Later, in His ministry Jesus prophesied that the Temple in Jerusalem would be destroyed and left desolate. (Matt. 23) This occurred in 70 AD when the Romans conquered the city and destroyed the Temple. So the time was fast approaching when worshiping God at the earthly Temple was going to be impossible.

This was quite radical! The woman must have been wondering exactly what all this meant even saying, "Messiah is coming and He will declare (explain) all things to us." Israelites have always gone to a place such as a mountain, or to the Tabernacle in the wilderness or later to the Temple in Jerusalem. God had met Moses at Mt. Sinai as a burning bush and had summoned Israel to the same mountain to hear His voice. But Jesus was proclaiming that the time of this type of worship was coming to an end and that a new form of worship would transcend earthly mountains and buildings. In this new Covenant God was inviting His true worshipers to literally enter through the veil into His presence in the Heavenly Mountain of God, Zion. And greater still, as they would later learn, God would make His abode in the Temple of human hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit.

There is a connection with worshiping in spirit and in truth with the holy convocation of the New Testament Church. When we ponder Hebrews 12:18-29 it compels us to reconsider our Sabbath services. Certainly we have long understood the holiness and weightiness of the Sabbath and of the holy convocation. But as we carefully sift through this passage it seems as though we transcend our station on the earth and enter through the veil into the heavenly.

The passage is showing the contrast between when Israel gathered before Mt Sinai to met their God, and of born again saints coming to Mt Zion to offer to God an acceptable offering of service. Israel came to a mountain that could be seen and touched, though they were forbidden to come so close as to touch the mountain. Paul says, "But you have come to Mt Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and Church of the Firstborn who are enrolled in Heaven, and to God."

Because we do not actually see these things doesn’t mean that we are not actually there. A shadow is sometimes all we see. But a shadow reveals that there is a reality that we do not see-a reality that is very near. God had long given shadows of the Heavenly. Moses was instructed to carefully build the Tabernacle because it represented a Heavenly reality. Shadows are not the substance but they do reveal that there is a substance. God has used shadows and the observance of them to teach His people the holiness of the Heavenly realities.

Isaiah entered the Temple in Jerusalem many times seeing only the earthly shadow without seeing the heavenly reality. But one day when he stepped into the Temple He saw the Lord high and lifted up. Isaiah’s natural, material eyes were closed and his spiritual eyes were opened to peer into the eternal realm. He didn’t go beyond the veil to see God in the stone Temple, he was transported into the heavenly temple. Isaiah was in the courtyard of the earthly Temple, but suddenly his spiritual eyes were opened to see what was always there, the Temple in Heaven. It changed his life. He saw himself as unclean for the first time. He suddenly understood the value of being cleansed by the Lord. God opened Isaiah’s spiritual eyes as He had opened the eyes of Gehazi, Elisha’s servant. At Mars Hill, Paul said that God does not dwell in temples made with hands, and that God is not far from each one of us. (Acts 17)

Isaiah was not a priest of Levi. Nor was he a son of Aaron, the High Priest. Not being a Priest, Isaiah was not qualified to enter the Holy of Holies under the Sinai Covenant. The Sinai Covenant had an ordained Priesthood of the tribe of Levi to perform the various priestly duties. And from the tribe of Levi, only the sons of Aaron were permitted to enter through the veil into the presence of God. But Isaiah was not merely a member of the Israelite family, but as a part of the great cloud of witnesses, he was born of the Spirit and was also an heir of Abraham’s Covenant of Promise. Because of this he was a member of the Priesthood of Melchizedek, an eternal Priesthood which was greater than Levi and Aaron, and which also preceded them.

When God shut his natural eyes and opened his spiritual eyes Isaiah was able to see past the shadows and experience the reality of what was occurring in the eternal realm. He could see the Lord sitting on His glorious Throne and the Heavenly hosts. For the first time he understood that he was sitting in Heavenly Places with the Lord. Paul understood this truth well, "But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ, and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the Heavenly Places in Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 2:4-6)

During a Friday night Praise and Prayer service my middle daughter Sarah was moved by the Spirit to lay on her face in prayer. The congregation was in worship singing "Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace."

