Truth – Light from the Word

The Coming Great Deception

Deception, according to Webster’s dictionary, is by design or illusion; implies the use of tricks in fraudulently deceiving others; it is deliberate deception in dishonesty, depriving a person of property, rights.

It all began in the Garden of Eden, when Satan deceived Eve. That was the first great deception, one that affected the eternal destiny of men. From the time that Eve believed the serpent and fell for it, the curse fell on all men. Satan gained an entrance to men’s mind and through it he led the human race into the practice of evil. That was the fall that brought endless consequential results. We were all born spiritually dead as a result. The fruit looked good to Eve, because she did not realize that the serpent’s purpose was to damage God’s reputation. It was a matter for Eve to discredit and doubt God’s word. Satan’s words were like slippery ground and Eve fell into it. Deception, deception, a thing that takes us under the wheels of a truck without us knowing it, until too late. It is the way to destruction. Satan, the father of lies and deception, continues pursuing the human race to their destruction. He is a thief, a liar, a deceiver. YAHSHUA said of him, The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (John 10:10). Deception shows one thing, but it is the opposite. The world is turning itself in many directions of deceptions right now. Many have lost their lives, for disapproving truth and embracing deception. Slowly, they slipped into their own destruction. Someone observed the fakeness we live in: “fake people, fake food, fake medicine, fake weather, fake news, fake History, fake pandemics, fake revolution and fake spirituality.” The purpose of the few is to destroy humanity through any means they can put their hands on. They sell a host of goodies under the pretension of a store with good prices, so to satisfy their evil agenda. For more details do a search with these key words Walmart, Evergreen, Getty Museum and FEMA. You will be shocked beyond belief.

YAHSHUA warned us in one of His sermons that false messiahs and false prophets will arise and show signs and miracles to deceive and lead astray, if possible, even the elect. But look to yourselves, He said, and be on your guard; I have told you everything beforehand (Mark 13:22-23). Test the spirits, to see whether they are from God, because many prophets have gone out into the world, says the Word of God in I John 4:1: Testing of spirits is by the knowledge of the Word of God. Anything that we hear or read that is not in line with the Word of God, should not be accepted as truth. The way one is guided into deceit is by ignorance of Scriptures. There will be a day when Satan, through the antichrist, will pervert and seduce with flatteries those who do not know the truth. His coming is through the activity and working of Satan and he will be attended by great power and with all sorts of miracles and signs and delusive marvels (II Thess. 2:9). The world will marvel at his deceptions and will fall into his trickeries. There will be many who profess to be Christians who will believe him. There are two kinds of Christians: the born-again Christian, who follows the Bible, and believes in eternal salvation through the sacrifice of YAHSHUA and do not worship idols; the Lord YAHSHUA is their leader; and there are those Christians who are called Catholics who believe salvation is through work; they believe also in the existence of purgatory, which is the “condition, process, or place of purification or temporary punishment in which, according to medieval Christian and Roman Catholic belief, the souls of those who die in a state of grace are made ready for heaven.” The Pope is the head of the state and the Catholic Church. In fact, lately, in a very important ceremony lead by the Pope, the cantor led the congregation in prayer with words indicating the “imminent emergency of the near event coming to light of the antichrist.” He sang these words: “His flame Lucifer, dawning his own creation: man, I say, O Lucifer, who knows no setting. Christ your son who came back from the dead and shed his peaceful light to the human race, and is alive and reigns forever more.” And everyone said, Amen! This is pure deceit, one that will lead many to believe Satan to be the Messiah. This ceremony the Pope wanted the entire world to see. It was the announcement to the world concerning the son of perdition as the false messiah. It seems that the antichrist will be revealed to the world through the leadership of the Catholic Church. The resurrected son of perdition-Judas, will take his position as the antichrist under the leadership of Satan.

