Tag Archive | truth

In Sharing Truth, How Much Does Motive Matter?

Sep2

My personal Bible study for fall is the book of Philippians and the devotion book Joy: A Study of Philippians by Deb Burma. It’s a 40-day study, but will take me longer as I am not an every day, diligent Bible studier. The depth of the Word of God is so awesome, because one can study a book or rather letter like Philippians and even though it is short, get so much wisdom and goodness from it. This is because Paul’s words are God’s words:

For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. –2 Peter 1:21

Here is the passage that really struck me today:

But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this, I rejoice. –Philippians 1:18

Paul is speaking here about the fact that because he is under house arrest, others are preaching the Gospel when and where he can’t. Some are doing out of genuine love and willingness to share God’s Word, others are doing it out of selfish ambition. They actually want to compete with Paul in some way or think if they preach the Good News it will cause more trouble for him. Paul rejoices, because whatever their motives, these people are still preaching Christ crucified and resurrected. They are still preaching that Jesus is our savior from sin, death, and the devil. From this perspective, even the false motives don’t matter.

It’s a humbling thing, really, especially considering churches in America. We have so many different denominations and each one thinks they are right in how they interpret Scripture, etc. Some do have actual false teachings and are wrong in that, but our fellow Christians are Christians. For me, even if Christians speaking God’s Word aren’t Lutheran, I should and can be happy that God’s Word is being preached. And it’s humbling to think that even if maybe, say, my motives or my church’s motives were more pure or something, it really doesn’t matter if we’re not preaching Christ to people. The important thing is that Jesus Christ is preached to everyone.

This is why I am so happy to be on Gab these days. So many Christians there and although we don’t necessarily believe the exact same things, when people are clearly declaring the Gospel and as owner Andrew Torba often says: Jesus is King! I am glad and rejoice that they are sharing and spreading God’s Word. How can I not be? And maybe a few of them have money as motivation–Christians often love supporting especially Christian businesses, etc., but still, if they are preaching the truth, that is what really matters!

God’s Word, the Law and Gospel, are the most important truths to share in the world, but this passage got me thinking about other truths. These days the powers that be are liars and following the father of lies, the devil, and they do this in many, many areas, health, politics, you name it. Many of the people speaking the truth are labeled as kooks or conspiracy theorists or grifters. But if people are making money by telling the truth, or at least by telling their stories, is that really such a problem? Does it really take that much away from what they are saying? Is what they are saying more important or why they are saying it? It’s a question that is perhaps answered differently depending on the circumstances, but I think that Paul’s advice above is good for truth in general: We should seek to find out the truth. Maybe the people sharing the truth have bad motives, but they are still sharing the truth! We should take notice and perhaps seriously consider what they are saying. It’s easy to be confident that we already have all the facts, etc., but so often these days we don’t. Things are purposefully hidden from the general public.

I’m reading Plague of Corruption by Dr. Judy Mikovits and Ken Heckenlively, JD. It’s a story that would make for an exciting movie. It’s also, I think, a story sharing truth, but some are skeptical of Mikovits, one, because she’s criticizing those in power like Tony Fauci, and two, because she’s making money sharing her story and giving her opinions. But so what? What does that matter? The truth she’s sharing is what should matter most. Right? So many friends and family automatically dismiss these kinds of books, even though the authors fit any “expert” category they may be looking for. All doctors and scientists do NOT agree about either science, health, or understanding the human body. There are so many points of view and the more one reads them, the more one realizes that whatever “science” is, it has a long, long way to go in understanding the complex, God-created creatures that we are.

With politics, especially, we are our own worst enemies sometimes. If the party or political view opposite ours is sharing truth, we often overlook it because the “right” person isn’t saying it, or they are, likely, trying to make our party or side look bad, but truth is truth. I’m not saying motivations don’t matter at all, but sometimes it’s what’s being shared that’s important. We should to some extent get behind anyone willing to investigate and share the truth. We should be happy whoever is sharing the truth. These days as we are staring more and more into the face of outright tyranny, I appreciate anyone revealing the current lies surrounding health, science, politics, and the like. I am thankful for everyone standing up against the tyrants, no matter their background.