When she was moved to lift up her face and open her eyes it wasn’t her natural eyes that opened, it was her spiritual eyes. As she looked she saw transparent, flesh colored veils and Jesus seated on His Throne beyond. The veils were glistening and were gently being gathered at the sides so as to open up before her. She could see people as far as the eye could see in worship and praise. The angels were also in worship and she could sense that the "great cloud of witnesses" were also there. And they were all singing the Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus song in perfect unison with our congregation. The members of our congregation were singing praise in perfect unison with the "general assembly and Church of the Firstborn" and with the Heavenly Host, though only Sarah knew because her spiritual eyes were opened to see and experience the reality of the eternal realm.

To the rest of us it appeared that our congregation was alone having services in our sanctuary in Russellville. But it seems that in the Spirit we were fulfilling what Jesus had spoken to the Samaritan woman at the well-worshiping God in Spirit and in Truth - and not on an earthly mountain or an earthly city, but in the Jerusalem above on the heavenly Mt. Zion.

There is an interesting story in 2 Kings Chapter 6. The king of Aram was warring against Israel and each time he brought his army to ambush them he found that they were ready and prepared. He was enraged! Believing that one of his trusted servants was a traitor he asked, "Will you tell me which of us is for the king of Israel?!" One of his servants answered saying "No, lord, O king; but Elisha the prophet who is in Israel tells the king of Israel the words that you speak." (Verses 11-12)

Once the king of Aram discovered that Elisha was in the city of Dothan, he sent his army to surround the city during the night. Early that next morning Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, went out of the house and saw the great army. But when he gave Elisha the alarming news Elisha said, -"Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them." Then Elisha prayed that God would open Gehazi’s spiritual eyes that he may see. God answered that prayer and when his servant looked again he saw a mountain full of war horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. They were there before though Gehazi could not see.

On the surface, all of this could be taken as very "nice" sounding stories and inspiring Scriptures that makes us feel pretty special. Though the Scriptures are not written in future tense but present tense, we still automatically receive all of this as mere allegory and referring to the future when all of God’s people will live with Him in Glory. But as we read on we discover something else that just doesn’t quite fit this narrative. The end of verse 23 says that we have also come "to the spirits of the righteous made perfect."

Now this no doubt is referring to the great cloud of witnesses who have gone on before us named in Chapter 11. Verse 39 says that they gained their approval through their faith but have not received what was promised in the Covenant of Grace through Faith. Verse 40 says that apart from us, that is, the Church, they would not be made perfect.

So, as we come to the Holy City on Mt. Zion, the angels are there, the Church of the Firstborn assembles there, God and Jesus are there, but only the spirits of the great cloud of witnesses are there. Though there is no thought in the grave as the righteous sleep awaiting their resurrection, the Bible teaches that the spirit of man returns to God when he dies. So, the spirits of the righteous made perfect are held in Heaven until the time of the resurrection when they will rise incorruptible in the glory of the Lord and met Him in the air.

We’ve been called to come beyond the veil. Hebrews 10 talks about entering into the Presence of God through the veil which is the torn flesh of Jesus. Then we receive the exhortation to not forsake the assembling together as some were doing but to stimulate one another to love and good deeds. That’s something we can only do when we are together. So the context of Chapter 12 also includes Chapter 11 regarding the cloud of witnesses, and Chapter 10 concerning our assembling together for services. This is an important point, because it seems that the reason we have come to assemble at Mt Zion, to the living God and His angels, is to also join with our brethren, "the general assembly and Church of the Firstborn" that together "we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe." So we must ask the question-can we offer an acceptable service to God at the wrong time or in a casual manner? Remember, the last two verses of Chapter 12 warns that since our God is a consuming fire, we should come in service to Him with reverence and awe.

Entering through the veil into the Holy Place "by a new and living way" in Hebrews 10:20 is in the same context as verse 25 "not forsaking our own assembling together." Sabbath observance is not only a day set apart in which we rest from our secular labor, it is also a time when God has commanded a holy convocation, - "For six days work may be done, but on the Seventh Day there is a Sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation." (Leviticus 23:3) God has a right, appointed time, a right reverent way, and a right appointed place

A holy convocation is a summons from God to gather before Him at a time set apart for a formal assembly-that is the actual definition. With that in mind, it’s easy to see that there are a lot of Churches out there that are not only ignoring the Sabbath, but are going to great lengths to make their services neither reverent nor formal. Not to suggest that we are to aim to impress God with our dress, but we should wear the best that He has blessed us with.

