Monday, November 1, 2010

Finding Truth E-Book

Finding Truth

(an e-book)





by
Pauly Hart




Copyright 2010 by Pauly Hart











This I say to you and testify in God: Do not walk any longer as they walk, In the futility of their mind… But not you, you have heard him, been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus.

(Ephesians 4:17-21)











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Resistance



When the other prophets are saying the same thing that is not truth.
Micaiah said "As surly as God lives, I can only speak what is truth."

And Zedikiah will you now slap God in the face for bearing the truth?
For the Lord is One and the evil spirit He placed in you was not truth.

Israel says to Judah, "Here is one who hates me as well as the truth."
False prophets echoing your own personal desires is not reality truth.

Reality is the fact that all things just and pure resistant all non - truth.
Ahab, now as you are pulled from battle you realize that there is truth.

Now your son will fall to his death
His kingdom will be devoured in flames.

And your lineage will not pass from him.
For resistance to truth is suicide.

Poor, poor Zedikiah.




Copyright 2010 by pauly hart

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Chapter one
Skimming the truth




The word of God says that the sum of His words are truth. I have often come across this thought in my daily ponderings. If the sum of His words are truth, then what are the chapters? What are the phrases or sentences? Is it a whole truth, Or can we take it piece by piece? Is there only a small bit inside of the word that is true and the rest builds up to that truth? Or perhaps only a piece is “separated” or “holy”, and the rest… well. No. All of His words are truth. They are all true and truthful. And the sum of (or the completeness of them) is indeed all truth.

For God, perfect is perfect. Right is right and wrong is wrong. But most importantly true is true. God is best described as holy and true. No other two words describe Him so well. Even the angels as are written about them in the book of Revelations know this. They stand around and say: “Holy, holy, holy”. They don’t say: “Wonderful, powerful, lovely”. Tell me, where is holiness? Where is truth? Can they be bought at the local market? Can they be purchased at the local convenience store? No dear reader, truth is found nowhere else but in the arms of God.

Let us look a deeper than where it is found. Let us look at what it is. What is truth? Even as technology changes and our laws change, does the truth change? Is it a relative subject under the influences of change and culture? Is it based upon laws? Upon morals? Perhaps it is based upon our abilities as humans (or inabilities). What is truth? God is truth. God is immutable and He never changes.

It was mid afternoon and the flies droned lazily about the musty old school room. Mr. Richards had taken his usual posture leaning on the table and was discussing modern church theology. Although not asleep, the students’ glazed eyes were indicative of the utter boredom of yet another impassioned lecture about confession and baptismal rites.

Questions within each of the students hearts arose, tried to surface out of their heads, but eventually drowned again within the monologue. The students bodies were prone, but minds were listless, apprehensive, and on the majority, fifteen years old. Although not one year out of seminary, Mr. Richards had attained the heart of a scholar of many years.

Although each of the students were required to take the class we were all from various backgrounds and therefore were not in total agreement with the teachers appraisals of modern Christianity. Time grew long and surprisingly he touched upon a subject that he wanted a response to. What was baptism about? Was it necessary for eternal security? Was it sprinkling? Immersion? Was it important?

After some discussion he declared that the church had all the answers to these types of questions. That church polity was and should be the instructor for this spiritual dilemma. Although fifteen years myself, I had been brought up to believe that no matter what the church said, the Bible was always the final say involving dispute… especially those of a spiritual nature. So I raised my hand.

All eyes were on me. I asked Mr. Richards if he actually knew what the word baptism meant. No response. I asked for a dictionary. No response. After an uncomfortable pause, I got up and proceeded to get a dictionary from the front desk. The verdict for my sincerity? I was sent to the principals office.

Now I do not share this story to speak ill of any parochial Institution of learning, to expose the shortsightedness of any professor or teacher, and I am not bragging on the audacious qualities of my pre-pubescent self. What I am doing is asking why we are more concerned with the opinions of our local church or denomination than we are of our Bible? Should we blindly trust the decisions made by others or try to find the truth of any matter? Should we seek for ultimate truth and drink it whole… or merely skim the surface of it?