These are such strange, often unreal times to be alive. It’s as if all of those cool revolutionary and dystopian movies and stories we used to like so much are all becoming reality. But I rejoice to more and more people waking up. If they can wake up to more common lies from the powers that be, maybe they can and will wake up to the worse lies from the devil. Maybe they will realize that they, too, are not little gods, but are sinners that desperately need Jesus Christ and his perfect life, death, and resurrection to save them from eternal damnation. Look for a fuller review of Plague of Corruption next time.

If you maybe think you’re not getting the truth from the MSM about current events, check out Gab. You can decide for yourself whether the people are sharing the truth or not, but at least you can get a look at the other side you maybe haven’t heard before. Up next time: Full review of Plague of Corruption.

The Truth Will Out

Nov6

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever.

Psalm 136:1

For the sake of ten righteous people, God would not destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Sadly, those cities did not possess even that.

Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever.

Psalm 136:2

In the hopes that Judah would turn from their evil ways and repent, God sent the prophet Jeremiah and other prophets to tell of the coming destruction. He gave Judah 40 years to repent. They did not.

Give thanks to the Lord of lords. His love endures. forever. To him who alone does great wonders, His love endures forever. Who by his understanding made the heavens, His love endures forever. Who spread out the earth upon the waters, His love endures forever. Who made the great lights–His love endures forever. The sun to govern the day, His love endures forever. The moon and stars to govern the night; His love endures forever.

Psalm 136:3-9

For love of sinful human beings who deserved nothing from their Creator they so spit upon and despised, God sent his one and only Son, sacrificing himself in order that they would be saved. Sadly, many have and will reject that sacrifice.

To him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt His love endures forever. And brought Israel out from among them His love endures forever. With a mighty hand and outstretched arm; His love endures forever.

Psalm 136: 10-12

The Living God of the universe is a God of love and of justice. He is patient with sinners to the point of it being ridiculous; but then, love can appear crazy sometimes, as it’s something out of this world. The world witnessed God’s absolute commitment to love and justice and his own holiness in the person of Jesus Christ. The world fell into sin and payment had to be made. No human could ever make up for that sin and because he loved us, God intervened, himself living up to the holy standards we could not. Himself being placed on the cross as punishment for the sins of all of mankind. Justice was satisfied, but it didn’t end there, for God also proved love does conquer all by Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, bringing life everlasting to all who believe in him.

To him who divided the Red Sea asunder His love endures forever. And brought Israel through the midst of it, His love endures forever. But swept Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea; His love endures forever.

Psalm 136: 13-15

If you don’t think a reckoning is coming for the election fraud on gleeful display this week, you underestimate God’s commitment to justice. God will not be mocked, and he is all about law and order, so much so, that he did not go against his holy nature when those he loved sinned. Instead he gave his one and only Son to become human and live a holy life in the sinners’ place, and then die and pay for their sins, an atonement once for all. One man died for the rest, an innocent man at that. If God did not spare his own, innocent and holy self, why would he spare those openly defying him and the law, order, and justice that are a complete part of himself? Repentance is necessary; faith is necessary, as it bestows righteousness on the believer.

To him who led his people through the desert, His love endures forever. Who struck down great kings, His love endures forever. And killed mighty kings–His love endures forever. Sihon king of the Amorites His love endures forever. And Og king of Bashan–His love endures forever. And gave their land as an inheritance. His love endures forever. An inheritance to his servant Israel; His love endures forever.

Psalm 136:16-21

God is our Savior, our ultimate knight against the dragon. He fights on when in our weakness we fail and despair. He never gives up hope on repentance, faith, and salvation. He is always open to prayers, and many, many times in human history has in his lovingkindness interfered on behalf of good due to those prayers. If you love God, holiness, righteousness, law and order, truth and justice, God is asking us to get down on our knees this week and pray in repentance for deliverance, and he hears us.

It is no accident that President Trump held up the Bible in front of the church that day. It is no accident that he is also a fighter and is for truth, justice, law, and order. God is holding him up as an object lesson for us. God is calling us to repent and believe. Calling us to throw away despair and fight on. He is calling us to live in joy and freedom against the evil that clearly worships lies, chaos, and wretchedness. He is calling us to not be lukewarm or apathetic in the face of this blatant fraud taking place in America right now. Those who have the power to do something: This is your chance! God is on your side and he will bless your efforts.