More to the point, we should not make a conscious effort to make the time of our assembly to be ordinary or common in attitude, atmosphere and dress. Before God met Israel at Sinai He instructed them to consecrate themselves for three days first. Consecrate means to purify yourself, wash your clothes, and wholly dedicate yourself. Not to say a congregation should have a dress code. But we are a holy priesthood of the order of Melchizadek, and even the Levitical priesthood had certain garments they were to wear when they ministered before the Lord. I think it’s reasonable to conclude that each should wear their best just as we should be adorned inwardly with our best.

"For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched and to a blazing fire, and to darkness and gloom and whirlwind, and to the blast of a trumpet and the sound of words which sound was such that those who heard begged that no further word be spoken to them."

Israel was summoned to Mt Sinai, a mountain that could be see and touched, though they were commanded to not touch it. They came to a blazing fire, the same fire that was on the burning bush yet did not consume it. The people shrank back at the voice of God. Therefore God could not take pleasure in them, for He says, "But My righteous one shall live by faith; and if he shrinks back, My Soul has no pleasure in him." (Hebrews 10:38)

His holy ones assemble in the City of the Living God in Heaven. And God is going to shake even Heaven in order that all who can be shaken will be shaken away. Those who are deeply grounded in the Kingdom of God cannot be shaken. As Jesus prophesied in the parable of the Wheat and Tares, the tares which fail to bear fruit for the Lord will be gathered at the Advent and cast into the Lake of Fire.

Judgment begins with the Household of God. Peter wrote that if it is with difficulty that the righteous are saved, what will become of sinners? By reading the first three Chapters of Revelation, we understand that the seven Churches of Asia Minor are represented in Heaven as Seven Golden Lampstands. In Chapter one Jesus appears to John in His glory walking among the Lampstands. He is no doubt examining each congregation and making judgments for and against them.

The Churches were located in seven earthly cities on the earth. But they are assembled before Jesus in Heaven as Golden Lampstands. He sees that the congregations in each city had good things that were to be held and strengthened, and some had bad things that they must repent of. Ephesus had lost their first love and were in danger of having the Holy Spirit taken from them. Pergamum had some practicing immorality and receiving false teachings. Sardis had become spiritually dead, and Laodicea had become complacent and lukewarm in their faith. As you read through each letter you see many of the same conditions and practices in the Church today.

Knowing that each Sabbath we are called to a holy convocation to appear before the Lord in Heavenly Places, let us come joyfully in reverence and awe. And let us hear and repent at the words that Jesus delivered to the seven Churches, that we may offer to Him an acceptable service-for our God is a consuming fire.

By Shane Morris

I struggle to compose a coherent thought, an articulate introduction to the heaviness of this sincere warning I've been led to write to anyone who's willing to hear. Writing this carries with it a certain distress, an uneasiness that I cannot shake. Nonetheless, I am compelled, even in the limited measure that I'm able, to pronounce a call to action — to anyone who stands with me in a base desire for truth.

A house divided cannot stand. The church is to be the pillar and foundation of the truth (1 Timothy 3:15). Do we think the Lord is pleased with what the mainstream church has become today?

Those who choose to continue in sin will eventually become hardened. The parable of the fig tree in Luke 13 is my favorite Scripture to use when explaining that God is patient but He does not wait forever. Once God sees that a person is not going to obey Him and bear righteous fruit, He takes the Holy Spirit and then sends upon them a "spirit of delusion: that he may actually believe the lie he has chosen to receive. In Romans 1 we see the same thing - God gave the rebellious over to a depraved mind to practice the evil desires of their heart. See Hebrews 6 and 10 also. Paul warned that the fallen may experience a sorrow that cannot lead them to repentance.

Jude wrote of those who were "twice dead" or "doubly dead" - these are those who were once children of God but who later returned to the fallen world. This is a frightening truth and has always sobered me and caused me to examine the motivations of my heart.

Being a Pastor, I have seen this happen to people. When a person crosses over from the divine nature to the fallen nature he no longer loves God and the truth nor the ways of God. His heart has become apostate, craving the things of the world.

