THE TRUTH WILL MAKE YOU FREE

When Jesus stood before Pilate, he asked Jesus, “What is truth?” But he didn’t wait for the answer. If he had, I’m sure Jesus would have told him something similar to what he said in John 17:17 and John 8:31-32.

In John 17:17, Jesus said God’s word is Truth. In John 8:31-32, Jesus said if we continue in his word we will know the truth and the truth will make us free. I don’t know about you, but I want to know the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God.

The truth is there in God’s Book, the Holy Bible. The answers to our questions about life here on Earth, and life in the hereafter. Satan is out to destroy us, and we make it easier for him when we don’t know and understand God’s word. Remember how Jesus responded to Satan’s attacks when he tempted him in the wilderness? He used God’s word. Each time, he said, It Is Written, then he quoted the scriptures.

Today, there are many different opinions about religion, the Bible, human nature, the beginning of time, and many other things. Too often, people put their own interpretations on the things we deal with in life, and too often, we develop our beliefs by following our emotions. I’ve talked to many people about God and the Bible who say they believe what they believe because that’s what they’ve always believed. I’ve talked to people who believe what they believe because of things they saw in a movie years ago.

I’ve loved Bible movies since I was a kid, but sadly, I’ve never seen one that was 100% biblically accurate. There always seem to be errors or at least misinterpretations in the script, especially when they add dialogue that's not in the Bible. I understand why the writers add words in a movie, but sometimes I wonder if they’ve even read the Bible or if they’re just telling a story that they grew up hearing. I mean, sometimes that’s exactly what it seems like.

Reading the Bible is very important. Knowing the truth can mean the difference between life and death; both physical and spiritual. We can be deceived in so many ways if we don’t read God’s word. Acts 17:11 tells us that the people of Berea were more noble than the people in Thessalonica because they searched the Scriptures daily to see if what they were being taught was true, and that’s the way we should be today. There are so many foolish teachings that would be completely cleared up if we would only read and believe the Bible.

Let’s read the scriptures I mentioned at the beginning. Since I only generalize them there, we’ll now see that they have a much deeper meaning.

John 17:17

17 Make them holy through your truth. Your word is truth.

Jesus was talking to the Father here about his disciples. He asked the Father to make them holy through his word because his word is holy. So, to be holy we must read God’s word. Paul tells Timothy something similar in 2 Timothy 3:15.

2 Timothy 3:15

15 From childhood, you have known the holy scriptures, which are able to give you wisdom that leads to salvation through faith in Jesus, the Messiah.

So to be saved, we must believe in Jesus. To believe in Jesus we must read (or hear) about him, and get to know him through God’s word, the Bible. Can you see how important the Bible is? Look at the next verse.

2 Timothy 3:16

16 All scripture is inspired by God, and is helpful for teaching, for evidence, for correction, and for instruction in being holy:

These verses tell us that the Bible leads us to salvation, and then shows us how to live a holy life through Jesus. That's how important the Bible is.

John 8: 31-32

31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed in him, If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples and,

32 You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.

There it is again; if we continue in his word or continue to read his word and follow it, and obey it, we will truly be his disciples, and by reading God’s word, we'll know the truth, and we'll be set free by the truth. Don’t you want to be set free? Don’t you want to know the truth? Lies deceive us, but the truth sets us free from those lies and deception. Knowing that God’s word is truth, we should want to read and know God’s word so we can be saved, live a holy life, and protect ourselves from being deceived by Satan and his minions.

Find time to read the Bible every day, if only for a few minutes. You’ll soon find yourself spending more time reading, and loving it. Yeah, it’s really that simple to start. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain, so don’t delay. Start today. God bless you.

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THE BAD WIRE IN THE WALL SOCKET

When I was a kid, I found an electrical wire at my dad’s house that was cut off from some electronic item. The ends of the two wires had been stripped about an inch or so, evidently to reuse later.

As I looked at the two naked wires, the wheels and cogs in my inquisitive brain started turning. For some reason, I started to wonder what would happen if I tied those two naked ends together, and then plugged the wire into a wall socket. As I thought about it, I concluded that the only way to answer that question was to go ahead and conduct the experiment. So that’s what I did.

This was an experiment I did not want my parents to be part of or to even know what I was doing, so I went into the living room by myself and proceeded to plug the wire into the outlet.

When I plugged it in, fire shot from the end of the wire, and the electricity went off. I knew what had happened, so I jerked the wire out of the socket immediately and threw it behind the couch.

I heard my mom and dad talking in the kitchen. They were wondering what had happened, and why the power went off. Back then we didn’t have breakers. They were fuses. That’s where the term fuse box comes from. I still hear people today calling a breaker box a fuse box. Well, my little experiment had blown at least one of the fuses, maybe more for all the electricity to go off. Daddy did whatever he did with the fuses and soon had the electricity working again.

I did not dare tell them what I had done. In fact, I never told my dad but a few years before my mother died I told her and she just chuckled and said, “Well son! What did you do that for?”

I needed to know what would happen. I was always curious. I always wanted to know how things worked. Growing up I would take things apart to see how they worked, and many times I couldn’t get them back together correctly. Several things I took apart never worked again including an expensive base Walkie-talkie my dad bought me for my birthday. But when I could get things back together and working right, and understand how they worked, that was an amazing feeling.

That reminds me of studying the Bible. When I study a certain topic, I look up everything the Bible says about it and compare scriptures with scriptures to get a picture of what God’s word says about that subject.