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You Have Seen Many Things

The spiritual blindness of the soul has embraced the world, creating turmoil and chaos; when right is wrong and wrong is right, we know that confusion has taken its toll on people, for the lies of today’s life style has touched them all. The obviously, seemingly so, is not so for many, for choosing not to see that which stands right before their eyes, refusing to accept the truth. As in the days of Israel, when the nation behaved contrary to God’s commandments, they saw, but they did not perceive the true meaning of what they had seen. In YAHSHUA’S day on the earth, He dealt with his disciples for acting blind to what they had seen and heard. The disciples, representing the nation of Israel, continued blind, missing on many things that was expressed by our Lord YAHSHUA. They had seen many things, but perceived none. In several occasions, He called their attention to their spiritual blindness. When they saw YAHSHUA walking on water, they failed to recognize Him and were taken by fear. They failed to consider or understand [the teaching and meaning of the miracle of] the loaves; in fact, their hearts had grown callous (Mark 6:50,56). On another occasion, YAHSHUA clearly told them about His coming death, calling their attention by saying, Listen! We are going to Jerusalem, and all things that are written about the Son of Man through and by the prophets will be fulfilled. For He will be handed over to the Gentiles and will be made sport of and scoffed and jeered at and insulted and spit upon; they will flog Him and kill Him; and on the third day He will rise again. But they understood nothing of these things; His words were a mystery and hidden from them, and they did not comprehend what He was telling them (Luke 18:31-34). Peter, in his spiritual blindness, took YAHSHUA aside to speak to Him privately and began to reprove and charge Him sharply, saying, God forbid, Lord! This must never happen to You! (Matt. 16:22). YAHSHUA knowing that Peter’s words had come from Satan himself, rebuked him by saying, Get behind Me, Satan! You are in my way; for you are minding what partakes not of the nature and quality of God, but of men (vs.24).

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The Absence of Truth Is a Betrayal of One’s Confidence

What is truth? Pilate asked YAHSHUA during His trial. But he left without hearing the answer. The absence of truth is the presence of a lie, the mother of dishonesty. YAHSHUA, the essence of truth and Truth Himself, stood before Pilate, who under pressure, felt compelled by the Jewish authorities to have Him crucified. Had Pilate waited for the answer to his question, What is truth? He would not have had YAHSHUA crucified. So, it is that ignorance of truth seemed to be Pilate’s choice. Pilate stands guilty for rejecting knowledge concerning truth, making a decision based on lies presented to him, even knowing YAHSHUA was innocent. The Jews of those days betrayed truth and their knowledge of the fact by their false accusations against YAHSHUA. They consistently stepped on the truth, by not believing it, when YAHSHUA presented the truth concerning Whom He was. The High priest insisted on Him to tell them Who He was by saying, I call upon You to swear by the living God, and tell us whether you are the Christ, the Son of God. YAHSHUA Then answered, You have stated [the fact]. More than that, I tell you: You will in the future see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Almighty coming on the clouds of the clouds of the sky. They could not handle the truth; they spat in His face and struck Him with their fists; and some slapped Him in the face and sentenced Him to death (Matt. 26:63-64.67). This was Israel’s ultimate rejection of their Messiah, and when they handed Him to Pilate to be crucified, then there was their ultimate betrayal. YAHSHUA was betrayed by His Own and arrested to face six illegal trials, which resulted in His crucifixion. He was sentenced to death without first having a hearing to determine what He had done wrong, according to the Jewish law.

Truth is the clear, concise and honest reality. Truth conforms itself to facts and reality in their correctness and accuracy, for it establishes itself on verified fact and principle. Truth is the liberator of guilt and torment. When Peter denied knowing the Lord, he based his facts on the lie, “I do not know Him”. He chose to lie in order to protect himself. He did not want to associate himself with YAHSHUA in His trials, afraid of what could happen to him. He even pronounced a curse on himself. Doing that, Peter lost the sense of integrity and honesty. He disengaged himself from the truth and allowed the lie to permeate his heart, which opened the way for remorse and guilt. The betrayal of one’s confidence through the absence of truth has a long-term consequence in one’s life.

Truth confessed in difficult circumstances hurts at first, but clears the conscience and sets us free. Freedom of the soul is that flowing peace we all desire. When we cover truth with a lie, we are betraying truth itself. Jacob, whose name means deceiver, well represented the meaning of his name, when he knowingly deceived his father Isaac, in order to steal his brother’s blessings. He became a fugitive from his brother for many years. Esau was bruised for the rest of his life, when Jacob betrayed his trust by causing him to give up his right of first-born son for a bowl of soup. However, the seed of deceits he had been planted followed Jacob’s life even to his old age, when his sons deceived him concerning the death of his favorite son, Joseph. The root of lies is deeper and long in its consequences throughout our life. It is much better to be truthful from the beginning of our mistakes, than to hide it in the presumption of lies. At the end, truth always prevails, always truth wins.

