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comes a part of us. We

do not really know it inthe sense of living asthough it were true. On

the contrary, we tend to

live as though our lives

would go on forever."Thank goodness for pray-

er, or more accurately,

thank God! Without it,

we wouldn't have accessto Christ or salva-

tion. We wouldn't havehope of life afterdeath. And prayer al-

ways brings healing. It

may not be physical, butit is always spiritual, and

sometimes emotion-

al. When Hezekiah re-

ceives his death sentence,what is his first re-

sponse? To pray - "He

had now received thesentence of death withinhimself, and if it was re-

versible, it must be re-

versed by pray-er" (Matthew Henry).

Some say his prayer was

simply meant to calm hisanxiety or fears, others

say it really was for heal-

ing (though he never asks

for that outright). Notevery prayer is answered

with a "yes" or a "you

have been healed" but the

truth to learn here is that"we have not if we ask

not" (Matthew Henry).

God can change circum-stances! He did it for

Have you ever known an-

yone that has had can-cer? In today's world, itfeels like cancer lurks

around every corner. If

you don't directly know

someone who has or hadcancer you know someone

who knows someone. It

doesn't seem fair. But

that's the thing about can-cer and sickness and death

-no one is exempt.

2 Kings 20:1-6 -1In thosedays Hezekiah became

mortally ill. And Isaiah

the prophet the son of Am-oz came to him and said

to him, "Thus says the

Lord, 'Set your house in

order, for you shall dieand not live.'"2Then he turned his face

to the wall and prayed tothe Lord, saying,3"Remember now, O Lord,

I beseech You, how I have

walked before You in truthand with a whole

heartand have done what

is good in Your sight."AndHezekiah wept bitterly.4Before Isaiah had gone

out of the middle court,

the word of the Lord cameto him, saying, 5"Return

and say to Hezekiah the

leader of My people, 'Thus

says the Lord, the God ofyour father David, "I have

heard your prayer, I have

seen your tears; behold, Iwill heal you. On the

third day you shall go

up to the house of theLord. 6I will add on fif-

teen years to your life,and I will deliver you

and this city from the

hand of the king of As-syria; and I will defend

this city for My own

sake and for My servant

David's sake."'"Sickness and death are

not picky. It doesn'tmatter who you are,you

aresusceptible. Anyon

e of us could fall ill ordie tomorrow - "Neither

greatness or goodness

can exempt us from

sickness" (MatthewHenry).The other truth

about death is that no

one knows for surewhen it will hap-pen. Hezekiah is the

only man we are aware

of that was ever given atime from God. You

see, "God has wisely

kept us at uncertainties,that we may be always

ready" (John Wes-

ley). Unfortunately, for

some reason, we don'tfeel the need to be

ready. According to

Frederick Beuchner,

"Intellectually we allknow that we will die,

but we do not really

know it in the sensethat the knowledge be-

The Worst He Can Say by Brianna Sherman

The Truth in HDTruth in HD

Volume3,

Issue8

August2013

Inside this issue:

Removing the Veil 2

Further Up and Further In! 4

The Church You Can Be-

lieve In Today: Loves One

Another

6

The Nature of the Beast: It

Denies the Truth

8


2/12

In the beginning God created. He saidlet there be and there was. He com-manded and His creation obeyed. Whatwas created revealed the glory of its

creator. The very existence of anythingat all proclaimed that there is a creatorwho is eternal and whose power isboundless and immeasurable. Even so,the Creator had a greater vision. ThenGod said, let us make man in our image,after our likeness. And let them have domin-ion over the fish of the sea and over the birdsof the heavens and over the livestock andover all the earth and over every creepingthing that creeps on the earth. So God creat-ed man in His own image, in the image ofGod He created him; male and female Hecreated them (Genesis 1:26 ESV).

God created theheavens and theearth and sawthat it wasgood. But Hestill had a desirethat was notfulfilled in thatcreation. Take asecond to con-

sider the magni-tude of this mo-ment. God laidthe foundationsof a universethat none can

even begin to com-prehend. Job 26:7 says, He stretches outthe north over empty space; He hangs theearth on nothing. Do some studying andyou will see that everything in the uni-verse works in perfect order. The work

of His hand is a masterpiece beyondanything man could begin to create.Even so, He desired children that wouldbe a mirror through which He could seeHimself. Man would populate the earthand be a people that would communewith, and glorify their creator. A.W.Tozer said this about the creation ofman, God made man to be like Him sothat man could give more pleasure toGod than all the other creatures. Only in

man, as created by God, can Godadmire Himself. Man is the mirrorimage in which God looks to seeHimself. Man is the reflection of theglory of God, which was the purposeand intention of God originally.Mans supreme function through alleternity is to reflect Gods highestglory, and that God might look intothe mirror called man and see Hisown glory shining there. Throughman, God could reflect His glory toall creation (The Purpose of Man).

