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Truth

Can you count the number times have you been lied to in the last few months? If you can't think of any hold on as the election season is upon us. Lies are not always blatant, but never the less the desire to deceive you into believing some evil against an opponent so that you will be convinced to vote for them. It is intentional. On the other hand, some lies are not deliberate; they happen. Robert Burns once said, "The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry." Things happen that keep us from doing what we said we would do. Life happens, but it appears to me that the “truth" seems harder and harder to find and less and less critical. There is an exception to that, and that is God. It is a subject that seems worthy of a few moments of your time.

Truth is one of those words that is extremely hard to define. People have a differing idea about what it is. One person believes in a pluralist view that says that are many different truths of equal value. That may sound good to you, but what about when one man says that animal is a deer and another says "no" that is an elk. Can both be true and of equal value? A true skeptic says that there is no truth. That falls apart very quickly because that is a truth that there no truth. Wow, who knew “truth” could be so scary.

Probably the most common theory of truth is “relativism.” Relativism says there is no hard fast, unchangeable truth. It is a moving target and can only happen when in your situation, it becomes true for that moment. It is relative to you and your position, and whatever makes sense regarding it. So, is "truth" real, and if it is, where do we find it? I submit to you that there is only one place to see it, and that is God. God is the source of "love" as He is "love," He is the source of "truth" as He is "truth." God the Son, Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life…” John 14:6. In John 14, 15, and 16, the Holy Spirit is the "Spirit of Truth." Throughout all of the Scriptures, truth is measured by what God says. It never comes from any other source. For there to be the truth, there must be a source. God is that source. Think for a moment about a world that has no God. That is hard for me because it is my starting point. Without Him, there is no meaning, no purpose, nothing that makes sense. Most importantly, there is no source of truth.

Christian apologist Ravi Zacharias, who died a few weeks ago, often used this purpose phrase, "Helping the believer think and the thinker believe." Christians are accused of not thinking. If God is our creator, He gave us our minds to understand, but there must be information. Hopefully, that information will be the truth. I am challenging you to not be afraid to think.

Pastor Lynn Rettig

Musselshell Community Bible Church

NO ENDING

The thing I really love about the Bible, God’s Word, is that there is no ending to it’s depth, meaning, predictions, instructions, and anything else you may want. It is always fresh and new.

For those of you who read yesterday’s column, you will note that I mentioned 2 meanings for the year 2020. One, that it was the letter ‘koph’ meaning an ‘open hand, doubled’, and Two, that it was the letter ‘pey’ meaning ‘breakthrough’. Well, God decided to teach me that both were right. You see, 2020 is the year of the Christian era and the meaning is correct according to Christianity. But there is also another calendar and that is of the Jewish year which is now 5980. Yes, the year 5980 began in September of 2019 on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. The meaning of ‘breakthrough’ was given by a Rabbi so he used 5980 as his year and not 2020. The Hebrew word for 80 – the Hebrews do not use the first to numbers in counting the years, just the last 2 – is pey – breakthrough! So you can see, both are correct.

When God taught me that, I was excited. How many days did it take God to create everything according to Genesis 1-2? What did God do on the seventh day? If, as the Jewish calendar would tell us the earth is 5980 years old, then we can also know that one day to the Lord is as 1,000. (Psalm 90:4 & 2Peter 3:8). Then we can think that the earth is getting close to 6000 years. Just another 20 years to go. What happened on the 6th day of creation? Yes, humans were created.

When Jesus returns to earth and sets up His kingdom, He will reign for 1000 years before the final end. Does this mean that the coming of Jesus is 20 years more or less away? I know it is close, but how close. When Jesus was asked, He said that no one knew this, not even Himself, only His Father and our Father. But, that we were to be aware of the signs of the times. Many events in our current lifetime are foretold in the prophesies of the Old Covenant. God never forgets His promises and carries them out in His time and His own way.

If Jesus comes soon, as many believe, after He sets up His final Kingdom on earth and reigns for 1,000 years, that will bring us to the Hebrew year of 7,000 – or the 7th day for God. What did God do on the 7th day? He rested. Is He getting ready for another time o f rest? No one knows or can predict that, but we can look at the signs of the times. Pestilences, floods, earthquakes, famines, unrest – all prophesied to us in the Word of God.

We who know the Lord, who have accepted Jesus as our Savior, who live in the presence of the Holy Spirit need fear no evil. Psalm 91 promises us protection. Only God is the Righteous Judge. Only He knows who is His and who isn’t. That is not for us to judge. Our part is just to believe God, to obey Him and to help those who are in need of help. He loves all of us so very much, but we have free choice. We can invite Jesus into our lives or we can ignore Him and reject Him. Jesus accepted you on the cross, won’t you accept Him now into your life. The future is exciting.

Rev. Joyce Kaplan, M.Div., retired United Church of Christ pastor.