Truth Talks

Casting Your Vote

Tomorrow is Election Day in the United States.   Voters of all ages, races, religions and socioeconomic status will cast their votes in one of the most heated political contests in recent memory.   At days’ end tomorrow (assuming hanging chads do not get in the way) impatient voters will learn who will guide the future of our country.  Election anxiety will be over.  For better or for worse, we will have made a choice.

With the exception of birth and death, all of life is a choice.   With every action (or inaction) we cast our vote as to how our lives will turn out.   Each day is “election day”.   Each new day provides fresh opportunities to either go deeper in our relationship with God, living for Him, or to stay stagnant in our faith, living for ourselves. 

God delights in us getting to know Him.  He commands us to live all of our lives for Him.  When we do, we will be blessed.  The bible says

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful;

But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night.

He shall be like a tree planted by rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper. (Ps 1:1-3 NKJV)

When we cast our votes for Truth—for God—we are sure to receive what He promises.   We will prosper according to God’s way, in God’s time. God is not a politician.  He delivers on His promises no matter what political party rules on Capitol Hill.  

Like Joshua, we have a choice as to whom we will serve.    Joshua chose to serve God.  What will you choose?

How will you choose Truth today?

Always be Prepared

This blog covers the spectrum of the Christian worldview concerning God, Humanity, Morality, Reality and Knowledge. Our intention is to get our readers thinking for themselves. We try to lead by example.

My example in Wednesday’s blog was to narrow down my two most important issues and report my findings. I hesitated before "stating that one party is against these specific things" until I read each platform's (Dem | Rep) words on the two issues that concerned me. Now, I am responsible to consider the information and then respond according to my convictions.

I hope you’ll take some time between now and November 4th to read the ‘doctrines’ of the parties. Then, I hope you’ll spend as much time reading the doctrine of our Savior. Ultimately, as believers we are called to:

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks [us] to give the reason for the hope

which lies within [us], but do this with gentleness and respect. (1 Peter 3:15)

So, as we are instructed to be prepared to give an answer to the hope of our salvation, I’m trying also to be prepared to give a well-examined answer to why I vote the way I do, and to do it with gentleness and respect.

What will you do with what you know?

Who's Your Daddy?

“Who’s your daddy?” the billboard shouted to me alongside a highway in downtown Kansas City.  As if it were yesterday, I remember my surprise at the sight.  I wondered how many calls the paternity testing service received from the ad.  I mused over how much uncertainty existed over the issues of paternity.  After all, I knew without a doubt my daddy’s identity.  Now, nearly a decade later, paternity questions can be settled for $17.99 by purchasing a take-home kit at your local drugstore.   

Settling doubts regarding fatherhood is important from a human identity perspective.  However, because it is commonplace to hear the words “We are all God’s children”, I wonder how many people, especially those from the Millennial generation, concern themselves with their spiritual ancestry.   All people are not God’s children, and as Christians, it is important that we know how to articulate what the Bible says regarding this statement. 

Two spiritual families exist in the world—the devil’s family and God’s family.   As descendants of Adam, we are automatically born into the devil’s family (John 8:44).  The method by which one becomes a “child of God” is through a personal relationship with Jesus, resulting in being “born again” in a spiritual sense. (John 1:12-13, John 3:3).

All Christians are “born again”.  This new “birth” puts us into God’s family in exactly the same way as our physical birth puts us into our father’s family.   As members of God’s family, we are heirs to eternal life in heaven.  Without this relationship, our “inheritance” is hell. 

I’m glad I know my identity without a shadow of a doubt.  I desire to erase doubts in others’ minds as well, but I will not refer them to a drugstore paternity test.  More is at stake than earthly fortune.  Instead of asking “Who’s your daddy?” let’s ask “Are you a child of God?”.  God wants more in His family.

With whom can you share the Truth?

Promoting False Peace

“We all worship the same God” is a common phrase heard these days by a plethora of religious and political leaders as they search for “common ground” to stand on between religions, specifically between Christianity and Islam, to promote peace.   The truth is this:  We don’t all worship the same God.  The Muslim god, Allah, is not equivalent to the Christian God, Jehovah.    Based upon this truth, the common ground is in reality, quicksand.

The key difference to note is the fact that Allah is not represented as a triune being.  While the God of Christianity is represented by a Triune Godhead, consisting of the Father (Jehovah), Son (Jesus) and Holy Spirit, Muslims consider Allah to be singular in nature and regard Jesus as no more than a mere prophet.   Consequently, since the definitions of “God” are not the same, their god is not our God.   

God does not command Christians to form allegiances with non-Christian religions. In fact, we are told to avoid these alliances as stated in 2 Corinthians  6:14:

“Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers.  For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness?  And what communion has light with darkness? (NKJV)

Be wary of false promises of peace.   False peace is no peace at all.  Remember, Jesus did not come to bring peace, but a sword. (Mt 10:34)  God’s Word divides and true peace will not occur until all peoples of the earth believe in the God of the Bible and accept Jesus Christ as Lord.  Joining forces with “darkness” is not the answer.  The answer is to be aware of our differences, to love others where they are and to share the Truth of the Bible with them so they too, can have an eternal peace in heaven. 

