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Tag: John

  • Liar, liar, pants on fire

    Liar, liar, pants on fire

    Do you recall that kid’s expression?

    I heard it from my friends when caught in a lie.

    Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire

    It’s not a biblical quote, however the Bible continually teaches us the value of truth and the consequence of lies.  God takes truth very seriously.

    “The Liar.” a poem by William Blake from about 200 years ago is probably the source of the expression. Jesus had to deal with liars even in the Temple 2000 years ago. (We’ll get to that shortly.) And about 3000 years ago the Proverbs of the Bible addressed lies as wickedness in relationships.

    Proverbs 17:4 An evildoer listens to wicked lips,

    and a liar gives ear to a mischievous tongue.

    Wickedness, mischief, speaking evil – all connected.

    We owe our souls to the master of lies when we are unwilling to face the truth of God.  We tell lies first to our SELF – lies from Satan. Then we lie to others to cover our evil tracks.

    Lies poison our relationships with others.  Liars willingly listen to other liars, accepting lies as truth.

    Why would a ‘friend,’ a family member or a loved one lie for you?   What truth visible to God would they hide?

    Consider the evil motives of a liar:

    “If someone is willing to lie for you, they are also willing to lie to you.

    Men with miserable lives will even die for a lie they willingly believe — (reward of evil: virgins for them in heaven). These same religious leaders who cover women from head to toe on earth will lead their fellow sinners to death for the lie of a false prophet.

    Religious leaders lead followers toward worship of a virgin while claiming chastity to God and hiding unrighteousness with a lie for a friend. Church Bishops have even built homes for mistresses and lovers even in medieval times.

    Wickedness, built on lies – even to the highest levels of religious leadership at times and in all faiths over the millenia.

    Jesus had to confront this in the Pharisees of the Temple – evil and wicked men with motives to hold onto their power and evil even in face of opposing God. They brought a woman caught in adultery to Jesus to test him.  They did not bring the man to stone. (Perhaps he was a religious leader.)

    Then the Pharisees accused Jesus of being born out of a relationship of unrighteousness, in essence saying: “Your mother was no virgin.”

    Of course the lie in this is not the issue. The point is Who they confront with all of their lies to hold onto their power:

    Jesus IS Son of Man, Son of God – Jesus IS truth.

    Part of the Talmud is a lie. The Book of Mormon is a lie. The Bible of the Jehovah Witness is a lie (full of incomplete and deliberately mistranslated Scripture). And of course the writings of the false prophet of Arabia are a lie.

    The atheist is both a liar and a contradiction. How can you be ‘against’ a God you do not believe in? Yet justification of SELF and the evil without accountability require much effort and energy of the atheist, the agnostic, and worshipers of creation in place of the Creator. NO God = NO hell (the same false lie and false hope of the idolatrous religions: Hinduism, Buddhism and others).

    Again from Proverbs – the caution from the Bible:

    Proverbs 30:5-6 Every word of God proves true;
    he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.

    Do not add to his words,
    lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.

    To be clear (for those who refuse to listen to God’s truth), definition  for ‘rebuke’ from the Hebrew word:

    yakach – [“He will reprove” KJV] – to prove, decide, judge, rebuke, reprove, correct, be right

    God will judge your lie.  Consider the description of Hell, liar.

    John 8:

    23 He said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.”

    25 So they said to him, “Who are you?”

    Jesus said to them,“Just what I have been telling you from the beginning…

    The Truth Will Set You Free

    31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

    You Are of Your Father the Devil

    44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me…

    Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire

    Are you so bold as to stand up to the liars of this world for the Truth?

    Proverbs 8:

    6 Hear, for I will speak noble things,
    and from my lips will come what is right,
    7 for my mouth will utter truth;
    wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
    8 All the words of my mouth are righteous;
    there is nothing twisted or crooked in them.
    9 They are all straight to him who understands,
    and right to those who find knowledge.

    Jeremiah 5:3

    O LORD, do not your eyes look for truth?
    You have struck them down,
    but they felt no anguish;
    you have consumed them,
    but they refused to take correction.
    They have made their faces harder than rock;
    they have refused to repent.