It’s an amazing feeling when you understand what God has revealed to us about a certain thing. Reading and studying God’s word is the best way to understand what God wants us to know. It’s amazing when you can explain what the Bible says to others, and no matter what someone else says, they can’t take that understanding away from you.

2nd Timothy 2:15 says, “Study to show yourself acceptable to God; a worker that is not ashamed, correctly dissecting the word of truth,” which, according to Jesus, is the word of God, the Bible (John 17:17).

In 1st Peter 3:15, Peter says, “Always be ready to answer anyone who asks you about the hope that is in you.” That involves Bible study, and prayer. That’s also what it takes to have a close personal relationship with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. That’s the most important relationship we can have, and we have to develop it and maintain it every day. Spending time reading and studying the Bible must be an important part of our daily routine. It has to be.

We have to put on the whole armor of God to grow as a Christian and to be protected from the devil, and his evil angels as explained in Ephesians chapter 6. So pray, read, and study God’s word, the Holy Bible, every day of your life here on Earth so you can live with God for the rest of eternity. God bless you and protect you. Amen.

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PARADISE FOUND

What is Paradise? Where is it? There are several conflicting beliefs from different groups of people on this subject. All I need to know is, “What does God’s word say about it?”

The word Paradise only appears three times in the Bible. The Apostle Paul mentioned it once in 2 Corinthians 12:4, and Jesus mentions it the other two times, in Luke 23:43, and again in Revelation 2:7. Let’s start with the last one first.

Revelation 2:7
7 He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches; To him that overcomes, I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the middle of the PARADISE of God. 

There’s our first clue. Wherever PARADISE is, The Tree Of Life is there, also. Does the Bible tell us where the Tree Of Life is? Let’s see.

In Revelation 21:10, John saw a vision of the great city, holy Jerusalem coming down out of heaven. He spends the rest of the chapter describing the city. Then in chapter 22, he says the tree of life is there in the city.

Revelation 22:1-2
1 And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. 
2 In the middle of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bare twelve kinds of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 

So, according to Revelation 21 and 22, the Tree of Life is in the holy city, New Jerusalem and so is the throne of God. The next two verses tie it all together.

Ecclesiastes 5:2b
2 …for God is in heaven, and you are on earth…

1 Kings 8:39a
39 Then hear in heaven your dwelling place…

So, according to the Bible, God is in heaven. Heaven is where he lives. That’s where his throne is. The Tree of Life is in the same place where God’s throne is, which is heaven, where he lives. The Bible tells us that the Tree of Life is in Paradise. So, Paradise is just another name for heaven.

Paul said the same thing in 2 Corinthians 12:2 and 4.

2 Corinthians 12:2,4
2 I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knows;) such a one caught up to the third heaven.
4 ….he was caught up to paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.

So, again, Paradise and heaven is the same place. Paradise is just another word for Heaven.

This is a good example of how to study God’s word. We have to search the Bible (Acts 17:11) and compare scripture with scripture (Isaiah 28:10) to see what the whole Bible says about any certain subject. Of course, we need the Holy Spirit to help us understand (1 Corinthians 2:14). So pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17) and serve God without hesitation. As we read and study the Bible, God will show us the truth (John 16:13) and he'll give us better understanding (Proverbs 4:5-7). He'll lead us into a close, personal relationship with himself, and someday we'll go to live in Paradise with our Creator who loves us with a love beyond anything our human minds can comprehend right now. That will definitely be Paradise.

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THE HOLY GHOST AND FIRE - MYSTERY SOLVED

There are so many subjects in the Holy Bible that have been misunderstood by many. This is one of them. Many people misquote the Bible and don’t even realize it by just repeating what they’ve heard others say. Some just read a line or two and don’t get the context, but there are some who actually twist the scriptures to try to make them support what they already believe. Let’s see what the Bible really says about the Holy Ghost and Fire.

In Matthew 3:11, John the Baptist said, “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he who comes after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he will baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:”

Some use this verse to show that when the Holy Ghost comes upon a person it is like a fire affecting your body. That’s not what John was saying at all. He was saying that one group of people would receive the Holy Spirit and another group of people would burn in hell fire. The very next verse explains exactly that.

Matthew 3:12
12 Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

Here John is using an analogy of someone separating the wheat from the chaff to describe Jesus separating the saved from the lost, or the sheep from the goats, or the righteous from the wicked. Again, he was saying that some would receive the Holy Spirit, and some would burn in hell fire. John was not saying the Holy Spirit is like a fire inside us.

The other verse used in conjunction with Matthew 3:11 has been misquoted to describe a feeling some say the Holy Spirit gives. The verse is Jeremiah 20:9. When quoting this verse, some say, “Jeremiah said, the Holy Ghost is like a fire shut up in my bones,” but that’s not what he said. Read it carefully.

Jeremiah 20:8-9
8 For since I spoke, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach to me, and a derision, daily.
9 Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.

These verses say it’s God’s word that’s like a fire, not the Holy Spirit. Look at Jeremiah 23:29.

Jeremiah 23:29
29 Is my word not like a fire? says the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?

We need to be honest with ourselves when studying and looking for proof-texts in the Bible. Otherwise, we’re misleading ourselves and others, and that’s not acceptable to God. We’ll be judged by everything we say and do (Rev. 22:12).

So, instead of twisting the scriptures to fit what we believe, we need to read the Bible and follow the clear instructions of our Lord. Only then can we worship him in spirit and in truth.

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