Though the heavens declare the gloryof God, and the sky above proclaims His

handiwork,Gods idea of a master-piece was mankind. God and mandwelt together. He walked in thegarden with them. God was a realpresence with man. In spite of this,man chose to follow his own desires.Man chose to be the ruler of his lifeand as a result the relationship be-tween God and man would be deep-ly scarred. At the moment Adamsurrendered to his own desire manbecame blind. A veil covered the

heart of man keeping him from un-derstanding the glory of the LivingGod.

To this day, and until the final day,mans great battle is to overcome thesinful nature that renders him blindto the very one who created him tobe above all other things created.Though today we have this greathope in Christ who always lives tointercede, there are many who livea life of spiritual blindness. Man hasmade every arrogant attempt to sci-entifically and philosophically ex-plain his own existence, all the whilehe is unable and unwilling to see thathuman wisdom is weak and feeble.The arrogant wisdom of man hascome up with countless theories pro-claiming understanding of everysubject you can think of. We shouldnot be surprised by this! The wrath

of God is being revealed from heav-en against all the godlessness andwickedness of men who suppressthe truth by their wickedness, since

what may be known about God isplain to them, because God hasmade it plain to them. For since thecreation of the world Gods invisi-ble qualitiesHis eternal powerand divine naturehave beenclearly seen, being understood fromwhat has been made, so that menare without excuse. For althoughthey knew God, they neither glori-fied Him as God nor gave thanks toHim, but their thinking became

futile and their foolish hearts

were darkened. Although theyclaimed to be wise, they becamefools and exchanged the glory of theimmortal God for images made tolook like mortal man and birds andanimals and reptiles (Romans 1:18-23 NIV).

Do you see that things have notchanged? It is the same patternfor thousands of years. Man hasopportunity to have commun-

ion with his creator. Man choos-es not to glorify God or givethanks to him, but man choosesto follow his own desires. Asman follows his own desires hisheart is darkened and lives hislife governed by futile thought.A man governed by anythingother than the Spirit of God is aman who finds himself wadingblindly through the murky wa-ters of sin and death. Not onlydid God ordain laws to governthe universe and allow it towork to precision in order thatlife may be sustained, but Heordained order that would bethe foundation of all things holyand pleasing to Himself. Whenman chooses to set on the thronein his own heart he steps out ofthe order that God has ordainedand chaos ensues leading to all

Removing the Veil by Josh WilsonPage 2

TheTruthinHD

Volume3,

Issue8

...mans greatest

battle is to

overcome the

sinful nature

that renders him

blind...


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the problems we see in thosearound us today. The acts of thesinful nature are obvious: sexual im-morality, impurity and debauchery;idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, dis-cord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish

ambition, dissensions, factions andenvy; drunkenness, orgies, and thelike (Galatians 5:19-21).

Man traded the truth of God for alie. Most will spend the extent oftheir time on earth storing uptreasures that are founded in a lie.

Again A.W. Tozer says, Beforethe Lord God made man upon theearth He first prepared for him aworld of useful and pleasant

things for his sustenance and de-light. In the Genesis account of thecreation these are simplythings. They were made formans use, but they were meantalways to be external to the manand subservient to him. In thedeep heart of the man was ashrine where none but God wasworthy to come. Within him wasGod; without, a thousand giftswhich God had showered upon

him. But sin has introduced com-plications and has made thosevery gifts of God a potentialsource of ruin to the soul. Ourwoes began when God was forcedout of His central shrine andthings were allowed to enter.Within the human heart thingshave taken over. Men have nowby nature no peace within theirhearts, for God is crowned thereno longer, but there in the moral

dusk, stubborn and aggressiveusurpers fight among themselvesfor first place on the throne.

The most unnerving part of thiswhole situation is that sometimesthe churchs ideas and theoriesare just as empty and hollow asmans attempt at explaining howwe all evolved from nothing.

