Truth       < Belief  >     Falsehood

   What to believe? It's a question dating to the day Satan masqueraded as a talking serpent, lying to Adam's wife. He knew the truth, but he lied to her about God's command not to eat the fruit of the tree of life. 

   This wasn't about a $10 million secret, illegal deal. It was about one bite of fruit for goodness sake! Eve believed the devil; she and Adam were evicted from their awesome home, and we all have been paying a price ever since. We all are vulnerable. 

   How so? Because essentially, life is about the Creator's truth and his enemy's "disinformation." We must decide who to believe; our eternal destiny depends on it. 

~ ~ ~

   From our Bible commentary we counted about 190 verses in the Old and New Testaments centered on truth. In the four gospels Jesus is quoted 76 times saying, I tell you the truth. 

   Of course, some of those are in conversations included in one or two other New Testament books. 

   We found 25 verses about lying. And some 145 on belief. 

   As with Jesus on trial, and Stephen standing accused before the same "court," there is a fierce battle over what we believe. 

   Lies in national and world affairs can change circumstances for millions, for a lifetime, even start wars. 

   As for spiritual matters, there is a written record from the beginning, authored by God himself through his chosen servants like Moses, David, John and Paul. If we have a Bible and are of age, he demands we believe his truth!   

Continued tomorrow

       Jimmy

The lie in Belief  

   Friends, if you haven't read the last two blogs, please do. They are the basis for today's attempt to explain something. 

   In Acts chapter 7, a man with an ordinary assignment, provide food to foreign visitors - but an extraordinary relationship with the Holy Spirit - confronts people who don't believe the gospel he is spreading. 

   Rather than debate or ignore him, they sought men to lie and stir up anger. It is a tactic practiced today. Instead of addressing the issue, cancel the messenger. 

   Stephen knew Jewish history, but went over the edge when he called them "stiff-necked people," and worse. He also shamed their "fathers," whom Stephen said killed God's prophets. He accused some in the court, where he was being charged, of participating in a plot to have the "righteous One" crucified.

   Name calling isn't advised, normally. But this wasn't normal. God was not pleased that children of Abraham had killed other children (prophets) who had written what God gave them in those special times. And he was not pleased with those in this court who had insisted that Pilate crucify a man found innocent. God himself may have been speaking through Stephen.  

   However, beginning in Genesis, all along God was planning to suffer for our salvation. The "actors" indeed didn't know what they were doing. 

   Stephen paid with his life, one of the earliest martyrs. But while dying in pain, he looked toward heaven and said, Lord don't hold this sin against them. Jesus himself had said on the cross, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.  

   Of course they didn't know, because they had believed lies. They didn't know the truth about Stephen, because they believed lies. 

   Do we believe everything we hear, or read in papers and magazines?

   Maybe we'll continue this tomorrow. 

       Jimmy

Before the (supreme) Court  

   Yesterday, we left off with Stephen (just a deacon)) standing alone before the Sanhedrin, accused of blasphemy. A serious charge in those times. 

   The high priest asked him, "Are these charges true?"  

   Stephen answered by reviewing their history, beginning with Abraham. Then - Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, Moses the exodus. 

   The desert experience, Joshua, the Promised Land, and David. So far, so good. Then he quoted Scripture (Acts 7:48-50) and said - oh oh - 

   You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit. Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One.   

   And now you have betrayed and murdered him - you who have received the law ... but have not obeyed it. 

   The court became furious. Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Look, he said, I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.

   At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. (Saul, who Jesus later renamed Paul, witnessed and approved.) 

   Did Stephen react as we might, shaking his fist and calling them names?

   While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Then he fell on his knees and cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he fell asleep. 

Tomorrow: Cancel culture - then and today.  

Nobody Likes to be Insulted 

   Or hit with stones. Human nature reacts, big time! 

   Background: In the months following Jesus' return to the Father - having sent the Holy Spirit to mankind - faith spread rapidly. The 12 disciples were busy helping to feed many Jewish "foreigners" in the city. Too busy.