This, however does not prevent his conscience from rising up in protest from time to time. He may experience sorrow and temporary guilt in his conscience which may move him to rise up against his fallen heart and temporarily suppress it’s desires - but eventually the heart prevails, because - "Out of the mouth the heart speaks" and "As a man thinks, so he is." The heart is the real you, which is why God declares, -"My people always go astray in their heart" and why the spiritually weakened David cried, -"Create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit in me, O’ God!"

Until a complete hardening takes place when the conscience gives up to the fallen heart, the person will experience inner turmoil and highs and lows. Because of a guilt-driven conscience he will be bothered by knowing that he is living a less than committed life. He may live a carnal life all week yet be momentarily pierced when he hears the Word of God read or spoken during a church service. This is why so many of the same people fall before the same altar week after week but obviously have no power to walk in Christ without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit operating unquenched.

People rarely have an accurate understanding of the motives of their own heart - most people are unaware that they have malevolence always lying just beneath the surface. And it’s sitting there waiting patiently for someone or something to unleash it. The Bible says that when asked, every man will declare his own righteousness. I think it’s safe to assume that if you asked people randomly on the street if they consider themselves a "good person" most would quickly say "yes."

However, we live in a very dark world. Who among us does not lock their doors each night? Can you find a person who has not been a victim of some type of crime even if only theft? There are a great many people who would commit various crimes against their neighbor if they knew they wouldn’t get caught.

"I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us." 2 Cor. 7:9  Sorrow is not enough, only repentance will do.

By Larry R. Lasiter

There is a great struggle between the forces of Light and the forces of Darkness, but the battle is raging in the hearts of men, not in a personal war between God and Satan.

It is our fight and our choice. We can choose the Light or the Darkness, but let us never be deceived - just a tiny light overpowers the darkness. Satan is a defeated foe and it took no more than Michael, another angel to defeat him and cast him down to the earth. And when Jesus sentences him to the abyss it will take only a single angel to carry out the mission, -"Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he threw him into the abyss." (Rev.20)

"We know that no one who is born of God sins; but He (Jesus) who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him." (1 John 5:18)

"I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth." - Rev. 3:15-16

John David Brown

Everyone believes in something. Whether we are a skeptic, a naturalist, an atheist, an agnostic, or an Evangelical Christian, we are basing our worldview on what we believe is true. That is the definition of faith; it is a belief, trust, or confidence in something. So the question that we all must face is not do we have faith, we all do, but is our belief true? Do we have a defendable faith?

Subjective or Objective Truth

Some people say that all beliefs are equally valid; you have your truth, I have mine, and that’s O.K. This statement, and beliefs based on it, are incoherent and demonstrably self-contradictory. It makes the assertion that there is no objective truth, but expects us believe that it is itself objectively true.

Any truth-claim, and thus belief, can be tested in two important ways to determine its veracity. Is it coherent? And does it correlate accurately to the available evidence? If the answer to either of these questions is no, then our faith may be quite sincere, but it is sincerely wrong. We have confidence in something false. An indefensible faith. Alternatively, if our beliefs are coherent and consistent with available evidence, we have confidence in something true. We then have a defendable faith.

The Faith of Atheism

It has become popular in some academic and scientific circles to hold the belief that God does not exist. Those who do often claim that the essence of Theism is belief in God’s existence in spite of the evidence. They also claim that their position, by contrast, is based on evidence and therefore is not faith. Each of these claims is false.

While belief in the existence of God, as all beliefs by definition are, is faith, it is not blind faith. The scientific evidence available for our examination points clearly and inescapably to God.

Scientific evidence has now clearly demonstrated that the universe, that is space-time and mass-energy, came in to being in a blinding moment about 14 billion years ago. In order for that to happen, no fewer than 30 cosmological constants, such as gravity, the rate of expansion, and the strong and weak nuclear forces, had to be exquisitely fine-tuned to produce the life-permitting universe that we observe today.

Please note that the Bible has always stated that the universe was created, that is to say brought into being, whereas scientists from the time of Aristotle have claimed that it just always existed and have only recently caught up with the Bible, admitting that it came into being.

What science demonstrates is that everything that comes into being, has a cause. Things don’t just pop into existence from nothing for no reason. So, since the universe came into being, it must have a cause. But what are the necessary attributes of a cause sufficient to produce an effect such as the cosmos?