I believe that there are people whogenuinely want to see a move of God.Something that cannot be mistaken forhuman ingenuity. There is a lot of talkabout revival these days. It is exciting

to hear that there are people who areready and willing to cry out to ourGod and intercede on behalf of others.It is exciting to know that there arepeople who still believe that God isable to do immeasurably more than allwe ask or imagine. It is exciting toknow that there are people who be-lieve that Gods Church is alive andwell today and that God does stillmove when His people come togetherin His name. I wonder though if we

understand the kind of surrender ittakes to experience that moving ofGod in our lives.

We say the right words sometimes.Pray for God to revive and move andstir hearts. But do we really under-stand that His desire is that we surren-der everything that stands before Himin our hearts? How often do we gobefore God and willingly throw openthe doors of our hearts and tell Him totake whatever it is He wants? Do weoften open the doors to our deepestdesires and plans and allow Him fullreign? How many will endure the suf-fering of being crucified with Christ sothat it is no longer we who live but Hewho lives through us. There is pain tobe endured as ones nature is trans-formed. There must be a work ofGod in destruction before we are free.We must invite the cross to do itsdeadly work within us. We must bringour self-sins to the cross for judgment.

We must prepare ourselves for an or-deal of suffering in some measure likethat through which our Savior passedwhen He suffered under Pontius Pi-late.There are things in our lives todaythat stand in the way of revival. May-be you had plans in life that nevercame to be. Maybe you thought youwould have attained a certain stand-

ing in life. Maybe you just simply allowyour time energy and thought to be con-sumed by plans or desires that are not yet,or are never, to be.

Only in the work of the Spirit of God in the

heart of man can the veil that so blinds usbe removed allowing the light of the Liv-ing God to shine into our hearts that wecan be a mirror of the image of the Al-mighty God.

Therefore, since we have such a hope, we arevery bold. We are not like Moses, who wouldput a veil over his face to keep the Israelitesfrom gazing at it while the radiance was fadingaway. But their minds were made dull, for tothis day the same veil remains when the old

covenant is read. It has not been removed, be-cause only in Christ is it taken away. Even tothis day when Moses is read, a veil covers theirhearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord,the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is Spirit,and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there isfreedom. And we, who with unveiled faces allreflect the Lords glory, are being transformedinto His likeness with ever-increasing glory,which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit (2Corinthians 3:12-18).

Does the veil still exist in your heart to-

day? Is your life governed by the wisdomof man? Are you willing to follow afterHim even if it means the Spirit of Godsearching the depths of who you are andcrucifying the things that hold you backfrom being a true mirror of the glory ofGod? I believe He still works in His peo-ple. If we open ourselves fully to Him wewill be transformed into a great mirrorthat reflects His image here on earth andproclaims to all mankind that HE IS! Aswe become this mirror we are fulfilling

Gods purpose and vision for mankind. Inthe beginning God had a vision for man.As we allow Him to remove the veil overour hearts we become the creation aboutwhom He can again say it is good.

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I am sure that some of you reading this

recognize the quote from the last book of

the Chronicles of Narnia, The last Battle. I

could not remember which character had

said it but when I looked it up I found thatmany had said it. It was first said as an

invitation by Aslan Come further in,

Come further up, and the cry of Further

up and Further in is repeated and carried

as those that followed the Great Lion

moved forward. But as I re-read the last

few chapters, it was the whole of what the

Unicorn said as he moved forward that is

sticking with me now. It is important and

relevant to us here in our worldyou see

the story concludes with the end of Narnia

and the beginning of something new,

something better, bigger, and brighter.

Just like those in the story we too need to

move Further up and Further in.

In Romans 5:21-6:11 we read as sinreigned in death,grace also mightreign through righteousness leading toeternal life through Jesus Christ our

Lord.What shall we say then?Are weto continue in sin thatgrace may

abound?2By no means! How canwewho died to sin still live in it? 3Do

you not know that all of uswho have

been baptizedinto Christ Jesus werebaptized into his death?4Wewereburied therefore with him by bap-tism into death, in order that, justasChrist was raised from the dead

bythe glory of the Father, we toomight walk innewness of life.5Forif we have been united with himina death like his, we shall certainlybe united with him in a resurrection

like his.6We know that our oldself

was crucified with him in order

thatthe body of sin might be broughtto nothing, so that we would no longerbe enslaved to sin.7For one who hasdiedhas been set freefrom

sin.8Nowif we have died withChrist, we believe that we will alsolive with him.9We know thatChrist,being raised from the dead, will neverdie again;death no longer has domin-

ion over him.10For the death hedied he died to sin,oncefor all, butthe life he lives he lives toGod.11So you also must consider

yourselvesdead to sin and alive to

God in Christ Jesus (ESV).