    John 14;

    I Am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life

    14 “Let not your hearts be troubled.

    Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.”

    … “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”

    6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

  • Will the Judge of the Universe Not Do What Is Right?

    Will the Judge of the Universe Not Do What Is Right?

    This is not a Biblical quote, as near as I can tell; yet it is from the Lord.

    Do you trust the Lord God to do what is right?

    Jesus Christ IS and will judge what is right and what it wrong.

    John 5: ESV

    24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

    25 “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.

    27 And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

    Witnesses to Jesus

    30 “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me. 31 If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true.

     Will the Judge of the Universe Not Do What Is Right?

    Trust in our Lord Christ Jesus with all of your heart.

     

  • Intimacy of a Christian Friend

    Intimacy of a Christian Friend

    “Now you are my friends.”

    If there is anything I would commend to you, it is your value as my Christian friend.

    I have embraced the love of many throughout my life: family, my wife, our children, co-workers, neighbors, school-mates, team members,  club members, teachers, students, mentors, apprentices, bosses, employees, and many more.  I have included friends into parts of my life from each of these roles and relationships at various times, but none is so valuable as a Christian friend. But you, my beloved Christian friend, contribute more blessing than those who do not know Jesus Christ.

    “What is the difference between a true Christian friend and any other?  It is the intimacy of the love of Jesus Christ.

    Intimacy is valued only as a commodity by the worldly.  Intimacy is maligned to mean sexuality in a way that is not intimate at all.

    Where is the closeness of the relationships of family and friends of the world?  It is sadly lacking (for the most part), because we have so few friends we can trust who embrace the righteousness of Christ.

    Among the worldly, integrity of relationship is displaced by the hypocrisy of shallowness.

    (My indictment includes many shallow christians and all-too-often, my own timid relationship to Jesus Christ.)

    Who do you trust?  What friend will you lay your life down for?  What  time-tested faithfulness of your intimate friend  has such value in your life that you cannot live or die without this love?

    Intimate friends such as these… such as some of you… I have found ONLY within the intimacy of the church.

    My former wife (before the Lord took her) was part of these intimate relationships with our friends.  Our daughter has been part of the relationships with these intimate friends.  I have loved and do love many of you who were first part of a ministry, or small group, or Bible study, or the regular gathering of two or three in the Name of the Lord.

    I thank God for the intimacy of my friends who have seen to my needs in the most trying of times — you, my friends in Christ Jesus.

    Matthew 10: 16 “Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. So be as shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves… 21 “A brother will betray his brother to death, a father will betray his own child, and children will rebel against their parents and cause them to be killed. 22 And all nations will hate you because you are my followers…

    35 ‘I have come to set a man against his father,
    a daughter against her mother,
    and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
    36     Your enemies will be right in your own household!’

    Jesus asked His twelve Apostles to go out and tell the world “the Kingdom of Heaven is near.” {v.6}

    His Twelve friends did what He asked.  

    Eleven would NOT betray Him.

    We need the intimacy of friends we can trust.  (Have you betrayed a beloved friend? Repent. Apologize. Return to our Lord.)

    True Christian friends have an intimacy of love for each other which resembles the love of Jesus Christ.  Your parents may not have it.  Your siblings and your cousins may not have it. Your spouse may not have it. Your children may have forgotten it. Those you work with and associate with may go about their obligatory relationships to you without ever sharing one word of compassionate empathy. And even your near friend, when self-interest steps in, may betray you to death.

    Christian friends obey Jesus as our Lord.

    John 15:

    12 This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you.

    13 There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves.

    Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me.

    16 You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. 17 This is my command: Love each other.

    The World’s Hatred

    18 “If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. 19 The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world.

     

    Yes, dear friend, it is the intimate friend who knows the heart of his friend… the friend who shares in the same Spirit of the love of our Lord and Savior, Who laid down His Life for all of us.  It is our Christian friend who has done what our Lord commands:

    “Love each other.

    Any friend of Jesus is a friend of mine, beloved.