It must be personal. If the cause of the universe existed without the effect, and then brought the effect into existence a finite time ago, then it must be able to choose whether or not to produce the effect; otherwise the effect and the cause would always exist simultaneously. That means that, like a person, the cause of the universe must have the power to choose.

It must be eternal. Science tells us that time is a function of matter. That means that the cause of the universe must necessarily exist independently of time.

It must be immaterial. The universe is comprised of matter, and as we have already seen, came into being. The cause of the universe therefore, in order to produce all matter, must be immaterial.

It must be intelligent. The fine tuning of the initial constants necessary to produce our universe is so staggeringly precise, if any one of them were different by only a hair’s breadth, it could not exist. The probability of their simultaneously occurring by chance rather than intelligent design is effectively nihil.

If, for example, the force of gravity were slightly weaker, elements like carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen would not exist. If it were slightly stronger, the stars would burn out in about a year. As it is, the chemistry required to permit life is just right and stars burn for an average of 80 billion years.

The mathematic probability of this constant alone being set precisely where it is, is one in 14 billion, billion, billion. Add to that the many other constants, such as the expansion rate, the strong nuclear force, the weak nuclear force, and many others which are equally fine-tuned, and the likelihood that the universe came to exist without intelligent design falls to one in 10 to the 50th, or statistically zero.

It must be immensely powerful. Consider the amount of energy in just a single atom as evidenced in the atomic bomb and we begin to understand the vast power packed in to that tiny bit of the cosmos. Scientists estimate the number of atoms in the universe at 4 times 10 to the 80th power. So how powerful must the cause of all of that be? Truly, it beggars the imagination.

So, based on the available scientific evidence, the universe was overwhelmingly likely to have been caused by a personal, extremely intelligent, unimaginably powerful, timeless, immaterial being. Of course that is exactly what the Bible says, and what Christians mean when they talk about God.

To hold the belief that the universe came from nowhere for no reason in spite of the overwhelming evidence of such a designer is, on examination, not just faith, but blind faith.

In the end, atheism, is a belief held in spite of the available evidence, whereas belief in God is strongly supported by evidence. The New Atheists such as Dawkins and Harris are quick ask -"if there is a Creator then who created the Creator?" But they argue that the universe created everything-so then, who created the universe-their "creator?"

There are numerous other discoveries of science that atheists must ignore to maintain their faith. Among them the irreducible complexity of living cells, the exquisite quaternary life-code contained in the approximately three billion letters of the human genome, the rational intelligibility of the universe, and the universal apprehension of moral duties.

The Bible teaches that the whole of creation reveals God’s existence, His nature, and His glory. If we are to maintain our denial of Him in spite of literally a whole universe of evidence, we should at least be honest and quit calling it science. Wishful thinking, perhaps. Blind faith, certainly. But science, not even close.

Case for God from Motion

Thomas Aquinas had Five Proofs for the Existence of God. Let us consider his First argument, the Argument from Motion. Of the things we observe, all things have been placed in motion. No thing has placed itself in motion. By "motion" Aquinas means any potential change. Such as water has the potential to be cold, warm, hot, ice or even steam. Something causes each.

Working from the assumption that if a thing is in motion then it has a cause to be. Aquinas notes that an infinite chain of things in motion and things causing things to be in motion cannot be correct. For if an infinite chain or regression existed among things in motion and things causing motion then we could not account for the motion we observe.

If we move backwards from the things we observe in motion to their cause, and then to that cause of motion within those things that caused motion, and so on, then we could continuing moving backwards ad infinitum. It would be like trying to count all of the points in a line segment, moving from point B to point A. We would never get to point A. Yet point A must exist as we know there is a line segment. Similarly, if the cause-and-effect chain did not have a starting point then we could not account for the motion we observe around us. Since there is motion, the cause and effect chain (accounting for motion) must have had a starting point. We now have a second point:

The cause and effect relationship among things-being-moved and things-moving must have a starting point. At one point in time, the relationship was set in motion. Thus, there must be a First Cause which set all other things in motion.