In the last half of chapter 5 we seethat sin and death came by one man,

In Adam all die, that the one manstrespass led to condemnation for allmen. We see that outside of ChristJesus we all stand condemned, dark-ened in our understanding and alien-

ated from the life of God because ofignorance and hardness of Heart

(Eph 4) but God so loved the Worldthat He gave His one and only Son toredeem all who will believe (John

3:16). Jesus paid the price and wenow have peace with God, access to

grace, and the hope of eternal Glory.Once dead in our sin we are nowmade alive in Christ by the free giftof Grace.

And the condemnation we now faceis not that we are born in Adam but

that we choose as Adam did; inde-pendence from God, a going afterour own way, a following after our

own selfish desires.

Jesus did not come to condemn usbut to free us from sin. Whoeverbelieves in Him is not condemned,

but whoever does not believe is con-demned already, because he has not

believed in the name of the one andonly Son of God. (Jn 3:18)

At Salvation, when we experience God's

justifying grace, by faith, we come into,

or are raised up into, that new life in

Christ. For by Grace you have been

saved through faith, this is not your do-

ing, it is the free gift of God, not a result

of works, none of us can boast that we

did it (Eph 2:8-9).

Faith is counted as righteousness to

uswho believe inhim who raised

from the dead Jesus our

Lord,25who was delivered up forour trespasses and raisedfor our

justification (Rom 4:24-

25). Thisrighteousness from God is an im-

puted righteousness; we stand be-

fore God righteous in Christ.

As the last verse of chapter 5 tells

usgrace reigns through righteous-

ness which leads to eternal life

through Christ. Only in Christ can

we receive the grace to overcome.

Only in Christ can grace reign

through righteousness.

But that does not give us a license

to sin: we cannot continue to de-

liberately sin, the grace we now

have access to does not cover sin.

As Christians we have died to sin

so we cannot continue on in it.

That would place us back with

Adam.We have been baptized into Christ,

immersed in Him. Can Christ sin?

Can the Holy and the unholy reside

in the same place? By no means!

Our old sin nature, our old self is

crucified with Him, as vs. 6 tells us;

the body of sin is brought to noth-ing, done away with, or destroyed.

No translation or commentary, that

I could find, said that it was curbed

or suppressed; it is crucified. Nailed

to the cross, sin must die. It must be

a willful act done before God by

faith.

Then, having been set free from the

power of sin we can now live as

grace empowered children of the

living God raised up to the newness

of life found in Christ Jesus!

Baptism, as Paul expresses it here

in chapter 6 is the outward sign of

the inward work of Christ; it sym-

bolizes our being buried with Christ

and raised to new life. We are, as

vs. 4 tells us, to walk in this new-

ness of Life. Grace is Christ work-

ing in us, his enabling presence

making us righteous and it is willful

righteous obedience that keeps us

Further Up and Further In! by Kenny SeidlerPage 4

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on the journey as we go further up

and further in.

Remember grace reigns through

righteousness; righteousness is right

living, right doing, being morally

upright. It is obedience that flows

from a right and loving relationship

with our Lord as we walk with Him.

This is not about following a set ofdos and donts and this is not about

being legalistic. This is about walking

with someone because you want to.

When you travel with someone you

go the way they are going and as you

travel you talk and build a relation-

ship with this person; it is a process.

I cant go my own way and end up

where you are going if I am going the

opposite direction. And there are

only two directions: back to the

world or further up and further inas we walk with Christ. If we are to

have new life we must walk in it!

If a person is on their own, independ-

ent and far from you how can they

build a relationship with you?

1 John 2:6 tells us that Whoever says

he abides in him ought to walk in the

same way in which he walked. Jesus

said I am the Way, the Truth, and

The Life. That life is what we are to

walk in. In stating you are a Christian

you are saying that you are a Christ

follower, that in this world you walkwith Christ in the newness of life that

He provides.

2 Cor 5:17 - Therefore, if anyone

isin Christ, he isa new creation.The

old has passed away; behold, the new

has come. The life we now live is in

Christ.

In John 15 Jesus said Abidein me,

and I in you. As the branch cannot

bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in

the vine, neither can you, unless youabide in me.5I am the vine;you arethe branches. Whoever abides in me

and I in him, he it is thatbears much

fruit, forapart from me you can do

nothing.6If anyone does not abidein mehe is thrown away like a branch

and withers;and the branches are

gathered, thrown into the fire, and

burned.