It is God who choses the rulers of this world and for his purposes. He put Trump in place for just a time as this. It’s insanely ridiculous when one thinks about it, how feeble a candidate Biden is, unable to even think, unable to even stop himself from saying he was planning to win by fraud. God is giving us a huge neon sign right now, and it’s been burning for at least four years. This is our chance. Do we have ten righteous people? Do we love law and order or would we rather live under lies and tyranny? God will bless us if we pray to him, if we do the right thing and hold to the truth.

To the One who remembered us in our low estate His love endures forever. And freed us from our enemies, His love endures forever. And who gives food to every creature. His love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of heaven. His love endures forever.

Psalm 136:23-26

This isn’t over, not by a long shot. This is just the beginning of a very fierce battle for America’s heart and soul. Americans, please pray for your country and that our leaders will hold to the truth. Our friends, please pray for us that we put on the armor of God, as Q, prophetic in nature, has so often reminded us to do. Pray we walk the walk and not just talk the talk of wanting true justice, God’s justice, in this country. Pray that those who think winning by cheating will lead to a good end, will become sober of mind, and realize that all sin without repentance leads to death. Pray that America’s leaders that still have a conscience would do what they can to prosecute and punish those responsible for trying to steal an election. They are stealing against their fellow Americans and human beings. They are stealing not just a physical vote, but our very futures. God’s reckoning will come for that certainly in the next world, but here and now, God’s giving us an opportunity to have a reckoning on earth as well. The truth will out! God’s love endures forever! He is merciful and loving, patient and kind, and rejoices when we repent and turn to him. Thank the Lord for this opportunity! He is good and His love endures forever!

One more thing: It’s Redemption Season! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XV_uXnL2DVM

2018: Beyond the big lies

Jan1

All week I’ve been thinking the best way to sum up 2017, and for myself it would be this: the past year has all been about big lies revealed. 2018 will be for so many of us about living beyond the lies, living in a very different world.

Currently, I am reading Dinesh D’Souza’s The Big Lie: Exposing the Nazi Roots of the American Left, so I’ve been thinking about the other big lies out there as well and just how much they’ve shaped my way of thinking, society’s way of thinking, etc. The biggest recent lie, of course, has been that President Trump is a buffoon, doesn’t know what he’s doing, his followers are racist, etc. And now we stand on the precipice of a DOJ investigation knocking out Trump’s adversaries one by one, due to their own stupidity. Anyone who at this point think’s he’s dumb just refuses to see the truth staring them in the face. Trump’s accomplishing his goals on a careful timeline and using Twitter and trollish statements to continually distract the dishonest media. He is bringing tax cuts, jobs, and more prosperity for all Americans, and poo-pooing the lie that putting citizens of a country first is somehow immoral as the Progressive Left would have us believe. He is likely the smartest president we’ve ever had, having both intellect and street smarts. Will we ever get tired of winning? I don’t think I will, but who knows?

Second lie: The media is remotely intelligent and honest. Sure, sure, they are. Just like Pulitzer and Hearst were, right? Any kid who watched Newsies in the 90’s was given a great lesson on crony capitalism and the corruption that happens when the media has too much power. What keeps the media in check is citizen journalism. Just like the Newsies, using the power of the press–uh, internet–we are recording and writing our own stories, hearing firsthand accounts of events in real time and analyzing coverage on our own. Trump’s dismissal and bypassing of the mainstream media and press has to be the single greatest move for the average person. The wizards behind the curtain aren’t much to look at and have nothing but sound bytes and talking points. It was hilarious to watch the media’s desperate efforts to get Hillary Clinton elected–and they don’t even like her! How smart is Trump? Smart enough to know that being interviewed on Alex Jones’s Infowars was a plus and not a minus! More and more people are waking up to the dishonesty of the media every day and it is awesome.

Third lie: The Republican party is for America. Okay, we voters gave them the benefit of the doubt for awhile during the campaign. Trump was a purple cow opponent and they really didn’t know how to handle it. What was shocking to a lot of us conservatives and Republicans, though, was that we heard Trump speaking the truth, and the party did not agree with him and even went along with the mainstream media’s lies about him. These were people who should have had his back, who themselves had been lied about just because of the political party to which they belonged. 2017 revealed more lies: Republicans in Congress had no interest in getting rid of either oppressive taxation or Obamacare. They were not interested in bringing back jobs for American citizens and would not even break a sweat speaking up in our defense. That they grudgingly passed some of the legislation late 2017 only shows that they aren’t too dimwitted to see the writing on the wall. Trump and his allies are cleverer, more informed, more influential, and have more at stake than the Deep State ever will. Would anyone doubt at this point that should Trump fail, he and his family would be drawn and quartered by his enemies for whom the word “mercy” is scarcely a word in their vocabulary?