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Now blue




It has occurred to me to come to grips
With amazing things
I have believed in God to help me through
All my disbelief
Lord I see you in truth and your glory
Written on your wings
And now I walk by faith and not by sight
Give you everything
Today forsaken clean from all my sin
Now washed with joy true
Midnight treasures are gone, they were but rust
Now blue is now blue
Fragmented dangers fall covered in dust
Coming, gripping you
Nothing more can hold me, not one touch me
I will follow you




Copyright 2010 by pauly hart

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Chapter Two
Cultural truth




What is the whole truth? As discussed before, the Bible declares itself as the truth. The sum of Gods words translated in perfect condition are true words indeed. The word of God is the written tradition that transcends any other tradition handed down in any culture it permeates.

Every culture has its own folklore. Its own history. The most wonderful thing in my opinion about the word of God is that it gives us guidelines for every culture on this planet Earth. The entire basis to build any culture on.

Every culture declares oral tradition as well as written to its initiates. Whether they be born into the society or be converts, defectors, or immigrants. The tradition handed down to United States citizens lies along the vein of George Washington, Daniel Boone, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr. and the like. But these traditional stories also hold cultural truths as well. Like the cultural truth that telling lies is wrong. (i.e. George Washington chopping down the cherry tree).

Every “ethos” as the Bible describes in the book of the book of Revelations chapter five, verse nine and again in chapter seven, verse nine; the word sets upon itself certain views of what is right and what is wrong. Here I am not referring to “laws”. I am talking about morals per se. I am talking about the complete ethos of what is true and what is false.

It is not fair to say that there is just one culture of the U.S.A. There are hundreds. Perhaps thousands of justifiable culture groups represented here. So, perhaps someone deep in the neck of some wood is raised with the ideology that people of a darker color are to be treated as animals. Morally, they can engage in murdering those people without breaching his moral code, whatsoever. On the same token, there are perhaps those who have been raised with the opposite views. That those of a lighter color are naught but monsters to be taken out of their supposed power. That person can engage in a violent act of what the rest of the geo-political country would agree to be wrong. However, morally these people are not committing a crime in their own mind. Morals. If “White Supremacy” or “Black Power” is your moral mindset, then you are free to act within it.

In the U.S.A., there is the “collective moral attitude” that these two extremes are wrong. What makes them wrong? What makes us decide that THIS is wrong or THIS is right. There are two main things in this country, The first was that it was founded on the word of God, and the second is the fact that there are so many diverse cultures here… It makes it very easy to find the middle ground of morality. Now you and I know that a “good balance” is no substitution for the word of God. You and I know that to have any truth or falsehood, we must first go back to the one who gave them to us to begin with. Back to God. Not just parts of him. Not the tidbits that fit you. But the entirety of Him.

One of the chief examples of not taking the sum of Gods word as truth is the example of Apartheid. Apartheid was the practice of racial segregation in South Africa from 1951-1991. The Afrikaners (Those white south Africans of predominantly Dutch and German descent) put into slavery those of the Zulu, Swazi and other black tribes. Apartheid reigned when the Afrikaners were in power. Part of what the Afrikaners believed at that time was that all blacks were marked for their sin, as mandated by God. This is a misrepresentation of the scripture when God marks Cain for his sin against Able.

What was the belief of this culture? How did they take one verse of scripture and determine what should be done from there to so many a people? Was it the “truth” that made them “right”? What I mean by that is that “right and wrong” are here (and oftentimes elsewhere) confused with “true and false”. These mix-ups have been the cause of many a Governmental error. There have been executions, beating, jailings, and many other atrocities for the incorrect perception of truth. Just because one truth is present, doesn’t mean that you exclude the contexts of the truths around it. You cannot pick and choose which truths are right for you. All the truth of the word of God is truth for you. Whether you agree or must force yourself to submit. It is true nonetheless.

The common but gross mistake is to take the Bible and fit it into your culture. What is correct is to have the culture fit into the Bible. The reliability of the Word is always there. Whenever you (or your culture as a whole) ever runs into a seemingly unsolvable predicament… you may always look to the word. On the converse, a culture that lets the Bible fit into the gaps and chinks of their cultural identity will surly crumble when stress comes. The Bible is not intended to be a patchwork to “fix-all” in your life. It was and is intended to be the very foundation of any existence… personal, as a culture, or as we have in this country, a network of cultures that make up our make-up.









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Some people never do




Some don't ever realize
The laughter and joy in your eyes.
Some people don't ever find the reason why
But I know that Jesus cared, for He died.
Though it seemed a struggle
Though it seemed too hard.
Jesus I know that in truth
You are my only trump card.

Those hurting and dying just don't understand
That you stretched forth your all,
when you stretched forth your hand.
With hinds feet on high places I will strive
I'll give my utmost for his highest though I die.
Sometimes all those hurdles seem way too high
I know I'm not perfect, but with Jesus I try.