   Some of the visitors complained they were being overlooked. 

   The disciples called a meeting. They needed to concentrate on ministry and prayer, so they selected seven men "full of the Spirit and wisdom," to take charge of the tables. Stephen was one of the seven. Today, we think of these men as the first deacons.  

   It worked. The Word spread. Believers, even some priests, increased in number. 

   Unlike any deacon we ever knew, including myself, Stephen did "great wonders and miraculous signs." 

   The Bible (Acts chapter 7) says Jews from other provinces argued with him. They hadn't experienced "the way," and opposed what Stephen was spreading. 

   Like those who asked Pontius Pilate to condemn Jesus, with false accusations they persuaded some to say, "'We heard Stephen speak blasphemy against Moses and God.' They stirred up the elders and teachers of the law." 

   They took Stephen to the Sanhedrin - at that time the supreme court of the Jewish people - the same body that sent Jesus to Pilate for a death sentence. Again, with false witnesses, they claimed that Stephen said, "Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs of Moses." 

Tomorrow: What will the court decide?

     Jimmy

      

 

Monday: An uproar over one man

 We're Back! 

   For better or worse. Friends, it is a relief that you checked in after our lost week. We were snowed under (yes, it snows in Florida) with awesome relatives on both sides, in town either for 1. a celebration of life, or 2. a vacation. 

   A great-niece and her husband from Oregon stayed here for a week or so - wonderful to have them - but it limited my access to the computer, as if there was time to blog anyway. 

   When reader stats showed no readers after a blogless week, we began to think we lost you. Maybe it was time to hang it up. But, we'll continue as long as some of you follow Views.

   There is plenty of valuable information to be found - or recalled - in the Bible, and worldly subjects beg for our attention. 

   If you want to suggest a subject, respond to any blog and we'll decide if we're up to the task. 

We're Falling Back

   Several Biden-team members followed the script for the day: "We are using sanctions to deter the Russians." 

   Then the president goes in front of NATO and says, "Sanctions never deter." 

   And he does a U.S. no-no - getting political on foreign soil. He said he wasn't going to run for president until (Trump) said "There are good people on both sides" of the disturbance in Charlottesville. This was a misrepresentation repeated from a couple years back. Trump said that, but first he explicitly denounced the supremacists. Leftist politicians and media ignore that part. 

   Why was Biden was in Bussels in the first place? We're not leading. Please. Will some other national leader take charge of the response to Ukraine, before Putin breaks Stalin's record for deaths?    

        Jimmy

Monday: A brave man named Stephen

Truth About Badmouthing 

   It must be true that no one has broken up a marriage except the husband or wife, or both. 

   There are outside influences, homewreckers. But, only one or both of the people who agreed to marry can ultimately undo it. 

   Nations are like that, writes Andree Seu Peterson in WORLD magazine.

   Communist regimes have a problem, she says. They carry the seeds of their own destruction. The better off their people become, the more they will get ideas. Rulers must keep their grip, allow a hint of freedom, but not too much. 

   See North Korea. Then there is Hong Kong, which protested too much for the comfort of Xi Jinping and the Party. 

   We - America - are a lamp on a hill that Chinese and Russians cannot allow their people to envy. Why else does Russia mess with our elections?

   Why does Iran -  narrowly religious - call Israel "little Satan" and America the "great Satan?" If that isn't Satan pointing his finger elsewhere, what would it be?  

   Dictators may badmouth us, but us badmouthing ourselves is self-destruction, Peterson writes.  

   Countries defeated in war often rebuild. But, those destroyed from within come to an end. 

   In Matthew 12:25, Jesus said, Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. It is inner division that is fatal. 

   As for marriage, so for nations. We have a substantial population that wishes to cancel Judeo-Christian influence, our constitution and the economic system that - for better or worse - has made living more livable. Russia and China cannot destroy our heritage. Only we can do that.

   Ukrainians have it right, horrible as their current troubles are.

         Jimmy