Fourth Lie: Vaccines are good for you. You saw that right, after actually, finally taking the time to look into this whole vaccine issue for myself, I think that the assertion that any vaccine is generally good for a person is an outright lie. Could I regale you with tales of CDC, big pharma corruption? Could I tell you that there is evidence that sanitation and nutrition had more to do with falling disease rates than any vaccine? Could I list story after story that I’ve heard, read, and witnessed for myself about vaccine injury? Would any of these things really convince you? This is a lie so, so big, that it really takes individuals doing their own research, reading the studies, reading the articles and stories. Most will not be convinced if they don’t do the research for themselves. We are all “doubting Thomases” when it comes to the modern healthcare. We have to press our fingers into wounds to believe they are there. This is also the scariest lie, because it calls the entire health industry into question. More and more people are waking up to the fact that at least some vaccines, like the flu shot, aren’t really worth getting for various reasons. Over time, those people will start to question other vaccines and the whole line of dominoes will fall one by one, changing the landscape of modern healthcare, some of us hope, forever.

These are only some of the big lies I’ve learned about lately, but I’m sure there are more, so, so many more. I had to say goodby to a friend this year because of the lies she told, and it was hard to swallow that she’d been lying to me for years upon years and I just sort of overlooked it. Now that I see the lies, I can’t go back. I can’t trust her ever again, I can’t trust the media, and though I follow it, I am skeptical of the new media, too. Profit, not necessarily truth, is king in media. It’s just the way it is and the way it always will be. Our society is now taking up new lies, that people can be whatever, gender, race, or animal they choose to be. What the ramifications of these delusions will be, I don’t know, but though they may at first seem more laughable and harmless than the other lies, they are not. Whatever ground we have won revealing the other, political lies, we cannot sleep, we cannot lose to these even more damaging lies. Our children’s futures are at stake.

2018 will hopefully be–should be–about law and order, of lie-tellers and deceivers being brought to justice. Hillary Clinton and many other deserve to be in jail. We are actually doing them a wrong to not hold them to account for what they have done our country. I hope with Trump’s executive order regarding trafficking, that he and his allies will be able to finally hold them accountable. For we the people, we need to continue to live in the light of truth. For many of us Trump supports, even though he won, our worlds have been shattered. We’ve lost friends and family members who think we are evil for supporting him and we’re not sure we want to belong to a political party anymore. Some Trump supporters have even been physically attacked while they at the same time get called fascists and Nazi’s. Ever wonder how that all started? I highly recommend D’Souza’s book. Though he wasn’t born in America, D’Souza is American at heart, something most legal immigrants have in common. More importantly, he cares about researching the facts, something we should all take the time to do. Truth is where Good is, it’s where God is, it’s where all the blessings of life reside. We remember to clean our homes, yet often forget to clean our minds of the trash, dirt, and garbage that accumulates.

How do we live in 2018 after so many lies have been shattered? No fear. We now have the opportunity to go forward in the truth. It won’t be easy, but it will be a lot more rewarding than living under the tyranny of lies. God is perfect love because he is and has perfect truth. How can we love our fellow man and our families well if we do not at least try to live in the truth? Are we doing anyone any favors by pretending someone’s entire self-worth should rest in their skin color, genitalia, and sex preferences? By pretending that certain lifestyles do not carry dire risks and consequences? By teaching them that the world should and will conform to each individual’s whims rather than the other way around? Should we really be afraid to share these truths? If the truth isn’t worth experiencing or suffering a bit of uncomfortableness, well, then what is? Can we protect our loved ones by telling them they have imaginary super powers or can we protect them by advising them to live diligently and show them practical ways to defend themselves? Can we find ourselves, now that we are winning, to speak the truth in love? Can we bring the sunlight that people so desperately need? For Christians, can we hope to share the truth of the Gospel if we can’t even talk about the truth of sin? Let 2018 be the year. No fear. Let us live in the truth.