If we are walking in the newness of

life we will be abiding in Christ, in the

vine, and in Christ there is to be much

fruit. Now what Jesus said next should be

an eye opener for those with a strong inde-

pendent nature: Apart from Me you can

do nothing Apart from Christ there is

no new life; not walking with Him means

that you are on your own, apart from His

enabling presence, His grace, and His in-

tervention on your behalf. Unrighteousand separated from Him we fall back to

the world.

In Eph 4 there is a description of what that

walk should look like: I therefore, a pris-

oner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a

manner worthy of the calling to which you

have been called, with all humility and

gentleness, with patience, bearing with

one another in love, eager to maintain the

unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

There is one body and one Spiritjust as

you were called to the one hope that be-longs to your call one Lord, one faith,

one baptism

That one baptism into Christ is a baptism

into His church, one body, and it is only in

the local congregation that we can learn

and practice the one-anothers of the New

Testament while living the life we are

called to live. But first we have to make a

moral decision about sin: are we dead to

it?

In vs. 11 we are told that we MUST con-

sider ourselves dead to sin and alive toGod in Christ Jesus.

How? If you, by faith, believe yourself

dead to sin, then you must also consider

yourself as alive to God. You now live for

Him; vs. 8 tells us if we have died with

Christ, we believe that we will also live

with him.Having died with Christ we must believe

that we are to live with Him. Now! We

must take deliberate action based on our

faith in what we believe; that being inChrist weare dead to sin and by dying to

sin, we are, as Adam Clarke says,

brought into vital union with Christ in

Christ we are made alive and become par-

takers of His Spiritual Life, which is eter-

nal.

Christians no longer live as Adams chil-

dren; in independent self-righteousness.

We are no longer of the World; our con-

nection with Adam is

gone and we have died to

worldly ways and now choose to further our

relationship with Christ and His church.

Being alive to God is consecration, sanctifica-

tion, and holiness; it is being set apart for

Gods use and that can only happen when we

are alive to God in Christ Jesus. Having been

raised to new life we now live, as verse 8 tellsus, with Him. Being in Christ is also being a

part of His Body, His Church and that can only

happen as we move forward in grace.

That grace now reigns in us and is what John

Wesley referred to as sustaining Grace or what

we call sanctifying grace. Todays underserved

favor, Grace, is not about covering our sin as

the blood of animals did under the Old Testa-

ment Law. This sanctifying grace is the power

of Christ in us to overcome; it sustains us in

our weakness, enables us, and gives us

strength. I can do all things through Christwho strengthens me - this is the grace we

walk in, this is the newness of life that comes

from being in Christ.

And it is the grace of God that places us in His

Church. As we, the church, are seeking the

Lord, we will experience Gods love and grace

and we will grow in the Grace and Knowledge

of our lord Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 3:17-18 says,

take care that you are not carried away with

the error of lawless people and lose your own

stability.18Butgrow in the grace andknowledge of our Lord and Savior JesusChrist. Remember when we grow, we change

and change and growth takes place as we move

further up and further in together.

When we go further up and further in we

will start to see the church as God created it to

be, dead to sin and alive to God. And we will

find what the Unicorn found, and we will echo

his words, I have come home at last! This is

my real country! I belong here. This is the land

I have been looking for all my life, though I

never knew it till now Come further up, come

further in! And that joy filled cry is ours in

Christ. We too can find joy and purpose, a

home, and a place to belong as we move for-

ward, in Christ, as His Church. But we must

make the choice: back to the world and our old

self-centered ways or continue on, in and with

Christ, toward glory - Further up and Further

in!

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Now that you have purified your-selves by obeying the truth so thatyou have sincere love for your broth-

ers, love one another deeply, fromthe heart. (1 Pet 1:22 NIV)

Love is expressed by our society inmany ways, and through many ave-nues. Love is expressed in song.There are probably hundreds of thou-sands of songs with a theme of love,

not only in the gospel music field but

also in the secular arena.

Some would express their love foranother by gift-giving. Maybe some

would express their love in gift-giving based on the monetary valueof the gift. For some, they would ex-

pend significant resources in a gift toexpress their love for another, while

others may put a lot of time andthought into just the right gift for a

person and it may not be based uponthe monetary value but a value basedon how special the gift would be to

the person receiving it.