Some people don't find out till it's too late.




Copyright 2010 by pauly hart

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Chapter Three
The unpopular cult of truth




On March 26, 1997, the cult known as Heavens gate believed that they were going to be picked up by the alien mothership that was trailing the Halle-Bopp Comet. Using the internet, they spread their ideas far and wide, inviting the serious and committed to join them on their quest for ultimate truth. Then as the comet passed, they committed group suicide. Living and dying for their idea of truth.

This is not the first instance of a sub-culture (or in this case a cult) tying their lives to the ideas of the truth. Let’s look at the Jones-town Massacre. The Peoples Temple comprised of 913 souls… Many of them were children. They died following one mans idea of truth. Every year hundreds of people die for what they believe is the truth. Buddhist monks ignite themselves on fire for their beliefs. Political prisoners are executed for their beliefs that differ from their country. Even mortal danger can be included here. I had a friend in college who was at Tieneman Square in Beijing during the riots there. His belief in something so strong, that he was willing to risk life and (possibly worse), social isolation led him to participate in activities not in accordance with the plans of Chairman Mao Tse Dung.

The apostles of the Christian faith were all (save one) killed for their beliefs. St. Peter the apostle was made to witness his wife and children executed before his eyes. As he saw his wife crucified before him, he called out to her: “Remember the cross!” And even he, unwilling to find himself worthy to die in the same manner as his Lord did, offered to be crucified upside-down.

Such was Peters belief in the truth. His truth. This great man was born into his culture, was married, had a fine job and a good life. What prompted him to so drastically change his entire viewpoint. What was it that upset his world so much that he (after spending only three years with Jesus Christ) would renounce his old lifestyle and embrace this new one… Even to the point of death?

When the son of man appears will he find faith on the earth? I often wonder about this. Do we as Peter did, so adamantly believe in the Truth that we are willing to attach our lives to it? To face persecution? Ridicule? Martyrdom? In the book of the Revelations of St. John, we see in chapter twelve and verse eleven that “they” meaning “we” overcame by three things. The blood of the lamb, the words of our testimony, and that we laid down our lives. The word “witness” means in the Greek language: Martyr. This translation gives a whole new meaning to the scripture found in the Acts of the Apostles, Chapter one, verse eight… We will be his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (emphasis mine).

Where is this truth that I am speaking of? Not in government, not in educational institutions, not in church, but in the hearts of men. To those indoctrinated by the facts about God I may seem cold and blasphemous to group together St. Peter with the likes of Jim Jones. But to those infused with the truths of God, you will see that I am only speaking of the similarities of willpower when involved in your moral code. For most people, acceptance of a particular doctrine is largely attributed to birthplace, family, upbringing, music and the culture around you. This is not to say that they (or even you) cannot rise above these traits and believe in something higher than the beliefs around them. As a point, it is the person who decides what is best for them. Whether to accept and live in this doctrine, or to rise above and take a vantage point above their doctrine, and find a way to confront the issues that so bother them. They are the proverbial square peg in the round hole.

In the book of Galatians, chapter five and verse thirteen, it is stated that we were all called to freedom but not to use our freedom to indulge in the sinful nature… However we should serve one another in love. When we do see ourselves as free, it is then that we are able to break the idioms that so hold us down to our past, and grasp the new and higher path. The path of truth as written in the Word of God.

What is that path? Where can we find our ultimate truth? What brings our true being into that place where we “see” ourselves and break the chains that held us in the past. In the next chapter we will discuss the three steps that you must have to find the truth of God in your life.







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Attribute to the attributes




Faith is faster than a light train
more loyal than a dog at night
sleeping at your feet
Destiny is smarter than an Einstein
more lovely than tender children
with sticky hands
Do you know how to speak the truth?
What is truth? a person is he.
Love is more agile than a hungry crocodile
more tender than an embarrassing moment
in a well known crowd
Hope is better than a good back rub
more happy than peanuts and hot-dogs
at a baseball game with dad
do you know how to show freedom
what is freedom? a person is he.
wonder is lighter than a goose down feather
more slap-happy than a sit-com
on evening t.v.
Death is more potent than a poisonous elixir
more gripping than a paperback
while baby sitting kids

Do you realize that all life dies?
Except the life that's in his eyes



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This is a work of Pauly Hart

Copyright by Pauly Hart

All rights by Pauly Hart

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