What will you do with what you know?

Relevance vs. Engagement

In today's fast-paced postmodern culture, it is challenging to attract non-Christians to church services.  To try to reach these people, many churches have changed their Sunday services to appeal to “felt needs”.  However, this method may not actually be that effective.  Consider what Douglas Groothaus has to say from his book Truth Decay about this matter:

Because of the postmodernist redescription of truth, apologists must be wary of working to make the Christian message relevant to the felt needs of non-Christians.  What is relevant to those enmeshed in postmodernity is not, typically, the biblical view of truth or biblical truths themselves.  Our operative word ought to be engagement, not relevance. (p.163)

This makes sense to me.  After all, why would people who don’t consider truth to be absolute, come to hear how the Truth will set them free?  Engaging them does make more sense.  Generally, postmodernists love to think.   They love to engage in conversation and muse about what is really real and to define new truths for themselves.  Groothaus also points out that

Christians must shine the bright light of truth by raising penetrating questions and giving satisfying answers.  When words are cheap and float weightlessly over a wasteland of artificiality and cultural triviality, followers of Jesus must utter and write words of weight and significance—words that point to the unshakable but approachable truths of the kingdom of God. (p. 164) 

Engaging in individual conversations is essential and because of this, the burden of defending our faith falls more on our shoulders now than ever.  Our pastors do not have direct contact with the people we know.   Let’s get into our bibles, study that Truth, and get into the conversation with some intelligent answers as to why we believe what we believe. 

What will you do with what you know?

The Jesus of Christianity

Foundational to our Christian worldview is a knowledge of God.  Having an understanding of God’s nature also involves Jesus, God’s son and second member of the triune Godhead. The significance of Jesus in our knowledge of God must not be underestimated because if Jesus is redefined, so is God and so is the Gospel.  Without a biblical Jesus, His work on the cross is negated and Christianity is dead.   

There are many modern day religious cults that portray a non-biblical Jesus in their teachings.  While they profess the name of Jesus, they do not profess the Jesus of the Bible. 

“The Jesus of the Christian Scientists, the Mormons, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and of all of the cult systems, is but a subtle caricature of the Christ of divine revelation.  In cult theology, He becomes an abstraction (Christian Science, Unity, Metaphysics, New Thought), a second god (Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormonism, Theosophy, Rosacrucianism, Baha’ism), or a pantheistic manifestation of deity (Spiritism, The Great I Am); but He is still incontrovertibly “another Jesus,” who represents another gospel and imparts another spirit, which by no conceivable stretch of the imagination could be called holy.”[1]

We need to be diligent in defending our Jesus and recognizing false teachings so we can lead people to the one true God. The best way to recognize a counterfeit is to know the real thing.  Following are some key attributes of the real Jesus from a biblical perspective commonly perverted by some of the aforementioned cults of our day:

                1.  Jesus is God in the flesh (1 John 2:22, Mt 16:17) – not an abstract spirit.

                2.  Jesus is God, the second Person of the Holy Trinity (John 8:58, John 5:18) – not an angel who later became a god or one of many gods.

               

If another person's Jesus does not have these qualities, their Jesus is not biblical. It may be up to you to help them understand.

Be diligent.  Be aware.  Be ready.  Lead others to the Truth.  Their lives depend on it.

What will you do with what you know?

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[1] Walter Martin, Kingdom of the Cults (1985), p. 380

Stillness, Silence and Seclusion

Disciplines of simplicity, silence, solitude, and surrender are buzz words in our culture. They come under the heading of “spirituality.” There is a clear difference between worldly spirituality and biblical Christianity.

It is true, the more disciplined we are, the more committed we become; the more committed we are, the more alert we will be. As Christians, we are filled with the Spirit and live in the Spirit daily. Because of our relationship with Jesus Christ, our Christianity is spiritual. But, for those who do not have a relationship with Christ as their Savior, spirituality does not mean Christianity.

The spiritual wave sweeping through the culture is also spilling into many churches in America, it known as the spiritual formation movement. I am always leery when a “movement” happens. This one is no different.

The spiritual formation movement provides a channel through which contemplative spirituality is entering the church. The main entry point is through what has been called contemplative prayer. This is where we must use discernment in observing the fusion of spirituality with Christianity.

Contemplative spirituality can be defined as a “belief system that uses ancient mystical practices to induce altered states of consciousness (the silence) and is rooted in mysticism and the occult but often wrapped in Christian terminology; the premise of contemplative spirituality is pantheistic (God is all) and panentheistic (God is in all).” 1

The Christian must handle this subject with extreme care as the Bible does teach spiritual transformation:

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:2)

However, it is the spiritual formation apart from the power of the Holy Spirit that raises alarm.

1. See Lighthouse Trails for complete article.