What is the Truth? - NCCG.ORG Ning Network Archive 2008-10

When you look at the word that Paul (Sha’ul) uses in Second Thessalonians to tell us the state of the “church”, you will see that the Scripture is very clear as to what will happen to the “church” in the latter days. “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called YHVH, or that is worshiped; so that he as YHVH sitteth in the temple of YHVH, showing himself that he is YHVH.” (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4) The phrase “falling away” is the Greek word apostasia (GSN 646) and it means the defection from the truth. The problem that we come to at this juncture is the question of what is really the truth?

All of the different denominations have different truths that they hold to while denouncing other denominations so called truths as error. Even divisions within denominations may form because one group holds one thing as truth while another group holds the opposite to be the truth. Then there are groups who believe in different forms of millennialism’s including those who do not believe in the millennial reign of the Messiah. Each of these groups points to truths, while the other groups denounce those truths as falsehoods.

So all of these “churches” and “Christians” gather their beliefs from the accepted Scriptures, while some of these “churches” and groups add more books to what they consider Scripture. Then you have those that the “church” and mainstream “Christians” call cults. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines cult as: a formal religious veneration (to regard with reverential respect), a religious system also its adherence, or a faddish devotion also a group of persons showing such devotion. Based on this definition from Webster’s dictionary, all denominations and religious groups as well as Christians can be called cultists. But the accepted meaning is that a cult is some group of people who do not believe in the basic doctrines and tenets of Christianity.

We can easily surmise that the basic tenets of Christianity are “repentance from dead works, and of faith toward YHVH, of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.” (Hebrews 6:1-2) However, even in this statement, you would have those that disagree with even these as the basic tenets of Christianity for there are those that say there are only one set of baptism or that the laying on of hands have ceased.

So you could break these down even farther by saying that Christianity at its most basic level is a belief that Yeshua is the son of YHVH, that He came to earth, suffered and died for the sins of humanity, was buried, rose again on the third day, and now sits at the right hand of the Father in heaven. I could have inserted here that this is the Apostle’s Creed recited in many denominations every first day of the week, however, to quote that I would have to also insert the part about the “Holy Catholic Church” which many will argue about not being of the Truth. There are those that recite this creed that change this particular phrase and say the “Holy Christian Church”.

So if it is possible to go to fifty two different denominations and branches of those denominations within a year’s time, it would be possible to be told of fifty two different forms or versions of the truth. But along will all these divisions comes a movement which seeks to look past these differences and try to accept one another as all being followers of the Messiah while having different views on some things. This movement is called the Ecumenical Movement and it centers on the fact that we all can agree to some things as being the truth, and since no one has all the truth, then everyone has a part of it. However, Webster’s Dictionary defines the word ecumenical as: worldwide or general in extent, application, or influence; promoting unity among Christian churches or religions. It should be, in fairness, pointed out that one of the definitions of Catholic is general or universal. Thereby going by the definition of ecumenical, you could easily substitute Catholic for either worldwide or general.

Now we all know that not everyone using the word ecumenical does not advocate Catholicism or the merging of religions with Christianity to form a one world or universal religion. But then again, I will turn to you and ask of you do we really know that is not what they mean? It is like telling someone to tell you the first thing that pops into their minds when they hear a word. For example, one could say blue and another associate it with the sky. But neither the sky is always blue nor blue is always the sky. So to change the meaning of words so that they “calleth the things that are not, as though they were” (Romans 4:17b ASV 1901), then you must declare that Truth is not absolute. This means that although something is true, there is room to debate because one person’s truth is not another person’s truth.

To say, for example, that one person’s definition of marriage may be truth for them but another’s definition of marriage, which is different from the first person’s, is also truth means that a word does not mean what is says. So when you have Chavah being tempted in the Garden of Eden, HaSatan is telling her that YHVH did not mean what He said. “Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the YHVH Elohim had made. And he said to the woman, ‘Is it so that Elohim has said, “You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?”’ And the woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden. But of the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, Elohim has said, “You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.”’ And the serpent said to the woman, ‘You shall not surely die, for Elohim knows that in the day you eat of it, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 2:1-5 MKJV)

The great lie that got Chavah to consider eating the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, the only fruit which was forbidden of her to eat of all the fruit that was in the garden, was that YHVH did not Mean what He said. HaSatan told her that yes He said it, but what He really meant was that you would stop being human and become a god. Even in the Garden of Eden, the truth was under attack as being relative to ones own interpretation of the meaning. By playing on the words and twisting them to fit the perception already in her mind, then HaSatan was able to blur the truth and do away with absolute boundaries.

How many times have you sat in a pew or sat watching or listening to someone preach and been told that although the Scriptures say something, it does not mean what it says? How many times have you read books, commentaries, or even study bibles and been told that what the Scripture says is not what it means? Anytime you read or hear that, it is nothing but the same great lie that HaSatan told Chavah. It works because the people who believe the lie want to believe it because The Word has told them to either do something they do not want to do or to not to do something they want to do. They grasp at anything and anyone that will tell them that they can still go to heaven although they are disobeying the commandments of YHVH. Those that they grasp onto tell them the commandments are subject to personal interpretation.

No they will not tell you that is the reason, for the Scripture rightly says, “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.” (2 Peter 1:20) Rather, they will tell you that those commandments have been nailed to the cross. They will tell you that this is the age of Grace and not of Law. They will tell you that you are predestined to go to heaven and so that no one can pluck you out of the hand of YHVH. They will tell you that you can not fall from grace. They will tell you whatever you want to hear to get you guaranteed salvation. In exchange for you giving them what they want – money, honor, and service – and they will tell you anything that you want to hear.

But the fact of the matter is that the Word says what It says and The Word means what It says. You can wrestle with the Scripture trying to make it say what you want it to say, but that only leads to your own destruction. “They that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.” (2 Peter 3:16b) If you are a diabetic and you are craving sugar, is that dessert worth your life? If you suffer heart problems, is that greasy piece of meat that you have eaten all your life worth your life? If you crave something unrighteous, is it worth your spiritual life?

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