What else can we know about the First Cause? The first cause must have been uncaused. If it were caused by another thing, then we have not resolved the problem of the infinite regression. So, in order to account for the motion that we observe, it is necessary to posit a beginning to the cause and effect relationship underlying the observed motion. It is also necessary to claim that the First Cause has not been caused by some other thing. It is not set in motion by another entity.

The First Cause is also the Unmoved Mover. The Unmoved Mover is that being whom set all other entities in motion and is the cause of all other beings-GOD.

By Larry R. Lasiter

When we take a look around the world we see many problems. There are wars, localized conflicts and just a general inability for differing groups of people to live peacefully together. We see sharp and heated disagreements in ideology even among those in the same culture or of the same religion. People are often passionate about their ideology and everybody seems to be at work setting "right" the "wrongs" according to their worldview. Seems everybody believes in the concept of right and wrong, good and evil, they just can’t find common ground on what they are.

It is common to hear people say that truth is relative, and that "your" truth is not necessarily someone else’s truth. Though this sounds intellectual, it is absurd. To make the claim that truth is relative is an absolute statement in itself. If truth were relative no absolute statement could be made about it. The laws of science are based upon the certainty of the truth of how they operate. Even Einstein’s Theory of Relativity is built upon the stability of absolute truths.

There is an absolute truth of what is right and what is wrong. The same truth is truth regardless of time, culture, or whatever seems to be considered politically correct. According to the Holy Bible, the truth is more than a mere concept but is the very person of Jesus Christ. Jesus said, "I Am the Truth." (John 14:6) Jesus is the Word of God personified. The fullness of truth can only be found in the teachings of God and the Truth He sent into the world in His Son, "For this have I been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice." (John 18:37) Notice that there are those who are "of the truth" which can only mean that there are others who are "of the lies and deception." Where do you fit in?

Very few have searched for the truth and fewer still received it when they found it. When the Truth came in bodily form the religious folks of His day crucified Him. Jesus didn’t fit what they were looking for in a Messiah. They certainly didn’t expect their Messiah say to them, "You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me." (John 8:44-45)

According to Jesus, these great Jewish Religious leaders had rejected the truth and had received lies. John 1 says that Jesus came to His own (countrymen) and His own received Him not.

People, in general, search for what they already want to find. This is why the Holy Scriptures have been twisted by false teachers for millennia. The lie has always been preferred, Romans chapter 1 says that since the creation people knew God and His truth but suppressed it in unrighteousness. Verse 25 says, "For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator." If you want to know what "creature" has been worshiped more than any other, just take a look in the mirror. Most seek a "truth" that serves their own desires.

So, what does God do when people reject the truth to hold onto lies? He sends upon them a divine blindness so that they cannot see the truth. A blindness to cause them to believe the lies they wish were true, notice, "And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind to do those things which are not proper." (Romans 1:28) Verse 24 puts it this way, "Therefore, God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity."

Notice also, Isaiah 44:18, "They do not know, nor do they understand, for He has smeared over their eyes so that they cannot see and their hearts so that they cannot comprehend." All these Holy Scriptures are referring to those who have rejected the truth or who place no value in it. Those who reject the truth will be rejected by God.

Jesus said, "But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in Spirit and Truth." (John 4:23-24)

Are you one of those who worship the Father in Spirit and Truth? The people of Israel during Jesus’ time believed that their religious leaders were righteous and taught the truth, but Jesus exposed them and their false teachings. Much of what they cherished most was their ancestral traditions. Jesus asked them, "Why do you yourselves transgress the Commandment of God for the sake of your tradition" (Matthew 15:3) He then quotes Isaiah saying, "But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men." (Verse 9) Worship without truth is vain.

More than 40 years ago my concept of truth was challenged and I was compelled to examine what I had believed to be biblical and true. I was confident that I had been right because my beliefs were in line with mainstream Christianity and it’s notable ministers. However, I found that I was wrong on many things and that mainstream Christianity had fallen into errors just as the religious leaders of Jesus’ day.

So, there I stood in the valley of decision. If I accepted the truth I knew that there would be problems with family, friends and at work, but how could I reject the truth knowing that it was Jesus? I laid down my will and submitted to God’s will and have never regretted that decision.

This is merely an article and is not written to be a comprehensive study (Though there are plenty at our web site) so my purpose is to simply awaken your conscience to truth as mine was long ago. So I want to leave you with some questions with the hope that you will seek true answers honestly.