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Truth Is the Only Key to Open the Doors of Freedom and Hope

Let’s talk about truth, a scarce subject everywhere these days. News is passed around the internet, filled with make believe stories, some with a twist of doubt and some not sure and others with a hint of truth. The complete truth is in no way found in the media. These are as the days the Prophet Isaiah dealt with when the nation of Israel rebelled against the Lord and denied Him. Justice, he said, is turned away backward, and righteousness stands far off; for truth has fallen in the street, and uprightness cannot enter [the courts of justice]. Yes, truth is lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. And the Lord saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no justice (Isaiah 59:14-15). What is truth? Asked Pilate to YAHSHUA many years ago, when YAHSHUA stood in front of him, being accused on the basis of lies. Pilate, a Roman and unaware of the Jewish law, needed something called truth to hang on to punish the accused. The more that the crowd yelled accusations against the Lord, the more that Pilate’s curiosity grew. He wanted to know the truth, so it seemed, although with his hands tied by the Jewish authorities, he was limited in his freedom. He asked YAHSHUA, Are You the King of the Jews? When YAHSHUA truthfully admitted by saying, My kingdom belongs not to this world… then He answered, I am a King. This is why I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the Truth. Everyone who is of the Truth hears and listens to My voice. Pilate, curiously asked, WHAT IS TRUTH? (John 18:31-40).

Pilate’s question, What is truth? Echoes throughout the ages. Believing YAHSHUA to be the King of the Jews, Pilate wrote an inscription on a placard that read, YAHSHUA THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS and put it on His cross, although not staying to hear YAHSHUA’S answer of what is truth. Pilate stood firm on what he wrote, when the Jews asked him to change what he wrote, he said, What I have written, I have written. For once he stood his ground and defended YAHSHUA’S title. The title was written in the three main languages of those days: Hebrew, Latin and in Greek. This act of Pilate was of great spiritual significance, for it carried a prophetic weight soon to be happening through YAHSHUA’S death and subsequently, His resurrection. YAHSHUA’S death constituted salvation for the world. The Truth stood uprightly on the cross at Calvary. YAHSHUA, the Savior of the world; the Truth, the Way and the Life!

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God Stands Alone as the True God

He, alone is the Creator of all living things. Paul askes the question, For who has known the mind of the Lord and who has understood His thoughts, or who has [ever] been His counselor? Or who has first given God anything that he might be paid back or that he could claim a recompense? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever! Amen (Rom. 11:34-36).

There should be never an argument of Whom God is, about His attributes, His power, His sovereignty. There should be never any other name that will take the name GOD, a tittle belonging only to Him. In the Old Testament we read the many times God called Israel’s attention to the fact that He, and only He was and is God. Israel, in her stubbornness, has caused judgment upon her, for abandoning her true God for the Egyptian gods, the Babylonian gods, etc. At Mount Carmel, Elijah challenged the false god Baal and it failed miserably, when The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob demonstrated His power through the fire coming from heaven, consuming the burnt sacrifice, the wood and the stones, licking the water that was in the trench, after Elijah prayed. A forever Living God, with no beginning and no end, He is out of men’s reach of understanding of Who He is.

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Who Do People Say I Am and How About You?

(Matt. 16:16; Luke 9:20; John 19:19)

After having healed all those that had come to Him and fed the multitude of thousands with seven loaves of bread and a few fish, YAHSHUA asked a very important question in two folds: Who do people say that the Son of Man is, but Who do you say that I am? The conjunction but emphasizes the importance in the clear understanding of the knowledge the disciples must have of Whom YAHSHUA was. He directs the first question in the third person – the Son of Man is, but when directed the question to them, He asks them in the first person, but Who do you say I am? Or How about you?

The Samaritan woman, after talking to YAHSHUA, went to town and she began telling the people, “Come, and see a Man Who has told me everything that I ever did”! She concluded with a curious question, Can this be the Christ? Many believed the words of the Samaritan woman enough to come and meet Him. And perhaps out of curiosity they came. But when they heard Him, they said, Now we no longer believe just because of what you said; for we have heard Him ourselves and we know that He truly is the Savior of the world, the Christ (John 4:42). Hungry for more of His words, they asked YAHSHUA to remain with them and He did stay there two days (John 4:40). Two days represent the period of two thousand years God was giving to the Gentile nations to hear the Gospel and turn to Him. In contrast with these Samaritans, the Jews of those days, in spite of all that they had witnessed in miracles, they could only conclude that He was perhaps John the Baptist, Elijah or Jeremiah, or one of the prophets (Matt. 16: 14).