Still others may express their love foranother by their willingness to begenerous. Our willingness to be gen-

erous might be based on the personsrelationship to us or how well we

know the person or how well thoughtof the person is that we are being

generous to.

There are also many opinions aboutwhat love is and some of the acts thatare done to another in the name oflove. For example, there are some

who live in abusive situations and theabuser would claim that they aretreating someone a certain way be-cause of how much they love them.

Obviously a misguided understand-

ing of love. There are some whohave control issues in relationshipsand would say that it is out of love

that they are that way and need tocontrol the one they say they love.There are even those who would useabusive discipline on their childrento express what they say is love.These are all examples of perverted

love that does not come from God.

There are psychologists and otherswho try to explain love and help usto understand love based on theory

or experience other than a lovingrelationship with God.

As Christians, however, we need tolove Gods way, with the love that

only comes from God flowingthrough us. Notice that the verse in 1

Peter 1:22 tells us that love ultimate-ly comes from purity and the purity

comes from obedience to the truth.Gods Word and the witness of theHoly Spirit would be the truth. Now

that you have purified yourselves byobeying the truth so that you have

sincere love for your brothers.

We are first called to purity. How isthat accomplished? By obedience to

the truth of Gods Word. Jesus, asHe prayed for His disciples said,Sanctify them by the truth; your

word is truth. (John 17:17 NIV) As

a result of this obedience to Godstruth, we are admonished to havesincere love for our brothers, andsisters. The word used in the KJV for

sincere is unfeigned whichmeans undissembled or sincere:without dissimulation (hypocrisy).In other words Christians are to lovesincerely and that means not being

hypocritical in that love for one an-

other.

We are commanded to loveone another deeply, from the

heart. Sometimes church peo-ple have a strange way ofshowing love. I have seen all-out war in some congregationsand they say they love one an-

other. A strange way to expresslove. Ive seen some church

people who will not speak to

others in the congregation. Astrange way of showing love.

Ive seen church people gos-sip about their brothers and sis-ters, a strange way of showing

love. Ive seen church peoplebe judgmental to their brothersand sisters, and when I say judg-mental, I mean talking aboutsomething in someones life

without knowing the facts orcircumstances; in completespeculation. A strange way of

showing love.

What I am saying is that thereare times we, as the church, fail

miserably at expressing love toothers.If I speak in the tongues

of men and of angels, but havenot love, I am only a resounding

gong or a clanging cymbal. If I

have the gift of prophecy andcan fathom all mysteries and all

knowledge, and if I have a faith

that can move mountains, buthave not love, I am nothing. If Igive all I possess to the poorand surrender my body to the

flames, but have not love, I gainnothing. (1 Cor 13:1-3 NIV)That passage goes on to say,And now these three remain:

faith, hope and love. But the

greatest of these is love. (1 Cor

13:13 NIV)

The Church You Can Believe In Today: Loves One

Another by Bruce Wilson

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God loves unconditionally and soshould we. I want to be clearthough about something else. This

love that we need to be expressingto others does not mean that we

condone ungodly conduct or thatwe should condone sin and we donot judge what is right and wrong.

The Bible guides us into alltruth with the help of the HolySpirit. Some think that we shouldnot ever say anything about un-godly conduct or someone that is

living in sin. Jesus certainly saidenough about it. We have gonetoo far in the life of the churchcondoning sinful activities in thelives of some who profess to be

Christians. In fact, its about timewe start to raise the bar, so to

speak, with respect to holiness.Gods expectations have not

changed for Christians and ours

should not change either.

Unconditional love is not to beconfused either with the conse-

quences of sin or of spiritual disci-pline. Unconditional love is the

love that God has for mankindthat no matter what happens, nomatter what we have done; God

will forgive us and restore us spir-itually, but dont forget, HE PAIDA HIGH PRICE TO EXPRESS

THIS LOVE! It is not cheap graceand once we surrender to Him, we

do not continue in a life of sin.We dont get saved IN our sin; weget saved FROM our sin! Howev-er, sometimes the consequences of

sinful activity affect our lives andwe are unable to change that.

In the story of the prodigal sonthere was a great celebration whenthe son came to his senses andconfessed his sin and came home.For this son of mine was dead

and is alive again; he was lost

and is found.' So they began to cele-

brate. (Luke 15:24 NIV) The cele-bration was about this young mansredemption, not the ugly sinful life-

style he had lusted after and lived. Ifyou read that whole passage you will

notice that the Father did not run to

the son until he had a change of heart,had come to his senses.