1. Is it true worship to set aside Sunday, the first day, for weekly assembly since God set aside Saturday, the seventh day as the time for rest and holy convocation? What authority is there for a transference from Sabbath to Sunday?

2. Was Jesus really crucified on Friday and resurrected on Sunday morning? The sign Jesus gave that He was Messiah was the sign of Jonah - three days and three nights. Since Friday evening to Sunday morning is only 1 and ½ days how can this be true? Wasn’t the tomb already empty while it was yet dark on Sunday morning?

3. What is the state of the dead? What happens when a person dies? Is the soul immortal?

4. Why doesn’t the Church observe the annual Holy Day Festivals of the Bible since we find in Zechariah 14 that the whole world will observe them during Jesus’ reign? Jesus didn’t do away with the Passover but simply gave it a Christian meaning and changed the way it is observed.

5. Is it really true worship to observe holidays which predate Christianity and which use pagan customs in it’s celebration?

6. God reveals His Divinely Appointed Times for Holy Convocations in Leviticus 23. They begin with the Sabbath day which is followed by seven annual Festivals. Doesn’t it seem that these have been replaced by Sunday and our annual holidays?

7. Did Jesus change the food laws that were written in the Old Testament? If these laws were only for Israel then why did God command Noah to take seven pairs of clean animals while only one pair of unclean animals? Noah must have known what animals were clean to eat and which were not. Was Peter’s vision in Acts 11 really about food or God’s acceptance of Gentiles?

8. Certainly we are saved by grace through our faith in Christ. But does that mean we are not obligated to obey God’s Commandments? What does the New Testament teach regarding keeping the Commandments?

Truth is Part of God’s Nature

George Washington Carver became one of the most honored and respected scientists of his generation by focusing on the very simple peanut. Eventually he would discover some three hundred uses for this most basic and seemingly insignificant common food. Carver attributed all of his scientific discoveries to God.

He once said that he had asked God to explain the universe to him, but that he felt God saying that was too large a task. When he asked for something he could handle, Carver said that God directed his attention to the peanut. His focus and search for value produced amazing results. Carver never doubted that God was rewarding his faith and effort, and he said, "Without God to draw aside the curtain I would be helpless."

In a day when many people deny that truth even exists as an absolute reality, those of us who know God need to be more focused than ever on seeking for it. Truth is not an abstract concept that varies with time and place and can never be fully known. Truth is part of the very nature of God.

Winston Churchill said, "Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened." That may be a common response to truth, but it places those who respond thusly on the road to tragedy and destruction. There is no way to love and follow God without loving and following truth. The two cannot be separated.

Once the devil was walking along with one of his cohorts. They saw a man ahead of them pick up something shiny. "What did he find?" asked the cohort.

"A piece of the truth," the devil replied. "Doesn’t it bother you that he found a piece of the truth?" asked the cohort.

"No," said the devil, "I will see to it that he makes a religion out of it."

Truth taken out of context and twisted is the basis for many false religions.

By Larry R. Lasiter

In Christ Jesus we can reach beyond self, that is, beyond who we are in the natural. The Apostle Paul discovered that he could do all things through Christ who strengthened him. (Phil. 4:13) He said that he had learned the secret of how to be content in all things. He suffered persecution, imprisonment, beatings, hunger, exposure and betrayal, yet found that he could be content. Even while waiting on death row he was content and looking upward to his eternal reward.

All have sinned and have come short of the glory of God. As sinners we are all subject to the penalty of sin which is death in the Lake of Fire. Laws can reveal to us what sin is, but there is no Law that can forgive sin. The Bible says that only by the shedding of blood can sins be forgiven. The blood of animals could not remove our sins - it takes the righteous blood of the Son of God.

Whether Jew or Greek, all were cursed because all violated God’s righteous Laws - the Jews in the letter and the Gentiles in their hearts. Now God had a problem. He loved us but we were separated from Him by our sins. Sin is an abomination to God so in order to draw us near to Him He had to make us righteous. He did this by giving His only Son as an offering in our place - as a propitiation, which means Jesus absorbed the wrath due for our sins. Jesus actually became our curse that we might become His righteousness and be reconciled to God, -"He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Cor.)