TRUTH & UNDERSTANDING

                                 TRUTH & UNDERSTANDING                 

    During the month of June, 2012, I experienced the second miracle in my life.
Because of it, I'm here to write more sermons and do some other things that
have been sent my way. I'm not going to tell you about the miracle in this
message because some of you are already snickering in disbelief. Rather,
I'll save that for later, and instead give you an opportunity to test yourself to
see what kind of Christian you are.

    I have been ordained by two denominations and, as customary, ordination
may include specific bible verses as both a guideline to our Lord's service, and
inspiration and incentive for our personal work. My directive is found in II Tim.
12:15, "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not
need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." I make no claim about
being perfect (Rom. 3:23) "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,"
because Paul said it absolutely.

Now to the meat of truth and understanding. If you don't understand something,
you don't know the truth. It's that simple, but most people take the easy road and
are too mentally lazy to do any research. That's why it's so easy for an apostate
preacher to lead hordes of church goers down the path to Hell. Perhaps it's that
people are too trusting, and think God's messengers (preachers) are honest and
have only God's agenda. Mega churches that have Christians and Muslims
worshiping together are a good example. Muslims don't believe in salvation through
Christ's shed blood, so how can they worship together?

    I have always preached you must study the bible, not just read it. Sometimes you
need to conduct further research by consulting other references, including such
mundane items as a dictionary or encyclopaedia. By all means, consult histories
that reveal in detail the past. Virtually nobody I talk to ever opens any history book.
The history book actually predicts your future, folks. Why do you suppose our rules
and laws are based on history? You will never understand the truth--even about
scripture--unless you do research,

    First, let's look at salvation. I pray incessantly that people who believe they are
saved actually understand and know they are saved. The sinner's prayer is the
starting point. The problem is, does the person really make a commitment to Christ?
I'm not the judge of that, and neither are you for anybody else. We can form an
opinion by examining the actions of the saved person and seeing the Holy Spirit
at work in their life. Only Christ can and will judge each of us. I fear there are more
Christians not fully committed to Christ than real servants.

    I hear many Christians say they fully believe in God. That means virtually nothing
concerning Christianity. Do you understand that? Satan believes in God, too, and he
certainly isn't a Christian. Satan knows scripture--probably a lot better than you. Check
out Matt. Chapter four, and note how Satan quotes scripture to Christ. Satan has had
thousands of years to learn scripture, and he is still studying. No wonder so many
wannabe Christians are floundering and know little truth about anything. No wonder
so many politicians are making fools out of pretending Christians.

    Back to truth and understanding. I repeat--if you don't know details of any subject, you
don't know truth. When you speak out without knowing the truth, you are committing a
sin. If you haven't done the research, you don't know the truth. Satan will tempt you to
accept and promulgate an opinion by appealing to your carnal desire. He knows you
can easily be influenced by emotion and personal desires. He knows you will easily
be persuaded to follow a persuasive person so you can be "one of the insiders". Before
you blindly accept rules of any denomination or organization, you must, as a Christian,
research the rules and seek scriptural and historical definitions.

    Lets' look at a couple of simple examples. If you get angry at these examples and choose
to delete the remainder of this message, I will pray for you. You will need all the prayers you
can get, because your denial of understanding these examples places you in jeopardy.

    Number one: As a Christian, do you support slavery? Slavery was not abolished in the
United states until Dec. 6, 1865. This was the 13th amendment of the Constitution. Our
Constitution went into effect March 4, 1789. Yes, 1789, not 1776.  July 4,1776, was the
date of the Declaration of Independence. The Constitution was written in a convention of
delegates from 12 colonies from May through September, 1787. Washington was selected
as our first president on Feb. 4, 1789. The "Christians" who founded our nation in 1776
permitted slavery for over 100 years. How do you explain that? Quote me some scripture.

    Number two: Now we go to Aug. 18, 1919. The 19th amendment to the constitution
was passed. It provided that American women had the right to vote. It took nearly 150
years for this Christian founded nation to recognize that God created men and women
as partners. Women were no longer second class citizens. To be sure, many women were
indeed second class citizens in the Old Testament. But we're talking about the committed
followers of Christ, not any priest or other representative of God. Eph. 5:33, "Nevertheless
let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself,". Sticking to Christ's
teaching and the New Testament, quote me scripture on the "Christian" reasons to deny
women the right to vote.

    Number three: The First Congress--you know the people who contributed to the writing
of the Constitution--passed legislation creating a health law (tax, if you like the term), requiring
ship owners to provide health insurance for crews. Washington, our first president, signed the
legislation into law. A few years later, Congress passed another health insurance law, requiring
seamen health insurance. Another president signed it into law. You need to check some history
books to find this information. The Constitutional "experts" that are misinforming the people
know full well virtually nobody will check the accuracy of their claims about forced insurance
and the Constitution. This is another example of an industry pushing its own agenda. Without
the new law, more than 30 million Americans will have no health insurance. The politicians,
however, have their Cadillac health plan. Are all Americans created equal? These opponents
of the new health law should read the Declaration of Independence signed July 4, 1776, which
was the foundation of the Constitution. Among other things, it states, "that all men are created
equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these
are Life, Liberty,and the pursuit of happiness." Christ did not separate the poor, the sick, the
elderly, the widows, the cripples and orphans from the remainder of society. There is scripture
upon scripture where Christ included all the people, including the unsaved. Christ did not favor
the wealthy and political leaders. In fact, He preached against their greed and selfishness.

    Number four: In his closing statement in the Declaration of Independence, John Hancock
wrote, "we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our Sacred Honor." In
no place in the Declaration of Independence or our Constitution is there any type of separation
of people for any reason. Remember "united we stand, divided we fall"? Division by any
political party, spells disaster for our nation. Christ preached against the political parties of
His day because they were following the Jewish law as they desired to interpret it. The political
parties were also the religious parties. Quote me scripture where Christ preached favoritism
for a political-religious party. 

    Number five: We have always been a Christian nation? While the founding fathers were
mostly members of Christian denominations, it is idiotic to claim a majority of the early Americans
were Christian in name or salvation. They fought a Civil War partly because of slavery. They
cheated the real Americans--the Indians--and placed them on reservations. They took advantage
of poor immigrants (especially the Chinese). Many faiths other than Christian made up the
population of America. People of all colors and backgrounds fought to keep our nation free.
We have never been just a Christian nation. It has been the positive influence of many differing
peoples who settled here, bringing their skills in a search for true freedom that has established
and built America.

    I'm a Christian minister, and scripture does tell us God desires the whole world to be saved--
that's why He sent Christ to us. But God also gave mankind choices to make, including salvation
and the conduct of our lives. Many times man has attempted to force one particular religion upon
all people. If you know anything about history, you know every attempt has failed. Religion cannot 
be legislated. Tolerance can also be devastating. There has to be a happy medium. We need to
study Christ's teaching and world history. Unless we understand the truth, we will fail. If we all
march to the same drummer, we are clones. That is not God's desire. I pray you will diligently
study scripture AND our Constitution. Most of the talk I hear has little truth or understanding.

Rev. Walbear