The truth is, God hates sin! TheLORD examines the righteous, butthe wicked and those who love vio-

lence his soul hates. (Psa 11:5 NIV)

There are six things the LORD

hates, seven that are detestable to

him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue,hands that shed innocent blood, aheart that devises wicked schemes,

feet that are quick to rush into evil, a

false witness who pours out lies and aman who stirs up dissension among

brothers. (Prov 6:16-19 NIV)

You love righteousness and hatewickedness; therefore God, your God,has set you above your companions

by anointing you with the oil of joy.(Psa 45:7 NIV)

Let those who love the LORD hate

evil.. (Psa 97:10 NIV)

I will set before my eyes no vile thing.The deeds of faithless men I hate;

they will not cling to me. Men of per-verse heart shall be far from me; I

will have nothing to do with evil. (Psa

101:3-4 NIV)

To fear the LORD is to hate evil..

(Prov 8:13 NIV)

We are commanded to, Love one

another deeply, from the heart.

From the heart is the only way we can love

one another deeply. The word in the KJVfor deeply is fervently. Some of thesynonyms for the word fervent are: pas-sionately, ardently, enthusiastically, eager-ly, zealously, fanatically, feverishly, and

excitedly. If we indeed loved like thesewords describe, I do believe congregationsin our country would be growing by leapsand bounds. We would be loving one an-other and loving sinners into the Kingdom

of God.

The world is indeed looking for love, but

many are looking in the wrong places withthe wrong motives. There are warped and

perverted ways some define love and live

it out. The only true love that is fulfilling isloving Gods way and through allowing

Him to express is unconditional love to usthrough Jesus Christ. Jesus said, By this

all men will know that you are my disci-ples, if you love one another."(John 13:35NIV) The world needs to see the beauty ofthe pure Church of the Living God, not allthe apostasy, heresy and division that the

world sees being lived out among manywho call themselves Christians. The

Church should be a shining example of

showing and expressing love to one anoth-er. It is commanded by God and in fact, if

we have a right relationship with Him, wewill then be motivated to love others like

God loves us.

We are called to have motives that arepure, sincere and based upon Gods truth.That is Gods way of loving.

Page 7


8/12

And I saw a beast rising out of

the sea, with ten horns and seven

heads, with ten diadems on its

horns and blasphemous names

on its heads. And the beast that I

saw was like a leopard; its feet

were like a bears, and its mouth

was like a lions mouth. And to it

the dragon gave his power and

his throne and great authority.

-Rev. 13:1, 2

I recently read a blog written bya professor from Warner Univer-

sity. He was commenting on a

book that was written in defense

of creation, and explaining that

the authors of the book did not

have the academic credentials to

write authoritatively on such a

topic. He asks how the authors

are competent to address college

biology instruction since they do

not possess masters degrees in

biology. That is a fair question if

our concern is primarily college

degrees, but when do we forget

about such things in favor of

seeking the truth? The fact that

this professor challenged the cre-dentials of the authors rather

than the assertions they made

raises such a question. Are we

really looking for truth, or do we

simply take the word of those

who have worldly credentials?

Scripture reminds us that God

is not subject to the standards,

or the wisdom of the world.

But God chose what is foolish

in the world to shame the wise;

God chose what is weak in the

world to shame the strong;

God chose what is low and des-

pised in the world, even things

that are not, to bring to nothing

things that are, so that no hu-

man being might boast in thepresence of God (1 Cor. 1:27-

30). God told the people of Is-

rael,For as the heavens are

higher than the earth, so are

my ways higher than your ways

and my thoughts than your

thoughts (Isa. 55:9). If we be-

lieve these statements to be

God-inspired truth, why do we

continually measure truth

against the standards set in

place by man? Those who con-

tinue to seek Gods truth find

themselves in the same position

as Christians in the first centu-

ry. We stand in opposition to a

beast.

Historically, the Church of God

has interpreted the symbols of

the 13th chapter of Revelation

in one of two ways. F.G. Smith

and many of the early teachers

of the movement taught that

the first beast in chapter 13

represents the man-made

Roman Church. (I make no

pretense about the fact that

I believe this interpretation

to be true.) Others believe

that this beast represents

some form of emperor wor-

ship. My contention is that

regardless of which inter-

pretation we follow, we

find ourselves standingagainst the same type of

beast today. Whether we

consider the beast Papal-

ism, or worship of the gov-

ernment of man, we are in

a position where the stand-

ards of man oppose Gods

Word.