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The Passover Lamb of God

(John 1:29; 12:1-7)

Six days before the Passover Feast, YAHSHUA made a trip to Bethany to the home of Lazarus; six days before His death a supper was prepared for Him; Lazarus was at the table with Him, Martha served and Mary anointed Him for His burial, setting Him apart for His death as He represented the Passover sacrificial Lamb and in essence He was the true Lamb of God that takes the sins of the world (John 1:29). He was set apart four days before His death as it was commanded that the lamb for the sacrifice would be set apart on the tenth of the month, and be killed on the fourteenth, (four days after being set apart) Exodus 12:3,6. YAHSHUA lived those last days focused on what was to happen in His Father’s plan to redeem mankind. Behold, the Lamb of God! John Baptist’s cry to call the nation of Israel to repentance and acceptance of the Lamb of God- YAHSHUA, Who had come to be the Passover Lamb. While many were busy getting ready for that very important Passover event, YAHSHUA was quietly fulfilling His role of Lamb of God, when Mary anointed Him, not knowing the meaning of her action. But He knew and defended her at the criticism of Judas, who later betrayed Him.

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The Two Witnesses

At the beginning of Israel as a nation, God established the law of two or three witnesses against the accused person. He said, One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity of any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established (Deut. 19:15). The importance of more than one witness in any case is necessary, for it provides protection for the innocent accused of things he has not done, especially in a court room when the accused faces the judge with his sentence: condemned or acquitted. If every court in this world would practice this law, there would be fewer innocent people sent to jail. A false witness, the Bible tells us, is an abomination to the Lord (Prov. 6:16-19).

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Esther’s Moment

A Bible story we read from the book of Esther, is more than a children’s story “They lived happily ever after” happy ending. Hard to understanding the culture of those days, we wonder why it had to be so. Reasoning the whys, we come to the understanding it was in the spiritual sphere, purposed by God Himself, for a reason or redemption of Israel as “For such a time as this.” Hadassah, Esther’s original name, was a young and beautiful maiden, who was chosen among many others to be Ahasuerus’ wife. This Persian king reigned from India to Ethiopia over 127 provinces (Esther 1:1). It all happened in a controversial and hard to understand way, when King Ahasuerus, being drunk, commanded his wife, Queen Vashti to be brought to him to show her off to the peoples there represented. But she refused to do so. For that, the king was enraged, embarrassed, and humiliated at that reaction, which lead him to divorce her. After a while, the king’s servants recommended to be sought beautiful virgins for him. That’s the background in which Hadassah- Esther came in this story of redemption of her people, Israel.

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A Blind Man Who Would Not Give Up

(Mark 10: 46-52)

Then they came to Jericho. And as He was leaving Jericho with His disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside (Mark 10:46). It was a regular day for Bartimaeus that day when he, as his daily routine, sat by the road side to beg. His physical dark world impaired him to be part of society.

When he would have a job to provide for his family; it would have supported his social life with friends and family. It was a lonely life for Bartimaeus in his world, lacking the most basic thing of life- his eyesight. His song echoed in the ears of people a monotonous melody, which many had closed their ears to. In a repetitious melody and words, he would ask help for the poor blind man, using the pronoun on the third person. But that day his ears perked up when he heard noises from a crowd coming toward him. For a moment he stops his song, instead, he asked, what was happening? When he heard that it was YAHSHUA of Nazareth, he began to shout, saying, YAHSHUA, Son of David, have pity and mercy on me (Mark 10:47). Remarkably, this poor blind man had knowledge of Whom YAHSHUA was, while Israel as a nation was left in the dark of their spiritual understanding concerning YAHSHUA, for their hearts were callous toward Him. Bartimaeus, from the depth of his soul proclaimed YAHSHUA to be the Messiah- coming from the line of David, as it was prophesized. He must have learned from others about YAHSHUA’S work of miracles, miracles that marked and determined Him to be the promised Messiah. He did not have to see YAHSHUA to believe Him. That was the faith he had, that sprung a belief in his own healing. Nothing would stop him from shouting the prophetic words, “You, Son of David, have pity and mercy on me!”

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