to his mother. Christ himself says he is the only way to the Father and these other variations are lies and not of the truth. 1 Timothy 2:5-6, For there is one God and one mediator between God and humanity, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, a testimony at the proper time.
There are many traditions or rituals that are not part of the Word of God. We can’t be forgiven of our sins just because we sit in a box with a priest and they tell you that your sins are forgiven. Especially when many may return back to that same sin. There is no true repentance in their heart. Matthew 9:1-6 (Mark 2:1-12, Luke 5:17-26), So he got into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. Just then some men brought to him a paralytic lying on a stretcher. Seeing their faith, Jesus told the paralytic, “Have courage, son, your sins are forgiven.” At this, some of the scribes said to themselves, “He is blaspheming!” Perceiving their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why are you thinking of evil things in your hearts? For which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven’, or to say, ‘Get up and walk?’ “But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”-then he told the paralytic, “Get up, take your stretcher and go home.” God can only forgive us for our sins against him (Mark 2:7). Romans 3:23, For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. No man or mediator can forgive us of our sin. Yes, God does want us to forgive others in the human aspect so that we may be forgiven by God for our own sins. Jesus was asked how many times should a person should forgive? Matthew 18:21-22, Then Peter approached him and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? As many as seven times?” “I tell you, not as many as seven,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven.” (Continue to read on about the Master and Servant in verses 23-35). So yes we can forgive our brothers and sisters who sin against us but only God himself can forgive us of our sins.
Without the truth we are slaves to sin. Sin keeps us in a prison of darkness but the truth will set us free. John 8:31-36, Then Jesus said to the Jews (speaking to them in the temple) who had believed him, “If you continue in my word, you really are my disciples. You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” “We are descendants of Abraham,” they answered him, “and we have never been enslaved to anyone. How can you say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus responded, “Truly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. A slave does not remain in the household forever, but a son does remain forever. So if the Son sets you free, you really will be free.” Many people who do not know the truth, don’t even realize they are truly prisoners of the devil. Darkness blinds their eyes and hearts from the truth. To have fellowship with God we must walk in the light and truth. I John 1:5-10, God is light and there is absolutely no darkness in him. If we say, “We have fellowship with him, and yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth. If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say, “We have not sinned,” we make him a liar and his word is not in us.
When we walk in our own truth we are rebellious like the devil towards God. As we continue reading in John 8:37-47, (Jesus speaking) “I know you are descendants of Abraham, but you are trying to kill me because my word has no place among you. I speak what I have seen in the presence of the Father; so then, you do what you have heard from your father.” “Our father is Abraham,” they replied. “If you were Abraham’s children,” Jesus told them, “you would do what Abraham did. But now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You’re doing what your father does.” “We weren’t born of sexual immorality,” they said. “We have one Father-God.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, because I came from God and I am here. For I didn’t come on my own, but he sent me. Why don’t you understand what I say? Because you cannot listen to my word. You are of your father the devil and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Who among you can convict me of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? The one who is from God listens to God’s words. This is why you don’t listen, because you are not from God.” There has been no other person in history like Jesus and the world can’t deny his truth or existence. They have tried every earthly way to disprove Jesus and yet can’t accept the fact that his truth is undeniable. The Pharisees tried to find sin or fault in Jesus yet could not, and still ended up crucifying a sinless man on the cross. If our nature is not for the truth then we stand in lies and our nature is like the devil. I Timothy 2:-4, This is good, and it pleases God our Savior, who wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. We will be lost without the truth.
Many preachers speak about prosperity and earthly treasures, rather than speaking about sin, asking for forgiveness and repenting. There are mega churches that have become more like businesses and are selling Christ like a cheap bobble head to our children. Every day a Christian’s life is a battle against sin and the devil. Ephesians 6:10-19, Finally be strengthened by the Lord and his vast strength. Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against the flesh and blood, but against the rules, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of the darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens. For his reason take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day and having prepared everything, to take your stand. Stand, therefore, with truth like a belt around your waist, righteousness like armor on your chest and your feet sandaled with readiness for the gospel of peace. In every situation take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit – which is the word of God. Pray at all times in the Spirit with every prayer and request and stay alert with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints. Even with all that armor on, there is a reason it says we must PRAY in the Spirit. Prayer is such a powerful weapon against evil. Praying in the Spirit is important, because it is God’s Holy Spirit that will guide you to the truth. I John 4:1-6, Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you know the Spirit of God: Every Spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard coming; even now it is already in the world. You are from God, little children and you have conquered them, because the one who is in your is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world. Therefore what they say is from the world and the world listens to them. We are from God. Anyone who knows God listens to us; anyone who is not from good does not listen to us. This is how we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception. 2 Corinthians 11:13-15, For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no great surprise if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will be according to their works.
When we confess who Christ is and have faith, we will have the Holy Spirit guide us to the truth and those who are preaching the truth. The Holy Spirit is sent by God and can’t be preaching anything different from God’s own truth. John 15:26, “When the Counselor comes, the one I will send to you from the Father – the Spirit of Truth who proceeds from the Father – he will testify about me.” John 14:15-17, “If you love me, you will keep my commands. And I will ask the Father and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever. He is the Spirit of truth. The world is unable to receive him because it doesn’t see him or know him. But you do know him, because he remains with you and will be in you.” John 14:26, “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you.” Acts 5:32, “We are witnesses of these things and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.” We must continually pray for the spirit of Truth. Ephesians 1:17, I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, would give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. After Christ had risen he commissioned the disciples. John 20:21-22, Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you. As the Father has sent me, I also send you.” After saying this, he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Most of the disciples were regular day laboring workers, but with the Holy Spirit guiding them, they could speak the truth and have given every person on this earth a chance to have a relationship with Christ our Heavenly Father.
Satan’s target is our mind and his weapons are lies. Without God’s Word which is the truth and his Spirit guiding us, we will lose. Numbers 23:19, God is not a man, that he might lie, or a son of man, that he might change his mind. Does he speak and not act, or promise and not fulfill? Focus on God and not yourselves or society. Sin is sin and there is no exception in God’s eyes. If there was ever a time to pray, it is now. Search for the truth and you will be free from the bondage of sin, see his lies and escape the devil’s prison. Walk in truth, willing to do it God’s way and we will be victorious. The truth is in the Word of God and the Spirit will reveal his truth. Jesus never once downplayed the truth to appease his listeners. There is a war against God’s truths now more than ever.
John 17:17, Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.
Every Word and Commandment of God is being replaced by the devil in society and so many souls are lost. He is targeting the core of God’s commandments and perverting it and deceiving the world. He is using media and public opinion to make sin acceptable. He is attacking our children at an early age in school and using social media to influence their behavior. He wants us to focus on ourselves rather than God. The world is rebelling against God and if we do not teach our children the truth as soon as possible they will be misled by the world. We can’t let school or society teach our children lies and they won’t know it is lies unless they know the truth. Our children’s minds can be easily steered in the wrong direction but with God’s words in our heart, daily prayer as a family, the Holy Spirit guiding us and continually reading/teaching ourselves and our children the truth we can defeat the enemy.