There is nothing wrong

with education, and cer-

tainly nothing wrong with

pursuing the knowledge of

God. However, it seems

that sometimes we value

the things we have put in

place so much that we for-

get that Gods truth isgreater than our ideas. We

forget that Gods truth is

eternal, and is to be discov-

ered by His people, not cre-

ated by them. Os Guinness

wrote, With postmodern-

ism teaching that truth is

The Nature of the Beast: It Denies the Truth by Nick WilsonPage 8

TheTruthinHD

Volume3,

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created, not discovered, the

premium on the best and

brightest increases and the

prize becomes the triumph of

intellect over reality (A

Time for Truth, 60).

We may not admit it, but

Gods truth is reality even

when it is contrary to our

opinions and ideas. We can

make every attempt to ra-

tionalize and explain it away,but we cannot change the

truth any more than we can

change God Himself. To at-

tempt to do so is to follow

the way of the beast.And the

beast was given a mouth ut-

tering haughty and blasphe-

mous wordsIt opened its

mouth to utter blasphemies

against God, blaspheming

his name and his dwelling,

that is, those who dwell in

heaven. Also it was allowed

to make war on the saints

and to conquer them (Rev.

13:5-7). The word

blasphemies literallymeans vilification. So the

beast that man has created

vilifies the work of God. It

vilifies the truth of God, and

makes war on the saints who

live in light of this truth. Is

this not what is happening when

those in positions of influence

attack the credentials of those

who are brave enough to stand

upon Gods Word even in a hos-

tile environment? The desire for

truth has largely given way to

the rationalization of mans

structures. Guinness explained

the results of such an occur-

rence, In short, rationalization

not only quenches the trueChristian spirit, it helps turn the

revolutionary into the routine,

the insight into the institu-

tion (The Last Christian on

Earth, 142).

The beast in Johns vision must

have been an awesome sight:

and they worshipped the beast,

saying, Who is like the beast,

and who can fight against

it? (Rev. 13:4). The institutions

we have put in place today are

no less impressive. Man stands

in awe of his own creation as it

leads us into the wilderness. It

turns our attention from the

source of all truth, and speaksblasphemies as it teaches us to

deny the Word of God. We look

back on history wondering how

man could be misled by some of

the tyrants who have appeared

through the course of time. We

wonder how we could be so gullible

as to accept some of the ideas that

we have put in place, and how we

could have denied what God had

taught so clearly in His Word. We

see the results of mans rule in the

world, and in the church, but we sel-

dom seem to learn from history. The

people of God were oppressed when

the church decided that they were

not adequate to read the Word and

apply it under the guidance of the

Holy Spirit. When the common manhad nothing to offer God, and the

Word was given only to those in po-

sitions of man-made authority dark

times ensued.

Are we really that much different

today? By whose authority do we

live? Where do we look for truth?

There is nothing wrong with books,

and those who write them. There is

nothing inherently wrong with our

institutions of education. But are

they really the final word? Are they

an avenue to find the revelation of

Gods truth, or have we elevated

them to the position of a beast?

Page 9


10/12

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Page 10

TheTruthinHD

Volume3,

Issue8
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


11/12

Page 11

Be sure to check out

The Culture of Gods

Kingdom, a new book

written by Nick Wilson.

Its available on:

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Its also available for

Kindle.


12/12

Hezekiah and He did it for many oth-

ers...and He will do it for you! God isbigger and better than sickness. And

He is MUCH bigger and better than

death! God IS life! It doesn't meanHe will always run to the rescue - His

plans are much bigger than ours and

there is this tiny thing called "freewill" that tends to make a mess ofthings sometimes. But He is

there. And you will never know if the

answer is "yes" or "no" unless youask. My parents always reminded me

growing up: "The worst thing they

can say is no." I didn't really under-stand it when I was really young, but

Truth in HD

The Worst He Can Say...Continued From Page 1

BringingTruthintoFocus

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tirely by email. If you would like to receive

The TruthIn HD on a monthly basis, pleaseemail us at this address:

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ments, please email us. (Only comments

deemed appropriate will be printed.)

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We encourage you to forward this by email,and give copies to your friends.

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please see:

www.holinessreformation.blogspot.com

Writers may be contacted by email at

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(814) 490-9429

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The Truth in HD, August 2013